Draft for Control Engineering Practice with confidence. The template sets the correct structure, abstract, and references up front, so your manuscript clears editorial screening.
4.5
Authored by Sumalatha Gangadhar | Published on 25 July, 2026
Submitting to Control Engineering Practice goes smoothly when your draft already matches the journal's own rules. Editors screen new manuscripts against the Control Engineering Practice guide for authors before peer review, so formatting, structure, and required statements should be right on the first draft rather than repaired during upload. This journal specifically expects a Highlights list, a graphical abstract, CRediT author-contribution statements, a data availability statement; build these in from the start. This template sets that structure up for you.
It is a manuscript shell aligned to Control Engineering Practice. It covers front matter, the abstract the journal expects, a body organized to the journal's article types, and a reference list in the journal's required style. Confirm current scope and article types on the Control Engineering Practice journal page before you draft.
Prepare the title, authors, affiliations, and ORCID iDs. Keep the abstract within about 250 words. Write the abstract to the journal's rule and word limit, organize the body to the article type, and apply the required reference style from the first citation. Complete every declaration (ethics, competing interests, funding, data availability) the Control Engineering Practice guide for authors lists, and cite figures and tables in order.
The common failure modes are formatting or reference style that does not match the guide for authors, missing required statements, and an incomplete portal checklist. Clear all three against the Control Engineering Practice guide for authors before you submit.
The shell mirrors what editorial staff check first: article-type fit, the abstract rules, required declarations, and the journal's reference style. For more detail see the author resources. When your draft is ready, upload it through Editorial Manager.
| Element | CEP requirement |
|---|---|
| Abstract | Unstructured abstract required, maximum 250 words. Must state the purpose of research, principal results, and major conclusions. Must be able to stand alone. Avoid references (if essential, cite author and year). Avoid non-standard abbreviations (if essential, define at first mention). |
| Main text | Section order and length per article type |
| Declarations | Ethics, competing interests, funding, data as required |
| Figures/tables | Publication-ready; cited in order |
| Supplemental | Upload separately when used |
| Keywords | 1 to 6 keywords required for indexing purposes. Keywords should be written in English. Authors should avoid keywords consisting of multiple words (using 'and' or 'of'). Abbreviations should only be used in keywords if they are firmly established in the field. |
| References | No strict requirements on formatting at submission - any consistent style is acceptable as long as it includes author names, journal/book titles, chapter/article titles, year of publication, volume numbers, and pagination where applicable. Journal-specific style is applied after acceptance at proof stage. |
| Peer review | Single-anonymous (single-blind). Submissions are initially assessed by editors for suitability, then typically sent to a minimum of two reviewers for independent expert assessment. |
| Submission | editorialmanager.com |
Read the Control Engineering Practice guide for authors once before drafting and once before upload. Draft the abstract after results are stable. Set the reference style before adding citations. Keep a cover letter that states your contribution and fit to Control Engineering Practice in under a page.
Skim two or three recent CEP papers to calibrate depth and figure style. Make the novelty clear in the first two pages. Deposit data and code when the policy on the Control Engineering Practice journal page requires it. Disclose any preprint or conference version with identifiers in the cover letter.
Do one focused pass against the Control Engineering Practice guide for authors: scope, length, reference style, required declarations, and figure quality. Then submit through Editorial Manager.