Get your Journal of Public Transportation paper right the first time: a ready-made structure with the right abstract and citations, so editors see your science, not formatting slips.
4.1
Obiora A. Nnene
Frank Witlox
Sunhyung Yoo
Monika Maciejewska
Authored by Sumalatha Gangadhar | Published on 26 August, 2026
Submitting to Journal of Public Transportation goes smoothly when your draft already matches the journal's own rules. Editors screen new manuscripts against the Journal of Public Transportation 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 template sets that structure up for you.
It is a manuscript shell aligned to Journal of Public Transportation. 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 Journal of Public Transportation journal page before you draft.
Prepare the title, authors, affiliations, and ORCID iDs. 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 Journal of Public Transportation 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 Journal of Public Transportation 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 the journal's submission system.
| Element | Journal of Public Transportation requirement |
|---|---|
| Abstract | The guide does not specify a structured versus unstructured format or headings by article type. It requires a concise, factual abstract of no more than 250 words, briefly stating the purpose of the research, principal results, and major conclusions. The abstract must stand alone; references should be avoided (if essential, cite author(s) and year(s)); non-standard or uncommon abbreviations should be avoided (if essential, define them at first mention) |
| Main text | Articles should be under 8,000 words; longer articles may occasionally be accepted if the topic demands it. Review of Cases manuscripts should be 6,000 words and Book Reviews 2,500 words. The guide requires clearly defined and numbered sections and describes Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion sections (with Theory and Calculation sections where relevant), but does not specify a mandatory section order by article type. The abstract is not included in section numbering |
| Declarations | Ethics approval/consent as applicable; competing interests; funding; data availability |
| Figures/tables | Publication-ready; cited in order |
| Supplemental | Upload separately when used |
| Keywords | Provide 1 to 6 keywords for indexing. Keywords must be in English; avoid keywords consisting of multiple words using ‘and’ or ‘of’ where possible. Abbreviations are recommended only when firmly established in the field. No MeSH requirement is stated |
| References | Numbered citation style: indicate references with numbers in square brackets in the text and number them in order of appearance. Journal names should be abbreviated according to the List of Title Word Abbreviations (LTWA) |
| Peer review | Double anonymized review process (author identities are concealed from reviewers and vice versa); suitable submissions are typically sent to a minimum of two reviewers for independent expert assessment |
| Submission | submit.elsevier.com/JPUBTR |
Read the Journal of Public Transportation 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 Journal of Public Transportation in under a page.
Skim two or three recent Journal of Public Transportation 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 Journal of Public Transportation journal page requires it. Disclose any preprint or conference version with identifiers in the cover letter.
Do one focused pass against the Journal of Public Transportation guide for authors: scope, length, reference style, required declarations, and figure quality. Then submit through the journal's submission system.