Smart Cities Template
Format your manuscript to the Smart Cities requirements — abstract, MDPI numbered references, and required declarations — and submit through the MDPI Submission System (SuSy) without a formatting rejection.
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How to Use the Smart Cities Template | A Step-by-Step Guide
Authored by Sumalatha Gangadhar | Published on 24 August, 2026
Most manuscripts sent to Smart Cities don’t stumble on the science — they stumble on formatting caught at the first editorial check. This template is built around Smart Cities’s actual requirements — its abstract rules, MDPI numbered references, and the required declarations — so your submission clears screening on the first pass. Everything below tracks the Smart Cities author guidelines; check it directly if anything looks out of date by the time you submit.
What is the Smart Cities Template?
It’s a manuscript shell set up to Smart Cities’s specifications for smart cities and urban technology. Smart Cities is published by MDPI. The shell covers the title page, the abstract, a body in Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion (IMRaD) order, and a reference list in MDPI numbered style.
What’s actually in a standard Smart Cities submission:
Start with the title page (authors, affiliations, and ORCID iDs). The abstract is a single-paragraph abstract of about 200 words. The body follows Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion (IMRaD), and the reference list uses MDPI numbered. Close with the declarations block: ethics approval, conflict of interest, funding, and data availability.
What separates a clean submission from one that gets kicked back:
The details that trip up most first submissions: an abstract that runs past ~200 words, references not in MDPI format, and not budgeting for the open-access APC. Beyond that, match your article type’s specific limits rather than assuming the defaults apply, keep MDPI numbered formatting consistent from the first draft, and submit only through the MDPI Submission System (SuSy) — email submissions aren’t processed.
What does this Smart Cities Template include?
The shell mirrors what Smart Cities’s editorial staff check first: abstract format and length, MDPI numbered reference formatting, and a complete declarations block. For the journal’s full aims and scope, see the Smart Cities journal home page. This is a fully open-access title, so budget for the article-processing charge (check the current APC and any discount before submitting). Manuscripts go in through the MDPI Submission System (SuSy), which also tracks your paper through peer review.
Steps to Use This Template with Scispace Agent
- Click Start Writing on this page — you land on the Scispace Agent prompt screen with the template already loaded.
- Use the loaded template as-is, or upload your own version if you have one.
- Edit the prompt with your actual details: topic, article type, and any word or figure limits specific to that type.
- Run it. The agent drafts directly into the correct structure — abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion (IMRaD) body, figure placeholders, MDPI numbered references, and the full declarations block — with no manual reformatting afterward.
- Review the draft in View Outputs and regenerate any section that needs tightening.
- Export to Word or LaTeX once it’s ready for submission.
Smart Cities Template Structure at a Glance
| Element | Smart Cities requirement |
|---|---|
| Abstract | a single-paragraph abstract of about 200 words |
| Main text | Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion (IMRaD) |
| Declarations | Ethics approval, conflict of interest, funding, and data availability |
| Figures / tables | Captioned, cited in order; check format and resolution rules in the guide |
| Supplemental | Large datasets, extra tables, code — uploaded separately and cited in text |
| Submission | the MDPI Submission System (SuSy) |
Quick Tips for Using the Smart Cities Template
Read the Smart Cities author guidelines once before drafting and once before upload. Draft the abstract after your results are stable so it matches the paper. Set MDPI numbered as your reference style before adding a single citation — retrofitting it later is where errors creep in.
Best Practices
Skim two or three recent Smart Cities papers to calibrate depth, structure, and figure style. State your contribution in the first two paragraphs, not on page ten. Write a data-availability statement that names a real repository rather than a placeholder, and disclose any preprint or conference version with identifiers in your cover letter. Confirm current open-access pricing and any institutional agreement before committing to a fee.
Before You Submit: Final Check
Do one focused pass against the Smart Cities author guidelines: scope fit, abstract format, length, MDPI numbered references, required declarations, and figure quality. Re-check the items that most often cause a bounce here — an abstract that runs past ~200 words, references not in MDPI format, and not budgeting for the open-access APC. Then submit through the MDPI Submission System (SuSy).
