Format your manuscript to the Speech Communication requirements — abstract, references, and required declarations — and submit without a formatting rejection.
4.6
Authored by Sumalatha Gangadhar | Published on 26 August, 2026
Submitting to Speech Communication goes smoothly when your draft already matches the journal's own rules. Editors screen new manuscripts against the Speech Communication 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 Speech Communication. 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 Speech Communication 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 Speech Communication 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 Speech Communication 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 | Speech Communication requirement |
|---|---|
| Abstract | Unstructured: provide a concise and factual abstract not exceeding 250 words. It should briefly state the purpose of the research, principal results, and major conclusions. The guide also says abstracts must stand alone, references should be avoided (or cite author(s) and year(s) if essential), and uncommon abbreviations should be avoided or defined at first mention |
| Main text | (the guide states no overall main-text word/page limit). For article structure, manuscripts are divided into clearly defined and numbered sections, with subsections numbered 1.1, 1.1.1, etc.; the abstract is not included in section numbering. A theory section may extend the introduction's background, and a calculation section may develop the theoretical basis. Acknowledgements are a separate section directly before the reference list |
| 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 7 keywords for indexing. Keywords must be in English; the guide asks authors to try to avoid keywords consisting of multiple words using ‘and’ or ‘of’, and recommends using abbreviations only when firmly established in the field |
| References | No strict reference-format requirements at submission; references may use any consistent style and must include applicable author names, journal/book and chapter/article titles, publication year, volume, article number, or pagination. The journal style is applied after acceptance at proof stage. In-text citations use author-date: single author (name and year), two authors (both names and year), three or more authors (first author et al. and year); the reference list is arranged alphabetically and then chronologically if necessary |
| Peer review | Single anonymized review process (single-anonymous): editors initially assess submissions; suitable submissions are typically reviewed by a minimum of two reviewers, and editors make the accept/reject decision |
| Submission | submit.elsevier.com/SPECOM |
Read the Speech Communication 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 Speech Communication in under a page.
Skim two or three recent Speech Communication 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 Speech Communication journal page requires it. Disclose any preprint or conference version with identifiers in the cover letter.
Do one focused pass against the Speech Communication guide for authors: scope, length, reference style, required declarations, and figure quality. Then submit through the journal's submission system.