Author Guidelines

Nexavium Journal of Cybersecurity and Cyberdefense operates as an open access journal and is primarily funded through Article Processing Charges (APC) paid by authors upon acceptance of their manuscripts.

The revenue generated from APC is used to support the journal’s operational activities, including editorial management, peer-review coordination, production services, digital publishing infrastructure, and long-term archiving.

In addition to APC, the journal may receive limited support from institutional affiliations, academic collaborations, or research-related initiatives aimed at improving the quality and sustainability of the publication. However, such support does not influence editorial decisions.

The journal maintains a strict separation between financial considerations and editorial processes. All editorial decisions are based solely on the academic merit, originality, and relevance of the submitted work, and are entirely independent of the authors’ ability to pay.

The journal does not generate revenue through advertising or commercial sponsorship that could compromise its academic integrity.

Submission

Please read the following instructions carefully to ensure a smooth and efficient review and publication process. The Editors reserve the right to return manuscripts that do not comply with these guidelines.

All manuscripts submitted to Nexavium Journal of Cybersecurity and Cyberdefense must be uploaded through the journal’s online submission system. Submissions should be prepared in Microsoft Word format (.doc or .docx).

For the initial submission, authors are not required to use any specific journal template. Instead, manuscripts should be prepared in a clear, structured, and readable format. Most importantly, all submissions must be fully anonymized to support a fair and unbiased peer-review process. Authors should ensure that no identifying information (names, affiliations, acknowledgments, or self-revealing references) appears in the manuscript file.

Figures, tables, and other supporting materials should be embedded within the manuscript file at appropriate locations and accompanied by clear captions.

Please note that final formatting and templating will be handled by the production team after the manuscript has been accepted for publication. Authors of accepted papers may be asked to provide final source files and additional materials at that stage.

Failure to adhere to these submission requirements may result in delays or the return of the manuscript prior to review.

For further inquiries, authors may contact the editorial office at: editorial-cyber@nexavium-pub.com

Language Requirements and Pre-submission Editing

Nexavium Journal of Cybersecurity and Cyberdefense accepts and publishes manuscripts exclusively in English. It is the responsibility of the authors to ensure that their work is written in clear, concise, and grammatically correct academic English to ensure that the research content is fully understood by editors and reviewers.

While not mandatory, authors whose first language is not English are strongly encouraged to seek professional language editing services prior to submission. High-quality language presentation significantly facilitates the peer-review process, though it does not guarantee acceptance for publication. Authors are free to use any specialist language editing service of their choice and are liable for all associated costs.

Manuscripts that do not meet the minimum standards of English proficiency may be returned without review to allow for further linguistic refinement.

AI and Large Language Model (LLM) Policy

Nexavium Journal of Cybersecurity and Cyberdefense recognizes the emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Large Language Models (LLMs) in scholarly writing. To maintain the integrity and transparency of our publications, we adhere to the following policies:

  1. Authorship: AI tools and LLMs cannot be listed as authors or co-authors. Authorship implies legal accountability and responsibility for the originality, ethics, and accuracy of the work, which are essential qualities that AI cannot fulfill.
  2. Permissible Use: Authors may use AI tools to improve the readability, grammar, or style of their manuscript. When AI is used in the research process (such as for data analysis, coding, or literature screening), the methodology must clearly describe how the tool was utilized.
  3. Disclosure: If AI or AI-assisted tools were used in the writing process or for the creation of images/graphical abstracts, authors must disclose this in a dedicated "Declaration of AI Use" section or within the Acknowledgments. The disclosure should specify the tool used and the extent of its contribution.
  4. Responsibility: The human authors remain solely responsible for the content of their paper. This includes ensuring that any AI-generated text or data is accurate, free of plagiarism, and correctly cited.

Nexavium remains committed to upholding the highest standards of academic honesty and will continue to monitor evolving technologies to ensure the quality of published research.

Manuscript Format and Structure

Manuscripts submitted to Nexavium Journal of Cybersecurity and Cyberdefense should be prepared in a clear and structured format to facilitate the review process. Papers should not exceed 15,000 words, including references and appendices.

Authors must prepare their manuscripts using a word-processing application and submit files in Microsoft Word format (.doc or .docx) only. The manuscript should be formatted in a single-column layout with consistent spacing and readable font.

For the initial submission, manuscripts must be fully anonymized. Authors should remove all identifying information, including names, affiliations, acknowledgments, and any self-identifying references within the text or file properties, to ensure a double-blind peer-review process.

The manuscript should include the following components:

  • Title of the paper
  • Abstract (maximum 350 words) clearly summarizing the purpose, methodology, key findings, and contributions of the study
  • Keywords (3–6 relevant terms)
  • Main text, organized into appropriate sections and headings
  • References, formatted according to APA 7th edition style

Author names, affiliations, contact details, acknowledgments, and other identifying information must not be included in the initial submission. These details will be requested and incorporated after the manuscript has been accepted.

Headings and subheadings should be clearly structured and consistent throughout the manuscript. Authors are encouraged to use standard academic conventions to ensure clarity and readability.

Figures and tables should be embedded within the manuscript at appropriate locations, accompanied by clear titles and captions. Any supplementary materials intended for online publication should be submitted as separate files.

All sources cited in the manuscript must appear in the reference list, and all references must follow APA 7th edition guidelines. Authors are fully responsible for the accuracy, completeness, and consistency of their references.

Manuscripts that do not adhere to these formatting and structural requirements may be returned to the authors prior to review.

Title Page and Author Information

To maintain the integrity of our double-blind peer-review process, the Title Page must be submitted as a separate document from the main manuscript. The main manuscript file should not contain any author-identifying information.

The Title Page should be concise, informative, and include the following details:

  • Article Title: The title should be short, specific, and descriptive of the research content.
  • Author Details: The full name (first name, initials, and surname) of each author must be provided, followed by their department, institution, city with postcode, and country.
  • Corresponding Author: Clear identification of the author designated to handle correspondence. Please provide their professional email address and telephone number. It is the journal's policy to list only one corresponding author.
  • Joint Authorship: If applicable, a footnote stating that "The authors wish it to be known that, in their opinion, the first x authors should be regarded as joint First Authors" is permitted.
  • Accuracy of Names: Authors must ensure that all names are spelled correctly and presented in the standard order (first name followed by family name) to ensure accurate indexing in global databases.

Any changes to the author list after the paper has been accepted involving additions, deletions, or changes in order must be submitted in writing and signed by all original authors to the editorial office.

Formatting for Anonymity

While the Title Page contains full contributor details, the Main Manuscript file must be carefully prepared for anonymous review. Please ensure the following:

  • Remove author names and affiliations from the space immediately under the title.
  • Avoid including acknowledgments, grant numbers, or institutional references in the main text of the initial submission.
  • Ensure that file properties (metadata) do not contain author names.
  • References to the authors' own previous work should be cited in a way that does not reveal their identity (e.g., instead of "In our previous study (Smith, 2020)," use "A previous study (Smith, 2020) demonstrated...").

These identifying details will be reintegrated into the manuscript by the production team only after the paper has been officially accepted for publication.

Abstract

The second page of the manuscript should contain the Abstract, which must not exceed 350 words. The abstract should be written clearly and concisely, allowing readers to understand the purpose, methodology, key findings, and contributions of the study without reading the full paper.

The abstract must be self-contained and should not include citations, references, or undefined abbreviations. Authors are expected to clearly highlight the significance and relevance of their work within the scope of cybersecurity and cyber defense.

Specialized Section

Authors should ensure that their manuscripts are accessible to both interdisciplinary and specialized audiences. Where necessary, papers may include a technical section containing mathematical, statistical, or other domain-specific content.

Such sections must be preceded by a brief explanatory summary describing their purpose and significance, allowing non-specialist readers to understand the context or skip technical details if needed. The explanatory summary should not exceed 200 words.

Abbreviations

Non-standard abbreviations should be defined at their first occurrence in the text and used consistently thereafter. Abbreviations should only be introduced when they are used multiple times.

Authors are advised not to use abbreviations in section headings to maintain clarity and readability.

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements should be included at the end of the manuscript before the references section. This section should recognize individuals, institutions, or organizations that contributed to the work but do not meet the criteria for authorship.

Personal acknowledgements should be listed before institutional acknowledgements. This section should not include funding information or conflict of interest statements, which must be presented separately.

For the initial submission, the Acknowledgements section must be omitted or anonymized to preserve the double-blind review process. It will be included after acceptance.

Funding

All sources of financial support for the research must be declared in a separate section titled Funding, placed after the Acknowledgements section.

Authors should clearly identify funding agencies and provide complete and accurate grant information where applicable. A standard format is recommended, for example:

“This work was supported by [full name of funding agency] under Grant [grant number].”

If multiple funding sources are involved, they should be listed clearly and separately. If specific authors are associated with particular funding sources, this should be indicated appropriately.

If the research did not receive any external funding, authors should state:
“This research received no external funding.”

Funding information will be collected during submission. To ensure compliance with indexing and metadata standards, authors are required to declare funding sources or explicitly state if none exist.

References

All references must be cited in the text and listed in the reference section at the end of the manuscript. Nexavium Journal of Cybersecurity and Cyberdefense follows the APA 7th edition citation style.

Authors must ensure that:

  • All in-text citations have corresponding entries in the reference list
  • All references are complete, accurate, and consistently formatted
  • DOIs or URLs are included where available

Reference management tools such as EndNote, Mendeley, or Zotero may be used; however, authors must ensure that all references are properly formatted and not left in field code or embedded citation format in the final submitted document.

Authors are fully responsible for the accuracy and completeness of all references.

Tables

Tables should be presented clearly and used only when they enhance the understanding of the data. Each table must be accompanied by a concise and descriptive title and, where necessary, explanatory notes.

Tables should be numbered consecutively using Arabic numerals in the order they are cited in the text. Authors are encouraged to place tables within the manuscript near their first mention to improve readability.

Units of measurement should be indicated in parentheses in the column headings and should not be repeated within the table body. Authors should avoid overcrowding tables with excessive data or text and ensure that formatting remains clean and consistent.

The use of ditto marks is not permitted. Tables should follow a simple and professional format consistent with standard academic publishing practices.

Perspectives

Nexavium Journal of Cybersecurity and Cyberdefense welcomes submissions of Perspectives articles, which provide critical insights into emerging and timely issues in cybersecurity and cyber defense.

Perspectives articles may include discussions on current challenges, lessons learned from real-world cases, future research directions, or policy-relevant issues. Authors are permitted to present informed viewpoints and interpretations, provided they are grounded in evidence and scholarly reasoning.

Perspectives manuscripts should not exceed 5,000 words. While concise writing is encouraged, longer submissions may be considered at the discretion of the Editors.

Authors should include relevant academic references following APA 7th edition style, with a recommended limit of approximately 10 references where appropriate.

All Perspectives submissions are subject to peer review. Given the timely nature of these contributions, the journal will make reasonable efforts to ensure an efficient and expedited review process.

Figures and Illustrations

Figures and illustrations should be prepared to clearly support and enhance the content of the manuscript. For the initial submission, authors may include figures either embedded within the manuscript file or as separate image files. Acceptable formats for submission include JPG, TIFF, GIF, or EPS.

High-resolution figures are not required at the initial submission stage. However, upon acceptance, authors will be required to provide high-quality image files suitable for publication. The recommended minimum resolution is 300 dpi for color or grayscale images and 600 dpi for line drawings.

Figures should be numbered consecutively in the order they are cited in the text and must include clear and descriptive captions. Authors should ensure that all text within figures is legible and that figures remain clear when resized. The journal reserves the right to adjust the size of figures for layout purposes.

All images, including photographs, diagrams, and technical illustrations, must be of high quality. Authors are encouraged to design figures that fit well within a standard page or column width.

Figure Accessibility and Alt Text

To promote accessibility and inclusivity, authors are required to provide alternative text descriptions (alt text) for all figures, illustrations, and images included in the manuscript.

Alt text should concisely describe the content and purpose of the figure so that it can be understood by readers using screen readers or assistive technologies. Authors should also ensure that figure captions and surrounding text adequately explain the key information presented.

Each alt text description must be included in the manuscript directly below the corresponding figure caption and should begin with the label:

Alt text: followed by a clear and informative description.

Well-written alt text improves the accessibility, clarity, and overall impact of the published work. Alt text will be used for accessibility purposes and will not appear in the final formatted article.

Permission to Reproduce Material

If authors wish to include any material that has been previously published or is owned by a third party, including figures, tables, or images, they must obtain permission from the original copyright holder prior to submission.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that the permission obtained allows:

  • Reproduction of the material in the submitted article and journal
  • Use in electronic formats and across different media
  • Use for the full duration of the publication
  • Distribution on a global scale in the English language

Authors must comply with all requirements specified by the copyright holder and provide appropriate acknowledgment within the manuscript.

Failure to obtain proper permissions may result in delays in the review or publication process.

Third-Party Content in Open Access Articles

If an article is published under an Open Access license but contains material for which Open Access reuse permission has not been obtained, authors must clearly indicate this by providing an appropriate credit line alongside the