--- name: ieee-transactions-on-information-theory description: Use when targeting IEEE Transactions on Information Theory or deciding whether an information-theory manuscript fits this venue. Encodes the journal's fit, the theorem-driven achievability-and-converse bar, proof rigor, the paper-vs-correspondence framing, house style, official-submission re-check, and desk-reject heuristics. --- # IEEE Transactions on Information Theory (ieee-transactions-on-information-theory) ## Journal positioning IEEE Transactions on Information Theory is the archival home of information theory: Shannon theory, channel and source coding, capacity and rate-distortion, data compression, information-theoretic security and privacy, and the information-theoretic limits of statistical inference and learning. The defining expectation is a **theorem with a complete proof** — typically a matching achievability and converse, a new bound, or a sharp characterization of a fundamental limit. Applied communication-system papers that design or simulate a scheme without establishing an information-theoretic result are a poor fit and are routinely redirected. This skill is a **fit / venue-selection / re-framing** tool. It does not replace the journal's current official author guidelines. Before submitting, re-check the live IEEE Transactions on Information Theory author information and submission system. ## When to trigger - The author names this journal for a Shannon-theory, coding-theory, or information-theoretic-limits manuscript and wants a fit/framing check. - A coding or communication result must be re-framed from "our scheme performs well" into a fundamental-limit statement (capacity, exponent, converse, optimality). - The author is choosing between this Transactions and an applied-communications venue, or between a full Paper and a shorter Correspondence. - The author needs the achievability-plus-converse rigor bar and desk-reject heuristics specific to information theory. ## Scope & topic fit - Shannon theory: channel capacity, source coding and rate-distortion, network information theory, multiterminal and feedback settings, error exponents. - Coding theory: algebraic, graph-based (LDPC/polar), and lattice codes; bounds on codes; list decoding; coding for storage and distributed settings, with proofs. - Information-theoretic security and privacy: secrecy capacity, wiretap channels, differential-privacy and information-leakage limits. - Information-theoretic methods in statistics and learning: minimax and sample-complexity bounds, estimation and hypothesis-testing limits, information measures. - Quantum and combinatorial information theory, and the mathematics (probability, combinatorics, convexity) underpinning information-theoretic results. ## Method & evidence bar - The central object is a **theorem**: an achievability result, a converse (often a matching pair), a new bound, or an exact/asymptotic characterization, with a complete and correct proof. - Converse arguments matter as much as constructions; a scheme without a limit, or a claimed optimality without a converse, is usually incomplete here. - Asymptotic regimes and order/constant tightness must be stated precisely; clarify whether results are exact, asymptotic, or bounds, and under what assumptions. - Position against the closest information-theoretic prior work: what limit is newly characterized, what gap is closed, or what assumption is removed. - Notation and problem formulation must be mathematically precise and standard before any result is stated; simulations, if any, are illustrative only. ## Structure & house style - IEEE format; the journal publishes full **Papers** and shorter **Correspondence** items — match the article type to the contribution and re-check current definitions on the live guide. - The problem model (channel, source, code, estimator) and assumptions are stated precisely up front; main results are numbered theorems/lemmas with proofs in-text or in appendices per current format. - The introduction positions the fundamental-limit question and the prior bounds, not application motivation. - Figures are sparse and analytical (rate regions, exponents, bound comparisons); the paper stands on its theorems, not on plots. ## Official-submission checklist - Before giving submission-ready advice, read `../../resources/source-basis.md` and `../../resources/official-source-map.md`; start from the IEEE Author Center anchors, then cite the current Information Theory page you checked. - Search the live site for "IEEE Transactions on Information Theory information for authors" and follow the current submission-system version. - Re-check article types (Paper vs. Correspondence), length/overlength policy, and the IEEE template. - Confirm any expectations for proof completeness, supplementary appendices, and (where relevant) code for constructions. - Re-check ORCID, competing-interests, funding, author-contribution, and AI-use disclosure requirements, and IEEE open-access options. - If the live official instructions conflict with this skill, the official instructions win. ## Pre-submission self-check - [ ] The contribution is an information-theoretic theorem (achievability / converse / bound / characterization), not a scheme that "works." - [ ] Where applicable, achievability is matched by a converse, or the gap is stated honestly. - [ ] Every main result has a complete, correct proof under precise assumptions. - [ ] The novelty is pinned to a specific prior limit or bound that is improved or newly established. - [ ] Notation, channel/source model, and asymptotic regime are precise and standard. - [ ] Article type (Paper vs. Correspondence) and length fit current limits. ## Common desk-reject triggers - Applied communications/coding paper with a designed scheme and simulations but no information-theoretic result. - Achievability claimed with no converse, or an "optimality" claim with no matching lower bound. - Incorrect, incomplete, or hand-waved proofs; undefined or non-standard notation. - Incremental bound improvement with no new technique and negligible tightening. - Scope mismatch: a machine-learning or systems paper using information-theoretic vocabulary without an actual limit theorem. ## Re-routing decision - Communication-system design/performance without a limit theorem → `ieee-transactions-on-communications`. - Wireless-specific PHY/MAC scheme design → `ieee-transactions-on-wireless-communications`. - Signal-processing estimation/detection methods → `ieee-transactions-on-signal-processing`. - Topical systems-frontier coding/security in a special issue → `ieee-journal-on-selected-areas-in-communications`. - Broad tutorial synthesis of an information-theory area → `proceedings-of-the-ieee`. ## Output format ```text [Fit] High / Medium / Low (one-line reason) [Target] IEEE Transactions on Information Theory [Topic tags] <2–3 closest information-theory subtopics> [Result type] achievability / converse / bound / exact characterization [Achievability vs converse] [Top risk] [Article type] Paper / Correspondence [Official items to re-check]
[Re-route suggestion] ```