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How to Methodologically Revise & Highlight Changes for IEEE Journal Resubmissions (LaTeX/Overleaf)

A practical workflow for IEEE IoT Journal resubmission: highlighting revisions in LaTeX, organizing your project, and preparing your response-to-reviewers.

Receiving a decision of “reject with invitation to resubmit” can feel tough, but it’s also an opportunity to improve the paper and clearly demonstrate those improvements to reviewers. For the IEEE Internet of Things Journal (IoT‑J), authors are explicitly asked to underline or highlight changes in the resubmitted manuscript (or use Track Changes in Word). If you write in LaTeX, you can implement a “similar method” by visually marking edits so reviewers can see them instantly.

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1) Understand the Journal’s Instruction

When you receive the decision letter, read the resubmission instructions carefully. For IEEE IoT‑J, the Editor-in-Chief may state that “changes must be underlined or highlighted in the resubmitted manuscript”. This means every substantive revision should be visibly marked in the PDF you submit (LaTeX users can add underline/color highlighting).

Additionally, you should prepare a Response-to-Reviewers document that answers each comment point-by-point and references where changes appear in the manuscript (e.g., “Section III, Paragraph 2, highlighted in blue.”).

2) Prepare Your Revised Project (Overleaf or Local LaTeX)

Overleaf

1. Open your original project.
2. Go to Menu → Copy Project and rename it to something like Manuscript_Revised_With_Highlights.
3. Continue all revisions inside the copied project only.

Local LaTeX

1. Duplicate the entire project folder (including .tex, .bib, figures, and style files).
2. Rename the duplicate to Manuscript_Revised_With_Highlights.
3. Do all edits in the duplicate so the original remains untouched.

3) Add a Simple Highlight Command in LaTeX

The goal is to make revisions clearly visible. The simplest reliable approach is a blue underline macro.

Preamble (add before \begin{document})

\usepackage{xcolor}
\usepackage[normalem]{ulem} % underline support
\newcommand{\change}[1]{\textcolor{blue}{\uline{#1}}}

Usage (wrap revised sentences or paragraphs)

We propose \change{a sparsity-aware, verifiable privacy mechanism} for vehicular networks.

For sections with extensive rewrites (e.g., an entirely new abstract), wrap the entire block in \change{ ... } so reviewers see the full scope of changes.

4) Example: Fully Highlighting a Rewritten Abstract

When the abstract is substantially revised, highlight the entire block:

\begin{abstract}
\change{
Ensuring location privacy in \emph{sparse} vehicular networks remains an open challenge, ...
[entire revised abstract text here, wrapped in \change{...}]
}
\end{abstract}

\begin{IEEEkeywords}
Blockchain, Identity Token, Internet of Vehicles, location privacy, Zero-Knowledge Proof
\end{IEEEkeywords}

This makes it immediately clear that the abstract was rewritten to address reviewer concerns (e.g., sparse-network assumptions, justification, and evaluation details).

5) Build a Clear Response-to-Reviewers

Create a separate document titled Response to Reviewers. For each comment, include:

1. Comment (quoted or summarized)
2. Response (what you changed and why)
3. Location (section, paragraph, equation, or figure; note that it’s highlighted in blue)

This structure shows respect for reviewer time, improves clarity, and speeds up re‑review.

6) What to Submit

• Revised Manuscript PDF with changes underlined/highlighted (as per the journal’s instruction).
• Response-to-Reviewers document (point-by-point).

Unless the journal specifically asks for a clean version, you generally don’t need to include one when the instruction is to submit a highlighted manuscript.

7) Practical Tips for a Smooth Resubmission

• Highlight as you go: the moment you fix a comment, wrap the new text with \change{...}.
• Be consistent: use the same highlight style (color + underline) across the paper.
• Mark major rewrites at the block level: entire paragraphs/sections can be wrapped if most sentences changed.
• Cross‑reference in your response: “See Section IV‑B, paragraph 2 (blue underline).”
• Recompile and visually check: ensure all highlights are visible in the final PDF.

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Final Thoughts

A resubmission is your chance to show the editorial team and reviewers exactly how you strengthened the paper. By methodically organizing your project, clearly highlighting revisions in LaTeX, and writing a transparent response-to-reviewers, you improve both the quality and the acceptance odds of your work.

Note: The approach above is tailored for LaTeX users (e.g., Overleaf) who must submit a resubmission with visible changes for IEEE journals such as IEEE IoT‑J.

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