Overview

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The ISAUnited Whitepaper Submission Process provides cybersecurity professionals, researchers, and engineers a formal path to contribute their technical work to the ISAUnited Technical Whitepaper Library. Submissions are reviewed for quality, originality, technical depth, and relevance to the disciplines of cybersecurity architecture and engineering.

 

We welcome whitepapers that address technical standards, engineering methodologies, architectural models, threat-based designs, control frameworks, or research-backed cybersecurity innovations.

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NOTE: Research Paper Publication Policy

​​ISAUnited actively promotes and publishes technical whitepapers as part of our mission to advance defensible cybersecurity architecture and engineering practices. We also accept and publish formal research papers, provided they meet academic research standards and contribute new knowledge to the field. Authors who intend to submit a research paper rather than a whitepaper must contact the ISAUnited Research Center using the Contact section below before submission. This additional step ensures proper scoping, alignment with research guidelines, and assignment to an appropriate review pathway.

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Whitepaper vs Research Paper (ISAU TRC Submission Guidance)

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In the technical and academic writing community, a whitepaper and a research paper serve different purposes and therefore carry different expectations.

• A whitepaper is a practitioner-focused document that explains a problem, analyzes technical options, proposes a defensible solution, or provides architectural guidance, supported by evidence, diagrams, and engineering reasoning. It emphasizes clarity, applicability, and actionable insight rather than original scientific discovery.

• By contrast, a research paper adheres to formal academic research conventions and contributes new knowledge, including original hypotheses, structured methodologies, data collection, analysis, comparative evaluation, and peer-verifiable findings. Research papers follow established scholarly standards (problem statement, literature review, methodology, results, and discussion), while whitepapers follow technical-industry standards (problem framing, architecture analysis, solution design, and engineering validation).

• ISAU accepts both forms; however, submitters must accurately classify their work. If a submission does not include original research methodology or new empirical findings, it is considered a white paper, not a research paper. This distinction ensures integrity, precision, and consistency across all ISAU publications.

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How to Submit

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1. Prepare Your Manuscript

   • Follow the ISAU Whitepaper Template (available for download below).

   • Ensure proper formatting, references, and diagrams are included.

   • Use clear, defensible language with actionable insights.

2. Complete the Submission by:

   • If an ISAU Member, complete the submission form in the portal or research@isaunited.org.

   • If a non-member, send via email to research@isaunited.org.

   • Provide author information, abstract, and domain alignment.

   • Declare originality and adherence to ISAU's submission ethics.

3. Submit for Review

   • You will receive a confirmation and timeline for review.​​

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