Are Prior Publications allowed in IEEE Transactions on Information Theory? I have a paper written that is about 17 pages. I plan to submit a shortened version of it of only the main ideas to a conference with a 10 page limit next month, but I also want to submit the full manuscript for review to IEEE Transactions on Information Theory in parallel. I was reading their FAQ and I read the following paragraph which really confused me:


  Policy on prior publication 
  
  Contributions should comprise novel and
  previously unpublished material; however, prior publication at (or
  parallel submission to) conferences does not preclude publication in
  this Transactions, provided this is properly referenced in the paper
  at the time of submission to the Transactions. Thereafter, submission
  to other journals is precluded, unless the paper is rejected by this
  Transactions, or is withdrawn. If all or part of the paper was
  previously presented at one or more conferences, a statement such as
  the following must be included in the authors' footnote on the first
  page of the paper at the time of submission: "This paper was presented
  [in part] at ... [and ...]."
  
  If authors submit a paper that is a nearly verbatim copy of a prior
  conference publication, they have to indicate to the editors in a
  cover letter why they feel that republication is warranted. Editorial
  decisions will take into account any previous publication of submitted
  material.


Here is what's confusing me. At first, they say that its okay to have parallel submission as long as this is referenced in the paper. Then they say but we have to indicate this to the editors with a cover letter. I am confused, is what I am doing okay or not?
There is no confusion, you can present the paper in the conference and submit it for publication.

But you have to tell the editors in a letter with the paper which conference it was presented at.

This is so that they know at the time and don’t find out “by accident” or, you never know, they could be at the conference...