  We calculate the time-like pion electromagnetic form factor in the $k_T$
factorization formalism with the inclusion of the next-to-leading-order(NLO)
corrections to the leading-twist and sub-leading-twist contributions. It's
found that the total NLO correction can enhance (reduce) the magnitude (strong
phase) of the leading order form factor by $20\% - 30\%$ ( $< 15^o$) in the
considered invariant mass squared $q^2 > 5$ GeV$^2$, and the NLO twist-3
correction play the key role to narrow the gap between the pQCD predictions and
the measured values for the time-like pion electromagnetic form factor.
