Guide for Authors
-
Process Biochemistry is an application-orientated research journal devoted to reporting advances with originality and novelty, in the science and technology of the processes involving bioactive molecules and living organisms. These processes concern the production of useful metabolites or materials, or the removal of toxic compounds using tools and methods of current biology and engineering. Its main areas of interest include novel bioprocesses and enabling technologies (such as nanobiotechnology, tissue engineering, directed evolution, metabolic engineering, systems biology, and synthetic biology) applicable in food (nutraceutical), healthcare (medical, pharmaceutical, cosmetic), energy (biofuels), environmental, and biorefinery industries and their underlying biological and engineering principles.Main topics covered include, with most of possible aspects and domains of application: cell culture and fermentation, biochemical and bioreactor engineering; biotechnology processes and their life science aspects; biocatalysis, enzyme engineering and biotransformation; and downstream processing.
Manuscripts and data using response surface methodology (RSM) which are mainly descriptive, without any physiological or systemic explanation or correlations are not suitable for submission to the journal.
Types of paper
Process Biochemistry accepts three types of manuscripts: Full length articles, Short communications and Reviews.Full length articles (FLA) should not generally exceed 25 double-spaced pages of text (not including the references) and should not contain more than 15 figures and/or tables.
Short communications (SCO) should not exceed 10 double-spaced pages of text (not including the references) and no more than 5 figures and/or tables.Reviews (REV) should not generally exceed 20 double-spaced pages of text (not including the references) and should not contain more than 10 figures and/or tables.
Accelerated publications can sometimes be taken into consideration. The authors should clearly explain their request for accelerated handling in the cover letter. Ethics in publishing
For information on Ethics in publishing and Ethical guidelines for journal publication see http://www.elsevier.com/publishingethics and http://www.elsevier.com/ethicalguidelines.Policy and ethics
Conflict of interest
The work described in your article must have been carried out in accordance with The Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki) for experiments involving humans http://www.wma.net/en/30publications/10policies/b3/index.html; EU Directive 2010/63/EU for animal experiments http://ec.europa.eu/environment/chemicals/lab_animals/legislation_en.htm; Uniform Requirements for manuscripts submitted to Biomedical journals http://www.icmje.org. This must be stated at an appropriate point in the article.
All authors are requested to disclose any actual or potential conflict of interest including any financial, personal or other relationships with other people or organizations within three years of beginning the submitted work that could inappropriately influence, or be perceived to influence, their work. See also http://www.elsevier.com/conflictsofinterest. Further information and an example of a Conflict of Interest form can be found at: http://elsevier6.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/286/p/7923/.Submission declaration and verification
Contributors
Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis or as an electronic preprint, see http://www.elsevier.com/postingpolicy), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, including electronically without the written consent of the copyright-holder. To verify originality, your article may be checked by the originality detection service CrossCheck http://www.elsevier.com/editors/plagdetect.
Each author is required to declare his or her individual contribution to the article: all authors must have materially participated in the research and/or article preparation, so roles for all authors should be described. The statement that all authors have approved the final article should be true and included in the disclosure.Changes to authorship
Copyright
This policy concerns the addition, deletion, or rearrangement of author names in the authorship of accepted manuscripts:
Before the accepted manuscript is published in an online issue: Requests to add or remove an author, or to rearrange the author names, must be sent to the Journal Manager from the corresponding author of the accepted manuscript and must include: (a) the reason the name should be added or removed, or the author names rearranged and (b) written confirmation (e-mail, fax, letter) from all authors that they agree with the addition, removal or rearrangement. In the case of addition or removal of authors, this includes confirmation from the author being added or removed. Requests that are not sent by the corresponding author will be forwarded by the Journal Manager to the corresponding author, who must follow the procedure as described above. Note that: (1) Journal Managers will inform the Journal Editors of any such requests and (2) publication of the accepted manuscript in an online issue is suspended until authorship has been agreed.
After the accepted manuscript is published in an online issue: Any requests to add, delete, or rearrange author names in an article published in an online issue will follow the same policies as noted above and result in a corrigendum.
Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to complete a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' (for more information on this and copyright see http://www.elsevier.com/copyright). Acceptance of the agreement will ensure the widest possible dissemination of information. An e-mail will be sent to the corresponding author confirming receipt of the manuscript together with a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' form or a link to the online version of this agreement.
Subscribers may reproduce tables of contents or prepare lists of articles including abstracts for internal circulation within their institutions. Permission of the Publisher is required for resale or distribution outside the institution and for all other derivative works, including compilations and translations (please consult http://www.elsevier.com/permissions). If excerpts from other copyrighted works are included, the author(s) must obtain written permission from the copyright owners and credit the source(s) in the article. Elsevier has preprinted forms for use by authors in these cases: please consult http://www.elsevier.com/permissions.Retained author rights
Role of the funding source
As an author you (or your employer or institution) retain certain rights; for details you are referred to: http://www.elsevier.com/authorsrights.
You are requested to identify who provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article and to briefly describe the role of the sponsor(s), if any, in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the article for publication. If the funding source(s) had no such involvement then this should be stated. Please see http://www.elsevier.com/funding.Funding body agreements and policies
Open access
Elsevier has established agreements and developed policies to allow authors whose articles appear in journals published by Elsevier, to comply with potential manuscript archiving requirements as specified as conditions of their grant awards. To learn more about existing agreements and policies please visit http://www.elsevier.com/fundingbodies.
US National Institutes of Health (NIH) voluntary posting (" Public Access") policy: Elsevier facilitates author posting in connection with the voluntary posting request of the NIH (referred to as the NIH "Public Access Policy", see http://www.nih.gov/about/publicaccess/index.htm) by posting the peer-reviewed author's manuscript directly to PubMed Central on request from the author, after formal publication. Upon notification from Elsevier of acceptance, we will ask you to confirm via e-mail (by e-mailing us at NIHauthorrequest@elsevier.com) that your work has received NIH funding (with the NIH award number, as well as the name and e-mail address of the Prime Investigator) and that you intend to respond to the NIH request. Upon such confirmation, Elsevier will submit to PubMed Central on your behalf a version of your manuscript that will include peer-review comments, for posting 12 months after the formal publication date. This will ensure that you will have responded fully to the NIH request policy. There will be no need for you to post your manuscript directly to PubMed Central, and any such posting is prohibited. Individual modifications to this general policy may apply to some Elsevier journals and its society publishing partners.
This journal offers authors a choice in publishing their research:Open Access
All articles published Open Access will be immediately and permanently free for everyone to read and download. Permitted reuse is defined by your choice of one of the following Creative Commons user licenses:
• Articles are freely available to both subscribers and the wider public with permitted reuse
• An Open Access publication fee is payable by authors or their research funder
Subscription
• Articles are made available to subscribers as well as developing countries and patient groups through our access programs (http://www.elsevier.com/access)
• No Open Access publication fee
Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY): lets others distribute and copy the article, to create extracts, abstracts, and other revised versions, adaptations or derivative works of or from an article (such as a translation), to include in a collective work (such as an anthology), to text or data mine the article, even for commercial purposes, as long as they credit the author(s), do not represent the author as endorsing their adaptation of the article, and do not modify the article in such a way as to damage the author's honor or reputation.
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC-BY-NC-SA): for non-commercial purposes, lets others distribute and copy the article, to create extracts, abstracts and other revised versions, adaptations or derivative works of or from an article (such as a translation), to include in a collective work (such as an anthology), to text and data mine the article, as long as they credit the author(s), do not represent the author as endorsing their adaptation of the article, do not modify the article in such a way as to damage the author's honor or reputation, and license their new adaptations or creations under identical terms (CC-BY-NC-SA).
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC-BY-NC-ND): for non-commercial purposes, lets others distribute and copy the article, and to include in a collective work (such as an anthology), as long as they credit the author(s) and provided they do not alter or modify the article.To provide Open Access, this journal has a publication fee which needs to be met by the authors or their research funders for each article published Open Access.
Language (usage and editing services)
Your publication choice will have no effect on the peer review process or acceptance of submitted articles.
The publication fee for this journal is $2,200, excluding taxes. Learn more about Elsevier's pricing policy: http://www.elsevier.com/openaccesspricing.
Please write your text in good English (American or British usage is accepted, but not a mixture of these). Authors who feel their English language manuscript may require editing to eliminate possible grammatical or spelling errors and to conform to correct scientific English may wish to use the English Language Editing service available from Elsevier's WebShop http://webshop.elsevier.com/languageediting/ or visit our customer support site http://support.elsevier.com for more information.Submission
In their on-line submission, authors are required to suggest at least three independent referees (and preferably up to five, outside their own institution) with their position, institution, and email address; and preferably the suggested referees are of international standing and are working on the same or similar topics. The final choice of referees is up to the Editors. All submissions will be reviewed by at least two referees. But, manuscripts will be pre-screened for suitability and may be returned to the authors without peer review if they do not meet the criteria for originality and novelty or cause misunderstanding.
Submission to this journal proceeds totally online and you will be guided stepwise through the creation and uploading of your files. The system automatically converts source files to a single PDF file of the article, which is used in the peer-review process. Please note that even though manuscript source files are converted to PDF files at submission for the review process, these source files are needed for further processing after acceptance. All correspondence, including notification of the Editor's decision and requests for revision, takes place by e-mail removing the need for a paper trail.
A cover letter should be submitted on-line by the authors together with the manuscript, which includes the following points: 1) all authors agree to submit the work to Process Biochemistry, 2) the work has not been published/submitted or being submitted to another journal, 3) the novelty and significant contribution of the submitted work are briefly described.When a manuscript is rejected by an editor, generally it should not be resubmitted in its original version, but may be resubmitted after substantial modifications and/or addition of significant experimental data. It is up to the discretion of the editors to reconsider such resubmitted manuscripts as new submissions. Please include a letter of transmittal explaining why a resubmitted manuscript should be reconsidered by the editors, a detailed response to the issues raised by the editors/reviewers and the editor for the original version, and a concise outline of the revisions. Any corresponding author or co-author of one manuscript which has been rejected (without resubmission encouragement) must not resubmit a similar manuscript. If so, these authors will have a punishment of two years of prohibition to submit.
It is highly recommended to validate the pertinent and main data of the manuscripts by reproducibility assays, that is to say, to give in the corresponding (parts of the) Tables their mean values and standard deviations, and in the corresponding (parts of the) Figures their error bars. These data should be then obtained with a minimum of triplicate assays.Moreover the authors must give a list of all related manuscripts/papers, whether in submission or in press.
Use of wordprocessing software
Article Structure
It is important that the file be saved in the native format of the wordprocessor used. The text should be in single-column format. Keep the layout of the text as simple as possible. Most formatting codes will be removed and replaced on processing the article. In particular, do not use the wordprocessor's options to justify text or to hyphenate words. However, do use bold face, italics, subscripts, superscripts etc. When preparing tables, if you are using a table grid, use only one grid for each individual table and not a grid for each row. If no grid is used, use tabs, not spaces, to align columns. The electronic text should be prepared in a way very similar to that of conventional manuscripts (see also the Guide to Publishing with Elsevier: http://www.elsevier.com/guidepublication). Note that source files of figures, tables and text graphics will be required whether or not you embed your figures in the text. See also the section on Electronic artwork.
To avoid unnecessary errors you are strongly advised to use the 'spell-check' and 'grammar-check' functions of your wordprocessor.
The texts should be double-spaced with all lines numbered and be as concise as possible. All manuscripts must be submitted in the following format: Title page; second page contains the Abstract and keywords; subsequent pages include the Introduction, Materials and methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgement(s), References, Figure legends, Tables, and Figures. Figure legends should be gathered on a separate page(s), followed by Tables and Figures with a separate page for each one. For experimental design results, as they are scientifically not usable, 3D figures are generally discouraged. Indicate then only the pertinent data in 2D diagrams. Page numeration starts from the first page. The Results and Discussion sections may be combined but should be thorough in the discussion about the novelty and impact of the submitted work. Articles without sufficient discussion will be systematically rejected. Legends for tables and figures should be complete and concise: one figure or one table should be perfectly understandable with its own legend, and incomplete legends will not be accepted. It is recommended to use a concise and short title, followed by another sentence(s) including specific details.Introduction
Material and Methods
Should be concise in the related background description and lead to the objectives and novelty of the work.
Provide sufficient details to allow the work to be reproduced, including the information about suppliers and catalogue numbers when appropriate. Methods already published should be indicated by a reference: only relevant modifications should be described.Results and discussion
Conclusions
These two parts can be separated as "Results" and "Discussion" or combined into one section. The discussion about each major point of the results is very important, and should not repeat the experimental results; generally citation of related references is necessary.
This section is not obligatory and can exist as a short paragraph at the end of "Results and Discussion" section. When it exists as a section, it should be short and concise but should not repeat the Abstract. Generally the Conclusion does not cite references, and it is different from the discussion.Essential title page information
Abstract
• Title. Concise and informative. Titles are often used in information-retrieval systems. Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible.
• Author names and affiliations. Where the family name may be ambiguous (e.g., a double name), please indicate this clearly. Present the authors' affiliation addresses (where the actual work was done) below the names. Indicate all affiliations with a lower-case superscript letter immediately after the author's name and in front of the appropriate address. Provide the full postal address of each affiliation, including the country name and, if available, the e-mail address of each author.
• Corresponding author. Clearly indicate who will handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication. Ensure that phone numbers (with country and area code) are provided in addition to the e-mail address and the complete postal address. Contact details must be kept up to date by the corresponding author.
• Present/permanent address. If an author has moved since the work described in the article was done, or was visiting at the time, a 'Present address' (or 'Permanent address') may be indicated as a footnote to that author's name. The address at which the author actually did the work must be retained as the main, affiliation address. Superscript Arabic numerals are used for such footnotes.
Each paper should be provided with an abstract of 100-150 words for Short Communications and 150-200 words for Full Length Articles and Reviews, reporting concisely on the purposes and results of the paper.Keywords
Abbreviations
Immediately after the abstract, provide a maximum of 6 keywords, using American spelling and avoiding general and plural terms and multiple concepts (avoid, for example, 'and', 'of'). Be sparing with abbreviations: only abbreviations firmly established in the field may be eligible. These keywords will be used for indexing purposes.
Abbreviations for units should follow the suggestions of the British Standards publication BS 1991. The full stop should not be included in abbreviations, e.g. m (not m.), ppm (not p.p.m.), % and / should be used in preference to 'per cent' and 'per'. Where abbreviations are likely to cause ambiguity or may not be readily understood by an international readership, units should be put in full.Nomenclature and Units
Database linking
The SI system should be used for all scientific and laboratory data: if, in certain instances, it is necessary to quote other units, these should be added in parentheses. Temperatures should be given in degrees Celsius. The unit 'billion': 109 in America (ten to the power 9), and 1012 in Europe (ten to the power 12), is ambiguous and should not be used.
Elsevier encourages authors to connect articles with external databases, giving their readers one-click access to relevant databases that help to build a better understanding of the described research. Please refer to relevant database identifiers using the following format in your article: Database: xxxx (e.g., TAIR: AT1G01020; CCDC: 734053; PDB: 1XFN). See http://www.elsevier.com/databaselinking for more information and a full list of supported databases.Footnotes
Artwork
Footnotes should be avoided especially if they contain information which could equally well be included in the text. The use of proprietary names should be avoided. Papers essentially of an advertising nature will not be accepted.Electronic artwork
Color artwork
General points
• Make sure you use uniform lettering and sizing of your original artwork.
• Embed the used fonts if the application provides that option.
• Aim to use the following fonts in your illustrations: Arial, Courier, Times New Roman, Symbol, or use fonts that look similar.
• Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text.
• Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files.
• Provide captions to illustrations separately.
• Size the illustrations close to the desired dimensions of the printed version.
• Submit each illustration as a separate file.
A detailed guide on electronic artwork is available on our website:
http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions
You are urged to visit this site; some excerpts from the detailed information are given here.
Formats
If your electronic artwork is created in a Microsoft Office application (Word, PowerPoint, Excel) then please supply 'as is' in the native document format.
Regardless of the application used other than Microsoft Office, when your electronic artwork is finalized, please 'Save as' or convert the images to one of the following formats (note the resolution requirements for line drawings, halftones, and line/halftone combinations given below):
EPS (or PDF): Vector drawings, embed all used fonts.
TIFF (or JPEG): Color or grayscale photographs (halftones), keep to a minimum of 300 dpi.
TIFF (or JPEG): Bitmapped (pure black & white pixels) line drawings, keep to a minimum of 1000 dpi.
TIFF (or JPEG): Combinations bitmapped line/half-tone (color or grayscale), keep to a minimum of 500 dpi.
Please do not:
• Supply files that are optimized for screen use (e.g., GIF, BMP, PICT, WPG); these typically have a low number of pixels and limited set of colors;
• Supply files that are too low in resolution;
• Submit graphics that are disproportionately large for the content.
Please make sure that artwork files are in an acceptable format (TIFF (or JPEG), EPS (or PDF), or MS Office files) and with the correct resolution. If, together with your accepted article, you submit usable color figures then Elsevier will ensure, at no additional charge, that these figures will appear in color on the Web (e.g., ScienceDirect and other sites) regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in color in the printed version. For color reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Elsevier after receipt of your accepted article. Please indicate your preference for color: in print or on the Web only. For further information on the preparation of electronic artwork, please see http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.
Please note: Because of technical complications which can arise by converting color figures to 'gray scale' (for the printed version should you not opt for color in print) please submit in addition usable black and white versions of all the color illustrations.References
[1] Hsieh C, Hsu TH, Yang FC. Production of polysaccharides of Ganoderma lucidum (CCRC36021) by reusing thin stillage. Process Biochem 2005;40:909-916.
References should be cited at the appropriate point in the text by a number in square brackets. A list of references, in numerical order, should appear at the end of the paper. All references in this list should be indicated at some point in the text and vice versa. Unpublished data or private communications AND WEBSITE ADDRESSES should not appear in the list. Examples of layout of references are given below.[2] Stephanopoulos GN, Aristidou AA, Nielsen JE. Metabolic engineering: principles and methodologies. New York: Academic Press; 1998. p. 494
[3] Zhong JJ, Yoshida T. Rheological chracteristics of suspended cultures of Perilla frutescens and their implications in bioreactor operation for anthocyanin production. In: Ryu DDY, Furusaki S editors. Advances in Plant Biotechnology. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science; 1994. p. 255-279.[4] Lima R, Salcedo, RL. An optimized strategy for equation-oriented global optimization. In: Grievink J, Schijndel JV. editors. 10th European Symposium on Computer Aided Chemical Engineering. New York: Academic Press; 2002. p. 913-918.
[5] Curtin CD. Towards molecular bioprocessing as a tool to enhance production of anthocyanins in Vitis vinifera L. cell suspension culture. Australia: Flinders University; Ph.D. thesis; 2004. p.250.[6] Snow-Brand-Milk-Prod. Lysozyme purification by affinity chromatorgraphy on crosslink chitosan sulfate. Jpn. Patent. JP 05260-966. 92.03.24.
[7] Enfors SO, editor. Physiological stress responses in bioprocesses. Advances in Biochemical Engineering/Biotechnology. vol. 89. Berlin: Springer; 2004. p. 244.[8] Schweder T, Hecker M. Monitoring of stress response, In: Enfors SO, editor. Physiological stress responses in bioprocesses. Advances in Biochemical Engineering/Biotechnology vol. 89. Berlin: Springer; 2004. p. 47-71.
Citation in text
Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa). Any references cited in the abstract must be given in full. Unpublished results and personal communications are not recommended in the reference list, but may be mentioned in the text. If these references are included in the reference list they should follow the standard reference style of the journal and should include a substitution of the publication date with either 'Unpublished results' or 'Personal communication'. Citation of a reference as 'in press' implies that the item has been accepted for publication.References in a special issue
Reference management software
Please ensure that the words 'this issue' are added to any references in the list (and any citations in the text) to other articles in the same Special Issue.
This journal has standard templates available in key reference management packages EndNote (http://www.endnote.com/support/enstyles.asp) and Reference Manager (http://refman.com/support/rmstyles.asp). Using plug-ins to wordprocessing packages, authors only need to select the appropriate journal template when preparing their article and the list of references and citations to these will be formatted according to the journal style which is described below.Video data
Supplementary data
Elsevier accepts video material and animation sequences to support and enhance your scientific research. Authors who have video or animation files that they wish to submit with their article are strongly encouraged to include links to these within the body of the article. This can be done in the same way as a figure or table by referring to the video or animation content and noting in the body text where it should be placed. All submitted files should be properly labeled so that they directly relate to the video file's content. In order to ensure that your video or animation material is directly usable, please provide the files in one of our recommended file formats with a preferred maximum size of 50 MB. Video and animation files supplied will be published online in the electronic version of your article in Elsevier Web products, including ScienceDirect: http://www.sciencedirect.com. Please supply 'stills' with your files: you can choose any frame from the video or animation or make a separate image. These will be used instead of standard icons and will personalize the link to your video data. For more detailed instructions please visit our video instruction pages at http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions. Note: since video and animation cannot be embedded in the print version of the journal, please provide text for both the electronic and the print version for the portions of the article that refer to this content.
Elsevier accepts electronic supplementary material to support and enhance your scientific research. Supplementary files offer the author additional possibilities to publish supporting applications, high-resolution images, background datasets, sound clips and more. Supplementary files supplied will be published online alongside the electronic version of your article in Elsevier Web products, including ScienceDirect: http://www.sciencedirect.com. In order to ensure that your submitted material is directly usable, please provide the data in one of our recommended file formats. Authors should submit the material in electronic format together with the article and supply a concise and descriptive caption for each file. For more detailed instructions please visit our artwork instruction pages at http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.Supplementary material captions
Submission checklist
Each supplementary material file should have a short caption which will be placed at the bottom of the article, where it can assist the reader and also be used by search engines.
The following list will be useful during the final checking of an article prior to sending it to the journal for review. Please consult this Guide for Authors for further details of any item.
Ensure that the following items are present:
One author has been designated as the corresponding author with contact details:
• E-mail address
• Full postal address
• Phone numbers
All necessary files have been uploaded, and contain:
• Keywords
• All figure captions
• All tables (including title, description, footnotes)
Further considerations
• Manuscript has been 'spell-checked' and 'grammar-checked'
• References are in the correct format for this journal
• All references mentioned in the Reference list are cited in the text, and vice versa
• Permission has been obtained for use of copyrighted material from other sources (including the Web)
• Color figures are clearly marked as being intended for color reproduction on the Web (free of charge) and in print, or to be reproduced in color on the Web (free of charge) and in black-and-white in print
• If only color on the Web is required, black-and-white versions of the figures are also supplied for printing purposes
For any further information please visit our customer support site at http://support.elsevier.com. Use of the Digital Object Identifier
The Digital Object Identifier (DOI) may be used to cite and link to electronic documents. The DOI consists of a unique alpha-numeric character string which is assigned to a document by the publisher upon the initial electronic publication. The assigned DOI never changes. Therefore, it is an ideal medium for citing a document, particularly 'Articles in press' because they have not yet received their full bibliographic information. Example of a correctly given DOI (in URL format; here an article in the journal Physics Letters B):
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2010.09.059
When you use a DOI to create links to documents on the web, the DOIs are guaranteed never to change.Proofs
Offprints
One set of page proofs (as PDF files) will be sent by e-mail to the corresponding author (if we do not have an e-mail address then paper proofs will be sent by post) or, a link will be provided in the e-mail so that authors can download the files themselves. Elsevier now provides authors with PDF proofs which can be annotated; for this you will need to download Adobe Reader version 7 (or higher) available free from http://get.adobe.com/reader. Instructions on how to annotate PDF files will accompany the proofs (also given online). The exact system requirements are given at the Adobe site: http://www.adobe.com/products/reader/tech-specs.html.
If you do not wish to use the PDF annotations function, you may list the corrections (including replies to the Query Form) and return them to Elsevier in an e-mail. Please list your corrections quoting line number. If, for any reason, this is not possible, then mark the corrections and any other comments (including replies to the Query Form) on a printout of your proof and return by fax, or scan the pages and e-mail, or by post. Please use this proof only for checking the typesetting, editing, completeness and correctness of the text, tables and figures. Significant changes to the article as accepted for publication will only be considered at this stage with permission from the Editor. We will do everything possible to get your article published quickly and accurately – please let us have all your corrections within 48 hours. It is important to ensure that all corrections are sent back to us in one communication: please check carefully before replying, as inclusion of any subsequent corrections cannot be guaranteed. Proofreading is solely your responsibility. Note that Elsevier may proceed with the publication of your article if no response is received.
The corresponding author, at no cost, will be provided with a PDF file of the article via e-mail (the PDF file is a watermarked version of the published article and includes a cover sheet with the journal cover image and a disclaimer outlining the terms and conditions of use). For an extra charge, paper offprints can be ordered via the offprint order form which is sent once the article is accepted for publication. Both corresponding and co-authors may order offprints at any time via Elsevier's WebShop (http://webshop.elsevier.com/myarticleservices/offprints). Authors requiring printed copies of multiple articles may use Elsevier WebShop's 'Create Your Own Book' service to collate multiple articles within a single cover (http://webshop.elsevier.com/myarticleservices/offprints/myarticlesservices/booklets).
For inquiries relating to the submission of articles (including electronic submission) please visit this journal's homepage. For detailed instructions on the preparation of electronic artwork, please visit http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions. Contact details for questions arising after acceptance of an article, especially those relating to proofs, will be provided by the publisher. You can track accepted articles at http://www.elsevier.com/trackarticle. You can also check our Author FAQs at http://www.elsevier.com/authorFAQ and/or contact Customer Support via http://support.elsevier.com.
