Please Note:  As this is a generic text which does not contain detailed instructions that may be specific to the scientific field you are working in, please make sure that you discuss special requirements with your Publishing Editor before starting your work.

Advantages of Compuscripts
Compuscript production (a typeset production using the author's electronic [computer] file) has the advantage that there is no need for the rekeying of the majority of the text, thereby greatly reducing the risk of introducing errors during typesetting and resulting in reliable and speedy proofs.

Hardware/software requirements
It does not really matter which computer or wordprocessor you use. Any wordprocessor that runs on a PC or Macintosh is acceptable. However, it does help us to process your file further if you let us know such details. Please print out and enclose the Checklist for Electronic Files (MS Word or PDF) with your disk and manuscript.

Hard copy printout mandatory
We intend to use your file rather than rekey from hard copy. However, we cannot guarantee that your text file will be usable; much will depend on your adherence to our guidelines. Should your file prove to be unusable, for whatever reason, we reserve the right to publish your contribution from the printout supplied. It is, therefore, essential that together with your file you supply us with a hard copy printout that is an exactly matching version of the file, so that no discrepancies exist between the two. Please take care that any non-keyboard characters appear in the hard copy in the correct form.

Before you start
If your book is one in a series, please familiarize yourself with the style and arrangement of this series before you start. Should your book stand by itself, you have of course more freedom. The most important thing is to be consistent in everything you do. In this respect, pay special attention to:

•  chapter openings

•  headings of sections and subsections. How many different headings (ranking order 1, 2, etc.) should there be - 3 to 4 is usually sufficient - and how are these distinguished (differences in format and/or numbering)?

•  figure numbering and citation (Figure; Fig.; Figs.; Arab or Roman numerals; Figure parts labelled with capital or lower-case lettering - check with illustrations; change citation accordingly, not vice versa)

•  table numbering and citation (Roman or Arab numbering)

•  equation numbering (flush left/right; chapter number included or not) and citation (eq, eq., Eq., Eqn, with or without parentheses, etc.)

•  literature citation style and structure of the literature list; see also the references section.

Order of material
Please adhere to the following order (per chapter):

Title page (Title, Author(s), Affiliations),
Abstract,
Main text,
Acknowledgements,
Appendix,
References,
Figure legends,
Tables.

Make sure that there is a balanced subdivision of the Main text in Sections (headings and subheadings; not too many, not too few). Please do not embed figure files in the text.

Tables
If in MS Word the table editor has been used to produce tables, there are usually no problems. If, however, the author has not done this and has aligned text in a different way, there may be problems. Especially the use of the space bar rather than using tabs to align text can provide major problems. It may well be that text and tables prepared in this way will have to be re-keyed.

Mathematics
For reasons of conversion it is preferred, albeit not mandatory, that mathematics in the file are produced through the facilities of the program itself (e.g. the equation editor of MS Word, or LaTeX for both maths and text). If the equations have been produced by making use of some special program other than that used for the body of the text, the conversion to the typesetting system is a more complex matter.

Indexing
Indexing is often handled by the Editor/Publisher in a later stage. However, you may be asked to contribute to the indexing in manuscript stage. Although some word processing packages have indexing options, we prefer that you highlight the terms (keywords) to be indexed in the hard copy printout of your file. Our typesetters will tag these highlighted terms in the file in such a way that the page numbering of the final layout is automatically included. Check with the Editor whether special instructions are available for this project.

Although there are still a large number of technical difficulties to overcome, we are processing graphic files in a growing number of cases. Both scanned and computer-generated figures, either color or black & white, are acceptable under certain conditions.

Note:  In general we charge for color printing. Please consult the Editor or the Publisher.

 Publishable hard copies are mandatory, preferably consisting of the original figures. For half-tones, these should be glossy prints. Photocopies are usually not suitable for reproduction.

 These hard copies need not have the right size and should not be mounted in the hard copy printout of the text.

 In case of electronic illustrations be sure to check the quality of the output on your printing device. It may well be that we shall have to use this printout rather than the file for printing purposes. Do not use screendumps since their resolution is too low.

 The hard copy illustrations should be clearly labelled (Chapter and Figure number on the back).

 Files of illustrations are optional, but will be used if possible. For usable file formats please visit our pages at Artwork Instructions.

 Files of illustrations should be supplied separately from the text file(s). Do not embed figure files in text files.

The preferred position of occurrence should be indicated in the text file by placing the reference to the figure between unique opening and closing markers, usually roughly at the place of first citation. (This also goes for tables and any other object that is cited in the text.) A good way to indicate figure placement is by using angular brackets for this purpose, for example: As is indicated in Figure 12 <Figure 12> The citation in angular brackets will be the trigger to insert the figure file at this place into the text file.

Literature references, both in the literature list and as citations in the text, can be presented in many different ways. Two systems that are commonly used are the "Number System" and the "Name-Year System". A decision as to which system you should use must be made in advance. This is very important because it is cumbersome and costly to replace one system by another at a later stage, errors being easily introduced in the conversion. In the case of contributed volumes the Editor has been asked to enclose examples of the citation style as well as the reference list. Please contact the Editor if you have any further questions.

Generally speaking you should not worry too much about the layout of your printout. Most formatting codes will be removed or replaced by codes specific for our editing tools on processing your article. It is, therefore, not important how you display titles, headings, etc., as long as you do so in a consistent manner throughout the entire manuscript (e.g. if you use bold capitals for first order headings you should do so throughout the entire text; if you use underlining for emphasis, do not use italics in the same function elsewhere; etc.). You are encouraged to use your wordprocessor's facilities to indicate text attributes, such as bold face, italics, subscript, superscript, etc.

With respect to page formatting codes in the file, the file must be relatively unstructured. The less you have bothered about layout, the better it is. Obviously, page numbering is the only page formatting feature that is useful, in order to allow for a completeness check of the manuscript. Other page formatting features are redundant and could have a disturbing effect and should therefore not be turned on during word processing. Specifically to be switched off are:

•  Justification and centring: text must not be justified (must have a "ragged" right-hand margin) and not centred on the page (must have a straight left-hand margin) and not be put in columns.

•  Word breaks: no hard word breaks must be inserted. If short lines are broken in the middle of a word, chances are that a hard word break has been put in.

•  Line breaks: no hard line break codes must be inserted. If lines are much shorter than average, chances are that a hard line break has been inserted.

•  Page breaks: no hard page break codes. All pages of the printout should be of roughly the same length. If a page is much shorter than average, chances are that a hard page break has been inserted. Headers and footers should not be used.

Keyboard discipline and accuracy
Please take care to distinguish properly between the number 1 and the letter l (also 0 and O). Use tabs for indents, not spaces or the indent function. Type accurately; in processing your manuscript typing errors may stay undetected. Use the spell check option of your wordprocessor.

Media
Your files are valuable. Take no risks and use new disks. We accept both floppy disks and CDs. Save your file in the native format of the wordprocessor used. Please do not save your files in "flat ASCII", since this would lose all the relevant formatting codes. Ensure that only relevant file(s) - no old versions! - are on the disk(s).

Upon acceptance
After final revision, your disk(s) plus the required number of printed and exactly matching versions (as printouts) should be submitted together to the accepting Editor (in case of contributed volumes) or Publisher. It is important that the file on the disk and the printout are identical. Please note that no deviations from the version accepted by the Editor are permissible without the prior and explicit approval of the Editor. Such changes should be clearly indicated on an accompanying printout of the file.

Don't forget
Label the cd-ROM/disks with your name, chapter title(s) and chapter number(s), or in case of a contributed volume with the name of the file, the Editor's name, and the name of the book in which your chapter is to be published. Enclose the CD-rom/disks and the last, revised (accepted) hard copy version of your manuscript.