Guide for Authors
Acta Materialia provides a forum for publishing full-length, original papers and
commissioned overviews which advance the in-depth understanding of the relationship between the processing, the structure and the properties
of inorganic materials. Papers which have a high impact potential are sought. The structure encompasses atomic and molecular arrangements,
chemical and electronic structures, and microstructure. Emphasis is on either the mechanical or functional behavior of inorganic solids
at all length scales down to nanostructures.
The following aspects of the science and engineering of inorganic materials are of particular
interest:
(i) Cutting-edge experiments and theory as they relate to the understanding of the properties,
(ii) Simulation and
modeling preferably combined with experimentation specifically as they relate to the understanding of the properties,
(iii) Elucidation
of the mechanisms involved in the synthesis and processing of materials specifically as they relate to the understanding of the properties,
and
(iv) Characterization of the structure and chemistry of materials specifically as it relates to the understanding of the properties.
Short communications and comments to papers published in Acta Materialia may be submitted to Scripta Materialia.
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.
Conflict of interest
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.
Submission declaration
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), 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carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere including electronically in the same form, in English or in any
other language, without the written consent of the copyright-holder.
Changes to authorship
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.
Copyright
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
As an author you (or your employer or institution) retain certain rights; for details
you are referred to:
http://www.elsevier.com/authorsrights.
Role of the funding source
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
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.
Language and language services
Please write your text in good English (American or British usage is accepted,
but not a mixture of these). Authors who require information about language editing and copyediting services pre- and post-submission
please visit
http://webshop.elsevier.com/languageservices
or our customer support site at
http://support.elsevier.com
for more information.
Submission
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.
Submit your article
Please submit your article via
http://ees.elsevier.com/am/.
Referees
Please submit, with the manuscript, the names, affiliations, and e-mail addresses of 4 potential
referees. Note that the editor retains the sole right to decide whether or not the suggested reviewers are used.
Use of wordprocessing software
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.
Article Structure
General guidelines for online submission:
Elsevier can accept text files in most standard word-processing formats but Microsoft Word 97 is preferred. Alternatively, the initial
submission can be in either PostScript or PDF format. Please note, however, that the text file of a revision must be uploaded in an editable
format, either Microsoft Word or LaTex. Graphics should be high-resolution and the preferred formats are either TIFF or JPEG. For further
information on the preparation of electronic artwork please refer to the following website:
http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.
Please follow the instructions below for guidance on the style of the journal. Most formatting codes are removed or replaced
when your article is prepared for publication so there is no need for you to use excessive layout styling. However, please do not use
options such as automatic word breaking, justified layout, double columns or automatic paragraph numbering (especially for numbered references).
Do use bold face, italic, subscripts, superscripts, etc., as appropriate. Ensure that each new paragraph is clearly indicated. When preparing
tables, if you are using a table grid, please use only one grid for each separate table and not a grid for each row. If no grid is being
used, use tabs to align columns instead of spaces.
All online submissions must be accompanied by a covering letter detailing
what you are submitting. Please indicate the author to whom correspondence should be addressed (in the case of multiple authors) and
include a contact address, telephone/fax numbers for the corresponding author and e-mail addresses for
all
authors. Please
include details of any previous or concurrent submissions and also any information that will support your submission (e.g. original or
confirmatory data, relevance, topicality). Please indicate if this is a resubmission of a paper previously rejected by an Acta Materialia
editor and, if so, provide the manuscript number of the rejected paper along with the name of the processing editor. (Referees are chosen
carefully and all editorial decisions are considered final. In the event of rebuttal by the authors, complete statements should be emailed
directly to the processing editor. The editor will invite resubmission if he determines that the argument supports it.) Please note that
when your manuscript is received at Elsevier it is considered to be in its final form. Therefore you need to check your manuscript carefully
before you submit it online.
Length of papers
The pressure for publication space in Acta Materialia is extreme.
This situation may require the processing editor to impose a limitation on the length of a paper. Papers are normally be less than 10
printed pages in length; as a rule of thumb, a paper of 20 double-spaced typescript pages, plus a typical number of figures (8 or so)
reduces to 10 printed pages. Use double spacing and minimum 1-inch (3 cm) margins, and 12 pt font size standard fonts. Papers which
are longer than 25 double-spaced typescript pages may be returned by the processing editor to the authors with a request that they be
shortened before being considered further. On the other hand, extremely short papers less than 3300 words will not be processed. Short
communications and comments to papers published in Acta Materialia should be submitted to Scripta Materialia.
Pagination
Please ensure that your manuscript is paginated, as this will help both editors and reviewers to process it promptly.
Subdivision - numbered sections
Divide your article into clearly defined and numbered sections. Subsections
should be numbered 1.1 (then 1.1.1, 1.1.2, ...), 1.2, etc. (the abstract is not included in section numbering). Use this numbering also
for internal cross-referencing: do not just refer to 'the text'. Any subsection may be given a brief heading. Each heading should appear
on its own separate line.
Introduction
Provide a critical assessment of the literature
relevant to the problem at hand, delineating unresolved issues. State clear objectives to explain how this study will take the field
forward.
Experimental
Provide sufficient detail to allow the work to be reproduced. Methods
already published should be indicated by a reference: only relevant modifications should be described.
Error
bars:
Error bars are required on all experimental and calculated data points with an explanation in the text as to how the errors
were determined.
SI Units
SI units should be used throughout.
Theory/calculation
A
Theory section should extend, not repeat, the background to the article already dealt with in the Introduction and lay the foundation
for further work. In contrast, a Calculation section represents a practical development from a theoretical basis.
Results
Results
should be clear and concise.
Discussion
Should develop cogent explanation for the results
and explore their significance. In the case of computational studies, results should be compared with information available from published
experimental work, if possible.
Conclusions
The main conclusions of the study may be
presented in a short Conclusions section, which should stand alone.
Appendices
If there
is more than one appendix, they should be identified as A, B, etc. Formulae and equations in appendices should be given separate numbering:
Eq. (A.1), Eq. (A.2), etc.; in a subsequent appendix, Eq. (B.1) and so on. Similarly for tables and figures: Table A.1; Fig. A.1, etc.
Essential title page information
•
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 telephone and fax 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.
•It is not necessary to submit the title page as
a separate document. However, if this option is chosen, please also include title page information at the beginning of the text document.
Abstract
An abstract is required for all papers. The abstract should indicate the content of the paper,
and should describe the main conclusions. An effective abstract is brief and normally less than 200 words. Abstracts should not exceed
250 words. References should be avoided, but if essential, they must be cited in full, without reference to the reference list.
Graphical abstract
A Graphical abstract is optional and should summarize the contents of the article in a
concise, pictorial form designed to capture the attention of a wide readership online. Authors must provide images that clearly represent
the work described in the article. Graphical abstracts should be submitted as a separate file in the online submission system. Image
size: Please provide an image with a minimum of 531 × 1328 pixels (h × w) or proportionally more. The image should be readable
at a size of 5 × 13 cm using a regular screen resolution of 96 dpi. Preferred file types: TIFF, EPS, PDF or MS Office files. See
http://www.elsevier.com/graphicalabstracts for examples.
Authors can make use of Elsevier's Illustration and Enhancement
service to ensure the best presentation of their images also in accordance with all technical requirements:
Illustration Service.
Keywords
Immediately following the
Abstract, provide a maximum of 5 keywords which appropriately represent the contents of the paper. The keywords must be selected from
the Keywords list in the most recently published issue of the Journal (also available:
Keyword
Index) ; however, authors may provide one keyword (out of the five) which is not listed in the Keywords list.
Abbreviations
Define abbreviations and acronyms when they first appear in the article. Ensure consistency
of abbreviations throughout the article.
Acknowledgements
Collate acknowledgements in a
separate section at the end of the article before the references and do not, therefore, include them on the title page, as a footnote
to the title or otherwise. List here those individuals who provided help during the research (e.g., providing language help, writing
assistance or proof reading the article, etc.).
Math formulae
Present simple formulae in
the line of normal text where possible and use the solidus (/) instead of a horizontal line for small fractional terms, e.g., X/Y. In
principle, variables are to be presented in italics. Powers of e are often more conveniently denoted by exp. Number consecutively any
equations that have to be displayed separately from the text (if referred to explicitly in the text).
Footnotes
Footnotes
should be used sparingly. Number them consecutively throughout the article, using superscript Arabic numbers. Many wordprocessors build
footnotes into the text, and this feature may be used. Should this not be the case, indicate the position of footnotes in the text and
present the footnotes themselves separately at the end of the article. Do not include footnotes in the Reference list.
Table
footnotes
Indicate each footnote in a table with a superscript lowercase letter.
Artwork
Electronic artwork
General points
• Make sure you use uniform lettering and sizing of your
original artwork.
• Save text in illustrations as 'graphics' or enclose the font.
• Only use the following fonts in
your illustrations: Arial, Courier, Times, Symbol.
• Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text.
•
Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files.
• Provide captions to illustrations separately.
• Produce images
near to the desired size of the printed version.
• Submit each figure 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
Regardless of the application used, when
your electronic artwork is finalised, 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: Vector drawings. Embed the font or save the text
as 'graphics'.
TIFF: Color or grayscale photographs (halftones): always use a minimum of 300 dpi.
TIFF: Bitmapped line drawings:
use a minimum of 1000 dpi.
TIFF: Combinations bitmapped line/half-tone (color or grayscale): a minimum of 500 dpi is required.
If
your electronic artwork is created in a Microsoft Office application (Word, PowerPoint, Excel) then please supply 'as is'.
Please
do not:
• Supply files that are optimised for screen use (e.g., GIF, BMP, PICT, WPG); the resolution is too low;
•
Supply files that are too low in resolution;
• Submit graphics that are disproportionately large for the content.
Color artwork
Please make sure that artwork files are in an acceptable format (TIFF, EPS 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.
Figure captions
Ensure that each illustration has a caption. Supply captions separately, not attached
to the figure. (A separate list of figure captions must be included in the main body of your paper, following the references.) A caption
should comprise a brief title (
not on the figure itself) and a description of the illustration. Keep text in the illustrations
themselves to a minimum but explain all symbols and abbreviations used.
Tables
Number tables
consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text. Place footnotes to tables below the table body and indicate them with
superscript lowercase letters. Avoid vertical rules. Be sparing in the use of tables and ensure that the data presented in tables do
not duplicate results described elsewhere in the article.
References
All references
to other papers, books, etc., must be given at the end of the paper. They should be numbered in sequence starting at the beginning of
the paper. The numbers (in brackets) should appear in the text at the appropriate places.
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.
Web references
As
a minimum, the full URL should be given and the date when the reference was last accessed. Any further information, if known (DOI, author
names, dates, reference to a source publication, etc.), should also be given. Web references can be listed separately (e.g., after the
reference list) under a different heading if desired, or can be included in the reference list.
References
in a special issue
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.
Reference management software
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.
Reference style
Text:
Indicate references by number(s) in square brackets in line with the text. The actual authors can be referred to, but the reference number(s)
must always be given.
Example: "..... as demonstrated [3,6]. Barnaby and Jones [8] obtained a different result ...."
List:
Number the references (numbers in square brackets) in the list in the order in which they appear in the text.
Examples:
Reference to a journal publication:
[1] van der Geer J, Hanraads JAJ, Lupton, RA. J Sci Commun 2000;163:51.
Reference
to a book:
[2] Strunk Jr. W, White EB. The Elements of Style, third ed. New York: Macmillan; 1979.
Reference to a chapter in
an edited book:
[3] Mettam GR, Adams LB. How to prepare an electronic version of your article, in: Jones BS, Smith RZ (Eds.). Introduction
to the Electronic Age. New York: E Publishing Inc.; 1999.
Journal abbreviations source
Journal
names should be abbreviated according to
Index Medicus journal abbreviations:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/tsd/serials/lji.html;
List of title word abbreviations:
http://www.issn.org/2-22661-LTWA-online.php;
CAS (Chemical Abstracts Service):
http://www.cas.org/sent.html.
Video 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 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.
Supplementary data
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.
Submission checklist
It is hoped that this list will be useful during the final checking of an article
prior to sending it to the journal's Editor for review. Please consult this Guide for Authors for further details of any item.
Ensure
that the following items are present:
One Author designated as corresponding Author:
• E-mail address
• Full
postal address
• Telephone and fax numbers
•Email addresses provided for all authors
All necessary files have been
uploaded
• Keywords
• All figure captions
• All tables (including title, description, footnotes)
Further
considerations
• Manuscript has been "spellchecked" 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://epsupport.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. The
correct format for citing a DOI is shown as follows (example taken from a document in the journal
Physics Letters B):
doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2010.09.059
When you use the DOI to create URL hyperlinks to documents on the web, the DOIs are guaranteed never to change.
Proofs
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.
Offprints
The
corresponding author, at no cost, will be provided with a PDF file of the article via e-mail. For an extra charge, paper offprints can
be ordered via the offprint order form which is sent once the article is accepted for publication. 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 inquiries relating to the submission of articles (including
electronic submission) please visit this journal's homepage. 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 (
http://www.elsevier.com/authorFAQ) and/or contact Customer Support via
http://support.elsevier.com.
