Published on behalf of Acta Materialia Inc.

Introduction
General guidelines for online submission

Manuscript Preparation:
Limitations on length of papers
Calculating the length of the manuscript
Abstract
Keywords
Title and headings
Units
Figures
Colour
Illustrations
References
Spellchecking
Paper submissions by mail

Other:
Copyright
Notification
PDF Proofs
Author Benefits
Online paper tracking
Enquiries
Useful Links

Introduction:
Short, timely and cutting-edge reports will be considered for rapid publication in Scripta Materialia . Papers should be directed to those aspects of the science of materials defined in the scope presented on the inside front cover. Manuscripts must be prepared in a letters format that flows from introduction, to experimental details or approach, results, discussion and summary, without headings. Manuscripts not written in proper English and according to the following instructions will be returned to authors without review.

Manuscript Submission.
Papers should be submitted electronically through http://ees.elsevier.com/smm/. Prior to submitting your paper, please follow the instructions given below.
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General guidelines for online submission:
The preferred format for submission is Microsoft Word. Graphics should be high-resolution and in either TIFF or JPEG format. For further information on the preparation of electronic artwork, refer to the following website: http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstruction. All online submissions must be accompanied by a cover letter detailing the most important findings in your manuscript. This letter should include contact information (address, telephone/fax numbers and e-mail address) for all authors and clearly indicate the author to whom correspondence should be addressed. The cover letter must also include a statement of the originality of the work and affirmation that all authors have read the paper and agree to this statement of originality. Authors should include details of any previous or concurrent submissions; if the manuscript is the revision of a previous submission, cite the previous manuscript number. Note that when a manuscript is received at Elsevier, it is considered to be in its final form. Therefore authors need to check the manuscript carefully before submitting it online.
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Limitations on length of papers:
The maximum length of manuscripts is 4 journal pages with not more than 4 figures. To conform to this page limit, please refer to the following guidelines:
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Estimating the length of a manuscript:
To meet the four journal page limit, an article must not exceed 3700 words, including text, title, abstract, figure captions, references. When figures, tables or equations are used, the equivalent number of words must be determined using the following: One column wide (7.5 cm) figures/tables: 20 words per cm height; Two column wide (15 cm) figures/tables: 40 words per cm height; Equations: 20 words for each equation. For example, the total number of text words available for a manuscript with one figure, one table and one equation would be as follows: Figure: 10 cm x 15 cm (double column width) = 400 words; Table: 8 cm x 7.5 cm (single column width) = 160 words; Equation: 20 words; Words available for text: 3700 - (400+160+20) = 3120 words
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Title:
The title should be concise but informative. Avoid using abbreviations and nomenclature of specific materials and alloys in the title.
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Abstract:
The abstract must not be longer than 80 words. Non-standard abbreviations and specific nomenclature of materials must be avoided. Only atomic symbols and chemical formulae can be used without definition.
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Keywords:
Authors should list a maximum of five keywords which appropriately represent the contents of their manuscripts. The list of keywords should appear on the title page of each paper, following the title, author names and author affiliations, and abstract. Four keywords must be selected from the Keywords List in the most recently published issue of the journal (also available on-line); however, authors may provide one keyword which is not listed in the Keywords List.

Click here for a full list of keywords
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Units:
Use only SI units and abbreviations in manuscripts.
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Figures:
The maximum number of figures is 4. For electronic submission, all figures must be in digital form (minimum 600 dpi). Legible scale marks should be printed on all micrographs. Please see http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions for more information.
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Colour:
Color figures will be reproduced in pdf files downloadable from ScienceDirect regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in color in the printed version. There is a charge for color reproduction in print. Authors will receive information on this cost from Elsevier after the acceptance of an article.
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References:
References should be indicated 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?''

Referenceto a journal publication:
[1] J. van der Geer, J.A.J. Hanraads, R.A. Lupton, J. Sci. Communc. 163 (2000) 51.

Reference to a book:
[2] W. Strunk Jr., E.B. White, The Elements of Style, third ed., Macmillan, New York, 1979.

Reference to a chapter in an edited book:
[3] G.R. Mettam, L.B. Adams, in: B.S. Jones, R.Z. Smith (Eds.), Introduction to the Electronic Age, E-Publishing Inc., New York, 1999, pp. 281-304.

Spellchecking:
Be sure that your manuscripts are free of spelling errors. If you wish to check the technical spelling of your manuscript, please refer to www.sciproof.com. SCIPROOF offers a product called Scientific Dictionary Package (SDP) 2.0 that contains over 1.8 million entries and is the only spellchecking software that specifically includes materials science terms, plus chemical and biomedical terms (for biomaterials), and journal titles and abbreviations. This program is an add-on for Microsoft Office and augments the native Office spell checker.

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Preparation of Supplementary data:
Elsevier accepts supplementary material to support and enhance your scientific research. Supplementary files offer the Author additional possibilities to publish supporting applications, movies, animation sequences, 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 ensure that data is provided 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.
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Copyright:
It is a condition of publication that manuscripts submitted to this journal have not been published and have not been simultaneously submitted or published elsewhere. By submitting a manuscript, the authors agree that the copyright for their article is transferred to Acta Materialia Inc. if and when the article is accepted for publication. However, assignment of copyright is not required from authors who work for organizations which do not permit such assignment. The copyright covers the exclusive rights to reproduce and distribute the article, including reprints, photographic reproductions, microform or any other reproductions of similar nature, and translations. Authors are responsible for obtaining from the copyright holder permission to reproduce any figures for which copyright exists.
For more information please go to our copyright page http://www.elsevier.com/copyright.
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Notification:
Inquiries on manuscript status to editors are strongly discouraged, as the status of papers can be monitored through the Elsevier Electronic Submission system. Authors will be notified of the decision on their paper by the editor. The publisher will also send a notification of receipt of accepted papers in production. Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to transfer copyright (for more information on copyright see http://www.elsevier.com/copyright.
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PDF Proofs:
PDF proofs and query sheets will be sent to the corresponding author by e-mail. All proofs should be returned within 48 hours of receipt. Corrections should be restricted to typesetting errors; any others may be charged to the author. Any queries should be answered in full. Please note that authors are urged to check their proofs carefully before return, since the inclusion of late corrections cannot be accepted. If the manuscript exceeds the 4 page limit in the proof stage, the authors will be required to shorten their manuscript. For more information on proofreading, go to Elsevier's proofreading page http://www.elsevier.com/locate/guidepublication. Note that once your paper has been proofed, Elsevier publishes the identical paper online as in print.
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Author Benefits:
No page charges: Publication in this journal is free of charge. Free Offprints: Twenty-five offprints will be supplied free of charge. Corresponding authors will be given the choice to buy extra offprints before printing of the article. Authors who pay for color illustrations will receive an extra fifty offprints free of charge.Author Discount: Contributors to Elsevier journals are entitled to a 30% discount on all Elsevier books. See http://www.elsevier.com/bookauthors for more information.
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Online Paper Tracking:
AAuthors can track the status of their accepted paper online at http://www.elsevier.com/trackarticle using the reference supplied by the Publisher.
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Author enquiries:
All author enquiries should be made to: authorsupport@elsevier.ie

Useful links:
•A submissions checklist can be found at http://www.elsevier.com/locate/guidepublication
•Register for free to receive email updates from the article tracking service at http://www.elsevier.com/trackarticle
•If you are interested in submitting a book in this area, go to http://www.elsevier.com/bookauthors