An International Journal in Behavioural and Cognitive Neuroscience
Guide for Authors
1. Neuropsychologia considers for publication papers dealing with only those studies that explicitly address functional aspects
of the brain and use data to link in theory neural processes in the brain with perception; attention and awareness; action and motor
control; executive functions and cognitive control; memory; language; emotion and social neuroscience. Studies exploring brain and behaviour
in primates or other animals provided they have an impact on understanding the human brain and this impact is explicitly specified in
the report. Finally, "neuro-developmental" and "neuro-psychiatric" studies are appropriate, provided the link between the findings in
such studies and the brain is direct, compelling and explicit. Special issues are published occasionally, and reviews are published from
regularly, both with the objective of providing authoritative surveys of topics of major current interest. Perspectives are published
occasionally with the objective of allowing to two or more papers to present alternative positions in a controversial area of considerable
current interest, to discuss relevant evidence, and consider ways of resolving disagreements. At the discretion of the Editors-in-Chief,
critiques of published papers (primarily including comments on the methodology and interpretation) will also occasionally be allowed.
2. Submissions: Submission to this journal proceeds totally online. Use the following guidelines
to prepare your article. Via the online submission page of this journal (http://ees.elsevier.com/nsy/) you will be guided
stepwise through the creation and uploading of the various files. The system automatically converts source files to a single Adobe Acrobat
PDF version of the article, which is used in the peer-review process. Please note that even though manuscript source files are converted
to PDF 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 and via the author's homepage, removing
the need for a hard-copy paper trail.
3. The following article types are accepted:
(a) Research Reports (up to 20 printed
journal pages or about 17,000 words)
(b) Research Notes (up to 5 printed journal pages or 3000 words including references and one or
two illustrations at the most). Research notes should be preceded by a short abstract (not exceeding 150 words). This mode of publication
enables authors to communicate interesting findings that are not extensive enough for a full paper to be published quickly. Accordingly,
papers submitted as Research Note will not be considered for publication if major revisions are required. They must not be submitted
for publication elsewhere as part of or a full paper.
(c) Reviews and Perspectives (up to 30 printed journal pages or 26,000 words).
These should also provide critical accounts and comprehensive surveys of topics of major current interest within the scope of the journal.
(d) Current Controversies (up to 1,500 words no abstract necessary). These should primarily include critical comments on the methodology
or interpretations used in one or more recently published in the journal.
4. (a) Papers will be accepted in English only.
(b) The title page should include: the name(s) of the author(s); the name of the department and institution where the study was carried
out; the institutional affiliation of each author; the name, the postal and email address and the telephone and fax number of the corresponding
author. A shortened title (a caption of no more than 5 words) to appear on the front cover of Neuropsychologia should it be
chosen.
(c) Abstracts should be up to 250 words, and should be followed by a list of up to six keywords (which do not appear in the
title) to be used for indexing purposes.
(d) Research Reports and Notes as a rule should include an Abstract, an Introduction, a
section on Methods, a section on Results and a Discussion. The description of methods and results should be sufficiently detailed so
as to allow a critical assessment of their appropriateness and validity.
(e) 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 on a separate
sheet 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.
(f) Tables should be presented at the end of the article. High-resolution graphics files must always
be provided separate from the main text file.
(g) Manuscripts must be in the correct format, i.e. doubled-spaced, references in correct
format, and top-quality figures or it will be returned to the author.
5 (a). Figures: A detailed guide on electronic artwork
is available on our website: http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions
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: Colour or greyscale 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 (colour or greyscale): a minimum of 500 dpi is required.
DOC, XLS or
PPT: If your electronic artwork is created in any of these Microsoft Of?ce applications please supply "as is".
Please do not:
•Supply embedded graphics in your wordprocessor (spreadsheet, presentation) document; •Supply filles that are optimised
for screen use (like 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.
All figures, charts and diagrams are to be referred to as "Figures"(abbreviated
to "Fig.") and should be numbered consecutively in the order they are referred to in the text.
If, together with your accepted article,
you submit usable colour figures then Elsevier will ensure, at no additional charge, that these figures will appear in
colour on the
Web (e.g., ScienceDirect and other sites) regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in colour in the printed version.
For colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Elsevier after receipt of your accepted article.
(b) Tables should if possible be so constructed as to be intelligible without reference to the text, every table and column being
provided with a heading, and should be suitable for direct reproduction. Units of measurement must always be clearly indicated. Unless
it is essential to the argument, tables should summarize results by an accepted method of expression, e.g. standard deviation (S.D.
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. 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 (particularly
in figures).
6. Ethics: Manuscripts submitted for publication must contain a statement to the effect that all human studies
have been approved by the appropriate ethics committee and have therefore been performed in accordance with the ethical standards laid
down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki. It should also be stated clearly in the text that all persons gave their informed consent prior
to their inclusion in the study. Details that might disclose the identity of the subjects under study should be omitted.
Reports of animal
experiments must state that the "Principles of laboratory animal care" (NIH publication No. 86-23, revised 1985) were followed, as well
as specific national laws (e.g. the current version of the German Law on the Protection of Animals) where applicable. The Editors reserve
the right to reject manuscripts that do not comply with the above-mentioned requirements. The author will be held responsible for false
statements or for failure to fulfil the above-mentioned requirements.
7. References: 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.
Text: Citations in the text should follow the referencing style used by the American Psychological
Association. You are referred to the Publication Manual of
the American Psychological Association, Fifth Edition, ISBN 1-55798-790-4,
copies of which may be ordered from http://www.apa.org/books/4200061.html
or APA Order Dept., P.O.B. 2710, Hyattsville,
MD 20784, USA or APA, 3 Henrietta Street, London, WC3E 8LU, UK. Details concerning this referencing
style can also be found at http://linguistics.byu.edu/faculty/henrichsenl/apa/apa01.html
List: References should be arranged ?rst alphabetically and then further sorted chronologically if necessary. More than
one reference from the same author(s)
in the same year must be identi?ed by the letters "a", "b", "c", etc., placed after the year of
publication. Examples:
Reference to a journal publication:
Van der Geer, J., Hanraads, J. A. J., & Lupton R. A.
(2000). The art of writing a scientific article. Journal of Scientific Communications, 163, 51-59.
Reference to a book:
Strunk, W. Jr., & White, E. B. (1979). The elements of style. (3rd ed.). New York: Macmillan, (Chapter 4).
Reference to
a chapter in an edited book:
Mettam, G. R., & Adams, L. B. (1994). How to prepare an electronic version of your article. In B. S.
Jones, & R. Z. Smith (Eds.), Introduction to the electronic age (pp. 281-304). New York: E-Publishing Inc.
8. Copyright:
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 in the same form, in English
or in any other language, without the written consent of the Publisher..
Upon
acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to sign 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 (or letter) 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. 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: contact Elsevier's Rights Department, Oxford, UK: phone (+44) 1865
843830, fax (+44) 1865 853333, e-mail permissions@elsevier.com.
Requests may also be completed online via the Elsevier homepage (http://www.elsevier.com/locate/permissions).
9.
Proofs: One set of page proofs in PDF format 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). Elsevier now sends PDF proofs which can be annotated; for this you will need to download Adobe
Reader version 7 available free from
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html. Instructions on how to annotate
PDF files will accompany the proofs. The exact system requirements
are given at the Adobe site: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/acrrsystemreqs.html#70win
If you do not wish to use the PDF annotations function, you may list the corrections (including replies to the Query Form) and return
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. Therefore, it is important to ensure that all of
your 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.
10. Author enquiries: For enquiries relating to the submission of articles (including electronic
submission where available) please visit this journal's homepage at http://www.elsevier.com/locate/neuropsychologia. You
can track accepted articles at http://www.elsevier.com/trackarticle and set up e-mail alerts to inform you of when an article's
status has changed, as well as copyright information, frequently asked questions and more.
Contact details for questions arising after
acceptance of an article, especially those relating to proofs, are provided after registration of an article for publication.
11. Offprints: The corresponding author, at no cost, will be provided with a PDF file of the article via e-mail or, alternatively,
25 free paper offprints. 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. Additional reprints may be ordered on the reprint order form which
will accompany the proofs sent to the author. Reprints may also be
obtained after publication of the paper at a somewhat higher cost.
12. Disclaimer. Whilst every effort is made by the publishers and editorial board to see that no inaccurate or misleading
data, opinion or statement appears in this journal, they wish to make it clear that the data and opinions appearing in the articles and
advertisements herein are the sole responsibility of the contributor or advertiser concerned. Accordingly, the publishers, the editorial
board and editors and their respective employees, officers and agents accept no responsibility or liability whatsoever for the consequences
of any inaccurate or misleading data, opinion or statement.