Guide for Authors
An International Journal in Behavioural and Cognitive Neuroscience
1. Neuropsychologia is an international interdisciplinary journal devoted to experimental, clinical and theoretical contributions that
advance understanding of human cognition and behavior from a neuroscience perspective. Thus, the journal will consider for publication
studies that explicitly address functional aspects of the brain and use data to link neural processes with perception, attention and
awareness, action and motor control, executive functions and cognitive control, memory, language, and emotion and social cognition. Neuropsychologia
has a long tradition of publishing studies on patients with brain lesions. While continuing this tradition, we would like also to strongly
encourage submission of papers using other appropriate methodologies. These include, but are not limited to, functional neuroimaging,
cognitive electrophysiology, and transcranial magnetic stimulation. Studies exploring brain and behaviour in primates or other animals
are also welcome, provided they have an impact on understanding human cognition and behavior and this impact is explicitly specified
in the report. Finally, "neurodevelopmental", "neuropsychiatric" and "neurogenetic" studies are appropriate, provided the link between
the findings in such studies and normal brain function is direct, compelling and explicit. Studies of clinical populations that are primarily
descriptive or intended to elucidate a clinical disorder, or that evaluate a therapeutic intervention, are not appropriate for the journal.
Special issues and Review Papers are published regularly with the objective of providing authoritative surveys of topics of major interest.
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.
A manuscript will be returned to the author without external review if, in the judgment of the
editorial team, it falls outside the stated scope of the journal or describes findings that will have only minimal impact on the field.
3.
The following article types are accepted:
(a) Research Reports (up to 20 printed journal pages or about 17,000 words)
(b) Brief Communications (up to five printed journal pages or 3500 words including abstract, references and figure legends, and no more
than four figures and/or tables). Brief Communications are short research articles which convey findings judged to be of high potential
impact to the field of cognitive neuroscience. They should follow the same sectionalisation as regular research articles (i.e. abstract,
introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion, references and figure legends). The total word count must be listed on the
title page. There should be no more than 30 references. Brief Communications will undergo expedited review and, if accepted, will be
available online within five working days. Only manuscripts requiring no or minor revision will be accepted. A short covering letter
should be included with your submission describing why the paper is considered appropriate for publication as a Brief Communication.
(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 Brief Communications 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.
Language Services
Authors who require information about language editing and copyediting
services pre- and post-submission please visit
http://www.elsevier.com/locate/languagepolishing or contact
authorsupport@elsevier.com
for more information. Please note Elsevier neither endorses nor takes responsibility for any products, goods or services offered by outside
vendors through our services or in any advertising. For more information please refer to our terms and Conditions
http://www.elsevier.com/termsandconditions
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 free e-offprints, in the form 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.
Additional paper offprints can be ordered by the authors. An order form
with prices will be sent to the corresponding author.
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.