Guide for Authors
Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing publishes
original research papers, review articles, case studies, short communications and letters from a wide variety of sources dealing with
all aspects of the science and technology of composite materials, including fibrous and particulate reinforcements in polymeric, metallic
and ceramic matrices, aligned eutectics, reinforced cements and plasters, and 'natural' composites such as wood and biological materials.
The range of applicable topics includes the properties, design and manufacture of reinforcing fibres and particles, fabrication and
processing of composite materials and structures, including process science and modelling, microstructural characterization of composites
and their constituent phases, interfaces in composites, prediction and measurement of mechanical, physical and chemical properties, and
performance of composites in service. Articles are also welcomed on economic and commercial aspects of the applications of composites,
design with composites and case studies.
Types of paper
Original high-quality research papers;
short communications; review articles; letters commenting on recently published papers, on matters of general interest to readers, or
on matters concerned with editorial policy. All papers are independently refereed. For more information about how the process is conducted
for this journal, please take a look at the peer review policy statement
here
Composites also publishes book reviews, conference reports and a calendar of forthcoming events.
Page
charges
This journal has no page charges.
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 and verification
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, including
electronically without the written consent of the copyright-holder. To verify originality, your article may be checked by the originality
detection software iThenticate. See also
http://www.elsevier.com/editors/plagdetect.
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.
Open access
This
journal offers you the option of making your article freely available to all via the ScienceDirect platform. To prevent any conflict
of interest, you can only make this choice after receiving notification that your article has been accepted for publication. The fee
of $3,000 excludes taxes and other potential author fees such as color charges. In some cases, institutions and funding bodies have entered
into agreement with Elsevier to meet these fees on behalf of their authors. Details of these agreements are available at
http://www.elsevier.com/fundingbodies.
Authors of accepted articles, who wish to take advantage of this option, should complete and submit the order form (available at
http://www.elsevier.com/locate/openaccessform.pdf).
Whatever access option you choose, you retain many rights as an author, including the right to post a revised personal version of your
article on your own website. More information can be found here:
http://www.elsevier.com/authorsrights.
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/compositesa/
Article structure
Follow this order when typing manuscripts: Title,
Authors, Affiliations, Abstract, Keywords, Main text, Acknowledgements, Appendix, References, Figure Captions and then Tables. Do not
import figures into the text. Collate acknowledgements in a separate section at the end of the article and do not include them on the
title page, as a footnote to the title or otherwise.
Research papers should be no more than 20 double line spaced manuscript pages,
excluding tables and illustrations. In addition the total length should not exceed 30 pages with no more than 2 figures or tables per
page. Short Communications should be no more than 10 double line spaced manuscript pages, including tables and illustrations.
Use
double spacing and wide (3 cm) margins. (Avoid full justification, i.e., do not use a constant right-hand margin.) Ensure that each
new paragraph is clearly indicated. Present tables and figure legends on separate pages at the end of the manuscript. If possible, consult
a recent issue of the journal to become familiar with layout and conventions. Number all pages consecutively, use 12 or 10 pt font size
and standard fonts.
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.
Abstract
A
concise and factual abstract is required. Approximately 100 words, outlining in a single paragraph the aims, scope and conclusions of
the paper. An abstract is often presented separately from the article, so it must be able to stand alone. For this reason, References
should be avoided, but if essential, then cite the author(s) and year(s). Also, non-standard or uncommon abbreviations should be avoided,
but if essential they must be defined at their first mention in the abstract itself.
Keywords
Authors should select a maximum of four keywords from the list at the end of these instructions. Each Keyword should be accompanied by
the capital letter denoting the category from which the keyword has been selected. If authors wish they may nominate one keyword which
is not included in the list below, which is not included in the list, in the "Enter Comments" section of the online submission system.
The list of up to four keywords should appear on the title page of each paper submitted for consideration, following the abstract.
Units
All measurements and data should be given in SI units, or if SI units do not exist, in an internationally
accepted unit. If you use any symbol or unit that may not be generally recognized, please include an explanatory footnote the first time
it is used, to help the referees, editors and readers. It is also helpful to identify Greek symbols by name in the margin the first time
they appear. Abbreviations and acronyms should only be used for unwieldy terms and names which occur frequently in the manuscript. Abbreviations
should be used consistently throughout the text, and must be clearly defined in full on first use. If you use several symbol, a list
of definitions (not necessarily for publication) will help the editor. Journal style for letter symbols is as follows: variables, italic
type (indicated by underlining); constants, roman type; matrices and vectors, bold type (indicated by wavy underlining).
Math formulae
Detailed mathematical discussion should be placed in an appendix. Equations and formulae should
be typewritten wherever possible. Equations should be numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals in parentheses on the right hand side
of the page. Type or mark mathematical equations exactly as they should appear in print.
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.
Text graphics
Please upload one copy of the full paper excluding graphics. Please upload figures as graphics
file separately (please include figure numbers and captions on the same page as the figures). 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.
Tables
Tables should be numbered
consecutively and given suitable captions and each table should begin on a new page. No vertical rules should be used. Tables should
not duplicate results presented elsewhere in the manuscript (for example, in graphs). Footnotes to tables should be typed below the table
and should be referred to by superscript lowercase letters.
References
All publications
cited in the text should be presented in a list of references following the text of the manuscript. In the text refer to references by
a number in square brackets on the line (e.g. Since Peterson[1]), and the full reference should be given in a numerical list at the end
of the paper.
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
References should be given in the following form:
1. Fish JC, Lee S W. Delamination of
tapered composite structures. Eng Fract Mech 1989;34(1):43-54.
2. Tsai SW, Hahn HT. Introduction to Composite Materials. Westport:
Technomic, 1980.
3. Bradley WL. Relationship of matrix toughness to interlaminar fracture toughness. In: Friedrich K, editor. Application
of Fracture Mechanics to Composite Materials. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1989. p.159-187.
4. Kairouz KC, Heath RJ. Fracture of ply drop-offs
in composite structures. In: Proceedings of ECCM-7 Conference. London, May, 1996. p.79-85.
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
Electronic
Annexes
We strongly encourage you to submit electronic annexes, such as short videos, computer-enhanced images, audio clips and large
databases. Please refer to the Artwork Instructions (Multimedia files) at
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/authors.authors/authorartworkinstructions
for details on file types to be used.
Submission checklist
The following list will be useful
during the final checking of an article prior to sending it to the journal for review. Please consult this Guide for Authors for further
details of any item.
Ensure that the following items are present:
One author has been designated as the corresponding
author with contact details:
• E-mail address
• Full postal address
• Telephone and fax numbers
All necessary
files have been uploaded, and contain:
• Keywords
• All figure captions
• All tables (including title, description,
footnotes)
Further considerations
• Manuscript has been 'spell-checked' 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://support.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 in PDF format will be sent by e-mail to the corresponding author, to be checked for typesetting/editing. The corrections
should be returned within 48 hours. No changes in, or additions to, the accepted (and subsequently edited) manuscript will be allowed
at this stage. Proofreading is solely the author's responsibility. Any queries should be answered in full. Please correct factual errors
only, or errors introduced by typesetting. For more information on proofreading please go to our proofreading page at
http://www.elsevier.com/authors.
Please note that once your paper has been proofed we publish the identical paper online as in print.
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.
List of Keywords
The keywords for Composites Parts A and B are separated into five categories:
A. Material
B. Property
C. Analysis
D. Testing
E. Manufacturing / Processing
A. Material
Aramid fibre
Carbon
fibre
Carbon-carbon composites (CCCs)
Ceramic fibre
Ceramic-matrix composites (CMCs)
Discontinuous reinforcement
Fabrics/textiles
Fibres
Foams
Glass fibres
Glasses
Honeycomb
Hybrid
Intermetallics
Lamina/ply
Laminates
Layered structures
Metal-matrix composites (MMCs)
Moulding compounds
Nano-structures
Particle-reinforcement
Plates
Polymer (textile) fibre
Polymer-matrix composites (PMCs)
Preform
Prepreg
Recycling
Reinforced cement/plaster
Resins
Smart materials
Strand
Tape
Thermoplastic resin
Theromosetting resin
Thin films
Tow
3-Dimensional
reinforcement
Wood
Yarn
B. Property
Adhesion
Anisotropy
Buckling
Chemical properties
Corrosion
Creep
Cure behaviour
Damage tolerance
Debonding
Defects
Delamination
Directional orientation
Elasticity
Electrical properties
Embrittlement
Environmental degradation
Fatigue
Fibre/matrix bond
Fracture
Fracture toughness
Fragmentation
Hardness
High-temperature properties
Impact behaviour
Interface/interphase
Internal friction/damping
Magnetic properties
Mechanical properties
Microstructures
Optical properties/techniques
Physical properties
Plastic
deformation
Porosity
Residual/internal stress
Rheological properties
Strength
Stress concentrations
Stress relaxation
Stress transfer
Surface properties
Thermal properties
Thermomechanical
Transverse cracking
Vibration
Wear
Wettability
C. Analysis
Analytical modelling
Computational modelling
Damage mechanics
Finite element analysis
(FEA)
Laminate mechanics
Micro-mechanics
Numerical analysis
Statistical properties/methods
D. Testing
Acoustic emission
Chemical analysis
Electron microscopy
Fractography
Mechanical testing
Non-destructive testing
Optical microscopy Physical methods of analysis
Process monitoring
Radiography
Surface analysis
Thermal analysis
Ultrasonics
E. Manufacturing / Processing
Assembly
Autoclave
Automation
Braiding
Casting
Chemical
vapour deposition (CVD)
Compression moulding
Consolidation
Cure
Cutting
Extrusion
Fibre conversion processes
Filament winding
Forging
Forming
Heat treatment
Injection moulding
Isostatic processing
Joints/joining
Knitting
Lay-up (manual/automated)
Liquid metal infiltration
Machining
Melt-spinning
Moulding compounds
Powder processing
Preform
Prepreg
Pultrusion
Recycling
Resin film infiltration (RFI)
Resin flow
Resin transfer
moulding (RTM)
Sintering
Slip casting
Stitching
Surface treatments
Tape
Thermal analysis
Thermoplastic resin
Thermosetting resin
Tooling
Tow
Weaving
