Forging the Link between Research and Practice

Guide for Authors

Submission of Papers
Authors are requested to submit their original manuscript electronically be e-mail attachment to Professor Harry Timmermans at eirass@bwk.tue.nl

Submission of a paper implies that it has not been published previously, that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, and that if accepted it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, without the written consent of the publisher. Translated material, which has not been published in English, will also be considered. All articles are refereed to ensure accuracy and relevance, and amendments to the script may be required before final acceptance.

Types of Contribution
The journal publishes full-length research papers, case studies and book reviews. There is also a viewpoint section which exists for the expression of opinion, and allows authors to submit material not suitable for a full-length article but containing ideas worthy of publication. Full-length articles should be 4000-6000 words long, although articles longer than 6000 words will be accepted on an occasional basis, if the topic demands this length of treatment. Book reviews should be 800-1200, and viewpoints 1500-2000 words in length.

Manuscript Preparation
General: Manuscripts must be double-spaced and with wide margins, and should be in 10 or 12pt text. The corresponding author should be identified (include a Fax number and E-mail address). Full postal addresses must be given for all co-authors. Authors should consult a recent issue of the journal for style if possible. The Editors reserve the right to adjust style to certain standards of uniformity. Authors should retain a copy of their manuscript since the Publisher cannot accept responsibility for damage or loss of papers.

Text: Follow this order when typing manuscripts: Title, Authors, Affiliations, Abstract, Keywords, Main text, Acknowledgements, Appendix, References, Vitae, Figure Captions and then Tables. Do not import the Figures or Tables into your text. The corresponding author should be identified with an asterisk and footnote. All other footnotes (except for table footnotes) should be identified with superscript Arabic numerals. Footnotes should be grouped together in a section at the end of the text in numerical order, and double spaced. The text should be organized under appropriate section headings which, ideally, should not be more than 600 words apart. All headings should be placed on the left-hand side of the text.

Abstract: Include a self-contained abstract up to 100 words outlining in a single paragraph the aims, scope and conclusions of the paper.

Keywords: Up to three keywords or phrases (maximum 10 words in total) to facilitate access and indexing should be included.

Units: All measurements should be given in metric (SI) units.

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 the author's name (without initials) and year of publication, e.g. "Since Peterson (1993) has shown that..." or "This is in agreement with results obtained later (Kramer, 1994)". For three or more authors use the first author followed by "et al." in the text. The list of references should be arranged alphabetically by authors' names. The manuscript should be carefully checked to ensure that the spelling of authors' names and dates are exactly the same in the text as in the reference list. References should be given in the following form:

Ratchford, B.T., Norton, D.P., 1988. A model and measurement approach for studying retail productivity. Journal of Retailing 64 (3), 241-263.

Kaplan, R.S., Norton, D.P., 1996. The Balanced Scorecard: Translating Strategy into Action. Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA.

Sealy, K., 1992. International air transport. In: Hoyle, B.S., Knowles, R.D. (Eds.), Modern Transport Geography. Belhaven Press, London, pp. 233-256.

Illustrations: All illustrations should be provided in the form of .eps or .tif files, suitable for reproduction (which may include reduction) without retouching. Photographs, charts and diagrams are all to be referred to as Figure(s) and should be numbered consecutively in the order to which they are referred. They should accompany the manuscript, but should not be included within the text. Their position should be indicated in the text. All figures are to have a caption which should be supplied in a separate file.

Line drawings: Files for line drawings should be submitted with a resolution of at least 1200 dpi.. All lettering, graph lines and points on graphs should be sufficiently large and bold to permit reproduction when the diagram has been reduced to a size suitable for inclusion in the journal.

Photographs and figures containing grey-scale: Files for these must be at a resolution of at least 300 dpi. If necessary, a scale should be marked on the photograph.

Colour: Where colour figures are required, the author will be charged accordingly.

Tables: Tables should be numbered consecutively and given a suitable caption and each table supplied in a separate file. Footnotes to tables should be typed below the table and should be referred to by superscript lowercase letters. No vertical rules should be used. Tables should not duplicate results presented elsewhere in the manuscript, e.g. in graphs.

LaTeX submission
For authors using LaTeX, the document style files, as well as the instructions "Preparing articles with LaTeX" in the form of a dvi file, can be obtained free of charge from any host on the Comprehensive TeX Archive Network (CTAN) using anonymous ftp. The primary CTAN hosts are ftp.dante.de and ftp.tex.ac.uk. The Elsevier macros are in /pub/tex/macros/latex/contrib/supported/elsevier. These can also be downloaded from the Internet site: http://www.tex.ac.uk. Full details of electronic submission and other formats can be obtained from http://www.elsevier.com/locate/disksub or from Author Services at Elsevier.

Proofs
Proofs will be sent to the author by e-mail (first named author if no corresponding author is identified of multi-authored papers) and 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 guaranteed. Proofs are to be returned to the address indicated on the instructions accompanying the proofs.

Offprints
Twenty-five offprints will be supplied free of charge. Additional offprints and copies of the issue can be ordered at a specially reduced rate using the order form sent to the corresponding author after the manuscript has been accepted. Orders for reprints (produced after publication of an article) will incur a 50% surcharge.

Copyright
All authors must sign the "Transfer of Copyright" agreement before the article can be published. This transfer agreement enables Elsevier Ltd to protect the copyrighted material for the authors, without the author relinquishing his/her proprietary rights. The copyright transfer covers the exclusive rights to reproduce and distribute the article, including reprints, photographic reproductions, microfilm or any other reproductions of a similar nature, and translations. It also includes the right to adapt the article for use in conjunction with computer systems and programs, including reproduction or publication in machine-readable form and incorporation in retrieval systems. Authors are responsible for obtaining from the copyright holder permission to reproduce any material for which copyright already exists.

For queries relating to the general submission of manuscripts (including electronic text and artwork) and the status of accepted manuscripts, please contact Author Services, Log-in Department, Elsevier, The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1GB, UK. E-mail: authors@elsevier.co.uk, Fax: +44 (0) 1865 843905, Tel: +44 (0) 1865 843900. Authors can also keep a track of the progress of their accepted article through our OASISsystem on the Internet. For information on an article go to this Internet page and key in the corresponding author's name and the Elsevier reference number.