This journal is a forum for research on soil organisms, their biochemical activities and their influence on the soil environment and plant growth. It publishes original work on quantitative, analytical and experimental aspects of such research. Soil biology and soil biochemistry cover many scientific disciplines but a single journal brings together the results and views of research workers working in a wide variety of research areas. The scope of this journal is wide and embraces accounts of original research on the biology, ecology and biochemical activities of all forms of life that exist in the soil environment. Some of the subjects which have proved to be prominent are the biological transformations of plant nutrients in soil, nitrogen fixation and denitrification, soil-borne phases of plant parasites, the ecological control of soil-borne pathogens, the influence of pesticides on soil organisms, the biochemistry of pesticide and pollution decomposition in soil, microbial aspects of soil pollution, the composition of soil populations, modelling of biological processes in soil systems, the biochemical activities of soil organisms, soil enzymes and the interactions of soil organisms with plants and the effects of tillage on soil organisms and soil biochemistry.

Types of contribution
1. Regular papers. Original full-length research papers which have not been published previously, except in a preliminary form, may be submitted as regular papers.

2. Short communications. These should not exceed 1200 words (three printed pages) or their equivalent, excluding references and legends. Submissions should include a short abstract not exceeding 10% of the length of the communication and which summarizes briefly the main findings of the work to be reported. The bulk of the text should be in a continuous form that does not require numbered sections such as Introduction, Materials and methods, Results and Discussion. However, a Cover page, Abstract and a list of Keywords are required at the beginning of the communication and Acknowledgements and References at the end. These components are to be prepared in the same format as used for full-length research papers. Occasionally authors may use sub-titles of their own choice to highlight sections of the text.

3. Review articles*. Review articles are welcome but should be topical and not just an overview of the literature. Before submission please contact one of the Chief Editors.

4. News and Views. Authors may submit comments and views on any subject covered by the Aims and Scope. The article should be about 1200 words, and submitted to a Chief Editor.

5. Letters to the Editor. Letters are published from time to time on matters of topical interest. These should be submitted directly to one of the Editors-in-Chief.

REVIEW ARTICLES FOR SOIL BIOLOGY and BIOCHEMISTRY 1. Readers of Soil Biology and Biochemistry may submit reviews on any topic that falls within the scope of this journal. Authors of Review Articles should aim to provide facts as well as qualified ideas and opinions derived from reliable and relevant publications. Then, from such material develop reasoned arguments and questions for future evaluation and research. Reviewers should provide a list of relevant and appropriate references. They should avoid introducing new facts in the form of unpublished data or personal communications. Thus, the reader will be able to assess the interpretations and evaluate the methodology employed in the publications that are cited in the review.

The Introduction should outline the scope of the review and set the limits to the field it covers. The overall objective of the review may be posed as a question or a series of questions.

The bulk of the review should aim to present or introduce new ideas to the reader, review the literature relevant to these ideas and be specific. The authors of a Review Article might be able to provide alternative and reasoned interpretations or opinions to those advanced in the articles cited in the review.

The review might conclude with a set of hypotheses for future work that could be tested either using available technology or for which current technology could be improved. 2. Instructions for Authors of Review Articles Review Articles should consist of the following sections; Cover page, Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Review per se, Conclusions, Acknowledgements, References and any essential Tables or Figures.

The Introduction, Review and Conclusions should be numbered 1, 2 and 3, respectively. The Review section may be divided into numbered sub-sections, e.g., 2.1., 2.2., etc and sub-sections, e.g., 2.1.1., 2.1.2., etc.

The Reference section must be accurate and complete. It may include references to the more useful databases consulted.

The authors should provide the names and email addresses of no more than three scientists who are experts in the relevant field and who might be willing to provide open reviews of the submitted Review Article. The Editor will also submit the manuscript to experts for blind reviews.

Submission of Manuscripts
Papers for consideration should be submitted to Elsevier Editorial System which can be accessed at http://authors.elsevier.com/journal/soilbio

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.

Electronic manuscripts

Submission to this journal proceeds totally online. Use the following guidelines to prepare your article. Via the homepage of this journal ( http://www.elsevier.com/locate/sbb) 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.

Electronic format requirements for accepted articles

We accept most wordprocessing formats, but Word, WordPerfect or LaTeX is preferred. Always keep a backup copy of the electronic file for reference and safety. Save your files using the default extension of the program used.

Wordprocessor documents

It is important that the file be saved in the native format of the wordprocessor used. The text should be in single-column format. Keep the layout of the text as simple as possible. Most formatting codes will be removed and replaced on processing the article. In particular, do not use the wordprocessor's options to justify text or to hyphenate words. However, do use bold face, italics, subscripts, superscripts etc. Do not embed 'graphically designed' equations or tables, but prepare these using the wordprocessor's facility. 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. The electronic text should be prepared in a way very similar to that of conventional manuscripts (see also the Guide to Publishing with Elsevier: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/authorshome.authors/howtosubmitpaper). Do not import the figures into the text file but, instead, indicate their approximate locations directly in the electronic text and on the manuscript. See also the section on Preparation of electronic illustrations.

To avoid unnecessary errors you are strongly advised to use the 'spellchecker' function of your wordprocessor.

Preparation of manuscripts
1. The Chief Editors request that papers submitted for publication should be written concisely and clearly. Manuscripts should be written in English. Authors whose native language is not English are strongly advised to have their manuscripts checked by an English-speaking colleague prior to submission. Either the Concise Oxford Dictionary or Webster's New International Dictionary may be used as a standard for English spelling.

English language help service: Upon request, Elsevier will direct Authors to an agent who can check and improve the English of their paper (before submission). Please contact www.elsevier.com/locate/elsevierpublishing for further information.

A poorly prepared manuscript often produces a negative reaction in reviewers, irrespective of the quality of the science. The Chief Editors will return to the authors submissions that do not conform to journal style and format or are poorly written.

English language help service:
Authors who require information about language editing and copyediting services pre- and post-submission please visit http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/authorshome.authors/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 & Conditions http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/termsconditions.cws_home/termsconditions

2. Manuscripts should be prepared with all lines of text throughout the manuscript numbered consecutively from page to page, with wide margins and double spacing throughout, i.e. also for abstracts, footnotes and references. Every page of the manuscript, including the title page, references, tables, etc. should be numbered. However, in the text no reference should be made to page numbers; if necessary, one may refer to sections. Avoid excessive use of italics to emphasize part of the text.
3. Authors should provide a separate cover page including:
Type of contribution
Date of preparation, number of text pages, number of tables, figures etc.
Title (should be clear, descriptive and not too long)
Names of authors
Complete postal address(es) or affiliations
Full telephone, Fax No. and E-mail address of the corresponding author
Present addresses of authors if applicable
Complete correspondence address to which the proofs should be sent as a footnote indicated with an asterisk
Special instructions to the printer such as: (a) magnification of photographs, (b) layout of figures, (c) unusual positioning of Figures and Tables in relation to text; (d) if the submitted paper is one of a series of papers to be published in the journal the order in which the papers are to appear should be indicated.

4. Manuscripts should be organised in the following sequence:
Cover page (see above)
Abstract
Keywords
Introduction
Materials and methods
Results
Discussion (including Conclusions)
Acknowledgements and any additional information concerning research grants, etc.
References
Tables
Figure captions


5. In typing the manuscript, titles and subtitles should not be run within the text. They should be typed on a separate line, without indentation. Use lower-case letter type. First and second order headings should be numbered.

6. SI units should be used, but authors may include conversions for unfamiliar units (1 bar=0.1 MPa). Do not include periods. Note the following conventions: e.g. not eg., rev min^-1not rpm, mg kg^-1 or l^-1 not ppm, 1 bar equals 0.1 MPa, round off units to eliminate unnecessary decimal places, e.g. 124 &mgr;m not 0.124 mm (note space between number and unit), l not L for litre, kg not Kg, s not sec, min not mins, h not hr, d for day, y not yr, 25 t ha^-1 not 25 tonnes/ha, 3 mg cm^-3 not three mg per cubic cm, 23°C and 23% (no spaces), (Keating et al., 1996) not (Keating et al, 1996), al. is an abbreviation of alii (others - Latin). Molar concentrations should appear in small caps.

7. Abbreviations may be used for unwieldy names which occur frequently and such abbreviations must be defined the first time they occur in the text. Conventional abbreviations, e.g. EDTA, ATP, 2,4-D should be used in preference to freshly coined ones.

8. Elsevier reserves the privilege of returning to the author for revision accepted manuscripts and illustrations which are not in the proper form given in this guide. Upon submission, papers will be checked to determine if they conform to the style and format for Soil Biology & Biochemistry. Papers that do not comply may be returned to the corresponding author with a check list detailing faults and omissions.

Avoid new or uncommon acronyms. Use single letters (Greek, Roman, italic) for variables with subscripts as appropriate.

Title
This should be clear, descriptive and brief. Avoid non-specific phrases such as "A study of..." or "The effects of...". Do not give the title a numbered subtitle or series number.

Abstract
The abstract should be clear, descriptive and not longer than 400 words.

Keywords
Keywords are index terms or descriptions for information retrieval systems, normally 6 to 10 items. Words selected should reflect the essential topics of the article and may be taken from both the title and the text. Do not select "soil"

Introduction
This should give the reasons for doing the work. As this is a specialist journal a detailed review of the literature is not necessary. The Introduction should preferably conclude with a final paragraph stating concisely and clearly the Aims and Objectives of the investigation.

Materials and methods
A full technical description of a method should be given in detail only when the method is new.

Results
This need only report results of representative experiments illustrated by Tables and Figures. Use well-known statistical tests in preference to obscure ones. Consult a statistician or a statistics text for detailed advice.

Discussion
This section must not recapitulate results but should relate the authors' experiments to other work and give their conclusions, which may be given in a subsection headed Conclusions.

Acknowledgements
Do not include grant numbers or institutional journal publication numbers.

Tables
1. Authors should take notice of the limitations set by the size and lay-out of the journal. Large tables should be avoided. Reversing columns and rows will often reduce the dimensions of a table.

2. If many data are to be presented, an attempt should be made to divide them over two or more tables.

3. Drawn tables, from which blocks need to be made, should not be folded.

4. Tables should be numbered according to their sequence in the text. The text should include references to all tables.

5. Each table should be typewritten on a separate page of the manuscript. Tables should never be included in the text.

6. Tables and their footnotes should be typed using a readable uniform font of the same size as that used in the text. Each text should have a brief and self-explanatory title.

7. Column headings should be brief, but sufficiently explanatory. Standard abbreviations of units of measurement should be added between parentheses.

8. Vertical lines should not be used to separate columns. Leave some extra space between the columns instead.

9. Any explanation essential to the understanding of the table should be given as a footnote at the bottom of the table.

10. Zero results must be represented by 0 and no determination by ND; the dash sign (-) is ambiguous. Report data in such a way that readers can assess the degree of experimental variation and estimate the variability or precision of the findings. Use the standard deviation SD and the mean to summarise data and to show the variability among individuals. Use the standard error of the mean SEM to show the precision of the sample mean. Always state the number of measurements on which means are based. In tables and figures use asterisks to indicate probability values (P). In footnotes or text show the degree of significance of P, e.g. P <0.05*.

Electronic Illustrations

Submitting your artwork in an electronic format helps us to produce your work to the best possible standards, ensuring accuracy, clarity and a high level of detail.
1. Always supply high-quality printouts of your artwork, in case conversion of the electronic artwork is problematic.
2. Make sure you use uniform lettering and sizing of your original artwork.
3. Save text in illustrations as "graphics" or enclose the font.
4. Only use the following fonts in your illustrations: Arial, Courier, Helvetica, Times, Symbol.
5. Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text.
6. Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files, and supply a separate listing of the files and the software used.
7. Provide all illustrations as separate files.
8. Provide captions to illustrations separately.
9. Produce images near to the desired size of the printed version.
A detailed guide on electronic artwork is available on our website: http://authors.elsevier.com/artwork

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: 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 Office applications please supply "as is".

Please do not:
• Supply embedded graphics in your wordprocessor (spreadsheet, presentation) document;
• Supply files 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.

Colour illustrations

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. For further information on the preparation of electronic artwork, please see http://authors.elsevier.com/artwork.
Please note: Because of technical complications which can arise by converting colour figures to grey scale (for the printed version should you opt to not pay for colour in print) please submit in addition usable black and white prints corresponding to all the colour illustrations.
As only one figure caption may be used for both colour and black and white versions of figures, please ensure that the figure captions are meaningful for both versions, if applicable.

References

Note: Authors are strongly encouraged to check the accuracy of each reference against its original source.

1. All publications cited in the text should be presented in a list of references following the text of the manuscript. The manuscript should be carefully checked to ensure that the spelling of author's names and dates are exactly the same in the text as in the reference list.

2. In the text refer to the author's name (without initial) and year of publication, followed if necessary by a short reference to appropriate pages. Examples: "Since Peterson (1988) has shown that...". "This is in agreement with results obtained later (Kramer,1989, pp. 12-16)".

3. If reference is made in the text to a publication written by more than two authors the name of the first author should be used followed by "et al.". This indication, however, should never be used in the list of references. In this list names of first author and co-authors should be mentioned.

4. References cited together in the text should be arranged chronologically. The list of references should be arranged alphabetically on authors' names, and chronologically per author. If an author's name in the list is also mentioned with co-authors the following order should be used: publications of the single author, arranged according to publication dates - publications of the same author with one co-author - publications of the author with more than one co-author. Publications by the same author(s) in the same year should be listed as 1974a, 1974b, etc.

5. Use the following system for arranging your references, please note the proper position of the punctuation:

a. For periodicals
Zelles, L., Bai, Q.Y., Beck, T., Beese, F., 1992. Signature fatty acids in phospholipids and lipopolysaccharides as indicators of microbial biomass and community structure in agricultural soils. Soil Biology & Biochemistry 24, 317-323.

b. For edited symposia, special issues, etc., published in a periodical
Rice, K., 1992. Theory and conceptual issues. In: Gall, G.A.E., Staton, M. (Eds.), Integrating Conservation Biology and Agricultural Production. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 42, 9-26.

c. For books
Gaugh, Jr., H.G., 1992. Statistical Analysis of Regional Field Trials. Elsevier, Amsterdam, 278 pp.

d. For multi-author books
DeLacy, I.H., Cooper, M., Lawrence, P.K., 1990. Pattern analysis over years of regional variety trials: relationship among sites. In: Kang, M.S. (Ed.), Genotype by Environment Interaction and Plant Breeding. Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, pp. 189-213.

e. For website (WWW) entires
Citations must be confined to peer-reviewed material or official publications, such as annual reports.

CAN/BNQ, 1996. Amenderments organiques-composts. Norme nationale du Canada. CAN/BNQ 0413-200. Conseil canadien des normes. Ottawa, Ont. (on line) http://www.scc.ca/ (11 July, 2004).

6. In the case of publications in any language other than English, the original title is to be retained. However, the titles of publications in non-Roman alphabets should be transliterated, and a notation such as "(in Russian)" or "(in Greek, with English abstract)" should be added.

7. Work accepted for publication but not yet published should be referred to as "in press". Authors should provide evidence (such as a copy of the letter of acceptance).

8. Higher degree dissertations (Ph.D., M.Sc etc.) unpublished data and personal communications should be referred to as 'unpublished observations'in the text and not cited in the References.

Formulae
1. Formulae should be typewritten, if possible. Leave ample space around the formulae.

2. Subscripts and superscripts should be clear.

3. Greek letters and other non-Roman or handwritten symbols should be explained in the margin where they are first used. Take special care to show clearly the difference between zero (0) and the letter O, and between one (1) and the letter l.

4. Give the meaning of all symbols immediately after the equation in which they are first used.

5. For simple fractions use the solidus (/) instead of a horizontal line.

6. Equations should be numbered serially at the right-hand side in parentheses. In general only equations explicitly referred to in the text need be numbered.

7. The use of fractional powers instead of root signs is recommended. Also powers of e are often more conveniently denoted by exp.

8. Levels of statistical significance which can be mentioned without further explanation are *P <0.05, **P <0.01 and ***P <0.001.

9. In chemical formulae, valence of ions should be given as, e.g., Ca²⁺, not as Ca⁺⁺.

10. Isotope numbers should precede the symbols, e.g., ¹⁸O.

Articles in Special Issues: Please ensure that the words 'this issue' are added (in the list and text) to any references to other articles in this Special Issue.

Footnotes
Footnotes should only be used to provide addresses of authors or to provide explanations essential to the understanding of Tables.

Nomenclature
1. Authors and editors are, by general agreement, obliged to accept the rules governing biological nomenclature, as laid down in the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature, the International Code of Nomenclature of Bacteria, and the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature.

2. All organisms should be identified by their scientific names when the English term is first used,with the exception of common domestic animals. The authority of a species should only be given in the Materials and Methods section.

3. All biocides and other organic compounds must be identified by their Geneva names when first used in the text. Active ingredients of all formulations should be likewise identified.

4. For chemical nomenclature, the conventions of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry and the official recommendations of the IUPAC-IUB Combined Commission on Biochemical Nomenclature should be followed.

Supplementary data

Elsevier now accepts electronic 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.

Copyright

1. An author, when quoting from someone else's work or when considering reproducing an illustration or table from a book or journal article, should make sure that he is not infringing a copyright.
2. Although in general an author may quote from other published works, he should obtain permission from the holder of the copyright if he wishes to make substantial extracts or to reproduce tables, plates, or other illustrations. If the copyright-holder is not the author of the quoted or reproduced material, it is recommended that the permission of the author should also be sought.
3. Material in unpublished letters and manuscripts is also protected and must not be published unless permission has been obtained.
4. A suitable acknowledgement of any borrowed material must always be made.

Proofs

When your manuscript is received at the Publisher it is considered to be in its final form. Proofs are not to be regarded as 'drafts'.

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.

Offprints
The corresponding author, at no cost, will be provided with 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.

Soil Biology & Biochemistry does not have page charges.

Author Services
Authors can keep a track on the progress of their accepted article, and set up e-mail alerts informing them of changes to their manuscript's status, by using the "Track a Paper" feature at http://authors.elsevier.com. For privacy, information on each article is password-protected. The author should key in the "Our Reference" code (which is in the letter of acknowledgement sent by the publisher on receipt of the accepted article) and the name of the corresponding author. In case of problems or questions, authors may contact the Author Service Department, E-mail: authorsupport@elsevier.com. Information about Soil Biology & Biochemistry is available on the World Wide Web at the following addresses:

http://www.elsevier.com/locate/soilbio

updated: May 2007