Guide for Authors
Types of paper
•
Full
Research Papers: Full Research Papers should not exceed 5000 words (including abstract but excluding references). If this is not
possible, please contact the Editor in Chief. To facilitate the review process line numbers should be inserted into the text of the manuscript.
•
Short Communications: These follow the same format as full papers, except that Results and Discussion sections should
be combined. Manuscripts should not exceed 2000 words.
•
Rapid Communications: These are Short Communication papers
that are submitted for consideration for publication on an accelerated schedule. These papers report highly significant new findings
and indicate new directions for research. Authors should fax or E-mail the abstract of their manuscript to the Editor-in-Chief, or appropriate
Associate Editor before submitting a Rapid Communication manuscript.
•
Special Issues: Proposals for Special Issues
of Full Research Papers that focus on a specific topic or theme will also be considered.
•
New Initiatives: Intended
as very brief reports of significant new findings indicating new directions in research. Manuscripts should be no more than 6-8 double
spaced manuscript pages, including no more than 10 references and 1-3 short tables and/or small figures. An abstract is not required.
Include a very brief Introduction, Materials and Methods, and Discussion of Results, including speculation about their meaning and implications.
Please submit the name and complete mailing address (including e-mail address) of one appropriate referee who has agreed to review the
manuscript. Authors should contact the Editor-in-Chief, or appropriate Associate Editor by e-mail before submitting a New Initiatives
manuscript.
•
Review Papers: Authors may submit manuscripts that provide in-depth critical review of a special subject.
These reviews must provide a Synthesis and Critical Evaluation of the state of the knowledge of the subject and indicate research directions.
The Editors also periodically invite review articles.
•
Commentary: Commentary papers may be submitted that express
opinions and concerns, suggest research priorities and question conventional methodologies and conclusions. Manuscripts should include
an Abstract, Introduction, Presentation of the Concerns or Analysis and Conclusions. References, Tables and Illustrations should be used
sparingly. The manuscript should not exceed 12 double-spaced pages. The Editors will evaluate all manuscripts, for suitability of publication.
•
Letters to Editor: Readers are encouraged to write to any of the Editors and raise issues and concerns about papers
published in the journal. Editors or authors will reply to letters.
Please note that the word count does not include figures, tables
or the reference list
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
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 including electronically in the same form, in English or in any other language,
without the written consent of the copyright-holder.
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
Abstract Submission
Potential authors are required
to send the abstract of their manuscript and an accompanying paragraph that explains why the work is important and should be published,
via e-mail to either the Editor-in-Chief or an Associate Editor
before submitting the complete manuscript via the Elsevier Electronic
System (EES).
Abstracts should be sent to:
Professor William J. Manning, Editor-in-Chief, at
environmentalpollution@mindspring.com
for all areas
or
Professor Kevin C. Jones, Associate Editor, at
k.c.jones@lancaster.ac.uk for environmental
fate, behavior, and persistence of organic contaminants
Dr. Bernd Nowack, Associate Editor, at
nowack@empa.ch
for nanomaterials in the environment, chelating agents, soil remediation
Professor Claudia Wiegand, Associate Editor, at
wiegand-ep@biology.sdu.dk
for aquatic ecosystems, anthropogenic impact, and nutrient loading effects
Professor Yongguan Zhu, Associate Editor, at
ygzhu@rcees.ac.cn
for soil pollution and soil biology
Please send your abstract and accompanying paragraph within the body of your e-mail message
and not in an attachment.
Send your abstract to only one editor. Do not cc other editors when you send your abstract.
The
abstract must be approved by the Editor-in-Chief or an Associate Editor before a manuscript can be submitted via EES.
Manuscript
Submission
If the Editor-in-Chief, or an Associate Editor, approves the abstract, then the complete manuscript can be submitted
via EES at
http://www.ees.elsevier.com/envpol , following all instructions exactly.
Complete manuscripts received
via EES will be further evaluated by an Editor. This final evaluation will determine whether or not a manuscript will be sent out for
review.
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.
Please note that authors have a maximum of 6 weeks to resubmit
a revised manuscript, unless an extension is requested from the editor.
The resubmission of previously rejected manuscripts is by
invitation only.
Referees
Please submit, with the manuscript, the names, addresses and e-mail
addresses of five potential referees who are well-qualified to review the manuscript, if they are asked to review it. Reviewers are asked
to evaluate the originality, significance and technical quality of the work, as well as the clarity of the manuscript, and the relevance
of the subject matter to the journal. The final decision for publication of all manuscripts is made by the Editor-in-Chief.
Additional information
US National Institutes of Health (NIH) voluntary posting (" Public Access") policy Elsevier facilitates author response to the NIH voluntary posting request (referred to as the NIH "Public Access Policy"; see
http://www.nih.gov/about/publicaccess/index.htm
) by posting the peer-reviewed author's manuscript directly to PubMed Central on request from the author, 12 months after formal publication.
Upon notification from Elsevier of acceptance, we will ask you to confirm via e-mail (by e-mailing us at
NIHauthorrequest@elsevier.com)
that your work has received NIH funding and that you intend to respond to the NIH policy request, along with your NIH award number to
facilitate processing. Upon such confirmation, Elsevier will submit to PubMed Central on your behalf a version of your manuscript that
will include peer-review comments, for posting 12 months after formal publication. This will ensure that you will have responded fully
to the NIH request policy. There will be no need for you to post your manuscript directly with PubMed Central, and any such posting is
prohibited.
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 ES Global Rights
Department, P.O. Box 800, Oxford, OX5 1DX, UK; phone: (+44) 1865 843830, fax: (+44) 1865 853333, Elsevier's Rights Department, Oxford,
UK: phone (+44) 1865 843830, fax (+44) 1865 853333, e-mail
permissions@elsevier.com . Requests may also be completed on-line
via the Elsevier homepage (
http://www.elsevier.com/locate/permissions ).
Use of wordprocessing software
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/guidepublication).
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 Electronic illustrations.
To avoid unnecessary errors you are strongly advised to use the
"spell-check" and "grammar-check" functions of your wordprocessor.
General: Please write your text in good English (American
or British usage is accepted, but not a mixture of these). Italics are not to be used for expressions of Latin origin, for example, in
vivo, et al., per se. Use decimal points (not commas); use a space for thousands (10 000 and above). Double spacing and wide margins
(3 cm) should be used (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 captions 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. To facilitate the review process line numbers
should be inserted into the manuscript file.
Cover Letter
A cover letter must be sent with
the manuscript and must include:
•The name of the editor who approved the abstract
•The names and valid, current
e-mail addresses for five (5) potential reviewers who are well-qualified to review the manuscript if they are asked to review it. Potential
reviewers should be from the international scientific community and not from one country or region.
•The name and e-mail address
of the corresponding author
Article structure
Subdivision - unnumbered
heads
Full Research Papers should not exceed 5000 words (including abstract but excluding references). If this is not possible,
please contact the Editor in Chief.
Divide your article into clearly defined sections. Each subsection is given a brief heading. Each
heading should appear on its own separate line. Subsections should be used as much as possible when cross-referencing text: refer to
the subsection by heading as opposed to simply "the text".
Introduction
State the objectives
of the work and provide an adequate background, avoiding a detailed literature survey or a summary of the results.
Material and methods
Provide sufficient detail to allow the work to be reproduced. Methods already published
should be indicated by a reference: only relevant modifications should be described.
Results
Results
should be clear and concise.
Discussion
This should explore the significance of the results
of the work, not repeat them. A combined Results and Discussion section is often appropriate. Avoid extensive citations and discussion
of published literature.
Conclusions
The main conclusions of the study may be presented
in a short Conclusions section, which may stand alone or form a subsection of a Discussion or Results and Discussion section.
Essential title page information
Full Research Papers: Provide the following data on the title page
(in the order given).
•
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.
•
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.
(maximum length 100-150 words).
The abstract should state briefly the purpose
of the research, the principal results and major conclusions. 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.
Capsule: In addition to the abstract for the manuscript, authors are required to submit a one- sentence statement that describes
the significance of their work to the rest of the scientific community. When necessary, the capsule may be edited before publication.
Graphical abstract
A Graphical abstract is optional and should summarize the contents of the article in a
concise, pictorial form designed to capture the attention of a wide readership online. Authors must provide images that clearly represent
the work described in the article. Graphical abstracts should be submitted as a separate file in the online submission system. Image
size: Please provide an image with a minimum of 531 × 1328 pixels (h × w) or proportionally more. The image should be readable
at a size of 5 × 13 cm using a regular screen resolution of 96 dpi. Preferred file types: TIFF, EPS, PDF or MS Office files. See
http://www.elsevier.com/graphicalabstracts for examples.
Authors can make use of Elsevier's Illustration and Enhancement
service to ensure the best presentation of their images also in accordance with all technical requirements:
Illustration Service.
Highlights
Highlights are mandatory for
this journal. They consist of a short collection of bullet points that convey the core findings of the article and should be submitted
in a separate file in the online submission system. Please use 'Highlights' in the file name and include 3 to 5 bullet points (maximum
85 characters, including spaces, per bullet point). See
http://www.elsevier.com/highlights for examples.
Keywords
Keywords: Immediately after the abstract, provide a maximum of 5 keywords, avoiding general
and plural terms and multiple concepts (avoid, for example, "and", "of"). Be sparing with abbreviations: only abbreviations firmly established
in the field may be eligible. Note that these keywords will be used for indexing purposes.
Acknowledgements
Collate
acknowledgements in a separate section at the end of the article before the references and do not, therefore, include them on the title
page, as a footnote to the title or otherwise. List here those individuals who provided help during the research (e.g., providing language
help, writing assistance or proof reading the article, etc.).
Units
Units and symbols:
The SI system should be used for all scientific and laboratory data: if in certain instance, it is necessary to quote other units, these
should be added in parentheses. Temperatures should be given in degrees Celsius.
Footnotes
Table
footnotes. Indicate each footnote in a table with a superscript lowercase letter.
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.
Figure captions
Ensure that each illustration
has a caption. Supply captions separately, not attached to the figure. A caption should comprise a brief title (
not on the figure
itself) and a description of the illustration. Keep text in the illustrations themselves to a minimum but explain all symbols and abbreviations
used.
Tables
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.
References
Responsibility for the accuracy of bibliographic citations lies entirely with the authors.
Citation in text
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.
Web references
As a minimum, the full URL should be given and the date when the reference was last accessed.
Any further information, if known (DOI, author names, dates, reference to a source publication, etc.), should also be given. Web references
can be listed separately (e.g., after the reference list) under a different heading if desired, or can be included in the reference list.
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
Name and year style in the text
Text: All citations in the text should
refer to:
1.
Single author: the author's name (without initials, unless there is ambiguity) and the year of publication;
2.
Two authors: both authors' names and the year of publication;
3.
Three or more authors: first author's name
followed by 'et al.' and the year of publication. Citations may be made directly (or parenthetically). Groups of references should be
listed first alphabetically, then chronologically.
Examples: "as demonstrated (Allan, 1996a, 1996b, 1999; Allan and Jones, 1995).
Kramer et al. (2000) have recently shown ..."
List: References should be arranged first alphabetically and then further
sorted chronologically if necessary. More than one reference from the same author(s) in the same year must be identified by the letters
"a", "b", "c", etc., placed after the year of publication. Note that any (consistent) reference style and format may be used: the Publisher
will ensure that the correct style for this journal will be introduced for the proof stages, the final print version and the PDF files
for electronic distribution.
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 Jr., W., White, E.B., 1979. The Elements of Style, third ed. Macmillan, New York. Reference to a chapter in an edited book:
Mettam, G.R., Adams, L.B., 1999. How to prepare an electronic version of your article, in: Jones, B.S., Smith, R.Z. (Eds.), Introduction
to the Electronic Age. E-Publishing Inc., New York, pp. 281-304.
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
Elsevier
accepts electronic supplementary material to support and enhance your scientific research. Supplementary files offer the author additional
possibilities to publish supporting applications, 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 provide the data
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. For more detailed instructions please visit our artwork instruction pages at
http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.
Data at PANGAEA
Electronic archiving of supplementary data enables readers to replicate, verify and build
upon the conclusions published in your paper. We recommend that data should be deposited in the data library PANGAEA (
http://www.pangaea.de).
Data are quality controlled and archived by an editor in standard machine-readable formats and are available via Open Access. After processing,
the author receives an identifier (DOI) linking to the supplements for checking. As your data sets will be citable you might want to
refer to them in your article. In any case, data supplements and the article will be automatically linked as in the following example:
doi:10.1016/0016-7037(95)00105-9. Please use PANGAEA's
web interface to submit your data (
http://www.pangaea.de/submit/).
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 (as PDF files) 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) or, a link will be provided in the e-mail so that authors can download
the files themselves. Elsevier now provides authors with PDF proofs which can be annotated; for this you will need to download Adobe
Reader version 7 (or higher) available free from
http://get.adobe.com/reader. Instructions on how to annotate PDF files
will accompany the proofs (also given online). The exact system requirements are given at the Adobe site:
http://www.adobe.com/products/reader/tech-specs.html.
If you do not wish to use the PDF annotations function, you may list the corrections (including replies to the Query Form) and return
them 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
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