Affiliated to the International Union of Radioecology

Submission of Papers
From now on, all manuscripts should be submitted electronically through the Elsevier Editorial System (EES) which can be accessed at http://ees.elsevier.com/jenvrad. The system will automatically convert your source files to a single Adobe Acrobat PDF version of the article, which will be used during 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 will be needed for further processing after acceptance. If you are not able to submit your paper to JENR electronically please contact the Editor-in-Chief, Steve Sheppard at Sheppard@ecomatters.com for further instructions.

Authors are requested to submit full contact details of at least three potential reviewers including email addresses. 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and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, without the written consent of the Publisher.
Where appropriate, authors should state that their research protocols have been approved by an authorized animal care or ethics committee. Manuscripts may be rejected if they involve protocols which are inconsistent with commonly accepted norms of animal research.
Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to sign a Journal Publishing Agreement (for more information on this and copyright see http://www.elsevier.com/copyright. Acceptance of the agreement will ensure the widest possible dissemination of information. An e-mail or letter will be sent to the corresponding author confirming receipt of the manuscript together with a Journal Publishing Agreement form or a link to the online version of this agreement. If excerpts from other copyrighted works are included, the author(s) must obtain written permission from the copyright owners and credit the source(s) in the article. Elsevier has preprinted forms for use by authors in these cases: contact ES Global Rights Department, P.O. Box 800, Oxford, OX5 1DX, UK; phone: (+44) 1865 843830, fax: (+44) 1865 853333, e-mail: permissions@elsevier.com. Requests may also be completed online via the Elsevier homepage ( http://www.elsevier.com/locate/permissions).

Types of Contributions
Original papers; review articles; short communications; news and announcements; book reviews; letters to the Editor. The Journal of Environmental Radioactivity provides a coherent international forum for publication of original research or review papers on any aspect of the occurrence of radioactivity in natural systems. Relevant subject areas range from applications of environmental radionuclides as mechanistic or timescale tracers of natural processes to assessments of the radioecological or radiological effects of environmental radioactivity. Papers deal with naturally occurring nuclides or with those created and released by man through nuclear weapons manufacture and testing, energy production, fuel-cycle technology, etc. Reports on radioactivity in the oceans, sediments, rivers, lakes, groundwaters, soils, atmosphere and all divisions of the biosphere are welcomed, but these should not simply be of a monitoring nature unless the data are particularly innovative. Statement and testing of hypotheses are preferred over simple reporting of observations. Research papers are also included which, by either experimental or theoretical approaches, aim towards an improved understanding of the behaviour, transfer and distribution of environmental radionuclides. Predictive modelling is particularly encouraged. Papers on dating methods are acceptable if they have clear geophysical or geochemical significance. Descriptions of experimental methods should be both highly original and specifically related to determination of low-level environmental activities.The journal provides a vehicle for objective, open and peer-reviewed publication and discussion of the more "controversial" aspects of environmental radioactivity, including assessments of health effects, criteria for discharge control and options for ultimate disposal of nuclear wastes.

Preparation of text
Presentation of manuscript
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 (3 cm) margins 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 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. To facilitate the review process line numbers should be inserted in the text of the manuscript.

Provide the following data on the title page (in the order given).
Title. Note that 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 is willing to 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 150 words). The abstract should state briefly the purpose of the research, the principal results and major conclusions. An abstract is often presented separate from the article, so it must be able to stand alone. References should therefore be avoided, but if essential, they must be cited in full, without reference to the reference list.
Keywords. Immediately after the abstract, provide a maximum of 10 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. These keywords will be used for indexing purposes.

Arrangement of the article
Subdivision of the article. Divide your article into clearly defined and numbered sections. Subsections should be numbered 1.1 (then 1.1.1, 1.1.2, ?), 1.2, etc. (the abstract is not included in section numbering). Use this numbering also for internal cross-referencing: do not just refer to 'the text.' Any subsection may be given a brief heading. Each heading should appear on its own separate line.
Introduction. State the objectives of the work and provide an adequate background, avoiding a detailed literature survey or a summary of the results.
Experimental/Materials 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.
Discussion. This should explore the significance of the results of the work, not repeat them.Conclusions. A short Conclusions section is to be presented and should be divided into specific points.
Appendices. If there is more than one appendix, they should be identified as A, B, etc. Formulae and equations in appendices should be given separate numbering: (Eq. A.1), (Eq. A.2), etc.; in a subsequent appendix, (Eq. B.1) and so forth.
Acknowledgements. Place acknowledgements, including information on grants received, before the references, in a separate section, and not as a footnote on the title page.
Figure legends, tables, figures, schemes. Present these, in this order, at the end of the article. High-resolution graphics files must always be provided separate from the main text file (please also see the Preparation of Artwork section below).
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.
Nomenclature and units. Follow internationally accepted rules and conventions: use the international system of units (SI). If other quantities are mentioned, give their equivalent in SI. The metric system should be used for all scientific and laboratory data; if, in certain instances, it is necessary to quote other units, these should be added in parentheses. Temperatures should be given in the Centigrade or Kelvin scales. Radionuclide identities should be presented as the chemical symbol with the mass numbers raised to the left, e.g. ¹⁴C, ¹³⁷Cs, ²³⁹Pu. The journal requires the SI radiation units, i.e. to the Becquerel (Bq), Gray (Gy) and Sievert (Sv) at the expense of the Curie (Cu) or disintegrations per minute/second (dpm/dps), rad and rem.
Maths. The unit billion (10⁹ in America and 10¹² in Europe) must not be used as it is ambiguous.

References
Responsibility for the accuracy of bibliographic citations lies entirely with the authors. Citations in the 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 should not be in the reference list, but may be mentioned in the text. Citation of a reference as 'in press' implies that the item has been accepted for publication.
Citing and listing of web references. As a minimum, the full URL should be given. Any further information, if known (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.
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.

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. J. Sci. Commun. 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.

Preparation of Artwork
Number figures consecutively with Arabic numerals. A detailed guide on electronic artwork is available on our website: http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.

Color figures in the printed issue can be accepted only if the authors defray the full cost. However, 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 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 note: Because of technical complications that can arise in 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 files corresponding to all the color illustrations.

Captions. Ensure that each illustration has a caption. 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
Tables should be numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals in order of appearance in the text. Type each table double-spaced on a separate page with a short descriptive title typed directly above and with essential footnotes below.

Language polishing
Authors who require information on 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 in any advertising. For more information please refer to our Terms and Conditions http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/termsconditions.cws_home/termsconditions.

Proofs
PDF proofs will be e-mailed to the corresponding author. To avoid delay in publication, only necessary changes should be made, and corrections should be returned promptly. Authors will be charged for alterations that exceed 10% of the total cost of composition.

Electronic Offprints (e-offprints)
The corresponding author, at no cost, will be provided with a PDF file of the article via e-mail or, alternatively, 25 free paper offprints. 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.

Online Publication
Your article will appear on Elsevier's online journal database ScienceDirect as an "Article in Press" within approximately 4-6 weeks of acceptance. Articles in Press for this journal can be viewed at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/0265931X. An Article in Press may be cited prior to its publication by means of its unique digital object identifier (DOI) number, which does not change throughout the publication process.

Author enquiries
For enquiries relating to the submission of articles (including electronic submission where available) please this journal's homepage at http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jenvrad. From here you can also track accepted articles ( http://www.elsevier.com/trackarticle) and set up e-mail alerts to inform you of when an article's status has changed, as well as detailed artwork guidelines, copyright information, frequently asked questions and more.
Contact details for questions arising after acceptance of an article, especially those relating to proofs, are provided after registration of an article for publication.