A Journal Devoted to Scientific and Technological Aspects of Industrially Relevant Polysaccharides


Carbohydrate Polymers covers the study and exploitation of carbohydrate polymers which have current or potential industrial application in areas such as food, textiles, paper, wood, adhesives, biodegradables, biorefining, pharmaceuticals, and oil recovery.
Topics include:
• studies of structure and properties
• biological and industrial development
• analytical methods
• chemical and microbiological modifications
• interactions with other materials

The role of the carbohydrate polymer must be central to the work reported, not peripheral. Research must be innovative and advance scientific knowledge.

Examples of papers which are not appropriate for Carbohydrate Polymers include:
• papers which major in biological, physiological and pharmacological aspects of non-carbohydrate molecules attached to, or mixed with, carbohydrate polymers;
• in papers where the carbohydrate polymer is mainly a carrier for a drug, the emphasis must be on the involvement, use and advantages of the carbohydrate polymer rather than on the testing of the efficacy of the drug in modified form.

The journal publishes review papers, original research papers, short communications, and book reviews. Only papers with international relevance are published.

Submission of Papers to Carbohydrate Polymers Contributors must submit their articles electronically via the Elsevier Editorial System http://ees.elsevier.com/carbpol This is the only method of submission, and facilitates processing of your article.

Do not send another copy to the Editors either by e-mail or post.

Authors are required to submit with their articles, the names and contact details (including e-mail address) of three potential referees. Please note that the journal may not use your suggestions, but your help is appreciated and may speed up the selection of appropriate reviewers. Your manuscript will be rejected if these names are not provided. Email addresses provided must be current and proven - otherwise processing of your manuscript will be delayed.

It is the responsibility of the authors to ensure that papers are written in clear and comprehensible English. Authors whose native language is not English are strongly advised to have their papers checked by an English-speaking colleague prior to submission. Language Services: Authors who require information about language editing and copyediting services pre- and post-submission please visit http://www.elsevier.com/locate/languagepolishing or contact authorsupport@elsevier.com for further information. Please note that 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 and Conditions - http://www.elsevier.com/termsandconditions.

Review Process
A peer review system is used to ensure high quality of papers accepted for publication. The Editors will reject papers without formal review when it is deemed that the paper is 1) on a topic outside the scope of the Journal, 2) lacking technical merit, 3) of narrow regional scope and significance, 4) does not advance scientific knowledge, or 5) is poorly written.
Any revised papers returned later than three months after being sent the referees' comments will be treated as a new submission.

Submission of a paper implies that it 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.

Types of Contributions

Original full-length research papers should contain material that has not been previously published elsewhere, except in a preliminary form. These papers should not exceed 6000 words of text and generally not more than eight figures/tables.

Review papers will be accepted in areas of topical interest and will normally emphasise literature published over the previous five years. They should not exceed 12,000 words plus figures, tables and references.

Short Communications are research papers constituting a concise but complete description of a limited investigation, which will not be included in a later paper. Short Communications should be as completely documented, both by reference to literature, and description of the experimental procedures employed, as a regular paper. They should not occupy more than 2,000 words plus figures, tables and references. They will be reviewed in the same way as research papers.

Letters to the Editor are published from time to time on subjects of topical interest.

Book reviews are commissioned by the Editors as warranted.

Article Preparation

General: Articles must be typewritten, double-spaced with wide margins. A font size of 12 pt is required. A corresponding author should be identified who is willing to handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication. Ensure that a telephone number (with country and area code) is provided in addition to the e-mail address and complete postal address.Full postal addresses must be given for all co-authors. Authors should consult a recent issue of the journal for style. The Editors reserve the right to adjust style to certain standards of uniformity. Authors should retain a copy of their article since we cannot accept responsibility for damage or loss of papers.

Abstracts: A concise and factual abstract is required (about 100-150 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. Non-standard or uncommon abbreviations should be avoided, but if essential they must be defined at their first mention in the abstract itself.
Text: Follow this order when typing articles: Title, Authors, Affiliations, Abstract, Keywords, Main text, Acknowledgements, Appendix, References, Vitae, Figure Captions. Do not import the Figures or Tables into your text. Other than the cover page, every page of the article, including the title page, references, tables etc. should be numbered; however, in the text no reference should be made to page numbers. Lines must be numbered consecutively throughout the 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 numbers.
Units: The SI system should be used for all scientific and laboratory data. In certain instances it may be necessary to quote other units. These should be added in parentheses. Temperatures should be given in degrees Celsius. The unit 'billion' (10⁹ in America, 10¹² in Europe) is ambiguous and should not be used.

References

Please note: Requirements for citations in text and listing of authors names in references have been changed, and will take effect for all papers submitted after 25 November 2007.

Responsibility for the accuracy of bibliographic citations lies entirely with the authors. The paper 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.

Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list at the end of the paper (and vice versa).

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, b, 1999; Allan & Jones, 1995). Kramer et al. (2000) have recently shown..."

References cited together in the text should be arranged chronologically. The list of references must be arranged alphabetically on authors' names, and should be as full as possible, listing all authors, the full title of articles and full title of journals, publisher and year.

Titles of periodicals mentioned in the list of references must be spelled out in full.

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-Latin alphabets should be transliterated, and a notation such as "(in Russian)" or "(in Greek, with English abstract)" should be added.

References concerning unpublished data and "personal communications" must not be cited in the reference list but may be mentioned in the text, giving the full details (name and affiliation of the contact). References included in the reference list as "in press" should follow the standard reference style of the journal and should include a substitution of the publication data with "in press". Citation of a reference as "in press" implies that the item has been accepted for publication. In the final publication, material referenced as "submitted" is not acceptable - if it cannot be referenced as "in press" then the text needs to be revised to state "unpublished results" and the reference deleted from the reference list.

References should be given in the following form:
Sarmento, B., Ferreira, D., Veiga, F., & Ribeiro, A. (2006). Characterization of insulin-loaded alginate nanoparticles produced by ionotropic pre-gelation through DSC and FTIR studies. Carbohydrate Polymers, 66, 1-7.

Closs, C. B., Roberts, I. D., Conde-Petit, B., & Eschler, F. (1997). Phase separation and rheology of aqueous amylopectin/ galactomannan systems. In E. J. Windhab, & B. Wolf. Proceedings of the 1st international symposium on food rheology and structure (pp. 233-237). Hannover: Vincentz Verlag.

Stephen, A. M. (1995). Food polysaccharides and their applications. New York: Marcel Dekker.

Norton, I. T., & Foster, T. J.. (2002). Hydrocolloids in real food systems. In P. A. Williams & G. O. Phillips (Eds.). Gums and stabilisers for the food industry (Vol. 11, pp. 187-200). Cambridge, UK: The Royal Society of Chemistry.

Babtsov, V., Shapiro, Y., & Kvitnitsky, E. (2005). Method of microencapsulation. US Patent Office, Pat. No. 6 932 984.

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.

Tables

Tables should be numbered consecutively and given a suitable caption and each table typed on a separate sheet. 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 article (e.g. in graphs). Tables should not be scanned in as this will make it diffucult to make corrections if necessary.

Illustrations

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 not be included within the text. All illustrations should be clearly marked with the figure number and the author's name. All figures are to have a caption. Captions should be supplied on a separate sheet.
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.

Preparation of 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. 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, Helvetica, Times, Symbol.
• Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text.
• Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files
• Provide all illustrations as separate files
• Provide captions to illustrations separately.
• 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.

Proofs
When your article 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, to be checked for typesetting/editing. No changes in, or additions to, the accepted (and subsequently edited) article will be allowed at this stage. Proofreading is solely your responsibility. A form with queries from the copy editor may accompany your proofs. Please answer all queries and make any corrections or additions required. The Publisher reserves the right to proceed with publication if corrections are not communicated. Return corrections within two working days of receipt of the proofs. Should there be no corrections, please confirm this. Elsevier will do everything possible to get your article corrected and published as quickly and accurately as possible. In order to do this we need your help. When you receive the (PDF) proof of your article for correction, it is important to ensure that all of your corrections are sent back to us in one communication. Subsequent corrections will not be possible, so please ensure your first sending is complete. Note that this does not mean you have any less time to make your corrections, just that only one set of corrections will be accepted. Proofs are to be returned to the Log-in Department, Elsevier Ltd, Elsevier House, Brookvale Plaza, East Park, Shannon, Co Clare, Ireland.

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.

Copyright
Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to transfer copyright (for more information on copyright see http://www.elsevier.com/locate/authorsrights). This transfer will ensure the widest possible dissemination of information. A letter will be sent to the corresponding author confirming receipt of the article. A form facilitating transfer of copyright will be provided. 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 Elsevier's Rights Department, Oxford, 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.

Author Enquiries

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" via the website Author Gateway. Other questions or queries will also be dealt with via the website http://www.elsevier.com.

Contact details for questions arising after acceptance of an article, especially those relating to proofs, are provided when an article is accepted for publication. Do not contact the editors - they do not have access to this information and will not be able to help you. Urgent queries can be addressed to authorsupport@elsevier.com.

Carbohydrate Polymers carries no page charges