Short Overview

Manuscript Preparation:
General
Structure
Text Layout
Corresponding Author
Abstract
Keywords
Keyword List
Units
Maths
References
Illustrations
Colour Costs and Queries
Free Online Colour
Tables
Electronic Annexes
Supplying the Final Accepted Print Version with Disk

Other:
Notification
Copyright
PDF Proofs
Author Benefits
Online Paper Tracking
Enquiries
Useful Links



The Journal will publish the results of original research relating to the structure, properties and processing of ceramic materials. Papers of either an experimental or theoretical character will be welcomed on a fully international basis. Papers may cover any of the branches of ceramic science and may relate to any of the so-called categories, structural, functional and traditional ceramics. The central objective will be to sustain a high standard with rigorous reviewing procedures.

Submission of papers:

As from 15 February 2008 the journals accepts electronic submissions through http://ees.elsevier.com/jecs as well as paper submissions. For paper submissions the manuscripts (1 original and 2 copies) accompanied by a covering letter should be sent to the submission address. Only after final acceptance a disk/CD ROM needs to be sent with the hardcopy.

Submission address: Contributors should submit their papers to:

Professor R. J. Brook
University of Oxford
Department of Materials
Parks Road
Oxford OX1 3PH
UK.
Tel: +44 (0)1865-273782
Fax: +44 (0) 1865-273783.

Electronic submissions will be handled by Dr. Richard Todd.

All authors must sign the 'Transfer of Copyright' agreement before the article can be published. This transfer agreement enables Elsevier Ltd to protect the copyrighted material for the authors, but does not relinquish the author's proprietary rights. The copyright transfer covers the exclusive rights to reproduce and distribute the article, including reprints, photographic reproductions, microform or any other reproductions of similar nature and translations, and includes the right to adapt the article for use in conjunction with computer systems and programs, including reproduction or publication in machine-readable form and incorporation in retrieval systems. Authors are responsible for obtaining from the copyright holder permission to reproduce any figures for which copyright exists.

Submission language: English http://dictionary.oed.com/entrance.dtl

Types of contributions: Original papers, short reports and state-of-the-art review articles. Short reports can be up to four printed pages in extent and will be published as rapidly as possible. All papers deemed within the scope of the journal will be independently refereed. For more information about how the process is conducted for this journal, please take a look at the peer review policy statement here

Corresponding author: Clearly indicate who is responsible for correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, including 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. Full postal addresses must be given for all co-authors. Please consult a recent journal paper for style if possible.

Original material: 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 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.

Detailed instructions on manuscript preparation and artwork instructions can be found below. The editor reserves the right to return manuscripts that do not conform to the instructions for manuscript preparation and artwork instruction, as well as paper that do not fit the scope of the journal, prior to refereeing. Information about our sponsored Language services can be found at http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/authorsview.authors/languagepolishing

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Manuscript Preparation:

General:
Editors reserve the right to adjust style to certain standards of uniformity. Original paper manuscripts are discarded one month after publication unless the Publisher is asked to return original material after use. An electronic copy of the manuscript on disk should accompany the final accepted version. Please use Word, Word Perfect or LaTeX files for the text of your manuscript. (For further information about LaTeX submission, please go to http://www.elsevier.com/latex.)
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Structure:
Follow this order when typing manuscripts: Title, Authors, Affiliations, Abstract, Keywords, Main text, Acknowledgements, Appendix, References, Figure Captions and then Tables. Do not import figures into the text - see Illustrations Collate acknowledgements in a separate section at the end of the article and do not include them on the title page, as a footnote to the title or otherwise.
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Text Layout:
Use double spacing and wide (3 cm) margins. (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, use 12 or 10 pt font size and standard fonts. Print the entire manuscript on one side of the paper only.
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Corresponding author:
Clearly indicate who is responsible for correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, including 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. Full postal addresses must be given for all co-authors. Please consult a recent journal paper for style if possible.
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Abstract:
A self-contained abstract of around 100-150 words must be supplied, outlining the aims, scope and conclusions of the paper.
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Keywords:
Authors should choose up to five Keywords from the standard list below (or four standard keywords, and one of their own choosing).
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Units and Symbols:
The SI 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 degrees Celsius. The unit 'billion' (109 in America, 1012 in Europe) is ambiguous and should not be used.
Abbreviations for units should follow the suggestions of the British Standards publication BS 1991.
The full stop should not be included in abbreviations, e.g. m (not m.), ppm (not p.p.m.),'%' and '/' should be used in preference to 'per cent' and 'per'.
Where abbreviations are likely to cause ambiguity or not be readily understood by an international readership, units should be put in full.
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Maths:
Number consecutively any equations that have to be displayed separately from the text (if referred to explicitly in the text).
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References:
References should be cited at the appropriate point in the text by a superscript numeral. A list of references, in numerical order, should appear at the end of the paper. All references in this list should be indicated at some point in the text and vice versa. Unpublished data or private communications should not appear in the list for paper submissions. For electronic submissions, if the reference list includes unpublished material, this must be uploaded as a supplement file under the heading "Unpublished cited reference". Please note that unpublished references are for refereeing purposes only.
Examples of layout of references are given below.
1. Lee, J. G. & Cutler, I. B., Sinterable sialon powder by reaction of clay with carbon and nitrogen. Am. Ceram. Soc. Bull., 1979, 58, 869-871.
2. Paris, R. A. & Grollier-Baron, T., Procede de preparation de sialons, produits obtenus et articles fabriques de ces produits. European Patent 23869, 2 Nov. 1981.
3. Siddiqi, S. A., Higgins, I. & Hendry, A., Production of '-sialon by carbothermal reaction of clay. In Proceedings of the International Conference Non-oxide Technical and Engineering Ceramics, ed. S. Hampshire. Elsevier Applied Science, London, 1986, pp. 119-20.
4. Briggs, D. & Seah, M. P., Practical Surface Analysis by Auger and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy, John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1984, pp. 15-17.
5. Marra, R. A., Homogeneous nucleation and growth of silicon powder from laser heated gas phase reactions. PhD thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 1983.
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Illustrations:
For electronic submissions please see http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions In the case of paper submissions, the original and two copies, which may be of a reduced size, of each illustration should be provided. Line drawings may be submitted in any medium providing that the image is black and very sharp. They should preferably all require the same degree of reduction; large diagrams, more than four times final size, are discouraged due to handling difficulties. The type area of the journal is 177 mm wide x 240 mm deep, in two columns per page, each 85 mm wide, and lettering should therefore be large enough to be legible after reduction of the illustration to fit (ideally 7pt lettering after reduction). Photographs should be submitted as contrasting black-and-white prints on glossy paper. Each illustration must be clearly numbered and the name(s) of the author(s) of the paper written on the reverse side.
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Colour Costs and Queries:
For colour illustrations to be produced in the print journal, a colour printing fee is charged to the author per colour page. Further information concerning colour illustrations and costs is available from Author Support at authorsupport@elsevier.com, and at http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.
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FREE ONLINE COLOUR
If, together with your accepted article, you submit usable colour and black/white 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. ' Usable' means the formats comply with our instructions. See the information about Illustrations at http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions. For colour illustrations in the print journal see Colour Costs above.
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Tables:
Tables should be numbered consecutively and given suitable captions and each table should begin on a new page. No vertical rules should be used. Tables should not duplicate results presented elsewhere in the manuscript (for example, in graphs). Footnotes to tables should be typed below the table and should be referred to by superscript lowercase letters.
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Electronic Annexes
We strongly encourage you to submit electronic annexes, such as short videos, computer-enhanced images, audio clips and large databases. Please refer to the Artwork Instructions (Multimedia files) at http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions for details on file types to be used. Please supply 3 disks/CD ROMs containing the electronic annex to the editor for review. In the text of your article you may wish to refer to the annex. This is not mandatory, however, if you do wish to refer to the annex in the text then please do so using this example: "?see Electronic Annex 1 in the online version of this article." Production will insert the relevant URL at the typesetting stage after this statement.
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Supplying Final Accepted Text on Disk (paper submissions only):
Once the paper has been accepted by the editor, an electronic version of the text should be submitted together with the final hardcopy of the manuscript. The electronic version must match the hardcopy exactly. We accept most wordprocessing formats, but Word, WordPerfect or LaTeX (see also http://www.elsevier.com/latex) is preferred. Always keep a backup copy of the electronic file for reference and safety. Label the disk with your name, the journal title and any software used. Save your files using the default extension of the program used. Electronic files can be stored on 3.5 inch diskette, ZIP-disk or CD (either MS-DOS or Macintosh).
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Notification:

Authors will be notified of the acceptance of their paper by the editor. The Publisher will also send a notification of receipt of the paper in production.
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Copyright:

All authors must sign the Transfer of Copyright agreement before the article can be published. This transfer agreement enables Elsevier to protect the copyrighted material for the authors, but does not relinquish the authors' proprietary rights. The copyright transfer covers the exclusive rights to reproduce and distribute the article, including reprints, photographic reproductions, microfilm or any other reproductions of similar nature and translations. Authors are responsible for obtaining from the copyright holder permission to reproduce any figures for which copyright exists.
For more information please go to our copyright page www.elsevier.com/locate/guidepublication
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PDF Proofs:

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.
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.
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Author Benefits:

No page charges: Publication in this journal is free of charge.

Free offprints: Twenty-five offprints will be supplied free of charge. Corresponding authors will be given the choice to buy extra offprints before printing of the article. Authors who pay for colour illustrations will receive an extra fifty offprints free of charge.

Author discount: Contributors to Elsevier journals are entitled to a 30% discount on all Elsevier books. See http://www.elsevier.com/homepage/booksbutler for more information.

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Online Paper Tracking:

Authors can track the status of their accepted paper online at http://www.elsevier.com/trackarticle using the reference supplied by the Publisher.

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Author enquiries:

All author enquiries should be made to: authorsupport@elsevier.com
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Keyword List

Authors should select a maximum of five keywords. Each keyword should be accompanied by the capital letter denoting the category from which the keyword has been selected. If authors wish they may nominate one keyword which is not included in the list below. The list of up to five keywords should appear on the title page of each paper submitted for consideration following the abstract.

A. Processing

B. Structure and Microstructure

C. Properties

D. Compositions

E. Applications

A. Processing

Calcination
Drying
Extrusion
Films
Finishing
Firing
Grain growth
Hot isostatic pressing
Hot pressing
Implantation
Injection moulding
Joining
Microwave processing
Milling
Mixing
Powders-solid state reaction
Powders-gas phase reaction
Powders-chemical preparation
Precursors-organic
Pressing
Shaping
Sintering
Slip casting
Sol-gel processes
Suspensions
Tape casting


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B. Structure and Microstructure

Composites
Defects
Electron microscopy
Failure analysis
Fibres
Grain size
Grain boundaries
Impurities
Inclusions
Interfaces
Microstructure-final
Microstructure- prefiring
Nanocomposites
Non-destructive evaluation
Optical microscopy
Platelets
Porosity
Spectroscopy
Surfaces
Whiskers
X-ray methods


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C. Properties

Chemical properties
Colour
Corrosion
Creep
Dielectric properties
Diffusion
Electrical properties
Electrical conductivity
Fatigue
Ferroclectric properties
Fracture
Hardness
Impedance
Ionic conductivity
Lifetime
Magnetic properties
Mechanical properties
Optical properties
Piezoelectric properties
Piezoespectroscopy
Plasticity
Residual stress
Strength
Superconductivity
Thermal conductivity
Thermal expansion
Thermal properties
Thermal shock resistance
Toughness and toughening
Wear resistance


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D. Compositions

Al₂O₃
Al₂TiO₅
Alkali oxides
Alkaline earth oxides
Apatite
β-Al₂O₃
BaTi0₃ and titanates
BeO
Borides
Carbides
Carbon
Ce0₂
Clays
Dimox
Ferrites
Glass
Glass ceramics
Halides
MgO
Mullite
Nanotubes
Niobates
Nitrides
Oxide superconductors
Perovskites
PLZT
PZT
Porcelain
RBAO
Si₃N₄
Sialon
SiC
Silicate
Silicides
SiO₂
Spinels
Tantalates
Ti0₂
Traditional ceramics
Transition metal oxides
U0₂
Y₂O₂
ZnO
Zr0₂


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E. Applications

Actuators
Armour
Batteries
Biomedical applications
Capacitors
Cutting tools
Engine components
Fuel cells
Functional applications
Hard magnets
Insulators
Lamp envelopes
Membranes
Nuclear applications
PTC devices
Refractories
Sensors
Soft magnets
Structural applications
Substrates
Thermistors
Varistors
Wear parts

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