The International Journal for the Rapid Publication of Current Research in Organic Geochemistry and Biogeochemistry The Official Journal of the European Association of Organic Geochemists
Guide for Authors
Instructions to Authors
Submission checklist
It is hoped that this list will be useful during the final checking
of an article prior to sending it to an Editor for review. Please consult the Guide for Authors for further details of any item.
Ensure that the following items are present:
• One Author designated as corresponding Author:• E-mail address
•
Full postal address• Telephone and fax numbers• All necessary files have been uploaded• Keywords• All
figure
captions• All tables (including title, description, footnotes)
Further considerations
• Manuscript
should
have been "spellchecked"• References must be in the correct format for Organic Geochemistry• All references mentioned
in
the Reference list must be cited in the text and vice versa• Permission should have been obtained for use of copyrighted material
from other sources (including the Web)• Colour figures are clearly marked as being intended for colour reproduction on the Web
(free of charge) and in print, or to be reproduced in colour on the Web (free of charge) and in black-and-white in print• If colour
only on the Web is required, black and white versions of the figures should also supplied for printing purposes
Submission
of papers: Authors are requested to submit their original manuscript and figures via the Elsevier Electronic Submission system (http://ees.elsevier.com/OG)
to either Dr. Lloyd R. Snowdon or Professor J.R. Maxwell FRS, Co-Chief Editors (see detailed instructions below). It is essential to
give a fax number and e-mail address when submitting a manuscript. Articles must be written in good English. 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tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published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. A statement to this
effect should be included in a cover letter accompanying the manuscript and over the signature of the corresponding author.
Types
of Contributions: Papers may be published as a Full Paper, a Note or a Discussion/Reply. A full paper should describe original research
in the general
area of Organic Geochemistry (see Aims and Scopes). A note is a short (see strict length limits below) original contribution,
which can
be used to inform readers of preliminary or limited results of research. Papers in the form of a Discussion/Reply will be
published when
a reader wishes to comment on a paper published previously. This format will be of two back-to-back short communications,
one from the
communicator and one from the original author(s).
Paper Length: Papers generally average 10-15 printed pages, including
tables,
figures and references. A full page of text in Organic Geochemistry contains about 850 words. For Notes, the manuscript MUST
NOT EXCEED 10 PAGES OF A4 SIZE, including text, references and all tables, figures, appendices, legends, etc. A 3 cm border must be left
all round
each page: the preferred type is Century Schoolbook (12 pt). The type MUST be double spaced (i.e. about 10 mm between the
centre of lines). Papers of more than 10 pages that are submitted as NOTES will automatically be treated
as normal submissions and will
not be fast tracked.
Scientific review: Manuscripts will be reviewed by a minimum of two referees
and will be considered for publication
on the basis of originality of the contribution and the recommendations of referees and editors.
Authors are requested to provide a
list of several possible referees with appropriate mail and e-mail addresses. You may also mention
persons whom you would prefer not
to review your paper.
Copyright: Upon acceptance of an article, Authors will be asked to transfer
copyright (for more information
on copyright see http://www.elsevier.com/copyright). This transfer will ensure the widest
possible dissemination of information.
A letter will be sent to the corresponding Author confirming receipt of the manuscript. 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 their 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).
Authors'
rights
As an author you (or your employer or institution) may do the following:
- make copies (print or electronic) of the
article for
your own personal use, including for your own classroom teaching use
- make copies and distribute such copies (including
through
e-mail) of the article to research colleagues, for the personal use by such colleagues (but not commercially or systematically,
e.g.,
via an e-mail list or list server)
- post a pre-print version of the article on Internet websites including electronic pre-print
servers, and to retain indefinitely such version on such servers or sites
- post a revised personal version of the final text of
the article (to reflect changes made in the peer review and editing process) on your personal or institutional website or server, with
a link to the journal homepage (on elsevier.com)
- present the article at a meeting or conference and to distribute copies of the
article to the delegates attending such a meeting
- for your employer, if the article is a 'work for hire', made within the scope
of your employment, your employer may use all or part of the information in the article for other intra-company use (e.g., training)
- retain patent and trademark rights and rights to any processes or procedure described in the article
- include the article in full
or in part in a thesis or dissertation (provided that this is not to be published commercially)
- use the article or any part thereof
in a printed compilation of your works, such as collected writings or lecture notes (subsequent to publication of your article in the
journal)
- prepare other derivative works, to extend the article into book-length form, or to otherwise re-use portions or excerpts
in other works, with full acknowledgement of its original publication in the journal
Online submission to the journal prior to
acceptance
Submission to this journal proceeds totally online. Use the following guidelines to prepare your article. Via http://ees.elsevier.com/OG
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.
The above represents a very brief outline of this form of submission. It
can be advantageous to print this "Guide for Authors" section from the site for reference in the subsequent stages of article preparation.
Electronic format requirements for accepted articles
General points
We accept most word processing
formats, but Word or WordPerfect 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.
Word processor documents
It is important that the
file
be saved and uploaded in the native format of the word processor 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 word
processor'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 word processor'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/locate/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 Preparation of electronic illustrations.
To avoid unnecessary errors you are strongly advised to use the
"spellchecker"
function of your word processor.
Preparation of text
Presentation of manuscript
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 comma for
thousands (10,000 and above).
Language Polishing. 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 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/termsandconditions
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. Lower case should be used, except for the first
letter of the first word or of names. 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 in italics, 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 250 words).
The abstract
should state briefly the purpose of the research, the principal results and major conclusions. A structured abstract is
required. For
this, a recent copy of the journal should be consulted. 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. 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. Abbreviations. Define
abbreviations that are
not standard in this field at their first occurrence in the article: in the abstract but also in the main text
after it. Ensure consistency
of abbreviations throughout the article. N.B. Acknowledgements. Collate acknowledgements,
including information on grants
received, in a separate section at the end of the article and do not, therefore, include them on the
title page, as a footnote to the
title or otherwise. Authors are also strongly encouraged to acknowledge the referees.
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. References.
See separate section, below. Figure captions, tables, figures, schemes.
Present these, in this order, at the end of the
article. They are described in more detail below. Further, high-resolution graphics
files must be provided separately (see Preparation of illustrations). Text graphics. Present incidental graphics not suitable
for mention
as figures, plates or schemes at the end of the article and number them "Graphic 1", etc. Their precise position in the
text can then
be indicated. See further under the section, Preparation of illustrations. If you are working with LaTeX and have such
features embedded
in the text, these can be left, but such embedding should not be done specifically for publishing purposes. Furthermore,
high-resolution
graphics files must be provided separately (see Preparation of illustrations).
Specific remarks
Mathematical
formulae.
Present simple formulae in the line of normal text where possible. In principle, variables are to be presented in italics.
Use the solidus
(/) instead of a horizontal line, e.g., X/Y rather than X Y Powers of e are often more conveniently
denoted by exp.
Number consecutively any equations that have to be displayed separate from the text (if referred to explicitly in
the text).
Footnotes. Footnotes should be used sparingly. Number them consecutively throughout the article, using superscript
Arabic
numbers. Many word processors build footnotes into the text, and this feature may be used. Should this not be the case, indicate
the
position of footnotes in the text and present the footnotes themselves on a separate sheet at the end of the article. Do not include
footnotes in the Reference list. Table footnotes. Indicate each footnote in a table with a superscript lowercase letter.
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. Tables must be submitted as word processor
tables or in spreadsheets rather than bitmap or image files to facilitate editing and typesetting.
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. Include a space between the number and the following units or abbreviation except for %, the symbol for per
mil and °, '
and " when used in latitude and longitude. In Windows use alt[0186] for °, alt[241] for ± and alt[0137]
for the symbol
for per mil.
DNA and amino acid sequences. Any nucleotide sequence data reported or referred to in a submitted
manuscript must be deposited in one of the three major collaborative databases-DDBJ/EMBL/GenBank-which exchange data on a daily basis.
The suggested wording for referring to accession number information is: These sequence data have been submitted to the DDBJ/EMBL/GenBank
databases under accession number U12345. Addresses are as follows: DDBJ email: ddbjsub@ddbj.nig.ac.jp (for data submissions),
URL: http://www.ddbj.nig.ac.jp/; EMBL email: datasubs@ebi.ac.uk, URL: http://www.ebi.ac.uk/;
GenBank email: gb-sub@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/.
Preparation of supplementary
data. Elsevier accepts 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. For more detailed instructions please visit
our artwork instruction pages at the Author Gateway at http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.
References
Responsibility for the accuracy of bibliographic citations lies entirely with the Authors.
All publications
cited in the text should
be presented in a list of references following the text of the manuscript. Reference to manuscripts "in preparation"
or "submitted"
are not allowed. In the text refer to the author's name (without initials) and year of publication (e.g. "Since Peterson
(1993) has
shown that?" or "This is in agreement with results obtained later (Kramer, 1994)". For three or more authors use the first
author followed
by "et al.", in the text. The citations should be chronological, oldest first, whereas the list of references should
be arranged alphabetically
by authors' names. References by the same author(s) should be arranged chronologically. The manuscript should
be carefully checked to
ensure that the spelling of authors' names and publication dates are exactly the same in the text as in the reference
list.
References
must be given in the following form with particular attention to the punctuation and the fully written out journal
names:
Reference:
Lee, G.S.H., Wilson, M.A., Young, B.R., 1998. The application of the "watergate" suppression technique for analysing
humic substances
by nuclear magnetic resonance. Organic Geochemistry 28, 549-559.
Chapter in a book: Baker, E.W., Louda, J.W., 1986.
Porphyrins
in the geological record. In: Johns, R.B. (Ed.), Biological Markers in the Sedimentary Record. Elsevier, Oxford, pp. 121-225.
Book:
Hunt, J.M., 1996. Petroleum Geochemistry and Geology, 2nd Edition. Freeman, New York.
Report: Zhang, E., Tang, Y., Hill,
R., Liu,
J., Foss, D.C., Chung, E.Y., 1997. Kinetic and basin modeling of gas generation from the Cameo Coal, Piceance Basin, northwest
Colorado.
Chevron internal report.
Meeting Abstract: Comer, J.B., Payne, D.F., Sibo, W., 1997. Modeling burial and thermal history
of the
Mesaverde Group, Piceance Basin, Colorado - Implications for gas generation from coals. Abstract. American Association of Petroleum
Geologists Annual Meeting, Dallas, p. A22.
Conference Proceedings: Li, M., Osadetz, K.G., Fowler, M.G., Snowdon, L.R., Stasiuk, L.D.,
Yao, H., Hwang, R.J., Jenden, P., Grant, B., Idiz, E., 1998. Case studies on secondary oil migration in the Williston Basin Symposium.
Saskatchewan Geological Survey Special Publication 13, pp. 247-253.
Preparation of illustrations
Preparation of electronic
illustrations
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://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: 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 word processor (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.
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.
Line drawings
The lettering and symbols, as well as other details, should have proportionate dimensions,
so as not to become illegible or unclear after possible reduction; in general, the figures should be designed for a reduction factor
of two to three. The degree of reduction will be determined by the Publisher. Illustrations will not be enlarged. Consider the page
format
of the journal when designing the illustrations.
Do not use any type of shading on computer-generated illustrations.
Photographs
(halftones)
Remove non-essential areas of a photograph. Where necessary, insert a scale bar in the illustration
(not below
it), as opposed to giving a magnification factor in the caption.
Colour illustrations
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 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. Please indicate your preference for colour 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 colour figures to "grey scale" (for the printed version should you not opt
for colour in print) please submit
in addition usable black and white versions of all the colour illustrations.
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.
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.
