Guide for Authors
The Journal publishes papers dealing with new ideas and developments in the science and
technology of polymers with functional groups that provide specific chemical reactivity or physico-chemical behaviour.
The scope
covers functional polymers, acting as reagents and catalysts, with specific emphasis on solid- or gel-state chemistry; carriers of protecting
groups or biofunctional groups; templating agents and functional matrices; ion-exchangers, selective sorbents, chelating agents; supports
for enzymes and cells; electro-active and sensing materials. It also includes advanced polymer synthesis techniques. the study of polymer
networks and rheology and processing of functional polymers.
The Journal addresses two main audiences: those engaged in the synthesis
of new materials and the development of novel techniques, and those concerned with technology and practical applications in the laboratory
or plant. The Journal encourages, and serves as a forum for, the dialogue between these two groups.
Types of Papers
Contributions have to present thorough molecular and material characterisation data,
and may deal with the synthesis of the above polymers or with their applications in organic synthesis, catalysis, water or effluent treatment,
separations, recovery, lithography, microelectronics, information storage, energy conversion, diagnostics, drug delivery, biotechnology
coating and encapsulation, and adhesion.
Papers on a broad spectrum of topics are encouraged. Emphasis is on work at the frontiers
of science or technology and furthering the interaction between researcher and practical engineer, rather than on details of theory or
application. Full-length papers and review articles will be considered. However, authors intending to write a review should contact an
Editor first. Uninvited reviews will not be considered. All material submitted must be original, that is it may not have been submitted
elsewhere for publication.
Lack of originality, insufficient molecular characterisation, poor comparison with the current state of
literature and with the authors' own production are, individually, sufficient reasons for rejection.
Poor English language is another
reason for rejection. Authors are invited to use native speakers for a revision of their manuscripts prior to submission.
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 and verification
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,
including electronically without the written consent of the copyright-holder. To verify originality, your article may be checked by the
originality detection software iThenticate. See also
http://www.elsevier.com/editors/plagdetect.
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
Manuscripts should be written in English (American or British usage
is accepted, but not a mixture of these) in a clear and concise manner and follow the style of a current issue of Reactive and Functional
Polymers. Authors whose native language is not English should have the spelling, grammar, and style checked by someone fully proficient
in the English language.
Manuscripts which are not written in fluent English will be rejected automatically without refereeing.
Authors in Japan kindly note that, upon request, Elsevier Japan will provide a list of people who can check and improve the English
of an article before submission. Contact our Tokyo office: Elsevier Japan K.K., 1-9-15 Higashi Azabu, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0044, Japan
Tel.: +81-3-5561-5032; fax: +81-3-5561-5045; e-mail:
jp.info@elsevier.com
Authors who require further information about
language editing and copyediting services pre- and post-submission please visit
http://www.elsevier.com/languageediting
or our customer support site at
http://support.elsevier.com for more 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.
Submission
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.
Submit your article
Please submit your article via
http://ees.elsevier.com/react.
Article structure
Format
Manuscripts must be written with 1 1/2 line spacing, using a 12 pt Arial or Times font. All
pages must be numbered consecutively. 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.
Title page: essential information
•
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,
of not more than 200 words, is required. 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.
Keywords
Immediately after the
abstract, provide 5 keywords, using British spelling and 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.
Introduction
Statement of the problem.
Outline of the paper and important findings. Provide an appropriate literature review and a statement of novelty of the approach relative
to the state of the art, or a clear justification of the study.
Experimental
Please divide into the following sections:
Materials and
Physico-chemical characterization to provide, respectively,
the details of all the materials employed and of all instrumental techniques used. Sections for the
Synthesis,
Physical
characterization,
Physico-chemical characterization or
Biological experiments will contain experimental details.
If you feel that equations need to be provided in support of the experimental description (e.g. to show how a yield, a swelling degree,
a diffusion coefficient were calculated, to illustrate a mathematical model, etc.), add also a
Theory section.
List of
Symbols: Please include a list in the experimental section if more than about 10 symbols are used. Define all symbols and include units.
Results and discussion
Report the results in a clear and concise fashion, and explore their significance
Avoid extensive citations and discussion of published literature. Please move any detailed description of equations or methods to the
experimental section (
Theory).
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.
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.).
References
Text:
Indicate references by number(s) in square brackets in line with the text. The actual authors can be referred to, but the reference number(s)
must always be given.
Example: "..... as demonstrated [3,6]. Barnaby and Jones [8] obtained a different result ...."
List:
Number the references (numbers in square brackets) in the list in the order in which they appear in the text.
Examples:
Reference to a journal publication:
[1] J. van der Geer, J.A.J. Hanraads, R.A. Lupton, The art of writing a scientific article,
J. Sci. Commun. 163 (2000) 51-59.
Reference to a book:
[2] W. Strunk Jr., E.B. White, The Elements of Style, third ed., Macmillan,
New York, 1979.
Reference to a chapter in an edited book:
[3] G.R. Mettam, L.B. Adams, How to prepare an electronic version
of your article, in: B.S. Jones, R.Z. Smith (Eds.), Introduction to the Electronic Age, E-Publishing Inc., New York, 1999, pp. 281-304.
Figure captions
Ensure that each illustration has a caption. Supply captions in a separate list after
the references section, 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.
Schemes and figures
All the display elements should be placed in a separate section after the figure
captions. Graphs and pictures should be numbered as figures. Schemes should contain reaction or process graphical descriptions and must
be numbered separately from the other display elements. The place of schemes and figures should be clearly indicated in the text and
their captions should be provided after the references section (see above). Generally graphs should be in black and white, otherwise
you will incur in charges for graphs in colour. Please avoid the use of splines in graphs, which suggest the existence of a mathematical
model for the data. Graphs should contain data points (with error bars) possibly connected by straight lines (as guide for eyes) or columns.
The background of the graphs should be white, no grid used. Finally, the legend should not be embedded in a box. The font for the legend,
axis labels and any other additional text should be Arial.
Tables
Number
tables consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text and place them in a separate section at the end of the manuscript.
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.
Units
Follow internationally accepted rules and conventions: use the international system of units (SI).
If other units are mentioned, please give their equivalent in SI.
Math formulae
Present simple formulae in the line of normal text where possible and use the solidus (/) instead of a horizontal line for small
fractional terms, e.g., X/Y. In principle, variables are to be presented in italics. Powers of e are often more conveniently denoted
by exp. Number consecutively any equations that have to be displayed separately from the text (if referred to explicitly in the text).
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.
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
from the Editor. We will do everything possible to get your article published quickly and accurately – please let us have all your corrections within 48 hours. It is important to ensure that all 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.
Offprints
The corresponding author, at no cost, will be provided with a PDF file of the article via e-mail. For an extra
charge, paper offprints can be ordered via the offprint order form which is sent once the article is accepted for publication. 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.
For inquiries relating
to the submission of articles (including electronic submission) please visit this journal's homepage. Contact details for questions arising
after acceptance of an article, especially those relating to proofs, will be provided by the publisher. You can track accepted articles
at
http://www.elsevier.com/trackarticle. You can also check our Author FAQs (
http://www.elsevier.com/authorFAQ)
and/or contact Customer Support via
http://support.elsevier.com.
