Guide for Authors
Types of paper
Original research papers, discussion papers, short reports, review papers,
Rapid Communications
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
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carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, without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 copyright-holder.
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 paper 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.
Language and language services
Please write your text in good English (American or British usage is accepted,
but not a mixture of these). Authors who require information about language editing and copyediting services pre- and post-submission
please visit
http://www.elsevier.com/languagepolishing or our customer support site at
http://epsupport.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.
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.
Referees
Please submit, with the manuscript, the names, addresses and e-mail addresses of 3 potential referees.
Note that the editor retains the sole right to decide whether or not the suggested reviewers are used.
Additional information
Submission of Papers:
From now on, all manuscripts should be submitted
electronically through Elsevier Editorial System (EES) which can be accessed at
http://ees.elsevier.com/pepi.
With the
submitted manuscript authors should provide the names, addresses, e-mail addresses and fax numbers of four suggested reviewers.
Submission
of a paper implies that it has not been published previously, that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, 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 research papers, discussion papers, short reports, review papers, Rapid Communications.
General:Manuscripts
must be in double-spaced form with wide margins and numbered lines! A font size of 12 or 10 pt is required. The corresponding author
should be identified (include a Fax number and E-mail address). Full postal addresses must be given for all co-authors. Authors should
consult a recent issue of the journal or the journal's website (
http://www.elsevier.com/locate/pepi.) for style if possible.
The Editors reserve the right to adjust style to certain standards of uniformity.
Abstracts:An abstract in English should be
provided with all papers.
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 accompany the manuscript, but should not be included within
the text. All illustrations should be clearly marked with the figure number. All figures are to have a caption.
IMPORTANT: In
the PDF file, all figures and tables must be numbered and collected at the END of the manuscript. In addition, please indicate clearly
in the text where each figure/table should be positioned!
After Acceptance
Copyright
All authors
must sign the "Transfer of Copyright" agreement before the article can be published. This transfer agreement enables Elsevier B.V. to
protect the copyrighted material for the authors, without the author relinquishing his/her 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 a similar nature, and translations. It also 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 material for which copyright already exists.
LaTeX
If the LaTeX file is suitable,
proofs will be produced without rekeying the text. The article should preferably be written using Elsevier's document class "elsarticle",
or alternatively the standard document class "article".
The Elsevier LaTeX stylefile package (including detailed instructions for
LaTeX preparation) can be obtained from the Quickguide:
http://www.elsevier.com/latex or from the Comprehensive TeX Archive
Network (CTAN): see below, in the directory /tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/supported/elsarticle. It consists of the files: elsarticle.cls,
complete user documentation for the class file, bibliographic style files in various styles, and template files for a quick start.guidelines
for users of elsart, a template file for quick start.
CTAN is an archive with up-to-date copies of all the public-domain versions
of TeX, LaTeX, Metafont and ancillary programs, which is made available via a mirrored network of FTP servers. You can enter the CTAN
archive via a web interface in the UK (
http://www.tex.ac.uk), in the USA
http://www.ctan.org), or in Germany
(
http://www.dante.de/software/ctan) (page in German). You can search for a package on CTAN via
http://www.ucc.ie/cgi-bin/ctan/.
You can also enter the archive via FTP at
ftp.tex.ac.uk, at
ftp.dante.de, at
ctan.tug.org, or
at one of the many mirror servers; see for a list the UK or USA CTAN web pages. When a CTAN server does not respond, please try another
one.
Note that CTAN is not related to Elsevier, and that Elsevier's Customer support cannot accept complaints or answer questions
about the availability of any CTAN server.
Figures may be inserted in the usual way using an \includegraphics command, at the position
in the article where they are cited.
Your LaTeX file will be most useful as input for the printed article if you obey the following
rules of thumb:
1. Be consistent. If you use a macro for a phrase, use it throughout.
2. Use standard LaTeX mark-up. Do not hardcode
your own layout for e.g. section headings, but use the usual LaTeX macro for this purpose.
3. Keep it simple. Do not define macros
that accomplish complicated layout. They will also make the input process complicated.
Article structure
Follow this order when composing manuscripts: Title, Authors, Affiliations, Abstract, Keywords, Main
text, Acknowledgements, Appendix, References, Figure Captions and then Tables. Do not import the Figures or Tables into your 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.
Subdivision - numbered sections
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.
Material 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.
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 on.
Vitae
Include in the manuscript a short (maximum 100 words) biography of each author, along with a passport-type
photograph accompanying the other figures.
Essential title page 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 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
The
authors are kindly requested to supply 4-6 keywords that can be used for indexing/abstracting purposes.
Artwork
Electronic artwork
Line drawings:
All lettering, graph lines and points on graphs should be sufficiently large and bold to permit reproduction when the diagram has been
reduced to a size suitable for inclusion in the journal. Dye-line prints or photocopies are not suitable for reproduction. Do not use
any type of shading on computer-generated illustrations.
Photographs: Original photographs must be supplied as they are to
be reproduced (e.g. black and white or colour). If necessary, a scale should be marked on the photograph. Please note that photocopies
of photographs are not acceptable.
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.
Tables
Number tables consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text and given a suitable caption. 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.
References
Citation in 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 are not recommended in the reference list, but may be mentioned in the
text. If these references are included in the reference list they should follow the standard reference style of the journal and should
include a substitution of the publication date with either "Unpublished results" or "Personal communication" Citation of a reference
as "in press" implies that the item has been accepted for publication.
Reference style
All publications cited in the text should be presented in a list of references following the text of the manuscript. 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
the agreement with results obtained later (Kramer, 1994)"). For three or more authors use the first author followed by "et al.", in the
text. The list of references should be arranged alphabetically by authors' names. The manuscript 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.
References should be given
in the following form:
Bullen, K.E., 1975. The Earth's Density. Chapman and Hall, London, 420 pp.
Kanamori, H., Cipar, J.J., 1974.
Focal processes of the great Chilean earthquake May 22, 1960. Phys. Earth Planet. Inter., 9, 128-136.
Knopoff, L., 1972. Model for
the aftershock occurrence. In: H.C. Heard, I.Y. Borg, N.L. Carter, C.B. Raleigh (Editors). Flow and Fracture of Rocks. Am. Geophys. Union,
Geophys. Monogr. Ser., 16, 259-263.
Toksoz, M.N., Thomson, K.C., Ahrens, T.J., 1971. Generation of seismic waves in prestressed media.
Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am., 61, 1589-1623.
Journal abbreviations source
Journal names should be abbreviated according to
Index Medicus journal abbreviations:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/tsd/serials/lji.html;
List of serial title word abbreviations:
http://www.issn.org/2-22661-LTWA-online.php;
CAS (Chemical Abstracts Service):
http://www.cas.org/sent.html.
Supplementary material
Elsevier
accepts electronic 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 are 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. Video files: please supply 'stills' with your files:
you can choose any frame from the video or make a separate image. These will be used instead of standard icons and will personalize the
link to your supplementary information. For more detailed instructions please visit our artwork instruction pages at
http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.
Submission checklist
It is hoped that this list will be useful during the final checking of an article
prior to sending it to the journal's Editor for review. Please consult this 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 has been "spellchecked"
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://epsupport.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.2003.10.071
When you use the DOI to create URL hyperlinks to documents on the web, they are guaranteed never to change.
Proofs
When your manuscript is received by 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) manuscript will be allowed at this stage.
Proofreading is solely your responsibility.
A form with queries from the Copyeditor 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 3 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.
Offprints
The corresponding author, at no cost, will be provided with a PDF file of the article via e-mail.
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. Additional paper offprints can be ordered by the authors. An order form with prices will be
sent to the corresponding author. Orders for reprints (produced after publication of an article) will incur a 50% surcharge.
Additional information
Authors in Japan kindly note: Upon request Elsevier Japan will provide a list of
people who can check and improve the English of an article (before submission). Please 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
For inquiries relating to the submission of articles (including electronic submission
where available) please visit this journal's homepage. You can track accepted articles at
http://www.elsevier.com/trackarticle
and set up e-mail alerts to inform you of when an article's status has changed. Also accessible from here is information on copyright,
frequently asked questions and more. Contact details for questions arising after acceptance of an article, especially those relating
to proofs, will be provided by the publisher.
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