Official Journal of the Bioelectrochemical Society
An International Journal Devoted to Electrochemical Aspects of Biology and Biological Aspects of Electrochemistry
Former title: Bioelectrochemistry and Bioenergetics

Guide for Authors

Submission of manuscripts

Submission to this journal proceeds totally on-line via the journal's submission website, http://ees.elsevier.com/bioelechem. At the submission website 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 Principal Editor's decision and requests for revision, takes place by e-mail and via the Journal's online submission, removing the need for a hard-copy paper trail.
If you are unable to provide an electronic version, please contact the Principal Editor prior to submission trough e-mail: eberhard.neumann@uni-bielefeld.de, or telephone: +49-521-106 2053, fax: +49-521-106 2981

General
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and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, without the written consent of the Publisher.

Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to transfer copyright, for more information on copyright see http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/authorsview.authors/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 the article. Elsevier has preprinted forms for use by authors in these cases: contact Elsevier Rights Department, phone: (+44) 1865 843830, fax: (+44) 1865 853333, e-mail: permissions@elsevier.com. Requests may also be completed online via the Elsevier homepage.

Should authors be requested by the Editor to revise the text, the revised version should be submitted within 12 weeks. After this period, the article will be regarded as a new submission.

Manuscript preparation

Before preparing a submission please first consult this detailed Guide for Authors.

We accept most wordprocessing formats, but Word, WordPerfect or LaTeX are 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.

Wordprocessor documents
It is important that the file be saved in the native format of the wordprocessor used. The text should be in single-column format and with single line spacing. 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 wordprocessor'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 wordprocessor's facility.

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.
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 Author Gateway's Guide to Publishing with Elsevier: http://authors.elsevier.com. 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 wordprocessor.

LaTeX documents 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 "elsart", or alternatively the standard document class "article".

The Elsevier LaTeX package, including detailed instructions for LaTeX preparation) can be obtained from the Author Gateway's Quickguide: http://authors.elsevier.com/latex. It consists of the files: elsart.cls, guidelines for users of elsart, a template file for quick start, and the instruction booklet "Preparing articles with LaTeX".

Preparation of text

Please write your text single line spaced 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 space for thousands (10 000 and above).

Language Polishing. For authors who require information about language editing and copyediting services pre- and post-submission please visit http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/authorshome.authors/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/wps/find/termsconditions.cws_home/termsconditions

Provide the following data on one title page (in the order given): the title of the manuscript, the authors and institute's address; the corresponding author labelled with a superscript star (^*), the abstract of not more than 200 words, a maximum of 6 keywords and the address of the corresponding author including telephone, fax and e-mail address.

Title. Concise and informative. Titles are often used in information-retrieval systems. Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible. Avoid "Study on?", or "Investigation on?"
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 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 email 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 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 6 keywords. 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. A list of common abbreviations is given in the journal (see the home page), but these abbreviations should be defined in the article, too. Ensure consistency of abbreviations throughout the article.

Acknowledgements.
Collate acknowledgements 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.

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.

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 http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.

References

Citations in the text. Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa). References should be numbered in the order that they first appear in text and listed in numerical sequence on a separate sheet. Any references cited in the abstract must be given in full. Unpublished results and personal communications should not be in the reference list, but may be mentioned in the text. Citation of a reference as 'in press' implies that the item has been accepted for publication.

References list
Periodicals [1], books, [2], and chapters in multi-author books [3] should accord with the following examples:

1. E. Neumann, Digresssion on chemical electromagnetic field effects in membrane signal transduction--the experimental paradigm of the acetylcholine receptor, Bioelectrochemistry, 52, (2000) 43 - 49
2. J.A. Stratton, Electromagnetic Theory, McGraw-Hill, Inc. New York, 1941, 613 p.
3. H.P. Schwan, Dielectrophoresis and Rotation of cells, in: E. Neumann, A.E. Sowers, C.A. Jordan (Eds.) Electroporation and Electrofusion in Cell Biology, Plenum Press, New York, 1989, pp. 3-21

Journal names should be abbreviated according to: CAS (Chemical Abstracts Service)

Use of the Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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.

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 and as hardcopy printouts on separate sheets.
• Provide captions to illustrations separately.
• Produce images near to the desired size of the printed version.

A detailed guide on electronic artwork is available on our website: http://authors.elsevier.com/artwork

You are urged to visit this site; 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:

1. Supply embedded graphics in your wordprocessor (spreadsheet, presentation) document;
2. Supply files that are optimised for screen use (like GIF, BMP, PICT, WPG); the resolution is too low;
3. 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 on a separate sheet, 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
Supply high-quality printouts on white paper produced with black ink. 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. Photocopies are not suitable for reproduction. Do not use any type of shading on computer-generated illustrations.

Photographs (halftones)
Please supply original photographs for reproduction, printed on glossy paper, very sharp and with good contrast. Remove non-essential areas of a photograph. Do not mount photographs unless they form part of a composite figure. Where necessary, insert a scale bar in the illustration (not below it), as opposed to giving a magnification factor in the legend. Note that photocopies of photographs are not acceptable.

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) in addition to colour reproduction in print. For further information on the preparation of electronic artwork, please see http://authors.elsevier.com/artwork.

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'. Authors will receive proofs by e-mail and are requested to return the corrections as quickly as possible, normally within 24 hours of receipt.

Offprints (E-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.

Bioelectrochemistry has no page charges.

Submission checklist: Before a manuscript is submitted, please check the paper along Elsevier's new EES author instructions displayed at: Guide for Authors, click for pdf file . Proceed preferably along the following standard questions:

1. Is the format of the title page, including the 200 words abstract, as requested (all on one page)? Does Introduction start on the second page?
2. Is the text written single line-spaced throughout, above and below an equation one free single line space, respectively?
3. Are the page numbers given on each page?
4. Is each figure and each table (with brief table title), respectively, numbered and on separate pages?
5. Does the list of figure captions, each with a brief title, start on a separate page?
6. Do the figure legends for data correlations include "what (on ordinate) is presented as a function of what (on abscissa)". Use symbols for the physical quantities of the coordinates.
7. Does the list of the numbered references start on a separate sheet and does each reference contain the article title?
8. Is the position of a figure or a table indicated in the text, as "Here Fig. x" or "Here Table x", respectively? (Do not incorporate the figures and the tables in the text.)
9. Are physical and chemical quantities represented as symbols x and given in SI units and are the IUPAB rules followed?
10. For coordinate labelling, the logarithms of physical quantities x (number with units), must be given as log(x/unit), e.g., current I/nA as log(I/nA).
11. Is the (molar) concentration [xy] of a substance xy given as log([xy]/M) with M=mol/L(=mol/dm3 ) or Ci/(mol/cm³) of substance i?
12. Is the electrode potential E/V (vs. reference potential) given explicitly versus the reference potential?