A. Submission of regular articles
Papers should be submitted electronically through the Elsevier Editorial System (EES) http://ees.elsevier.com/jspi. Authors submit their article online by simply registering, logging-in, and submitting. Editors will then invite potential reviewers by email. Detailed instructions on the use of the online submission system are available at http://ees.elsevier.com/jspi. If you need any technical assistance, please do not hesitate to contact our Author Support Department at:authorsupport@elsevier.com

B. Submission to 'Statistical Discussion Forum'
Statements pertaining to general policy matters concerning JSPI and statements concerning papers that have appeared in JSPI (within three years of the date of the statement) should be sent to the editor-in-chief. All other statements should be submitted to the editor of the "Statistical Discussion Forum".

C. Special issues
All parties interested in bringing out special issues of JSPI are encouraged to contact the editor-in-chief. Such issues may be published on any important and timely subject of interest to the statistical community. Special Issues may also be developed out of papers presented in conferences. All articles in special issues should be refereed and meet the same criteria for scientific quality as articles in regular issues.

D. Book Reviews
Books and other relevant literature for consideration should be submitted to the Book Review Editor.

For the names and addresses of the executive editor, the editor-in-chief, the editor of the "Statistical Discussion Forum" and the book review editor, please refer to the list of editors in each issue of the journal or on the journal's homepage.

General
Articles must be written in good English.

High mathematical standards are aimed at. However, good applied papers are also encouraged. Though a reasonable amount of compactness is essential, readability of papers is considered important, and too much condensation of material is not insisted upon. Longer papers are quite welcome.

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and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, without the written consent of the Publisher.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. 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. These forms are available at http://www.elsevier.com/authors.

Sending accepted articles to Elsevier in electronic format
We accept most wordprocessing formats, but Word, WordPerfect or LaTeX is preferred. An electronic version of the text should be submitted together with the final hardcopy of the manuscript. The electronic version must match the hardcopy exactly. Always keep a backup copy of the electronic file for reference and safety. Label storage media with your name, journal title, and software used. Save your files using the default extension of the program used. No changes to the accepted version are permissible without the explicit approval of the Editor. Electronic files can be stored on 3.5 inch diskette, ZIP-disk or CD (either MS-DOS or Macintosh).

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: http://www.elsevier.com/authors under "Guide to Publishing with Elsevier". It consists of the files: elsart.cls (use this file if you are using LaTeX2e, the current version of LaTeX), elsart.sty and elsart13.sty (use these two files if you are using LaTeX3.09, the previous version of LaTeX), guidelines for users of elsart, a template file for quick start, and the instruction booklet "Preparing articles with LaTeX".

Presentation of manuscript
Print the entire manuscript on one side of the paper only, using double spacing and wide (3 cm) margins. (Avoid full justification, i.e., do not use a constant right-hand margin.) Ensure that each new paragraph is clearly indicated. Present tables and figure legends on separate pages at the end of the manuscript. If possible, consult a recent issue of the journal to become familiar with layout and conventions. Number all pages consecutively.

Title page
The title page should contain the article title of approximately 60 characters, author(s) names and affiliations, related footnotes, a formula-free abstract not exceeding 200 words and a list of keywords.

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.

References
References should be listed alphabetically, in the same way as the following examples:

For a paper in a journal: Bose, R.C., Connor , W.S., 1952. Combinatorial properties of group divisible incomplete block designs. Ann.Math.Statist.23, 367-383.

For a monograph: Fisher, R.A., 1974. The Design of Experiments. Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh.

For an unpublished paper: Pillai, K.C.S., Saweris, B. 1973. Asymptotic formulae for the distribution of Hotelling's trace for equality of two covariance matrices. Mimeograph series No. 353. Dept of Statistics, Purdue University, Lafayette, IN.

For a paper in a contributed volume : Siotani, M., 1975. Asymptotic expansions for the nonnull distributions of multivariate test statistics. In: Patil, G.P., Kotz, S., Ord, J.K. (Eds.), A Modern Course on Statistical Distributors in Scientific Work, I. Reidel, Dordrecht, 299-317.

Inside the body of a paper, articles should refer to year, i.e. Bose and Connor (1952), Siotani (1975), etc.

Figures
Provide all illustrations on separate pages as high-quality printouts, suitable for reproduction (which may include reduction). Number illustrations consecutively in the order in which they are referred to in the text. Clearly mark all illustrations on the lower front side with the figure number.

For detailed guidelines on electronic figures, please visit http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.

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. It is important to ensure that all proof corrections are made in one communication. Subsequent corrections will not be possible, so please ensure your first sending is complete. Proofreading is solely your responsibility.

Author enquiries
For enquiries relating to the submission of articles, please visit http://www.elsevier.com/authors. This website also provides the facility to track accepted articles and set-up e-mail alerts to inform you of when and article's status has changed, as well as detailed artwork guidelines, copyright information, frequently asked questions, and more. Contact details for questions arising after acceptance of an article, especially those relating to proofs, are provided when an article is accepted for publication.