Guide for Authors
The aim of
Discrete Mathematics is to provide a common forum for
significant research in different areas of discrete mathematics and combinatorics. The fields covered by
Discrete Mathematics
include, for example: graph and hypergraph theory, network theory, enumeration, coding theory, block designs, the theory of partially
ordered sets, extremal set theory, matroid theory, algebraic combinatorics, polyhedra, combinatorial and discrete geometry, matrices,
and discrete probability theory. Items in the journal may be research articles (Contributions or Notes), survey or expository articles
(Perspectives), or statements of unsolved research problems. Efforts are made to process the submission of Notes (short articles) quickly.
Discrete Mathematics also publishes some Special Issues, most of which are devoted to selected papers from a particular conference.
Such issues are fully refereed and adhere to the normal high standards of the journal.
Types of Papers
Contribution - Full length original research article of more than 6 journal pages, or about 9 full
pages of a typical manuscript.
Note- A short self-contained original research article of not more than 6 journal pages, or
about 9 full pages of a typical manuscript.
Corrigendum- Concise correction to article of the same author published in the
journal. The full publication data of the original paper should be included. ScienceDirect will provide a link to the Erratum in the
original article.
Perspectives - Expository articles of broad interest that cast a new light on well-known or insufficiently-known
topics, including survey papers and papers that present the authors' unifying points of view on problems, trends, or methods. Perspectives
papers are intended to be accessible to a broad cross-section of the readership.
Unsolved problems - Statements of open problems
in discrete mathematics, with background, motivation, and references, occupying at most one journal page. Please follow the format used
in recent Research Problem items in the journal. Unsolved problems can be sent directly to the editor-in-chief for possible editing and
publication.
Contact Details for Submission
The
Elsevier Editorial
System (EES), the online submission, peer-review and editorial system for
Discrete
Mathematics.
Online submission to the journal prior to acceptance Submission to this journal proceeds totally online.
Use the following guidelines to prepare your article. Via the Elsevier homepage (
http://www.elsevier.com/) 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 through the Elsevier Editorial System.
It is essential to give an e-mail address when submitting a manuscript. Articles must be written in standard English
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.
Policy and ethics
The
work described in your article must have been carried out in accordance with
The Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association
(Declaration of Helsinki) for experiments involving humans http://www.wma.net/e/policy/b3.htm;
EC Directive 86/609/EEC
for animal experiments http://ec.europa.eu/environment/chemicals/lab_animals/legislation_en.htm;
Uniform Requirements
for manuscripts submitted to Biomedical journals http://www.icmje.org. This must be stated at an appropriate point
in the article.
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.
Contributors
Each author is required to declare his or her individual contribution to the article: all authors
must have materially participated in the research and/or article preparation, so roles for all authors should be described. The statement
that all authors have approved the final article should be true and included in the disclosure.
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.
Language
It is essential to give
an e-mail address when submitting a manuscript. Articles must be written in standard English.
Language polishing. For language editing
services, please see
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/authorshome.authors/languagepolishing.
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
Introduction
State the objectives of the
work and provide an adequate background, avoiding a detailed literature survey or a summary of the results.
Theory/calculation
A Theory section should extend, not repeat, the background to the article already
dealt with in the Introduction and lay the foundation for further work. In contrast, a Calculation section represents a practical development
from a theoretical basis.
Results
Results should be clear and concise.
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.
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
Immediately after the abstract, provide a maximum of 6 keywords, using American 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.
Abbreviations
Define abbreviations that are not standard in this field in a footnote to be placed on the first page of
the article. Such abbreviations that are unavoidable in the abstract must be defined at their first mention there, as well as in the
footnote. Ensure consistency of abbreviations throughout the article.
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.).
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).
Artwork
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.
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 wordprocessor (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.
Figure 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.
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 Electronic artwork. 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. Further,
high-resolution graphics files must be provided separately.
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.
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.
Web references
As a minimum, the full URL should be given. Any further information, if known (DOI,
author names, dates, reference to a source publication, etc.), should also be given. Web references can be listed separately (e.g., after
the reference list) under a different heading if desired, or can be included in the reference list.
References in a special issue
Please ensure that the words 'this issue' are added to any references
in the list (and any citations in the text) to other articles in the same Special Issue.
Reference style
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.
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
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://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html. 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/acrobat/acrrsystemreqs.html#70win.
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. 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.
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.
Additional Information
Discount. Contributors to Elsevier journals are entitled to a 30% discount on all
Elsevier books. ScienceDirect. The published article will be available via ScienceDirect.
Author inquiries
For enquiries
relating to the submission of articles (including electronic submission where available) please visit this journal's homepage at
http://www.elsevier.com/locate/disc.
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.
Funding
body agreements and policies Elsevier has established agreements and developed policies to allow authors who publish in Elsevier
journals 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
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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