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"
• 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) • Colour figures are clearly marked as being intended for colour reproduction on the Web (free of charge) and in print
or to be reproduced in colour on the Web (free of charge) and in black-and-white in print • If only colour on the Web is required,
black and white versions of the figures are also supplied for printing purposes
Articles should be submitted via the online submission service of the journal. The address of the Editorial Office, given below, can
be used for information requests.
The journal welcomes contributions of the letter type: concise articles which
need rapid publication. A typical manuscript consists of 10 journal pages, usually correspondingto around 5000 words plus a few figures
and tables.
It is essential to give a fax number and e-mail address when submitting a manuscript. Articles must be written in good
English.
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it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, without the written consent of the Publisher.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/authorsrights).
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's Rights Department, Oxford, UK: phone (+44) 1865 843830, fax (+44)
1865 853333, e-mail permissions@elsevier.com. Requests may also be completed on-line via the Elsevier homepage (http://www.elsevier.com/locate/permissions).
US National Institutes of Health (NIH) voluntary posting (" Public Access") policy Elsevier facilitates author posting
in connection with the voluntary posting request of the NIH (referred to as the NIH "Public Access Policy", see http://www.nih.gov/about/publicaccess/index.htm)
by posting the peer-reviewed author's manuscript directly to PubMed Central on request from the author, after formal publication. Upon
notification from Elsevier of acceptance, we will ask you to confirm via e-mail (by e-mailing us at NIHauthorrequest@elsevier.com)
that your work has received NIH funding (with the NIH award number, as well as the name and e-mail address of the Prime Investigator)
and that you intend to respond to the NIH request. Upon such confirmation, Elsevier will submit to PubMed Central on your behalf a version
of your manuscript that will include peer-review comments, for posting 12 months after the formal publication date. This will ensure
that you will have responded fully to the NIH request policy. There will be no need for you to post your manuscript directly to PubMed
Central, and any such posting is prohibited. Individual modifications to this general policy may apply to some Elsevier journals and
its society publishing partners.
Should Authors be requested by the Editor to revise the text, in case of a major revision, the
revised version should be submitted within four months, in case of a minor revision, within two months, in case of a pre-review revision,
within one month. After this period, the paper will be considered withdrawn. Any revision after this will be treated as a new submission
and subject to a new review cycle.
Submission to the journal prior to acceptance
One copy of the manuscript,
including one set of high-quality original illustrations, suitable for direct reproduction, should be submitted.
On-line
submission to the journal prior to acceptance
Submission to this journal proceeds totally on-line. Use the following guidelines
to prepare your article. Via the homepage of this journal (http://www.elsevier.com/locate/patrec) you will be guided stepwise
through the creation and uploading of the various files. Once the uploading is done, our system automatically generates an electronic
(PDF) proof, which is then used for reviewing. All correspondence, including notification of the Editor's decision and requests for revisions,
will be by e-mail. In general, no separate proof is sent to you: the PDF is your proof. A proof will be provided only when the final
layout of the article has to differ significantly from that in the initial PDF.
The above represents a very brief outline of this
form of submission. It can be advantageous to print this "Guide for Authors" section from the site for reference in the subsequent stages
of article preparation.
Electronic format requirements for accepted articles
General points
We
accept most wordprocessing formats, but Word, WordPerfect or LaTeX is 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. 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. 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:
http://www.elsevier.com/locate/guidepublication). 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: http://www.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
Presentation of manuscript
General
Please write your
text 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 Editing: International Science Editing and Asia Science Editing can provide English language and copyediting
services to authors who want to publish in scientific, technical and medical journals and need assistance before they submit their article
or, before it is accepted for publication. Authors can contact these services directly: International Science Editing (http://www.internationalscienceediting.com)
and Asia Science Editing (http://www.asiascienceediting.com) or, for more information about language editing services, please
contact authorsupport@elsevier.com who will be happy to deal with any questions.
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).
Provide the
following data on the title page (in the order given).
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 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.
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 (maximum length 40 words). 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.
Keywords. Immediately after the abstract, provide a maximum of SEE
OPTION LIST 2.1.16 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.
Classification codes. In addition to providing keywords, please indicate the subject area
in which your manuscript best fits. The subject areas can be selected from the menu in the online submission site.
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. Ensure consistency of abbreviations throughout the article.
N.B. 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.
Arrangement of the article
Subdivision of the article. 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.
Acknowledgements. Place acknowledgements, including
information on grants received, before the references, in a separate section, and not as a footnote on the title page.
References.
See separate section, below.
Figure captions, tables, figures, schemes. Upload these seperately at the end of the submission
procedure. They are described in more detail below. 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 (see Preparation of illustrations).
Specific remarks
Mathematical formulae.
Present simple formulae in the line of normal text where possible. In principle, variables are to be presented in italics. Use the solidus
(/) instead of a horizontal line, e.g., X/Y rather than X Y Powers of e are often more conveniently denoted by exp.
Number consecutively any equations that have to be displayed separate from the text (if referred to explicitly in the text).
Footnotes.
Footnotes should be used sparingly. Number them consecutively throughout the article, using superscript Arabic numbers. Many wordprocessors
build footnotes into the text, and this feature may be used. Should this not be the case, indicate the position of footnotes in the text
and present the footnotes themselves on a separate sheet at the end of the article. Do not include footnotes in the Reference list. Table
footnotes. Indicate each footnote in a table with a superscript lowercase letter.
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.
Nomenclature and units. Follow internationally accepted rules and conventions: use the
international system of units (SI). If other quantities are mentioned, give their equivalent in SI.
Preparation of supplementary
data. Elsevier now accepts electronic supplementary material (e-components) 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 read our artwork instruction pages (http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions).
Files
can be stored on 3? inch diskette, ZIP-disk or CD (either MS-DOS or Macintosh). This journal offers electronic submission services and
supplementary data files can be uploaded via the homepage of this journal (http://www.elsevier.com/locate/patrec).
References
Responsibility for the accuracy of bibliographic citations lies entirely with the Authors.
Citations in the 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.
Citing and listing of Web references.
As a minimum, the full URL should be given. Any further information, if known (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.
Text: All citations in the text should refer to: 1. Single Author: the Author's
name (without initials, unless there is ambiguity) and the year of publication; 2. Two Authors: both Authors' names and the year
of publication; 3. Three or more Authors: first Author's name followed by "et al." and the year of publication. Citations may
be made directly (or parenthetically). Groups of references should be listed first alphabetically, then chronologically. Examples:
"as demonstrated (Allan, 1996a, 1996b, 1999; Allan and Jones, 1995). Kramer et al. (2000) have recently shown ...." List: References
should be arranged first alphabetically and then further sorted chronologically if necessary. More than one reference from the same Author(s)
in the same year must be identified by the letters "a", "b", "c", etc., placed after the year of publication. Examples: Reference
to a journal publication: Van der Geer, J., Hanraads, J.A.J., Lupton, R.A., 2000. The art of writing a scientific article. J. Sci.
Commun. 163, 51-59. Reference to a book: Strunk Jr., W., White, E.B., 1979. The Elements of Style, third ed. Macmillan, New York.
Reference to a chapter in an edited book: Mettam, G.R., Adams, L.B., 1999. How to prepare an electronic version of your article,
in: Jones, B.S., Smith , R.Z. (Eds.), Introduction to the Electronic Age. E-Publishing Inc., New York, pp. 281-304.
Preparation
of illustrations
Preparation of electronic illustrations
Submitting your artwork in an electronic format
helps us to produce your work to the best possible standards, ensuring accuracy, clarity and a high level of detail.
General
points
• Always supply high-quality printouts of your artwork, in case conversion of the electronic artwork is problematic.
• 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,
and supply a separate listing of the files and the software used. • 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.
Non-electronic illustrations
Provide all illustrations as high-quality printouts,
suitable for reproduction (which may include reduction) without retouching. Number illustrations consecutively in the order in which
they are referred to in the text. They should accompany the manuscript, but should not be included within the text. Clearly mark all
illustrations on the back (or - in case of line drawings - on the lower front side) with the figure number and the Author's name and,
in cases of ambiguity, the correct orientation. Mark the appropriate position of a figure in the article
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.
Submit colour illustrations as original photographs,
high-quality computer prints or transparencies, close to the size expected in publication, or as 35 mm slides. Please make sure that
artwork files are in an acceptable format (TIFF, EPS or MS Office files) and with the correct resolution. Polaroid colour prints are
not suitable. 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) regardless of whether or not these illustrations
are reproduced in colour in the printed version. For colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from
Elsevier after receipt of your accepted article. Please indicate your preference for colour 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 colour figures to "grey scale" (for the printed version should
you not opt for colour in print) please submit in addition usable black and white versions of all the colour illustrations.
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 will be sent 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.
The
Publisher reserves the right to proceed with publication if corrections are not communicated Return corrections within SEE OPTION
LIST 5.3 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.
Author Benefits:
•
no page charge is due • authors receive 25 offprints free of charge • authors receive a 30% discount on Elsevier books
