Guide for Authors
Please check carefully
that your manuscript complies with the Scope of the IJPE
www.elsevier.com/locate/ijpe.
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that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere including electronically in the same form, in English or in any other language,
without the written consent of the copyright-holder.
A manuscript may have been published earlier in a
different language, in a preliminary form as a Working Paper in a local university series, or in a PrePrint publication of a conference,
etc. In all such cases, it is compulsory that the original publication is mentioned when submitting the manuscript. In most cases, it
is advisable to include the original publication among the references. Where a closely related paper has been published by the author
(or by one or more of the authors when the submitted paper has more than one author), it is important that the published paper is cited
in the text of the submitted paper. The differences between the published paper and the submitted paper need to be clearly highlighted.
Failure to do so may result in the paper being rejected without being sent for review. Please also see 'Copyright' and 'Retained author
rights', below.
Changes to authorship
This policy concerns the addition, deletion, or rearrangement
of author names in the authorship of accepted manuscripts:
Before the accepted manuscript is published in an online issue:
Requests to add or remove an author, or to rearrange the author names, must be sent to the Journal Manager from the corresponding author
of the accepted manuscript and must include: (a) the reason the name should be added or removed, or the author names rearranged and (b)
written confirmation (e-mail, fax, letter) from all authors that they agree with the addition, removal or rearrangement. In the case
of addition or removal of authors, this includes confirmation from the author being added or removed. Requests that are not sent by the
corresponding author will be forwarded by the Journal Manager to the corresponding author, who must follow the procedure as described
above. Note that: (1) Journal Managers will inform the Journal Editors of any such requests and (2) publication of the accepted manuscript
in an online issue is suspended until authorship has been agreed.
After the accepted manuscript is published in an online issue:
Any requests to add, delete, or rearrange author names in an article published in an online issue will follow the same policies as noted
above and result in a corrigendum.
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 article 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.
Open access
This journal offers you the option of making your article freely available to all via the ScienceDirect
platform. To prevent any conflict of interest, you can only make this choice after receiving notification that your article has been
accepted for publication. The fee of $3,000 excludes taxes and other potential author fees such as color charges. In some cases, institutions
and funding bodies have entered into agreement with Elsevier to meet these fees on behalf of their authors. Details of these agreements
are available at
http://www.elsevier.com/fundingbodies. Authors of accepted articles, who wish to take advantage of this
option, should complete and submit the order form (available at
http://www.elsevier.com/locate/openaccessform.pdf). Whatever
access option you choose, you retain many rights as an author, including the right to post a revised personal version of your article
on your own website. More information can be found here:
http://www.elsevier.com/authorsrights.
Language
and language services
Please write your text in good English (American or British usage is accepted, but not a mixture
of the two). Authors who require information about language editing and copyediting services pre- and post-submission please visit
http://webshop.elsevier.com/languageediting or our customer support
site at
http://support.elsevier.com
for more information. A submitted paper that lacks clarity in its use of English will be rejected without being sent for review.
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.
Submit
your article
Please submit your article via
http://ees.elsevier.com/ijpe .
Use of wordprocessing software
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. 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 Guide to Publishing with Elsevier:
http://www.elsevier.com/guidepublication).
Note that source files of figures, tables and text graphics will be required whether or not you embed your figures in the text. See also
the section on Electronic artwork.
To avoid unnecessary errors you are strongly advised to use the 'spell-check' and 'grammar-check'
functions of your wordprocessor.
Article structure
The first page of the manuscript should
contain the following information: (i) the title and; (ii) the name(s) and institutional affiliation(s) of the author(s). Footnotes on
the same sheet should give the name, address, and telephone and fax numbers of the corresponding author [as well as an e-mail address],
and email addresses of all other authors.
Manuscripts should normally not exceed 15 printed journal pages (around 10,000 words).
Specific types of papers, such as review papers, may be permitted to exceed this limit. In cases when lengthy derivations or other data
taking much space are included for instance in an Appendix, it is advisable to keep this material available in a local research report,
etc, and refer to this local document instead of including it in the text. However, the document needs to be made available on request,
and it should be uploaded with the main text as a separate file.
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.
Sections
should be numbered using Arabic numerals.
Introduction
State the objectives of the work
and provide an adequate background. All submitted papers should highlight the relevance of the work to the advancement of theory and/or
practice.
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. Where results from computational and/or simulation experimentation are presented, the
experimental conditions should be clearly highlighted; where results are compared with previously published studies, the basis for comparisons
should be clear.
Results
Results should be clear and concise.
Discussion
This
should explore the significance of the results of the work, not repeat them. A combined Results and Discussion section is often appropriate.
Avoid extensive citations and discussion of published literature. The relevance of the results, findings or insights to both theory and
practice should be highlighted.
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.
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. Similarly
for tables and figures: Table A.1; Fig. A.1, etc.
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 the e-mail address of each author.
•
Corresponding
author.
Clearly indicate who will handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing, publication and post-publication.
Ensure
that telephone numbers (with country and area code) are provided in addition to the e-mail address and the complete postal address. Contact
details must be kept up to date by the corresponding author.
•
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.
Contact details must be kept updated by the corresponding
author in the EES system.
Abstract
A concise and factual abstract is required. The abstract
should state briefly the purpose of the research, the principal results and major conclusions. The abstract should not exceed 250 words.
It is uploaded separately in EES, but should also be included in the Main manuscript. 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.
Highlights
Highlights are mandatory for this journal. They consist
of a short collection of bullet points that convey the core findings of the article and should be submitted in a separate file in the
online submission system. Please use 'Highlights' in the file name and include 3 to 5 bullet points (maximum 85 characters, including
spaces, per bullet point). See
http://www.elsevier.com/highlights for examples.
Highlights
Highlights
are a short collection of bullet points that convey the core findings of the article. Highlights should be submitted in a separate file
in the online submission system. Please use 'Highlights' in the file name and include 3 to 5 bullet points (maximum 85 characters per
bullet point including spaces). See
http://www.elsevier.com/highlights for examples.
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. The Keywords are uploaded separately in EES, but should also appear in the Main manuscript.
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.
Because of the international character of the journal, no rigid rules
concerning notation or abbreviation need to be observed by the authors but each paper should be self-consistent as to symbols and units
which should be properly defined. When using a full stop (period) in an abbreviation, the full stop indicates letters omitted. A full
stop should not be used if the abbreviation ends with the same letter as the original word. "Volume" may be abbreviated "Vol.", "section"
may be abbreviated "sec.", etc., but "Doctor" should be abbreviated "Dr" without an ending full stop and "Editors" by "Eds".
Acknowledgements
Collate acknowledgements in a separate section at the end of the article before the references
do not 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.).
Mathematical
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. 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). Please check earlier articles of IJPE for
standard mathematical formulae.
The formulae should be numbered consecutively throughout the manuscript as (1), (2), etc. against
the right-hand margin of the page. In cases where the derivation of formulae has been abbreviated, it is of great help to the referees
if the full derivation can be presented on a separate sheet (not to be published but uploaded as a separate file).
Footnotes
Footnotes should be avoided, except for authors affiliations, if they are absolutely necessary,
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. Present the footnotes themselves
separately at the end of the article; enter each footnote in a table with a superscript lowercase letter. Do not include footnotes in
the Reference list.
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.
There
is no longer a requirement to upload figures and tables as separate files: please insert each in the relevant place in the main document.
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 finalized, 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 optimized 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.
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.
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.
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.
Figures and Tables should be numbered with
Arabic numerals. Captions should be placed under the figure or table. There is no longer a requirement to upload figures and tables
as separate files: please insert each in the relevant place in the main document.
References
Please check carefully that reference to relevant recent
IJPE articles is made. A lack of references to
IJPE
may indicate that this journal is not the most suitable outlet for your research.
Citation in text
Please
ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa). 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 unconditionally
accepted for publication.
Web references
As a minimum, the full URL should be given and
the date when the reference was last accessed. 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 to other articles in the same Special Issue. This should be both in the main text
and reference list.
Reference management software
This journal has standard templates available
in key reference management packages EndNote (
http://www.endnote.com/support/enstyles.asp) and Reference Manager (
http://refman.com/support/rmstyles.asp).
Using plug-ins to wordprocessing packages, authors only need to select the appropriate journal template when preparing their article
and the list of references and citations to these will be formatted according to the journal style which is described below.
Reference style
Citations in the text should be of the form, "Tu & Cheng (1998)" or "(Tu & Cheng,
1998)" or "(Tu & Cheng 1998)", etc. References should not be numbered in the text or in the reference list. References should be
in the following style (alphabetical order with respect to last name):
Inderfurth, K., 2007. How to protect against demand and yield
risks in MRP systems. International Journal of Production Economics, 121(2), 2009, 474-481.
Karp, R.M., 1992. Reducibility among
combinatorial problems. In: Miller, R.E., Thatcher, J.W., (Eds.). Complexity of computer computations. New York: Plenum Press, 85-103.
Magazine, M., 1969. Optimal policies for queuing systems with periodic review. Dissertation, University of Florida, USA.
Tu, C.-C.,
Cheng, H., 1998. Spectral methods for graph bisection problems. Computers and Operations Research, 25 (7-8), 519-30.
Note that journal
titles should not be abbreviated.
Video data
Elsevier accepts video material and animation
sequences to support and enhance your scientific research. Authors who have video or animation files that they wish to submit with their
article are strongly encouraged to include these within the body of the article. This can be done in the same way as a figure or table
by referring to the video or animation content and noting in the body text where it should be placed. All submitted files should be properly
labeled so that they directly relate to the video file's content. In order to ensure that your video or animation material is directly
usable, please provide the files in one of our recommended file formats with a preferred maximum size of 50 MB. Video and animation files
supplied will be published online in the electronic version of your article in Elsevier Web products, including ScienceDirect:
http://www.sciencedirect.com.
Please supply 'stills' with your files: you can choose any frame from the video or animation or make a separate image. These will be
used instead of standard icons and will personalize the link to your video data. For more detailed instructions please visit our video
instruction pages at
http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions. Note: since video and animation cannot be embedded in
the print version of the journal, please provide text for both the electronic and the print version for the portions of the article that
refer to this content.
Supplementary data
Elsevier accepts electronic supplementary material
to support and enhance your scientific research. Supplementary files offer the author additional possibilities to publish supporting
applications, 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 provide the data 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.
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 (E-mail addresses
for all authors should also be included)
• 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.2010.09.059
When you use the DOI to
create URL hyperlinks to documents on the web, the DOIs are guaranteed never to change.
Proofs
One
set of page proofs (as PDF files) will be sent by e-mail to the corresponding author 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://get.adobe.com/reader. 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/reader/systemreqs.
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. For an extra charge, paper offprints can be ordered via the offprint order
form which is sent once the article is accepted for publication. 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.
AUTHOR
INQUIRIES
For inquiries relating to the submission of articles (including electronic submission where available) please
visit this journal's homepage. 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. 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.
