Frontier research in molecular sciences, materials and biological systems



Chemical Physics Letters publishes brief reports of original research on the structures, properties and dynamics of molecules, solid surfaces, interfaces, condensed phases, polymers, nanostructures and biomolecular systems.
Criteria for publication are quality, urgency and impact. Further, experimental results reported in the journal have direct relevance for theory, and theoretical developments or non-routine computations relate directly to experiment.
Manuscripts must satisfy these criteria and should not be minor extensions of previous work or just descriptions of the synthesis of molecules or materials.

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• Submission. Submission to this journal proceeds totally online Authors should submit their papers to one of the Editors using the web-submission tool, accessible from http://ees.elsevier.com/cplett. In the covering letter, the Author can suggest the name of a Member of the Advisory Editorial Board to be involved with the review process for the manuscript.

• Reviewers. Authors are required to suggest three names of potential reviewers (and address and e-mail details) of experts in the field of the submitted paper.

• Graphical abstract. A graphical abstract (pictogram and synopsis) for the Journal tables of contents should accompany the submission.

• Originality and Plagiarism. The Authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works, and if the Authors have used the work and/or words of others, that this has been appropriately cited or quoted. Plagiarism takes many forms, from 'passing off' another's paper as the author's own paper, to copying or paraphrasing substantial parts of another's paper (without attribution), to claiming results from research conducted by others. Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behaviour and is unacceptable.

• Length. The manuscript text should not exceed 4,000 words (excluding tables and figure captions). In addition, a (combined) maximum of 8 normal-sized figures and/or tables is allowed. For multiple-panel figures each set of two panels equates to one figure.

• Abstract. All manuscripts require an abstract not exceeding 100 words.

• Figures. If, together with the accepted article, usable colour figures are submitted then Elsevier will ensure, at no extra 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, the Author will receive information regarding the costs from Elsevier after receipt of your article. For further information on the preparation of electronic artwork, please see http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.

• References. A maximum of 50 single references is permitted; multiple references (referring to more than one article) are not permitted and neither are references to web sites.

• Communication. The full postal address, fax number and e-mail address of the corresponding author must be given on the first (title) page of the manuscript.

• Author enquiries. Authors can also keep track of the progress of their accepted article by using the "Track a Paper" feature at: http://www.elsevier.com/trackpaper.
For Frequently Asked Questions and any other enquiries relating to Elsevier, please consult http://www.elsevier.com/authors.
Contact details for questions arising after acceptance of an article, especially those relating to proofs, are provided when an article is accepted for publication.

• Proofs. One set of page proofs in PDF format will be sent by e-mail to the corresponding author. Elsevier now sends PDF proofs which can be annotated; instructions on how to annotate PDF files will accompany the proofs. Alternatively, the corrections may be listed (including replies to the Query Form), quoting line numbers, and returned to Elsevier in an e-mail. The Author is not expected to make changes or corrections that constitute departures from the article in its accepted form.

• Offprints. The Corresponding Author, at no cost, will be provided with a PDF file of the article via e-mail or, alternatively, free paper offprints. 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.

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Complete Instructions to Authors can be found below.

Letters are intended as brief reports of significant, original and timely research results in the field of chemical physics which warrant rapid publication. In considering the suitability of a manuscript for publication, the editors pay particular attention to the originality of the research, the desirability of speedy publication, and the validity of the conclusions.

Submission: Submission to this journal proceeds totally online Authors should submit their papers to one of the Editors using the web-submission tool, accessible from http://ees.elsevier.com/cplett. In the covering letter, the Author can suggest the name of a Member of the Advisory Editorial Board to be involved with the review process for the manuscript.

Refereeing: All contributions submitted will be refereed. The editors reserve the right to reject manuscripts and to edit contributions when necessary.

Comments section: The editors welcome Comments on Letters published in the Journal or elsewhere. They will be placed in a separate section. Comments will be refereed as usual and treated as normal contributions. All Comments should have an abstract.

Publication speed: The editors and publisher cooperate closely to ensure fast publication. If the manuscript submitted cannot be processed immediately following refereeing because scientific or stylistic revisions are required, this will be indicated by the addition of the date of receipt of the manuscript in final form. Proofs are e-mailed as portable document files (PDF) to the corresponding author to be checked within 48 hours of receipt.

Publication scheme: Chemical Physics Letters is published bi-weekly.

Page charges and offprints: There are no page charges. The corresponding author, at no cost, will be provided with a PDF file of the article via e-mail or, alternatively, 25 free paper offprints. The PDF is a watermarked version of the published article and includes a cover sheet with the journal cover image and a disclaimer outlining the terms nd conditions of use. Additional paper offprints can be ordered by the authors. An order form with prices will be sent to the corresponding author.

Copyright transfer: Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to sign 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 (or letter) 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.

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

Correspondence: All correspondence with the editors or publisher should mention the first author, the editor's reference number, and the publisher's reference number if known. Otherwise, full details are needed, i.e. the names of all the authors, the full title, as well as the date of submission. After acceptance for publication, all further correspondence should be sent directly to the publisher (Yvonne Philippo, P.O. Box 2759, 1000 CT Amsterdam, The Netherlands; tel. +31 20 485 3426, fax: +31 20 485 2704; e-mail: y.philippo@elsevier.com).

Language services: Authors who require information about language editing and copyediting services pre- and post-submission please visit http://www.elsevier.com/locate/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/termsandconditions.



Preparation of manuscripts: The following are the stylistic requirements for an acceptable manuscript.

(1) Length: The manuscript text should not exceed 4,000 words (excluding tables, and figure captions). A maximum of 8 normal-sixes figures and/or tables is allowed.

(2) Address: The name(s) of the author(s) and the name and address of the institute where the research work was done should be indicated on the manuscript. The name, full postal address, fax number and e-mail address of the author to whom correspondence is to be addressed should be given at the bottom of the first page of the manuscript.

(3) Abstract: An abstract of at most 100 words is required. It should be self-contained (no footnotes or references) and present the essence of the results.

(4) Electronic manuscripts: An electronic version (any format) of the accepted manuscript is crucial for fast processing. When submitting to one of our Editors via the web-submission tool, the electronic version is uploaded during this process. The type of operating system and wordprocessor should be indicated. For LaTeX articles, the general Elsevier style file should be used (obtainable from http://www.elsevier.com/latex).

(5) Symbols and units: The use of SI units is strongly recommended. A useful guide is: Quantities, Units and Symbols in Physical Chemistry, 2nd edn. prepared by I. Mills, T. Cvitas, K. Homann, N. Kallay and K. Kuchitsu, Blackwell/IUPAC, Oxford, 1993.

(6) 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://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.

7) Colour illustrations: Chemical Physics Letters publishes colour illustrations in the electronic version of Chemical Physics Letters without charges to the authors. When an author submits a colour figure, this will now be published online in colour by default. In the printed version of the published articles, the illustrations will be in black & white, unless the author has opted to pay for colour print reproduction. In case of black & white printing of online colour figures, authors are asked to submit a black & white version of the colour figures in question and to make sure the figure captions make sense for both colour and black & white.

For preparation of the colour figures, please ensure this is in an acceptable format (TIFF, EPS or MS Office files) and at the correct resolution. Also make sure RGB colourspace is used. Further information on electronic artwork can be found at http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions and is also accessible from our web-submission site.

(8) Equations: Displayed equations should be formatted with the journal text column width of 7.5 cm in mind. If necessary notation should be adapted by introduction of suitable abbreviations of component expressions. Special attention should be given to characters that can be confused, such as: l (ell), 1 (one); o (lower case), O (capital), 0 (zero), degree; etc.

(9) Tables: Each table should be numbered and typed on a separate sheet together with its caption. Tables should have a clear structure, with simple column headings giving all units.

(10) References: In the text, reference to other parts of the paper should be made by section or equation number, not by page number. References to other papers should be consecutively numbered in the text and listed numerically at the end of the paper. Commercial products, including computer programs, are to be mentioned in the text of the manuscript and not normally referenced. If required the reference should list the first author et al. only. Multiple references should be avoided, i.e. each paper referred to should be given its own reference number. The total number of references should not exceed 50. The references should be as complete as possible (et al. may be used in the text but not in the list), and presented as in these examples:
For a book:
N. Watanabe, T. Nakajima, H. Touhara, Graphite Fluorides, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1988.
For a paper in a journal:
S. Grimme, S.D. Peyerimhoff, Chem. Phys. 204 (1996) 411.
For a paper in a contributed volume:
J.L. Durant, Jr., in: R.G. Compton, G. Hancock (Eds.), Research in Chemical Kinetics, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1995, p. 69.
For an unpublished paper:
C.E.H. Dessent, Ph.D. Thesis, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 1997.

(11) Footnotes: These should be used sparingly and preferably be incorporated as text remarks. References should be never be used for footnotes.