Guide for Authors
INTRODUCTION
The journal publishes full-length research papers, short communications and critical reviews;
articles should be written in sufficient detail to allow others to verify the above methods, however they should also be intelligible
to a broad scientific audience. Articles should be submitted to one of the two co-Editors-in-Chief, in accordance with the country of
the submitting author. Submission of a paper to the Journal of Neuroscience Methods implies that it is not being submitted for publication
elsewhere.
Contact details for submission
To submit your paper use the online submission page of this journal (
http://ees.elsevier.com/jneumeth/)
Authors are invited to provide the Editors-in-Chief with the names (and addresses) of five potential reviewers whom they feel
are especially qualified in the subject area of the manuscript.
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.
'ARRIVE' guidelines for reporting research
The Journal of Neuroscience
Methods endorses the ARRIVE Guidelines
http://jp.physoc.org/content/588/14/2519.full.pdf+html and expect authors to refer
to them before submission of a manuscript that includes animal experiments.
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that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere including electronically in the same form, in English or in any other language,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.
Change of Policy: The Editors-in Chief and the Publisher inform our readership
that from 1st October 2011 the Journal of Neuroscience Methods will no longer accept manuscripts describing methods and techniques relating
exclusively to either eye, retina, muscle function, limb kinematics and EMG. We will still consider for publication manuscripts
dealing with techniques related to any of the above mentioned subjects when in strong combination with methods related to the peripheral
and central nervous system.
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.
US National Institutes
of Health (NIH) voluntary posting (" Public Access") policy.
As a service to our authors, Elsevier will deposit to PubMed Central
(PMC) author manuscripts on behalf of Elsevier authors reporting NIH funded research. This service is a continuation of Elsevier's 2005
agreement with the NIH when the NIH introduced their voluntary 'Public Access Policy.'
The service will help authors comply with the
National Institutes of Health (NIH) revised ''Public Access Policy,'' effective April 7, 2008. The NIH's revised policy requires that
NIH-funded authors submit to PubMed Central (PMC), or have submitted on their behalf, their peer-reviewed author manuscripts, to appear
on PMC no later than 12 months after final publication.
Elsevier will send to PMC the final peer-reviewed manuscript, which was accepted
for publication and sent to Elsevier's production department, and that reflects any author-agreed changes made in response to peer-review
comments. Elsevier will authorize the author manuscript's public access posting 12 months after final publication. Following the deposit
by Elsevier, authors will receive further communications from Elsevier and NIH with respect to the submission.
Authors are also welcome
to post their accepted author manuscript on their personal or institutional web site. Please note that consistent with Elsevier's author
agreement, authors should not post manuscripts directly to PMC or other third party sites. Individual modifications to this general policy
may apply to some Elsevier journals and society publishing partners.
As a leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical (STM)
journals, Elsevier has led the industry in developing tools, programs and partnerships that provide greater access to, and understanding
of, the vast global body of STM information. This service is an example of Elsevier willingness to work cooperatively to meet the needs
of all participants in the STM publishing community.
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 these). Authors who require information about language editing and copyediting services pre- and post-submission
please visit
http://webshop.elsevier.com/languageservices
or our customer support site at
http://support.elsevier.com
for more information.
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
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 and Conditions
http://www.elsevier.com/termsandconditions
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.
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 any
of the other recognized classes and formats supported in Elsevier's electronic submissions system, for further information see
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/authorsview.authors/latex-ees-supported.
The Elsevier 'elsarticle' LaTeX style file 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/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://ftp.tex.ac.uk, at
ftp://ftp.dante.de, at
ftp://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
As
a rule,
Full Length Reports and Review Articles should be divided into sections headed by a caption (Abstract, Introduction, Materials
and Methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgements, References, Tables, Figures and Legends). Acknowledgements for personal and technical
assistance should follow the Discussion section. Financial support should be indicated in the Acknowledgements.
Short Communications
Manuscripts of length up to a maximum of 3,000 words (including figure legends but not references), with no more than 1 figure and 1
table or 2 of either, will be considered for publication. Articles must be written in English, contain original experimental results,
and should be complete in all respects. The layout and style should adhere strictly to the instructions given below and, in particular,
the literature reference style (no more than 15 references).
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.
Introduction
State
the objectives of the work and provide an adequate background, avoiding a detailed literature survey or a summary of the results.
Material and methods
Provide sufficient detail to allow the work to be reproduced. Methods already published
should be indicated by a reference: only relevant modifications should be described.
Experimental
Provide
sufficient detail to allow the work to be reproduced. Methods already published should be indicated by a reference: only relevant modifications
should be described.
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.
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.
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
The number
of text pages of the whole manuscript (including figures and tables) and the number of figures and tables.
•
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
This
should provide a concise description of the purpose of the report or review article and should not exceed 250 words. The abstract should
include a maximum of 8 keywords, which reflect the entries the author(s) would like to see in an index.
Graphical
abstract
A Graphical abstract is optional and should summarize the contents of the article in a concise, pictorial form
designed to capture the attention of a wide readership online. Authors must provide images that clearly represent the work described
in the article. Graphical abstracts should be submitted as a separate file in the online submission system. Image size: Please provide
an image with a minimum of 531 × 1328 pixels (h × w) or proportionally more. The image should be readable at a size of 5 × 13 cm using a regular screen resolution of 96 dpi. Preferred file types: TIFF, EPS, PDF or MS Office files. See
http://www.elsevier.com/graphicalabstracts
for examples.
Authors can make use of Elsevier's Illustration and Enhancement service to ensure the best presentation of their images
also in accordance with all technical requirements:
Illustration
Service.
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.
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.).
Database linking
Elsevier aims at connecting online articles with external
databases which are useful in their respective research communities. If your article contains relevant unique identifiers or accession
numbers (bioinformatics) linking to information on entities (genes, proteins, diseases, etc.) or structures deposited in public databases,
then please indicate those entities according to the standard explained below.
Authors should explicitly mention the
database
abbreviation (as mentioned below) together with the actual database number, bearing in mind that an error in a letter or number
can result in a dead link in the online version of the article.
Please use the following format:
Database ID: xxxx
Links
can be provided in your online article to the following databases (examples of citations are given in parentheses):
•
ASTM:
ASTM Standards Database (ASTM ID: G63)
•
CCDC: Cambridge Crystallographic
Data Centre (CCDC ID: AI631510)
•
GenBank: Genetic sequence
database at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) (GenBank ID: BA123456)
•
GEO:
Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO ID: GSE27196; GEO ID: GPL5366; GEO ID: GSM9853)
•
MI:
EMBL-EBI OLS Molecular Interaction Ontology (MI ID: 0218)
•
MINT:
Molecular INTeractions database (MINT ID: 6166710)
•
NCBI Taxonomy:
NCBI Taxonomy Browser (NCBI Taxonomy ID: 48184)
•
NCT: ClinicalTrials.gov
(NCT ID: NCT00222573)
•
OMIM: Online Mendelian Inheritance
in Man (OMIM ID: 601240)
•
PDB: Worldwide Protein Data
Bank (PDB ID: 1TUP)
•
TAIR: The Arabidopsis Information Resource
database (TAIR ID: AT1G01020)
•
UniProt: Universal Protein Resource
Knowledgebase (UniProt ID: Q9H0H5)
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).
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 separately 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.
Image manipulation
Whilst
it is accepted that authors sometimes need to manipulate images for clarity, manipulation for purposes of deception or fraud will be
seen as scientific ethical abuse and will be dealt with accordingly. For graphical images, this journal is applying the following policy:
no specific feature within an image may be enhanced, obscured, moved, removed, or introduced. Adjustments of brightness, contrast, or
color balance are acceptable if and as long as they do not obscure or eliminate any information present in the original. Nonlinear adjustments
(e.g. changes to gamma settings) must be disclosed in the figure legend.
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.
If your electronic artwork is created in a Microsoft Office application (Word, PowerPoint, Excel)
then please supply 'as is'.
Please do not:
• Supply files that are optimised for screen use (e.g., 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.
Non-electronis artwork
Non-electronic artwork information is not
required for this journal as papers can only be submitted on-line
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.
Text graphics
Text graphics may be embedded in the text
at the appropriate position. Further, high-resolution graphics files must be provided separately whether or not the graphics are embedded.
See further under Electronic artwork.
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.
Tables should if possible be so constructed as to be intelligible without reference to
the text, every table and column being provided with a heading, and should be suitable for direct reproduction. Units of measurement
must always be clearly indicated. Unless it is essential to the argument, tables should summarize results by an accepted method of expression,
e.g. standard deviation (S.D). 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.
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 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.
Reference to arXiv
As with unpublished results and personal communications, references to arXiv documents
are not recommended in the reference list. Please make every effort to obtain the full reference of the published version of an arXiv
document. If a reference to an arXiv document must be included in the references list it should follow the standard reference style of
the journal and should include a substitution of the volume and page numbers with 'arXiv:YYMM.NNNN' or 'arXiv:arch-ive/YYMMNNN' for articles
submitted to arXiv before April 2007.
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 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
Literature references. References in the text should start with the name of the author(s),
followed by the publication date in brackets, e.g. Jones (1970) has shown the importance of. . ., or . . . has been described (Jones,
1970; Brown and Jones, 1971; Chin et al., 1972). . .; using date order. All references cited in the text should be listed at the end
of the paper on a separate page (also double-spaced) arranged in alphabetical order of first author. All items in the list of references
should be cited in the text and, conversely, all references cited in the text must be presented in the list. Literature references must
be complete, including initials of the authors cited, title of paper referred to, abbreviated title, year, volume, and first and last
page numbers of the article, in a periodical. The abbreviations of journal titles should conform to those adopted by List of Serial Title
Word Abbreviations, CIEPS/ISDS, Paris, 1985, ISBN 2-904-938-02-8. (See example 2.) The form of literature references of books should
be: author, initials, title of book, publisher and city, year, and page number referred to. (See example 1.) References to authors contributing
to multi-author books or to proceedings printed in book-form should be similar to those for books. (See example 3.)
Examples:
Bure J, Bure ov O, Huston JP. Techniques and Basic Experiments for the Study of Brain and Behavior, second ed. Elsevier: Amsterdam,
1983: 326. Langston JW, Irwin I, Langston EB, Forno LS. The importance of the `4-5' double bond for neurotoxicity in primates of the
pyridine derivative MPTP. Neurosci. Lett., 1984;50:289-94. Sofroniew MV. Morphology of vasopressin and oxytocin neurones and their central
and vascular projections. In Cross BZ, Leng G, editors. The Neurohypophysis: Structure, Function and Control, Progress in Brain Research.
Elsevier: Amsterdam, 1983;50:101-14.
Journal abbreviations source
Journal names should be
abbreviated according to
Index Medicus journal abbreviations:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/tsd/serials/lji.html;
List
of title word abbreviations:
http://www.issn.org/2-22661-LTWA-online.php;
CAS (Chemical Abstracts Service):
http://www.cas.org/sent.html.
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
The following list will be useful during the final checking of an article prior to sending
it to the journal for review. Please consult this Guide for Authors for further details of any item.
Ensure that the following
items are present:
One author has been designated as the corresponding author with contact details:
• E-mail address
• Full postal address
• Telephone and fax numbers
All necessary files have been uploaded, and contain:
•
Keywords
• All figure captions
• All tables (including title, description, footnotes)
Further considerations
•
Manuscript has been 'spell-checked' 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://support.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 (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://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/tech-specs.html.
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 – please let us have all your corrections within
48 hours. It is important to ensure that all 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.
Disclaimer
Whilst every effort is made by the publishers and editorial board to see that no inaccurate or
misleading data, opinion or statement appears in this journal, they wish to make it clear that the data and opinions appearing in the
articles and advertisements herein are the sole responsibility of the contributor or advertiser concerned. Accordingly, the publishers,
the editorial board and editors and their respective employees, officers and agents accept no responsibility or liability whatsoever
for the consequences of any inaccurate or misleading data, opinion or statement.
DISCLAIMER
Whilst
every effort is made by the publishers and editorial board to see that no inaccurate or misleading data, opinion or statement appears
in this journal, they wish to make it clear that the data and opinions appearing in the articles and advertisements herein are the sole
responsibility of the contributor or advertiser concerned. Accordingly, the publishers, the editorial board and editors and their respective
employees, officers and agents accept no responsibility or liability whatsoever for the consequences of any inaccurate or misleading
data, opinion or statement.
For inquiries relating to the submission of
articles (including electronic submission) please visit this journal's homepage. 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.
You can also check our Author FAQs (
http://www.elsevier.com/authorFAQ) and/or contact Customer Support via
http://support.elsevier.com.
