Submission of articles
Manuscripts may be submitted to any of the Editors-in-Chief or to any Associate, Advisory, or Distinguished
Editor. It is the author's responsibility to submit articles written in acceptable and grammatically correct English (or French or German).
Information to a link of a professional service that helps with copy editing is available upon request to the Editors-in-Chief. Electronic
submission of a pdf file is preferred; see the email addresses in the listing of the members of the editorial board in the front of the
journal.
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it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, without the written consent of the Publisher.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://authors.elsevier.com.
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 Global Rights Department, P.O. Box 800, Oxford, OX5 1DX, UK; phone: (+44) 1865
843830, fax: (+44) 1865 853333, e-mail: permissions@elsevier.com
Format requirements
We accept most wordprocessing
formats, but Word, WordPerfect or LaTeX is preferred. An electronic version of the text should be submitted. Always keep a backup copy
of the electronic file for reference and safety. Label storage media with your name, journal title, and software used. Save your files
using the default extension of the program used. No changes to the accepted version are permissible without the explicit approval of
the Editor. Electronic files can be stored on 3 inch diskette, ZIP-disk or CD (either MS-DOS or Macintosh).
LaTeX
If submitting
LaTeX files, please bear in mind the following information.
Figures my 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:
Be consistent. If you use a macro for a phrase, use it throughout.
Use the standard LaTeX
mark-up. Do not hardcode your own layout, for example with section headings, but use the usual LaTex macro for this purpose.
Keep
it simple. Do not define macros to create a complicated layout, as these will also make the input process complicated.
If
the LaTeX file is suitable, proofs will be produced without rekeying the text.
Title Page
Provide the following data
on the title page (in the order given).
Title. Titles should be 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.
Abstract
A concise and factual abstract
is required of up to 200 words (or, in the case of a very long paper, 300 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.
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 should not be in the reference
list, but may be mentioned in the text. Citation of a reference as 'in press' implies that the item has been accepted for publication.
Text: Indicate references by number(s) in square brackets in line with the text. The actual authors can be referred
to, but the reference number(s) must always be given.
Example: "..... as demonstrated [3,6]. Barnaby and Jones [8] obtained a different
result ...."
List: Number the references (numbers in square brackets) in the list in the order in which they appear
in the text.Examples:Reference to a journal publication:
[1] J. van der Geer, J.A.J. Hanraads, R.A. Lupton, The art
of writing a scientific article, J. Sci. Commun. 163 (2000) 51-59.Reference to a book:
[2] W. Strunk Jr., E.B. White, The Elements
of Style, third ed., Macmillan, New York, 1979.Reference to a chapter in an edited book:
[3] G.R. Mettam, L.B. Adams, How to
prepare an electronic version of your article, in: B.S. Jones, R.Z. Smith (Eds.), Introduction to the Electronic Age, E-Publishing Inc.,
New York, 1999, pp. 281-304.
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 in PDF format will be sent by e-mail 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.
Corrections must be returned with 48 hours of receipt of the proofs. Should
there be no need for corrections, please confirm this. The publisher reserves the right to proceed with publication if corrections are
not communicated.
Further Notes
Authors in Japan kindly note that, upon request, Elsevier Japan will provide a list of
people who can check and improve the English of an article before submission. Contact our Tokyo office: Elsevier Japan K.K., 1-9-15 Higashi
Azabu, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0044, Japan; tel.: +81-3-5561-5032; fax: +81-3-5561-5045; e-mail: jp.info@elsevier.com.
