Articles may be from the following categories:
Analysis: Clearly develop a fundamental, mathematical analysis of a practice-relevant application or methodology. Explicitly state implications and recommendations for its application. Provide credible examples.
Design: Present a complete "how-to" guide. Connect design procedures to first principles. Explicitly state necessary heuristics and limits of applicability. Provide evidence that the procedures are practicable.
Application: Present the results of new (or under-utilized) techniques or novel applications. Provide a complete description of results, including pilot- or plant-scale experimental data, and a revelation of heuristics and shortcomings.
Tutorial/Review: Present what might become a chapter in a text - a comprehensive exposition or survey of the analysis, design and application of a technique that is practice-important but not yet common textbook material. Include a critical review of the state of the art to guide practitioner choices.
Editorial: Present a balanced and learned perspective on the implications of historical trends or developing issues that reveal needs and direction for action or change. The concepts could be aimed at research, standards, products, criteria for evaluation, or organizations.
Technical Notes: Present new concepts or initial proof-of-concept results on innovative approaches. The manuscripts would be short, perhaps two journal pages, and would not require extensive comprehensive defence required of regular papers. However, they would be critically reviewed for compliance to ISA T Aims and Scope. Technical notes are intended to accelerate the dissemination of ideas, and will be given priority in the publication queue. The title must start with the identification "Technical Note:"
For your article to be considered for publication in ISA Transactions, it must conform to the following guidelines:

Submission - Authors must submit their manuscript via the Elsevier Editorial System (EES) at EES. Authors will be asked to select the Associate Editor or Editor-in-Chief whose technical interests most nearly match the manuscript. When in doubt, use the Editor-in-Chief. The manuscript must be a file (including tables, figures, etc.), of less than 1 Meg, using either an Adobe-compatible portable document format or an MS Word *.doc (preferred). Figures and tables should also be uploaded separately. Submit the manuscript without the authors' names and affiliation. Along with it, submit a cover page that includes the manuscript title, authors' names and affiliation, and the corresponding author's name and contact information (full postal and e-mail addresses, phone and fax numbers).

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 copyright-holder.

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 pre-printed forms for use by authors in these cases: contact Elsevier's Rights Department, Oxford, UK: phone (+44) 1865 843830, fax (+44) 1865 853333, e-mail permissions@elsevier.com. Requests may also be completed online via the Elsevier homepage (Elsevier homepage).

Review - Quality is important. We aim to provide useful material to the ISA T readers. Accordingly, about 3 or 4 experts (at least one from academe and one from industry) review each submission to feedback balanced and comprehensive direction for manuscript improvement. The review process normally takes 2 to 4 months. To minimize bias, to achieve a double-blind review process, authors are asked to submit their names and affiliation on a separate title file or sheet.

Length - Include all necessary material; but only that which is necessary to define the need, develop the contribution, and defend the conclusion. Including figures and tables, manuscripts should be from 10 to 20 double-spaced letter-sized papers.

Format - Manuscripts should be typed in double spacing, single column in 12-point, conventional font. All pages should be numbered consecutively. Place tables and figures at the end. Once accepted, the publisher will format the final layout.

Language - The language of the journal is English. Manuscripts will be reader-friendly. Proficient English usage is essential.

Style - For review the manuscript should be organized in the following order: Title; abstract (less than about 125 words in length); keywords; main body of paper (divided into numbered sections and subsections); acknowledgement (where applicable); references; tables; figures; appendices (where applicable). An abbreviated title of less than 40 characters (including spaces) should also be suggested. (Authors' names and affiliations will be included once the manuscript has been accepted.) Organization is that of a standard scientific paper. See previous ISA Transactions papers.

Layout - Title. Authors names, affiliation, and full contact information (on coversheet).

Abstract - an explicit description of the contribution/impact of the manuscript of less than about 125-words. Keywords (less than about 5). Sections as appropriate, with a bold title, and numbered consecutively in base-10, real, Arabic numerals (1., 2., 3., etc.). Subsections, as appropriate, numbered sequentially (2.1, 2.2, 2.3, etc.). The Conclusion section will be the last numbered section. Acknowledgment (if appropriate). References. Tables numbered sequentially using Roman numerals (I, II, III, IV, etc.). Figures numbered sequentially using Arabic numerals (1., 2., 3., etc.). Appendices (if appropriate) identified with capital letters (A., B., C., etc.).

Content - Commercialism, any attempt to promote the author's products, organization, country, or viewpoint is strictly forbidden. Claims must be supported by evidence, and be consistent with any limits or idealizations of the development.

Illustrations - Photographs, charts and diagrams are to be referred to as Figures and should be numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals in the order in which they are first mentioned. They should follow the manuscript on separate files but can also be imbedded within the manuscript. All illustrations should be clear and suitable for reduction (to 50% original size). Lettering must be clear and open and must also be large enough to be reduced by the same proportion. Figure legends should be typed on a separate sheet and placed in a list at the end of the manuscript. The amount of lettering on a drawing should be reduced as far as possible by transferring it to the legend.

Mathematical expressions - Mathematical symbols and formulae should be typed. Particular care should be exercised in identifying all symbols and in avoiding ambiguities. Distinction should be made between the number one (1) and the letter "ell" (l), and between the number zero (0) and the letter "oh" (O). Symbols for vectors and matrices should be marked clearly on the manuscript. Equation numbers should appear in parentheses, and numbered consecutively. All equation numbers must appear on the right-hand side of the equation and should be referred to within the text. Use the following sequence for nested parentheses: ) ] }.

Tables - Particular care is needed to ensure that tables are clearly and legibly set out. Tables should be numbered consecutively in Roman numerals in the order in which they are first mentioned. They should follow the manuscript on separate files but can also be imbedded within the manuscript. If accepted, original electronic files or line drawings (not photocopies or scanned versions) should be submitted. Table titles should be typed on a separate sheet and placed in a list at the end of the manuscript.

References - References to published literature should be quoted in the text by numbers in square brackets. References should be listed together at the end of the paper in numerical order. Double-spacing must be used throughout.


Journal references should be arranged thus: 1. Hinton, E. and Rao, N. V. R., Structural shape optimization of shells and folded plates using two-noded finite strips. Computers and Structures, 1993, 46, 1055-1071.


Book references are given as follows: 2. Ashby, M. F., Materials Selection in Mechanical Design. Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1992.


Units - All measurements and data should be given in SI units, or where other units are used, provide the SI value in parenthesis. Each paper should be self-consistent as to symbols and units, and all are to be properly defined.


Copyright - Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to sign a "Journal Publishing Agreement'' (for more information on this and copyright see 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.


Proofs - One set of page proofs in PDF format 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). Elsevier now sends PDF proofs which can be annotated; for this you will need to download Adobe Reader version 7 available free from Adobe reader. Instructions on how to annotate PDF files will accompany the proofs. The exact system requirements are given at the Adobe site: Adobe site.

If you do not wish to use the PDF annotations function, you may list the corrections (including replies to the Query Form) and return 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.


Reprints - 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 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. Additional paper offprints can be ordered by the authors. An order form with prices will be sent to the corresponding author.


Dissemination - Quarterly paper publications of ISA Transactions are sent to individual, corporate, and library subscribers world wide. In addition, to maximize impact of the author's contributions, content of each issue is searchable on the Internet and accessible to the general public from ScienceDirect. ScienceDirectArticle for use in conjunction with computer systems and programs, including reproduction or publication in machine-readable form and incorporation in retrieval systems. Authors are responsible for obtaining from the copyright holder permission to reproduce any figures for which copyright exists.

Submission of ACCEPTED articles on disk
Authors are requested, where possible, to submit electronic versions of accepted papers. Refer to the advert published in most issues for full details. For enquiries relating to the submission of articles (including electronic submission), the status of accepted manuscripts through our Online Article Status Information System (OASIS), author Frequently Asked Questions and any other enquiries relating to Elsevier Science, please consult http://www.elsevier.com/locate/authors/

For specific enquires on the preparation of electronic artwork, consult http://www.elsevier.com/locate/authorartwork/.

Contact details for questions arising after acceptance of an article, especially those relating to proofs, are provided when an article is accepted for publication.