Guide for Authors
Spectrochimica Acta Part B: Atomic Spectroscopy, is intended for the rapid publication of both original
work and reviews in the following fields:
• Atomic Emission (AES), Atomic Absorption (AAS) and Atomic Fluorescence (AFS) spectroscopy;
• Mass Spectrometry (MS) for inorganic analysis covering Spark Source (SS-MS), Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP-MS), Glow Discharge
(GD-MS), and Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS).
• Laser induced atomic spectroscopy for inorganic analysis, including non-linear
optical laser spectroscopy, covering Laser Enhanced Ionization (LEI), Laser Induced Fluorescence (LIF), Resonance Ionization Spectroscopy
(RIS) and Resonance Ionization Mass Spectrometry (RIMS); Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS); Cavity Ringdown Spectroscopy (CRDS),
Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (LA-ICP-AES) and Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass
Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS).
• X-ray spectrometry, X-ray Optics and Microanalysis, including X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF)
and related techniques, in particular Total-reflection X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometry (TXRF), and Synchrotron Radiation-excited Total
reflection XRF (SR-TXRF).
Types of contributions
Manuscripts dealing
with (i) fundamentals, (ii) methodology development, (iii)instrumentation, and (iv) applications, can be submitted for publication.
The emphasis is on papers having a relationship with "spectrochemical analysis". The main subjects will include theoretical or experimental
studies of the physical and chemical processes connected with the generation of atomic or mass spectra; the determination of atomic data;
diagnostics for spectrochemical sources; the fundamentals, design or performance of complete instrumental systems, components of instruments,
or devices used in any of the above stated fields of spectrometry; qualitative and quantitative analysis in the sense of complete analytical
procedures using a single method or a combination of methods, or parts of complete procedures: sampling, sample preparation, sample introduction,
detection, data acquisition and handling (including calibration and statistical evaluation); analytical performance and analytical figures
of merit: limits of detection and limits of determination, selectivity, precision, accuracy, interferences. Authoritative and comprehensive
review articles, dedicated to a particularly important topic or field of analysis, are published regularly. In addition, shorter, concise
reviews or viewpoints focusing on the current status and future prospects of a field or topic particularly relevant to the development
of a new analytical methodology or to a better understanding of its fundamental underlying principles are welcome. Tutorial reviews,
illustrating in depth fundamental concepts in atomic spectroscopy and analytical atomic spectroscopy, are also published.
Articles
describing an application of a spectroscopic technique to analysis will also be considered. In this case, however, the spectroscopic
flavor of the manuscript should be substantial: mere analytical recipes or papers emphasizing separation and pre-concentration techniques
should not be submitted. Finally, to the editors' discretion, accelerated publication of short papers dealing with new important concepts,
instrumental developments or applications will be considered.
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 in the same form, in English or in any other language, without
the written consent of the copyright-holder.
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 paper 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.
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://www.elsevier.com/languagepolishing or our customer support site at
http://epsupport.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.
Language
It is a condition of publication that all manuscripts must be written in clear and grammatically
correct American English. Italics are not to be used for expressions of Latin origin, for example, in vivo, et al., per se. Use decimal
points (not commas); use a space for thousands (10 000 and above).
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.
Please
submit your article via
http://www.elsevier.com/locate/sab
Referees
All articles submitted will be refereed. The editors reserve the right to reject articles and to edit manuscripts when necessary.
Authors are encouraged to suggest the name(s) of persons who are qualified to serve as reviewers of their paper: such reviewers may be
used at the discretion of the Editors. Authors may also draw the editors? attention to reviewers with whom a potential conflict of interest
may arise.
Elsevier / Spectrochimica Acta Atomic Spectroscopy Award
Since
1987, each year a jury has selected the best paper of the year which is awarded $1000 and a certificate. Each year a list of the top
papers from this selection are published.
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. Do not embed "graphically designed" equations or tables, but prepare
these using the wordprocessor's facility. 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).
Do not import the figures into the text file but, instead, indicate their approximate locations directly in the electronic text and on
the manuscript. See also the section on Electronic illustrations.
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 the standard document class "article".
The Elsevier LaTeX style file package (including
detailed instructions for LaTeX preparation) can be obtained from the Quickguide:
http://www.elsevier.com/latex. It consists
of the file: elsarticle.cls, complete user documentation for the class file, bibliographic style files in various styles, and template
files for a quick start.
Article structure
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.
Materials and Methods
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. The equipment can often
be conveniently specified in the form if a table. However, such tables should not repeat information already in the text.
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.
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, 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
A concise and factual abstract is required. The abstract should state briefly the purpose of the research, the
principal results and major conclusions. 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.
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.
Nomenclature
and units
Follow internationally accepted rules and conventions: use the international system of units (SI). If other quantities
are mentioned, give their equivalent in SI. You are urged to consult IUPAC nomenclature for spectroscopy and analytical chemistry for
further information (
http://www.iupac.org).
Math Formulae
Present
simple formulae in the line of normal text where possible. In principle, variables are to be presented in italics. Use the solidus (/)
instead of a horizontal line, e.g., X
p /Y
m rather than
Xp .
Y
m •
Subscripts and superscripts should be clearly indicated
• Greek letters and other non-Latin symbols should be explained in
the margin where they are first used. Take special care to show clearly the difference between for example, zero (0) and the letter O,
between one (1) and the letter l.
• Give the meaning of all symbols immediately after the equation in which they are first
used.
• Please use ≈ for approximately equal, and ∞ for proportional to.
• Equations should be sequentially
numbered on the right hand side of the equation and in parentheses. In general, only equations explicitly referred to in the text need
be numbered. In appendices use A1, etc.
• The use of fractional powers instead of root signs is recommended. Powers of e are
often more conveniently denoted by exp.
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.
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.
• 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.
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 optimised 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.
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.
Reference style
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.
Journal abbreviatons source
Journal names should be abbreviated according to CAS (Chemical Abstracts Service):
http://www.cas.org/
Supplementary material
Elsevier accepts
electronic supplementary material to support and enhance your scientific research. Supplementary files offer the author additional possibilities
to publish supporting applications, movies, animation sequences, 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 ensure that data
are provided 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. Video files: please supply 'stills' with your files: you can choose any frame
from the video or make a separate image. These will be used instead of standard icons and will personalize the link to your supplementary
information. 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
• 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.2003.10.071
When you use the DOI to create URL hyperlinks to documents on the web, they 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://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html. 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/acrobat/acrrsystemreqs.html#70win.
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. 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.
For inquiries relating to the submission of articles (including electronic submission
where available) please visit this journal's homepage. 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. 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.
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