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EVALUATION AND PROGRAM PLANNING
An International Journal

Guide for Authors

Authors are requested to submit their papers electronically by using the Evaluation and Program Planning online submission and review web site ( External link http://ees.elsevier.com/epp ). This site will guide authors stepwise through the submission process. Authors are requested to submit the text, tables, and artwork in electronic form to this address. Authors who are unable to provide an electronic version or have other circumstances that prevent online submission must contact the Editor prior to submission to discuss alternative options; email: jamorell@jamorell.com. The Publisher and Editor regret that they are not able to consider submissions that do not follow these procedures.

Full length articles
We publish articles that deal with the fields of evaluation and planning. These may include: 1) individual evaluation or planning efforts, 2) aggregations of such efforts, 3) explanations of methodologies, 4) discussions about the development and future of the fields of evaluation and planning, 5) rigorous literature reviews or analyses of aspects of the fields of evaluation and planning. Acceptable articles may use any methodology or set of methodologies as long as the case is made for their appropriateness. The overall goal of any article should be to help evaluators and planners do their work better.

Special issues and book reviews
Special issues are groups of articles which cover a particular topic in depth. They are organized by "special issue editors" who are willing to conceptualize the topic, find contributors, set up a quality control process, and deliver the material. Often several editors share responsibility for these tasks. Suggestions for special issues are encouraged; please email the Editor at: jamorell@jamorell.com.

Book reviews cover any area of social science or public policy which may interest evaluators and planners. As per special issues, suggestions for books and book reviewers are encouraged.

Submission of articles

General
It is essential to give a fax number and e-mail address when submitting a manuscript. Articles must be written in good English.

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.

Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to sign a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' (for more information on this and copyright see: External link 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: External link 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: External link 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: External link http://www.elsevier.com/fundingbodies.

Authors' rights
As an author you (or your employer or institution) retain certain rights; for details you are referred to: External link http://www.elsevier.com/authorsrights.

Ethical approval
For information on Ethics in Publishing and Ethical guidelines for journal publication see: External link http://www.elsevier.com/authorethics and: External link http://www.elsevier.com/ethicalguidelines.

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: External link http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/authorshome.authors/funding for more information.

Contributors
Each author is required to declare his or her individual contribution to the article: all authors must have materially participated in the research and/or article preparation, so roles for all authors should be described. The statement that all authors have approved the final article should be true and included in the disclosure.

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. For further information, please see: External link http://www.elsevier.com/conflictsofinterest.

Online submission to the journal prior to acceptance
Submission to this journal proceeds totally online. Use the following guidelines to prepare your article. Via the EES homepage of this journal (External link http://ees.elsevier.com/epp/) you will be guided stepwise through the creation and uploading of the various files. The system automatically converts source files to a single Adobe Acrobat PDF version of the article, which is used in the peer-review process. Please note that even though manuscript source files are converted to PDF at submission for the review process, these source files are needed for further processing after acceptance. All correspondence, including notification of the Editors' decision and requests for revision, takes place by e-mail, removing the need for a hard-copy paper trail.

The above represents a very brief outline of this form of submission. It can be advantageous to print this "Guide for Authors" section from the site for reference in the subsequent stages of article preparation.

Electronic format requirements for accepted articles

General points
We accept most wordprocessing formats, but Word, WordPerfect or LaTeX is preferred. Always keep a backup copy of the electronic file for reference and safety. Save your files using the default extension of the program used.

Wordprocessor documents
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: External link 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 below on the preparation of electronic illustrations.

To avoid unnecessary errors you are strongly advised to use the "spell-check" and "grammar-check" functions of your wordprocessor.

Preparation of text

Presentation of manuscript

General
Please write your text in good English (American or British usage is accepted, but not a mixture of these). 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).

Authors are advised to consult a recent issue of the journal (a free sample copy is available online at: External link http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01497189) to become familiar with layout and conventions. Please prepare your manuscript using double-spacing and wide margins. Number all pages consecutively.

Word Count
The recommended length for a paper is 5000-8000 words, plus illustrations; the preferred length for reviews and conference reports is 2500 words.

Review Policy
To facilitate blind review by one or more readers, all indication of authorship should appear on a detachable cover page only. Please ensure that no author's name appears in the main text, in-text citations, reference list, or any running header. Replace all references to the author with "Author, 2003", "Author et al, 2006", etc. The title of the article and the name of the journal, or book, etc., should also be removed from these references.

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

Provide the following data on the title page (in the order given).

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 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.

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 (maximum length 200 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 should therefore be avoided, but if essential, they must be cited in full, without reference to the reference list. 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 list of keywords, 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 at their first occurrence in the article: in the abstract but also in the main text after it. Ensure consistency of abbreviations throughout the article.

N.B. Acknowledgements. Collate acknowledgements in a separate section at the end of the article and do not, therefore, include them on the title page, as a footnote to the title or otherwise.

Vitae. Include a short (2-3 sentence) biography of each author.

Arrangement of the article
Subdivision of the article. 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.

Sections. Section headings should divide the article in a manner that leads the reader from a knowledge of the background of the problem, through a discussion of what was done, what was discovered, and what should be done in the future. For many articles this means the sequence: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion. Other sections, however, may be appropriate depending on the topic and intent of the authors. Whatever headings are chosen, they should be designed to facilitate readers' understanding of what was done, and why it matters. In addition, we request that articles include a "Lessons Learned" section that briefly distils guidance to evaluators and planners as to how similar work should be done in the future.

Acknowledgements. Place acknowledgements before the references, in a separate section, and not as a footnote on the title page.

Appendices. If there is more than one appendix, they should be identified as A, B, etc.

References. See separate section, below.

Figure captions, tables, figures, schemes. Present these, in this order, at the end of the article. They are described in more detail below. High-resolution graphics files must always be provided separate from the main text file (see the section below on the preparation of illustrations).

Text graphics. Present incidental graphics not suitable for mention as figures, plates or schemes at the end of the article and number them "Graphic 1", etc. Their precise position in the text can then be indicated. See further under the section concerning the preparation of electronic illustrations. Ensure that high-resolution graphics files are provided, even if the graphic appears as part of your normal wordprocessed text file.

Specific remarks
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.

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.

Preparation of supplementary data. Elsevier accepts 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 (External link http://www.sciencedirect.com). In order to ensure that your submitted material is directly usable, please ensure that data is 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. For more detailed instructions please visit our artwork instruction pages at: External link http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.

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 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.

Citing and listing of Web references. As a minimum, the full URL should be given. 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.

Text: In the text refer to the author's name (without initial) and year of publication, followed, if necessary, by a short reference to the appropriate pages. Examples: "Since Peterson (1988) has shown that..."; "This is in agreement with results obtained later (Kramer, 1989, pp. 12-16)". If reference is made in the text to a publication written by more than 6 authors the name of the first 5 authors should be used followed by 'et al.'. References cited together in the text should be arranged alphabetically by first author.

List: References should be arranged first alphabetically and then further sorted chronologically if necessary. If an author's name in the list is also mentioned with co-authors the following order should be used: publications of the single author arranged according to publication dates; publications of the same author with one co-author; publications of the author with more than one co-author. Note that for more than 6 authors the first 6 should be listed followed by 'et al'. More than one reference from the same author(s) in the same year must be identified by the letters "a", "b", "c", etc., placed after the year of publication.

Examples:

Reference to a journal publication:

Van der Geer, J., Hanraads, J. A. J., & Lupton R. A. (2000). The art of writing a scientific article. Journal of Scientific Communications, 163, 51-59.

Reference to a book:

Strunk, W., Jr., & White, E. B. (1979). The elements of style. (3rd ed.). New York: Macmillan.

Reference to a chapter in an edited book:

Mettam, G. R., & Adams, L. B. (1994). How to prepare an electronic version of your article. In B. S. Jones, & R. Z. Smith (Eds.), Introduction to the electronic age (pp. 281-304). New York: E-Publishing Inc.

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.

Preparation of illustrations

Preparation of electronic illustrations

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, Helvetica, Times, Symbol.
- Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text.
- Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files.
- Provide all illustrations as separate files.
- Provide captions to illustrations separately.
- Produce images near to the desired size of the printed version.

A detailed guide on electronic artwork is available on our website:
External link 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: Colour or greyscale 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 (colour or greyscale): 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.

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.

Line drawings
The lettering and symbols, as well as other details, should have proportionate dimensions, so as not to become illegible or unclear after possible reduction; in general, the figures should be designed for a reduction factor of two to three. The degree of reduction will be determined by the Publisher. Illustrations will not be enlarged. Consider the page format of the journal when designing the illustrations.

Do not use any type of shading on computer-generated illustrations.

Photographs (halftones)
Remove non-essential areas of a photograph. Do not mount photographs unless they form part of a composite figure. Where necessary, insert a scale bar in the illustration (not below it), as opposed to giving a magnification factor in the caption.

Colour 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 that these figures will appear in colour on the Web for free (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, you will receive information regarding the costs from Elsevier after receipt of your accepted article. Please indicate your preference for colour in print or on the Web only. For further information on the preparation of electronic artwork, please see:
External link http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.

Please note: Because of technical complications which can arise by converting colour figures to "grey scale" (for the printed version should you not opt for colour in print) please submit in addition usable black and white versions of all the colour illustrations.

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 (or higher) available free from: External link http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html. Instructions on how to annotate PDF files will accompany the proofs. The exact system requirements are given at the Adobe site: External link 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 to Elsevier in an e-mail. Please list your corrections quoting line numbers. 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.

Author Benefits

Offprints
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.

Discount
Authors are entitled to a 30% discount on Elsevier books (excluding major reference works).

Fast Electronic Publication
Once the article has been proofed by the author, it will be published immediately on the journal's 'Articles in Press' section online, thus making it available to subscribers to read and cite. For more information, visit: External link http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01497189.

Author Enquiries
For enquiries relating to the submission of articles, please visit the journal's homepage at: External link http://www.elsevier.com/locate/evalprogplan. From here you can also track your accepted articles (External link http://authors.elsevier.com/TrackPaper.html) and set up e-mail alerts to inform you of when an article's status has changed, as well as viewing detailed artwork guidelines, copyright information, frequently asked questions and more. Contact details for questions arising after acceptance of an article, especially those relating to proofs, are provided after registration of an article for publication.
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