The European Journal of Soil Biology covers all aspects of soil biology which deal with microbial and faunal ecology and activity in soils, as well as natural ecosystems or world regions (polar to tropical) connected to ecological interests: changes in biodiversity, biological conservation, adaptation, impact of global changes on soil and ecosystem functioning and effects and fate of pollutants. Different levels in ecosystem structure are taken into account: individuals, populations, communities and ecosystems themselves. At each level, different disciplinary approaches are welcomed: molecular biology, genetics, ecophysiology, biogeography, ecology, soil processes, organic matter, nutrient dynamics and landscape ecology.

The following main fields are distinguished:
• Population biology and molecular ecology: methodological development and contribution to study microbial and faunal populations; diversity and population dynamics; genetic transfers, influence of environmental factors
• Community ecology and functioning processes: interactions between organisms and mineral or organic compounds; involvement of such interactions in soil pathogenicity; transformation of mineral and organic compounds, cycling of elements; soil structuration
• Soil biology, physics and chemistry: occurrence of physicochemical parameters and surface properties on biological processes and population behavior
• Modelling of biological processes and population dynamics

Papers should be written in English and should be as concise as possible and not exceed eight journal pages, including tables, figures and references. The manuscript should be divided as follows: title page, introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion, acknowledgements, references, tables, figure legends and figures. Section headings should be numbered following the international numbering system (1.; 1.1.; 1.1.1., etc.). Subdivisions may be used to improve clarity. The experimental design and the methods of statistical analysis used should be described. All abbreviations and acronyms must be fully defined when first used and Latin names of species should be in italics. Numerical results should be shown in tables and figures and not be repeated in the text. There are no page charges.

Preparation of Manuscripts


Manuscripts should be prepared with numbered lines, with wide margins and double spacing throughout, i.e. also for abstracts, footnotes and references. Every page of the manuscript, including the title page, references, tables, etc. should be numbered. However, in the text no reference should be made to page numbers; if necessary, one may refer to sections. Avoid excessive use of italics to emphasize part of the text.


English language help service: Upon request, Elsevier will direct Authors to an agent who can check and improve the English of their paper (before submission). Please contact www.elsevier.com/locate/elsevierpublishing for further information.

The title page
The title should be informative and concise and be followed by the surname and forename (in full) of each author, the department and institution where the study was carried out, fax number and e-mail address of the corresponding author (this author being identified by an asterisk). A running title of up to 50 characters should also be included.
An abstract
Summarising the aim of the study, the experiments described, the main results and the conclusions should follow the title page. It should not exceed 200 words and be followed by keywords separated by slashes.
Tables and figures
Tables and figures, with their captions, should not appear in the text, but be placed together on separate sheets at the end of the manuscript.

Submission of manuscripts

From now on, all manuscripts should be submitted electronically through Elsevier Editorial System (EES) Elsevier Editorial System which can be accessed at http://ees.elsevier.com/ejsobi

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://www.elsevier.com/authorrights). 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, Rights Department, P.O. Box 800, Oxford, OX5 1DX, UK; phone: (+44) 1865 843830, fax: (+44) 1865 853333, e-mail: permissions@elsevier.com

Electronic manuscripts

Submission to this journal proceeds totally on-line. Use the following guidelines to prepare your article. Via the EESubmit page of this journal ( see http://ees.elsevier.com/ejsobi), you will be guided stepwise through the creation and uploading of the various files. Once the uploading is done, our system automatically generates an electronic (PDF) proof, which is then used for reviewing. It is crucial that all graphical elements be uploaded in separate files, so that the PDF is suitable for reviewing. Authors can upload their article as a LaTex, Microsoft (MS) Word, WordPerfect, PostScript or Adobe Acrobat PDF document. All correspondence, including notification of the Editor's decision and requests for revisions, will be by e-mail.

Electronic format requirements for accepted articles

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 Quickguide ( http://www.elsevier.com/locate/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 Preparation of electronic illustrations.

To avoid unnecessary errors you are strongly advised to use the 'spellchecker' function of your wordprocessor.

Units
SI units should be used throughout, always be written in roman and separated from the numerical value by a space. The μ in μg or μm is always in roman. The symbol for litre is l and that for minute is min. For temperatures, please note the use of °C but K. Multiples and submultiples should be standard. As the ångstöm (1 Å = 10^-10m) is not an SI unit, it should be replaced by the nanometer (1 nm = 10^-9m) or by the picometer (1 pm = 10^-12m): 1 Å = 0.1 nm = 100 pm. Multiple units should be written with negative superscripts (for example, 25 mg˙l^-1˙s^-1).

Electronic Illustrations

Submitting your artwork in an electronic format helps us to produce your work to the best possible standards, ensuring accuracy, clarity and a high level of detail.
1. Always supply high-quality printouts of your artwork, in case conversion of the electronic artwork is problematic.
2. Make sure you use uniform lettering and sizing of your original artwork.
3. Save text in illustrations as "graphics" or enclose the font.
4. Only use the following fonts in your illustrations: Arial, Courier, Helvetica, Times, Symbol.
5. Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text.
6. Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files, and supply a separate listing of the files and the software used.
7. Provide all illustrations as separate files.
8. Provide captions to illustrations separately.
9. Produce images near to the desired size of the printed version.
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: 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.

Provide all illustrations as high-quality printouts, suitable for reproduction (which may include reduction) without retouching. Number illustrations consecutively in the order in which they are referred to in the text. Clearly mark all illustrations on the back (or - in case of line drawings - on the lower front side) with the figure number and the author's name and, in cases of ambiguity, the correct orientation. Mark the appropriate position of a figure in the article.

Free colour reproduction
If, together with your accepted article, you submit usable colour figures then Elsevier will ensure, at no additional charge, that these figures will appear in colour on the web (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. 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 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 prints corresponding to all the colour illustrations.

References
In the reference list, the references appear in alphabetical order, preceded by an Arabic numeral enclosed in square brackets. If there is more than one author, the order is as follows: publications of a single author in chronological order; publications of the same author with one co-author in alphabetical order of the second author, and in chronological order; publications of the author with more than one co-author in chronological order. All authors must be mentioned. The references are cited in the text by the corresponding number enclosed in square brackets. All entries in the reference list must correspond to references in the text and vice versa. When authors are cited in the text (within a phrase and not just between brackets), the spelling of the authors' names must be exactly the same as in the reference list. The titles of journals should be abbreviated according to the rules of Biosciences Information Service (Biosis) or those of the Liste d'abréviations de mots des titres de publications en série (conforming to ISO 4, Centre international de ISSN, Paris). Words for which no abbreviation is given should be written in full. Examples are given below of the layout and punctuation to be used in the references:
[1]I. Abbott, Distribution of introduced earthworms in the northern Jarrah forest in western Australia, Aust. J. Soil Res. 23 (1985) 263-270.
[2]T. Deca'ns, P. Lavelle, J.J. Jimenez Jaen, G. Escobar, G. Rippstein, Impact of land management on soil macrofauna in the Oriental Llanos of Colombia, Eur. J. Soil Biol. 30 (1994) 157-168.
[3]P.P. Grassé, Termitologia, tome II, Fondation des Sociétés - Construction, Masson, Paris, 1984.
[4]P. Lavelle, M. Dangerfield, C. Fragoso, V. Eschenbrenner, D. Lopez-Hernandez, B. Pashanasi, L. Brussaard, The relationship between soil macrofauna and tropical soil fertility, in: M.J. Swift, P. Woomer (Eds.), Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility, John Wiley-Sayce, New York, 1994, pp. 137-169.
A list of all the other possibilities (journal supplements, proceedings of a congress, accepted articles, edited books, translations, theses, patents, standards, etc.) is available on request from the Editorial Board.

Articles in Special Issues: Please ensure that the words 'this issue' are added (in the list and text) to any references to other articles in this Special Issue.

Obtaining Permissions
Please use our Permission Request Form on http://www.elsevier.com/locate/permission to request permission to reproduce material from books and journals published by Elsevier and the Pergamon, JAI and Ablex imprints.
Requests are handled by the Rights Department in Oxford, UK and are normally processed within 10 working days of receipt. However, every effort will be made to meet more immediate deadlines if indicated.
Alternatively you may send a written request to:

Rights Department
Elsevier
PO Box 800
Oxford OX5 1DX
UK
Tel: +44 1865 843830
Fax: +44 1865 853333 or +44 1865 843950
e-mail: permissions@elsevier.co.uk

Proofs
Proofs will be sent to the corresponding author as given on the title page of the manuscript. Usually proofs will be sent by email as a PDF file.
Only typesetter's errors may be corrected; no changes in, or additions to, the edited manuscript will be allowed.
Elsevier will do everything possible to get your article corrected and published as quickly and accurately as possible. Therefore, it is important to ensure that all of your corrections are sent back to us in one communication. Subsequent corrections will not be possible, so please ensure your first sending is complete.

Offprints
Twenty-five reprints per contribution are available free of charge. An order form for additional reprints - and, if required, for the publication of colour figures - will accompany the proofs.

Enquiries
Authors can also keep a track on the progress of their accepted article, and set up e-mail alerts informing them of changes to their manuscript's status, by using the "Track a Paper" feature http://www.elsevier.com/trackarticle. For privacy, information on each article is password-protected. The author should key in the "Our Reference" code (which is in the letter of acknowledgement sent by the publisher on receipt of the accepted article) and the name of the corresponding author. In case of problems or questions, authors may contact the Author Service Department, E-mail: authorsupport@elsevier.com.

Copyright
When returning the final, revised manuscript, the author should attach the completed and signed transfer of copyright form. Requests for reproduction should be sent to the publisher.

Updated 19 October 2004