General
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if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, without the written consent of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/authorsrights. 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's Rights Department,
Oxford, UK: phone (+44) 1865 843830, fax (+44) 1865 853333, e-mail permissions@elsevier.com.
Authors submitting
articles are required to include a cover letter with their manuscripts confirming that all elements of the submission are in compliance
with the journal publishing ethics policy as described in detail above.
Submission of Papers
Submission to this journal
proceeds totally on-line via the Elsevier Editorial System at http://ees.elsevier.com/bej. There you will be guided stepwise
through the creation and uploading of the various manuscript 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 Editor's decision and requests for revision, takes place by e-mail and via the Author's homepage, removing
the need for a hard-copy paper trail.
We accept most wordprocessing formats, but Word, WordPerfect or LaTeX is preferred. It is important
that the file be saved in the native format of the wordprocessor used. Always keep a backup copy of the electronic file for reference
and safety.
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/authors.
Do not import the figures into the text file but, instead, indicate their approximate locations directly in the electronic text. See
also the section on Illustrations.
Types of Contribution
Original papers - these should be complete & authoritative
accounts of work which has a special significance and must be presented clearly and concisely.
Review articles - these will normally
be commissioned by one of the Editors. Prospective authors of a review article should consult with one of the Editors to check the suitability
of their topic & material before submitting their review.
Short communications - will be accepted for the early communication of
important and original advances. Such accounts may be of a preliminary nature but should always be complete and should not exceed the
equivalent of 3000 words, including figures and tables.
The journal also publishes Letters to the editors (commenting on work published
in the journal) and Book reviews.
Language
All papers submitted to the journal should be written in good English. Authors
for whom English is not their native language are encouraged to have their paper checked before submission for grammar and clarity.
Authors can contact English language and copyediting services directly at:
- International
Science Editing
- Asia Science Editing
or, for more information contact authorsupport@elsevier.com .
Manuscript Preparation
Prepare the entire
manuscript in double-space typing, on numbered pages, with a wide margin to the left.
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 brief summary (50-200 words) of the contents and conclusions of the paper and an indication of the relevance of new material should
be included at the beginning of the paper.
References
These should be indicated by numerals in square brackets, introduced
consecutively in the text and must be listed at the end of the paper in numerical order. Journal titles should be abbreviated according
to the chemical Abstracts Service Source Index, 2005 edition, and
supplements. The abbreviated titles should be followed by the volume
number, year (in parentheses) and page numbers.
Equations
These should be numbered (1), (2) etc.
Units
The use of SI units is preferred.
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.
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.
Captions
Ensure that each illustration has a caption. Supply captions on
a separate sheet, 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.
Colour
illustrations
Colour illustrations in print can be included only at the author's expense. 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.
Please indicate your preference for colour 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 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.
Preparation of supplementary data
Elsevier now accepts
electronic supplementary material (e-components) 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 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 http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.
Referees
All papers will be
independently refereed.
When submitting a paper authors may suggest up to 3 referees, supplying the full name and address in each case.
However, the final choice of referees will remain entirely with the Editor.
Proofs
Proofs will be sent to the author (first
named author if no corresponding author is identified of multi-authored papers) and should be returned within 48 hours of receipt. Corrections
should be restricted to typesetting errors; any others may be charged to the
author. Any queries should be answered in full. Please
note that authors are urged to check their proofs carefully before return, since the inclusion of late corrections cannot be guaranteed.
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.
Keywords:
6 keywords should be provided to facilitate
indexing and on-line searching. At least 4 of these keywords should be chosen from the list of recommended keywords Keywords
