The Microchemical Journal is a peer reviewed journal devoted to all
aspects and phases of analytical chemistry and chemical analysis. The Microchemical Journal publishes articles which are
at the forefront of modern analytical chemistry and cover innovations in the techniques to the finest possible lim-its. This includes
fundamental aspects, instrumentation, new developments, methods and applications including environmental and clinical analysis. Traditional
classical methods such as spectrophotometry and titrimetry as well as instrumentation methods such as flame atomic absorption spectrometry
and gas chromatography will be considered, provided they show significant improvements and novelty compared to the established methods.
The journal was established in the late 1950's as a journal devoted to the rapidly developing field of microchemistry. As the area of
microchemistry has evolved into analyses in microgram masses and microvolumes (and lower), lower detection limits, and more sophisticated
and compact instrumentation, the Microchemical Journal has continued to evolve and change with this growing and expanding area, covering
now analytical chemical research in its broadest sense.
Types of contributions
The Journal publishes original research
papers and reviews. Authors of reviews should check with the Editor prior to submission to ensure that the topic is appropriate for the
Journal.
Submission of manuscripts
Submission of a manuscript implies that the work described has not been,
and will not be, published elsewhere in any language (except as an abstract or as part of a lecture, review or academic thesis) without
the written consent of the Publisher. Submission of a multiauthored manuscript implies the consent of all the participating authors.
All papers should be written in English.* Manuscripts should be concise and consistent in style, spelling, and use of abbreviations.
Authors should arrange the subject matter clearly under such headings as Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Experimental, Results &
Discussion, Conclusions, Acknowledgements, References. Each paper should be provided with an Abstract of 50-250 words, reporting concisely
on the purpose and results of the paper. A list of 4-6 keywords must be included. Whenever possible authors should consult an issue of
the Journal for style and layout (see the free sample copy on www.sciencedirect.com). The Editor reserves the right to adjust
style to certain standards of uniformity. All nomenclature, abbreviations, symbols and units should conform as closely as possible to
the rules established by IUPAC (www.chem.qmw.ac.uk/iupac/).
Submission to this journal proceeds totally online. Use
the following guidelines to prepare your article. Via the "Author Gateway" page of this journal (http://authors.elsevier.com/)
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 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.
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.
References
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.
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.
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 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 and as hardcopy printouts on separate sheets. • Provide captions to illustrations separately. • Produce
images near to the desired size of the printed version.
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.
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 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: 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 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.
Electronic Offprints (E-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.
Author enquiries
For enquiries relating to the submission of articles (including electronic submission where
available) please visit this journal's homepage at http://www.elsevier.com/locate/microc/. 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.
Language services
Authors
who require information about language editing and copyediting services pre- and post-submission please visit 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 http://www.elsevier.com/termsandconditions.
