Guide for Authors
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carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, without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.
Submission
General Submissions.
ECRA uses electronic submissions only as a means for
reviewing new and revised papers. All manuscripts and any supplementary material should be submitted via the journal's online submission
and peer-review system, called the Elsevier Editorial System (EES) at the following external link
http://www.ees.elsevier.com/ecra.
Thereafter, please follow the instructions given on this website to submit your paper.
Special Issues and Special Section Submissions.
If you are submitting a paper to a Special Section or Special Issue of ECRA, then follow these instructions:
1. Author registers
in EES, and follows the submission instructions given on the site.
2. Select 'Submit Manuscript' from the 'Main Menu.'
3. When choosing 'Article Type' please select the title of the Special Section or Special Issue to which you wish to submit.
Then
follow the steps as laid out in EES. Your manuscript will be submitted to the Editorial Office, which then assigns it to the Guest Editor
in charge of that specific Special Section or Special Issue.
Referees
Please
submit, with the manuscript, the names, addresses and e-mail addresses of 3 potential referees. Note that the editor retains the sole
right to decide whether or not the suggested reviewers are used.
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. If possible, 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. 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.
Article Structure
General.
Manuscripts submitted to ECRA should be prepared for electronic
submission to the EES website using single-column, double-spaced 11 or 12 point fonts, with 1 inch or 2.5 centimeter margins. Authors
should avoid double justification. Please do not use a constant right-hand margin, since it diminishes readability for the reviewers.
Also, ensure that each new paragraph is clearly indicated by indenting the first line. Also to enhance readability, authors should
embed tables and figures in the manuscript in places that are near to the text that refers to them. Number all pages consecutively. Consult
a recent issue of the journal to become familiar with layout and other formatting conventions. If you require a sample issue, please
click on the 'Free Sample Issue' link under the 'For Readers' menu on the right hand side of this page. Here are some additional requirements
related to formatting:
Title Page. Authors should include a Title Page as the first page of their submission, containing
the article title, author(s) names and affiliations, an abstract not exceeding 150 words, and a list of 5 to 10 keywords that best describe
the overall contents of the article for indexing and retrieval purposes. The title page should also contain related footnotes and acknowledgments
that pertain to the paper and the authors.
Corresponding Author. Clearly indicate who will handle correspondence at all stages
of refereeing and publication, including post-publication correspondence. 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.
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, Helvetica, Times, •Number the illustrations
according to their sequence in the text.
•Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files, if you include separate ones.
•Provide captions to illustrations.
•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 after your paper has been accepted, 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, DOCX, XLS or PPT: If your electronic artwork is created in any of these
Microsoft Office applications please supply 'as is'.
Please do not:
•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.
Figures, Tables and Illustrations
Provide all figures, tables and illustrations
in high-quality format suitable for reproduction, which may include reduction. These should be numbered consecutively in the order in
which they are referred to in the main body of the text. Mark all of these with a table or figure number and an explanatory caption
or title. For detailed guidelines on electronic figures, please refer to the 'Artwork Instructions' at
http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions
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.
References
Reference Section Formatting.
References should be included in alphabetical order
in the Reference section of the paper at the end. (ECRA no longer numbers references or identifies them by the consecutive order in
which they appear in the text, since this diminishes the usefulness of the Reference section.) Authors should use the following sample
reference formats for journal articles, books, book chapters, papers in conference proceedings, papers in sources available from the
Internet, and working papers and other unpublished works.
Journal articles:
•Forman, C., Goldfarb, A., and Greenstein,
S. Geographic location and the diffusion of Internet technology.
Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, 4, 1, Spring
2005, 1-13.
•Banker, R. D., and Mitra, S. Procurement models in the agricultural supply chain: a case study of online coffee
auctions in India.
Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, 6, 3, Autumn 2007, 309-321.
Books:
•Jank, W.,
and Shmueli, G.
Statistical Methods in E-Commerce Research. John Wiley and Sons, New York, NY, 2008.
•Whinston, A.
B., Choi, S. Y., and Stahl, D.
The Economics of Electronic Commerce, 1st edition. MacMillan, New York, NY, 1997.
Book
chapters, papers in edited volumes, conference proceedings papers, and theses:
•Dai, Q., and Kauffman, R. J. Partnering for
perfection: An economic perspective on B2B electronic market strategic alliances. In K. Tomak (ed.),
Economics, IS and E-Commerce,
Idea Group Publishing, Harrisburg, PA, 2004, 43-79.
•Segev, A., and Bichler, M. Component-based electronic commerce. Chapter
15 in M. Shaw, R. Blanning, T. Strader and A. Whinston (eds.),
Handbook of Electronic Commerce, Springer, New York, NY, 313-338.
•Lenstra, A. K., and Lenstra, H. W., Jr., Algorithms in number theory. In J. van Leeuwen (ed.),
Handbook of Computer Science,
Vol. A, Elsevier, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 1990, 673-715.
•McKee, P., Taylor, S., Surridge, M., Lowe, R. and Ragusa, C. Strategies
for the service marketplace. In J. Altmann and D. J. Veit (eds.),
Grid Economics and Business Models, Proceedings of the Fourth International
Workshop (GECON2007), Rennes, France, August 28, 2007, Springer, New York, NY, 2007, 58-70.
•Techatassanasoontorn, A. A.
The State-Based and Regional Contagion Theories of Technology Diffusion. Unpublished doctoral thesis, Carlson School of Management,
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 2006.
Other unpublished works,
working papers, presentations and standards papers
•Nolan, R. L., and McFarlan, F. W. Governance in the information economy.
Working paper no. 05-045, Harvard Business School, Cambridge, MA, 2005.
•Spohrer, J. Services sciences, management, engineering:
A next frontier in education, innovation and economic growth. Presentation, Services Marketing Workshop, Center for Services Leadership,
Arizona State University, Tempe AZ, February 16, 2005.
•OASIS. A reference model for service-oriented architecture. White paper,
Service-Oriented Architecture Reference Model Technical Committee, Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards,
Billerica, MA, February 2006.
Published Materials on the Internet and Foreign Language Sources. Provide as complete information
as possible, although pages may not be available. Indicate the URL where the materials can be found, and indicate the last data the
materials were accessed. Please click
here for
examples.
Citation Formats in Text. All citations in the main body of the paper, the footnotes, the tables, the figures and
the appendices should be included in the Reference section at the end of the paper. In the main body of the paper, the references should
be indicated in the following manner:
•Works with a single author. '(Ng 1996)' or 'Ng (1996)'
•Works with two authors.
'(Lang and Vragov 2006)' or 'Lang and Vragov (2006)'
•Works with three or more authors. '(Hughes et al. 2008)' or 'Hughes et
al. (2008)'
•Citing multiple works: '(Ng 1996, Lang and Vragov 2006, Hughes et al. 2008)' or 'Ng (1996), Lang and Vragov (2006),
and Hughes et al. (2008)'
•Citing multiple works by the same author: '(Ng 1996, 2001) or 'Ng (1996, 2001)'
•Citing
multiple works by the same authors, and other authors: '(Ng 1996, 2001; Lang and Vragov 2006)' or 'Ng (1996, 2001), and Lang and Vragov
(2006)'
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.
Uncorrected Proofs are not to be regarded as 'drafts,' and authors should not view them as providing an opportunity
to make major content changes. Only minor copy-editing corrections are permitted. . No changes in, or additions to the accepted and
subsequently edited manuscript will be allowed at the end of this stage. So it is important to ensure that all changes to the Uncorrected
Proof are indicated in one communication with the Elsevier Production staff. Subsequent corrections will not be possible. Prior to the
Uncorrected Proof stage, an ECRA Co-Editor may request that a paper should be edited for English. Elsevier's Language Editing Service
will handle this.
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.