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Information and Organization uses the Elsevier Editorial System (EES).

Manuscripts must be written in English. All new manuscripts must be submitted to the Information and Organisation Web site http://ees.elsevier.com/inforg/. Authors are requested to submit the text, tables, and artwork in electronic form to this address. In an accompanying letter, authors should state that the manuscript, or parts of it, have not been and will not be submitted elsewhere for publication. Please note that an editable file is needed for production purposes after acceptance, and we ask that you submit source files in the case that your manuscript is accepted. Authors are requested to include a cover letter, manuscript, tables, and figures, as well as any ancillary materials. Authors unable to submit an electronic version should contact the Editorial Office. It is essential to give a fax number and e-mail address when submitting a manuscript. Articles must be written in good English.
Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to sign a Journal Publishing Agreement (for more information on this and copyright see http://www.elsevier.com/copyright). Acceptance of this agreement will ensure the widest possible dissemination of information. An email (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. 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 OX5 1DX, UK; Tel: + 44 (0) 1865 843830; fax: +44 (0) 1865 853333; e-mail: permissions@elsevier.com Requests may also be completed online via the Elsevier homepage ( http://www.elsevier.com/locate/permissions).

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).Print the entire manuscript on one side of paper only, using double spacing and wide (3 cm) margins. (Avoid full justification, i.e., do not use a constant right-hand margin.) Ensure that each new paragraph is clearly indicated. Present tables and figure legends on separate pages at the end of the manuscript. If possible, consult a recent issue of the journal to become familiar with layout and conventions. Number all pages consecutively. Good quality print-outs with a font size of 12 or 10 pt are required. Provide the following data on the title page (in the order given).
Title. Concise and informative. Titles are often used in information-retrieved 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 author's 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 the 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 150 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. Four copies of an abstract should accompany each manuscript submitted.
Keywords. Immediately after the abstract, provide a maximum of 10 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.


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 subsections may be given a brief heading. Each heading on its own separate line.
Introduction. State the objectives of the work and provide an adequate background, avoiding a detailed literature survey or a summary of the results.
Discussion. This should explore the significance of the results of the work, not repeat them.
Conclusions. A short Conclusions section is to be presented. Appendices. If there is more than one appendix, they should be identified as A, B, etc. Formulae and equations in appendices should be given separate numbering: (Eq.A.1), (Eq.A.2), etc,: in a subsequent appendix, (Eq.B.1) and so forth.
Acknowledgements. Place acknowledgments, including information on grants received, before the references in a separate section, and not as a footnote on the title page.
References. See separate section, below.
Figure legends, tables, figures, schemes. Present these, in this order, at the end of the article. They are described in more detail below. High-resolution graphic files must always be provided separate from the main text file (see Preparation of Illustrations).
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 on a separate sheet 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.


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. Un published results and personal communications should not be in the reference list, but may be mentioned in the text. 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 (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: Citations in the text should follow the referencing style used by the American Psychological Association. You are referred to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Fifth Edition, ISBN 1-55798-790-4, copies of which may be ordered from http://www.apa.org/books/4200061.html or APA Order Dept., P.O.B. 2710, Hyattsville, MD 20784, USA or APA, 3 Henrietta Street, London, WC3E 8LU, UK. Details concerning this referencing style can also be found at http://humanities.byu.edu/linguistics/Henrichsen/APA/APA01.html.

List: References should be arranged first alphabetically and then further sorted chronologically if necessary. 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, (Chapter 4).

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.

Note that journal names are not to be abbreviated.

Because of space limitations, questionnaires and other research instruments sometimes may not be fully reproduced in the published paper. When they are not fully reproduced a note must be inserted in the text of the paper indicating the address from which copies of the complete instrument are available.


General points. We accept most wordprocessing formats, but Word, WordPerfect or LaTeX is preferred. An electronic version of the text should be submitted together with the final hardcopy of the manuscript. The electronic version must match the hardcopy exactly. Always keep a backup copy of the electronic file for reference and safety. Label storage media with your name, journal title, and software used. Save your files using the default extension of the program used. No changes to the accepted version are permissible without the explicit approval of the Editor. Electronic files can be stored on diskette, ZIP-disk or CD (either MS-DOS or Macintosh).
Wordprocessor documents. It is important that the file 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, id 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, used 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.


Preparation of 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.
• 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.


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.

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 are 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 300dpi.
TIFF: Bitmapped line drawings line drawings: use a minimum of 1000dpi.
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) documentation;
• 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. They should accompany the manuscript, but should not be included within 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.

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.

Line drawings. Supply high-quality printouts on white paper produced with black ink. The lettering and symbols, as well as other details, should have proportionate dimensions, so as 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 illustration. Photocopies are not suitable for reproduction. Do not use any type of shading on computer-generated.
Photographs (halftones). Please supply original photographs for reproduction, printed on glossy paper, very sharp and with good contrast. 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 legend. Note that photocopies of photographs are not acceptable. Colour illustrations. Submit colour illustrations as original photographs, high-quality computer prints or transparencies, close to the size expected in publication, or as 35 mm slides. Polaroid colour prints are not suitable. 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. 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.

Elsevier now accepts electronic 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: 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.

When your manuscript is received by the Publisher it is considered to be in its final form. Proofs are not to be regarded as 'drafts'. One set of page proofs in PDF format will be sent by e-mail to the corresponding author, to be checked for typesetting/editing. No changes in , or additions to, the accepted (and subsequently edited) manuscript will be allowed at this stage. Proofreading is solely your responsibility. A form with queries from the copyeditor may accompany your proofs. Please answer all queries and make any corrections or additions required. The Publisher reserves the right to proceed with publication if corrections are not communicated. Return corrections within 48 hours of receipt of the proofs. Should there be no corrections, please confirm this. Elsevier will do everything possible to get your article corrected and published as quickly and accurately as possible. In order to do this we need your help. When you receive the (PDF) proof of your article for correction, 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. Note that this does not mean you have any less time to make your corrections, just that only one set of corrections will be accepted.

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 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 enquiries relating to the submission of articles (including electronic submission where available) please visit the journal?s website at http://www.elsevier.com/locate/infoandorg. 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, as well as 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 an article is registered for publication.