Guide for Authors
The Editors do not normally consider
papers which describe military applications.
Page charges
This journal has no page charges.
The journal focuses on concrete research contributions, which are relevant
to the theory and practice of innovative interactive systems. Articles are in general expected to focus on concrete solutions for concrete
user audiences. In particular, we do not consider magazine-style contributions. Review articles are also not normally considered, however
from time to time we make exceptions for exceptionally good papers which address an emerging new topic of great importance and great
potential impact, of interest to the broader IJHCS community. Authors interested in submitting a review article should contact the Editors-in-Chief
first, to discuss the suitability of their article prior to submitting thorugh the EES system.
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.
Authors must provide a cover letter with their submission. The cover
letter must include a declaration that the submission contains original work which has not been published previously and that it is not
under consideration for publication elsewhere.
The Editors in Chief will consider papers previously published in conference proceedings,
provided that i) the authors inform the editorial office about this in the submission cover letter, ii) highlight the novel parts in
the new submission, and iii) the journal version includes significant extensions and enhancements to the conference version. As a rough
guideline, at least 50 per cent of the submitted paper should be original and not published elsewhere.
Submissions to IJHCS should
not be longer than 25K words, however we expect most submissions to be significantly shorter than this maximum limit.
The journal's
editors take both plagiarism and self-plagiarism very seriously and, in those cases where plagiarism is detected, not only the paper
will be automatically rejected but sanctions will likely be taken against the authors.
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 and verification
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,
including electronically without the written consent of the copyright-holder. To verify originality, your article may be checked by the
originality detection software iThenticate. See also
http://www.elsevier.com/editors/plagdetect.
Authorship
All
authors should have made substantial contributions to all of the following: (1) the conception and design of the study, or acquisition
of data, or analysis and interpretation of data, (2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content,
(3) final approval of the version to be submitted.
Changes to authorship
This policy concerns
the addition, deletion, or rearrangement of author names in the authorship of accepted manuscripts:
Before the accepted manuscript
is published in an online issue: Requests to add or remove an author, or to rearrange the author names, must be sent to the Journal
Manager from the corresponding author of the accepted manuscript and must include: (a) the reason the name should be added or removed,
or the author names rearranged and (b) written confirmation (e-mail, fax, letter) from all authors that they agree with the addition,
removal or rearrangement. In the case of addition or removal of authors, this includes confirmation from the author being added or removed.
Requests that are not sent by the corresponding author will be forwarded by the Journal Manager to the corresponding author, who must
follow the procedure as described above. Note that: (1) Journal Managers will inform the Journal Editors of any such requests and (2)
publication of the accepted manuscript in an online issue is suspended until authorship has been agreed.
After the accepted manuscript
is published in an online issue: Any requests to add, delete, or rearrange author names in an article published in an online issue
will follow the same policies as noted above and result in a corrigendum.
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.
We will, however, consider papers previously published in conference proceedings, provided that the authors inform us about
this in the submission cover letter, pointing out the novel parts in the new submission, and that the journal version includes significant
extensions and enhancements to the conference version. At least 50 per cent of the submitted paper should be original and not published
elsewhere. The latter clause normally ensures permission from the copyright holder, although we emphasize that it is up to the authors
to secure permission from the copyright holder, if appropriate.
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 article 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.
Open access
This journal offers you the option of making your article freely available to all via the ScienceDirect
platform. To prevent any conflict of interest, you can only make this choice after receiving notification that your article has been
accepted for publication. The fee of $3,000 excludes taxes and other potential author fees such as color charges. In some cases, institutions
and funding bodies have entered into agreement with Elsevier to meet these fees on behalf of their authors. Details of these agreements
are available at
http://www.elsevier.com/fundingbodies. Authors of accepted articles, who wish to take advantage of this
option, should complete and submit the order form (available at
http://www.elsevier.com/locate/openaccessform.pdf). Whatever
access option you choose, you retain many rights as an author, including the right to post a revised personal version of your article
on your own website. More information can be found here:
http://www.elsevier.com/authorsrights.
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://webshop.elsevier.com/languageservices or our customer support
site at
http://support.elsevier.com
for more information.
Submission
Submission to this journal proceeds totally online and
you will be guided stepwise through the creation and uploading of your files. The system automatically converts source files to a single
PDF file of the article, which is used in the peer-review process. Please note that even though manuscript source files are converted
to PDF files 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 removing the need for a paper trail.
Referees
Please submit, with the manuscript, the names, addresses and e-mail addresses of three potential
referees. Note that the editor retains the sole right to decide whether or not the suggested reviewers are used.
Hazards
and Human or Animal Subjects
By submitting a manuscript to the
International Journal of Human-Computer Studies,
the authors implicitly ensure that if the work involves the use of animal or human subjects, all procedures were performed in compliance
with relevant laws and institutional guidelines and that the appropriate institutional committee(s) have approved them. Authors also
implicitly ensure that informed consent was obtained for experimentation with human subjects and that the privacy rights of human subjects
have always been observed.
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. 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). Note that source
files of figures, tables and text graphics will be required whether or not you embed your figures in the text. See also the section on
Electronic artwork.
To avoid unnecessary errors you are strongly advised to use the 'spell-check' and 'grammar-check' functions of
your wordprocessor.
LaTeX
If the LaTeX file is suitable, proofs will be produced without
rekeying the text. The article should preferably be written using Elsevier's document class 'elsarticle', or alternatively any of the
other recognized classes and formats supported in Elsevier's electronic submissions system, for further information see
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/authorsview.authors/latex-ees-supported.
The Elsevier 'elsarticle' LaTeX style file package (including detailed instructions for LaTeX preparation) can be obtained
from the Quickguide:
http://www.elsevier.com/latex. It consists of the file: elsarticle.cls, complete user documentation
for the class file, bibliographic style files in various styles, and template files for a quick start.
Article
structure
Subdivision - numbered sections
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 subsection may be given a brief heading.
Each heading should appear on its own separate line.
Vitae
Include in the manuscript a short
(maximum 100 words) biography of each author, along with a passport-type photograph accompanying the other figures.
Essential title page information
•
Title.
Concise and informative. Titles are often used
in information-retrieval 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 authors' 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 will 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. Contact details must be kept up to date
by the corresponding author.
•
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. The abstract should state briefly the purpose of the research, the principal results and major conclusions. An abstract is
often presented separately from the article, so it must be able to stand alone. For this reason, References should be avoided, but if
essential, then cite the author(s) and year(s). Also, non-standard or uncommon abbreviations should be avoided, but if essential they
must be defined at their first mention in the abstract itself.
Graphical abstract
A Graphical
abstract is optional and should summarize the contents of the article in a concise, pictorial form designed to capture the attention
of a wide readership online. Authors must provide images that clearly represent the work described in the article. Graphical abstracts
should be submitted as a separate file in the online submission system. Image size: Please provide an image with a minimum of 531 ×
1328 pixels (h × w) or proportionally more. The image should be readable at a size of 5 × 13 cm using a regular screen resolution
of 96 dpi. Preferred file types: TIFF, EPS, PDF or MS Office files. See
http://www.elsevier.com/graphicalabstracts for examples.
Authors can make use of Elsevier's Illustration and Enhancement service to ensure the best presentation of their images also in accordance
with all technical requirements:
Illustration
Service.
Highlights
Highlights are mandatory for this journal. They consist
of a short collection of bullet points that convey the core findings of the article and should be submitted in a separate file in the
online submission system. Please use 'Highlights' in the file name and include 3 to 5 bullet points (maximum 85 characters, including
spaces, per bullet point). See
http://www.elsevier.com/highlights for examples.
Keywords
Immediately
after the abstract, provide a maximum of 6 keywords, using American spelling and 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.
Acknowledgements
Collate acknowledgements
in a separate section at the end of the article before the references and do not, therefore, include them on the title page, as a footnote
to the title or otherwise. List here those individuals who provided help during the research (e.g., providing language help, writing
assistance or proof reading the article, etc.).
Math formulae
Present simple formulae in
the line of normal text where possible and use the solidus (/) instead of a horizontal line for small fractional terms, e.g., X/Y. In
principle, variables are to be presented in italics. Powers of e are often more conveniently denoted by exp. Number consecutively any
equations that have to be displayed separately from the text (if referred to explicitly in the text).
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 separately 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.
Artwork
Authors are requested to both upload their figures as separate files in EES and embed their figures in the manuscript file.
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, Times, Symbol.
• Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text.
•
Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files.
• Provide captions to illustrations separately.
• Produce images
near to the desired size of the printed version.
• Submit each figure as a separate file.
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: 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.
If
your electronic artwork is created in a Microsoft Office application (Word, PowerPoint, Excel) then please supply 'as is'.
Please
do not:
• Supply files that are optimised for screen use (e.g., 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.
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.
Figure captions
Ensure that each illustration has a caption. Supply captions separately, 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.
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.
References
Citation
in 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.
Web references
As
a minimum, the full URL should be given and the date when the reference was last accessed. Any further information, if known (DOI, 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.
References
in a special issue
Please ensure that the words 'this issue' are added to any references in the list (and any citations
in the text) to other articles in the same Special Issue.
Reference style
Text:
All citations in the text should refer to:
1.
Single author: the author's name (without initials, unless there is ambiguity)
and the year of publication;
2.
Two authors: both authors' names and the year of publication;
3.
Three or more authors:
first author's name followed by 'et al.' and the year of publication.
Citations may be made directly (or parenthetically). Groups
of references should be listed first alphabetically, then chronologically.
Examples: 'as demonstrated (Allan, 2000a, 2000b, 1999;
Allan and Jones, 1999). Kramer et al. (2010) have recently shown ....'
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., 2010. The art of writing a scientific article. J. Sci. Commun. 163, 51–59.
Reference to a book:
Strunk Jr., W., White, E.B., 2000. The Elements of Style, fourth ed. Longman, New York.
Reference to
a chapter in an edited book:
Mettam, G.R., Adams, L.B., 2009. How to prepare an electronic version of your article, in: Jones, B.S.,
Smith , R.Z. (Eds.), Introduction to the Electronic Age. E-Publishing Inc., New York, pp. 281–304.
Video
data
Elsevier accepts video material and animation sequences to support and enhance your scientific research. Authors who
have video or animation files that they wish to submit with their article are strongly encouraged to include these within the body of
the article. This can be done in the same way as a figure or table by referring to the video or animation content and noting in the body
text where it should be placed. All submitted files should be properly labeled so that they directly relate to the video file's content.
In order to ensure that your video or animation material is directly usable, please provide the files in one of our recommended file
formats with a preferred maximum size of 50 MB. Video and animation files supplied will be published online in the electronic version
of your article in Elsevier Web products, including ScienceDirect:
http://www.sciencedirect.com. Please supply 'stills'
with your files: you can choose any frame from the video or animation or make a separate image. These will be used instead of standard
icons and will personalize the link to your video data. For more detailed instructions please visit our video instruction pages at
http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.
Note: since video and animation cannot be embedded in the print version of the journal, please provide text for both the electronic and
the print version for the portions of the article that refer to this content.
Supplementary data
Elsevier
accepts electronic supplementary material to support and enhance your scientific research. Supplementary files offer the author additional
possibilities to publish supporting applications, 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 provide the data
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.
Submission checklist
The following list will be useful during the final checking of an article prior to sending
it to the journal for review. Please consult this Guide for Authors for further details of any item.
Ensure that the following
items are present:
One author has been designated as the corresponding author with contact details:
• E-mail address
• Full postal address
• Telephone and fax numbers
All necessary files have been uploaded, and contain:
•
Keywords
• All figure captions
• All tables (including title, description, footnotes)
Further considerations
•
Manuscript has been 'spell-checked' 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://support.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.2010.09.059
When you use the DOI to create URL
hyperlinks to documents on the web, the DOIs 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://get.adobe.com/reader. 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/reader/tech-specs.html.
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 – please let us have all your corrections within
48 hours. It is important to ensure that all 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.
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. If the corresponding
author opts for paper offprints, this preference must be indicated via the offprint order form which is sent once the article is accepted
for publication. Additional paper offprints can also be ordered via this form for an extra charge. 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.
For inquiries relating to the submission of articles (including
electronic submission) please visit this journal's homepage. Contact details for questions arising after acceptance of an article, especially
those relating to proofs, will be provided by the publisher. You can track accepted articles at
http://www.elsevier.com/trackarticle.
You can also check our Author FAQs (
http://www.elsevier.com/authorFAQ) and/or contact Customer Support via
http://support.elsevier.com.
