Guide for Authors
The
Journal of Cereal Science was established in 1983 to provide an International forum
for the publication of original research papers of high standing covering all aspects of cereal science related to the functional and
nutritional quality of cereal grains and their products. The journal also publishes concise and critical review articles appraising
the status and future directions of specific areas of cereal science and short rapid communications that present news of important advances
in research. The journal aims at topicality and at providing comprehensive coverage of progress in the field. Papers submitted to
Journal
of Cereal Science should not be purely descriptive or confirmatory in nature, but should be innovative and offer new insights into
cereal science research.
Research Areas Include:
- Composition and analysis of cereal grains in relation to quality
in end use
- Morphology, biochemistry, and biophysics of cereal grains relevant to functional and nutritional characteristics
- Structure and physicochemical properties of functionally and nutritionally important components of cereal grains such as
polysaccharides, proteins, oils, enzymes, vitamins, and minerals
- Storage of cereal grains and derivatives and effects
on nutritional and functional quality
- Genetics, agronomy, and pathology of cereal crops if there is a substantive relationship
to end-use properties of cereal grains
- Functional and nutritional aspects of cereal-based foods and beverages, whether
baked, fermented, or extruded
- Industrial products (e.g., starch derivatives, syrups, protein concentrates, and isolates)
from cereal grains, and their technology
- functional genomics as it relates to end-use quality.
The
Journal of Cereal Science publishes papers originating in any country. Papers dealing with topics of only restricted local
interest will not be accepted, however, unless the information presented can be demonstrated to be of general applicability.
The Journal exists to advance scientific concepts in cereal science, and the content of papers published within it must be consistent
with this goal.
Types of paper
Research papers:
The main activity of the Journal in fulfilling
its mission is the publication of original and innovative research papers of a high scientific standard. These papers should: (a) report
a specific identifiable advance in knowledge that has not been published elsewhere; (b) claim no more than can be substantiated by the
results; (c) be logically consistent both within themselves and within the existing body of knowledge; (d) give enough information to
allow the research to be tested and repeated by competent researchers elsewhere; and (e) give due reference to previously published work
relevant to the research described. Papers must contain a maximum of 6000 words of text, no more than six tables or figures and up to
30 references. The second page of the manuscript should contain the Abstract only. The text should then follow the sequence: Introduction,
Experimental, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgements, References, Tables, Figure Captions and, finally, Figures. Please number the pages,
and each section should also be numbered.
Reviews:
These should present critical appraisals of the current status and
future directions of specific areas of topical interest. They are not intended as exhaustive, archival literature surveys over a broad
front. They should aim to give balanced, objective assessments by giving due reference to relevant published work and not merely represent
the prejudices of individual authors or summarise only work carried out by the authors or by those with whom the authors agree. They
should also avoid undue speculation.
Updates:
These are brief reviews of recent progress, focusing on the application of
novel approaches and technologies. They will be limited to four printed pages in the journal (equivalent of approx. 4000 words) in total
( i.e. including title, references, tables and figures, etc). Where figures or tables are used, the number of words must be reduced to
compensate for these and need not be divided into the usual sections. Unsolicited
Updates will not be accepted and scientists
wishing to contribute
Updates should initially correspond with the Reviews Editor (Prof. P.R. Shewry,
peter.shewry@bbsrc.ac.uk).
Research notes:
These are intended as a means of publishing the results of studies of limited size that do not merit high-priority
treatment.
Rapid communications:
These are intended as vehicles for conveying news of advances in cereal science, the scientific
importance of which merits preferential treatment. Scientific importance and novelty of the information will be the key criteria in judging
their acceptability.
The format for Rapid Communications and Research Notes is flexible. No Abstract is required, and there is no
specification as to number of tables, figures or references. The paper should not be split into sections, although it should begin with
a few sentences to introduce the subject area and to indicate the nature of the problem being examined. Likewise, at the end of the paper
the conclusions drawn from the work should be summarised.
Rapid Communications and Research Notes will be strictly limited to two
printed pages in the journal (equivalent of approx. 2000 words) in total, i.e. including title, references, tables and figures, etc.
Where figures or tables are used, the number of words must be reduced to compensate for these, giving due regard to the size of such
tables and figures. Other details on preparation are as for conventional research papers.
Letters to the Editor concerned with
issues raised by articles recently published in the journal or by recent developments in cereal science are welcomed. These may be submitted
informally to the Editor at any time. Letters should not exceed 750 words.
Book reviews:
Please contact
the Editor-in-Chief if you wish to submit a book review.
Review System
Papers are peer-reviewed
by independent reviewers with appropriate expertise in the subject area of the paper. The review process is anonymous, although the reviewers'
recommendations and comments are usually transmitted to the authors to help them in revising their manuscripts (which is almost invariably
required). The Editors and reviewers attempt to make the review system as constructive and sympathetic as possible, although they must,
at the same time, attempt to ensure that only papers of a high standard are published. Many contributors acknowledge the help they receive
from the review process in improving their papers. No revision of Rapid Communications will be allowed in order to ensure rapid publication.
As well as advising on the paper's acceptability, the reviewers are also asked to give a priority rating, which will help to give
the highest priority to papers that represent important new advances. Papers recommended for publication will be categorised as: (a)
being of outstanding scientific standard and representing an important advance in the particular subject area; (b) being of high scientific
standard but representing a logical or predictable extension of previous research; (c) presenting necessary information and of good scientific
standard but being essentially confirmatory in nature.
Please note: authors may suggest the name of appropriate reviewers
for their papers or may identify individual reviewers whom they would prefer not to review the manuscript; provided that valid reasons
are given in the latter case the Editors will respect the author's wishes.
Resubmission of Revised Manuscripts
If
a manuscript returned to the author for revision is not resubmitted within 6 weeks (making due allowance for postage times), it may on
re-submission be deemed a new paper and the date of receipt altered accordingly.
Preparation of Manuscripts
The
standard of preparation of the manuscript determines to a considerable extent the speed of processing and publication. Authors are advised
in their own interests to read these notes carefully and to ensure that their manuscript meets the requirements; they are also urged
to ensure that the manuscript does not contain superfluous material.
Contact details for submission
Submission
for all types of manuscripts to
Journal of Cereal Science proceeds totally online. Via the Elsevier Editorial System website
for this journal,
http://ees.elsevier.com/yjcrs you will be guided step-by-step through the creation and uploading of the
various files.
Page charges
This journal has no page charges.
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 including electronically in the same form, in English or in any
other language, without the written consent of the copyright-holder.
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.
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.
Authors must provide and use an email address unique to themselves and not shared with another author registered in EES,
or a department.
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.
Pages must be numbered, and lines should be numbered consecutively throughout the
manuscript.
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.
Introduction
State
the objectives of the work and provide an adequate background, avoiding a detailed literature survey or a summary of the results.
Material and methods
Provide sufficient detail to allow the work to be reproduced. Methods already published
should be indicated by a reference: only relevant modifications should be described.
Results
Results
should be clear and concise.
Discussion
This should explore the significance of the results
of the work, not repeat them. A combined Results and Discussion section is often appropriate. Avoid extensive citations and discussion
of published literature.
Conclusions
The main conclusions of the study may be presented
in a short Conclusions section, which may stand alone or form a subsection of a Discussion or Results and Discussion section.
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 on. Similarly
for tables and figures: Table A.1; Fig. A.1, etc.
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.
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
To assist in the preparation of a key word index, authors should provide a list of up to four key
words on the title page of the manuscript
Abbreviations
Define abbreviations that are not
standard in this field in a footnote to be placed on the first page of the article. Such abbreviations that are unavoidable in the abstract
must be defined at their first mention there, as well as in the footnote. Ensure consistency of abbreviations throughout the article.
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.).
Nomenclature
and units
Abbreviations and symbols should, wherever possible, follow the IUBMB recommendations on Biochemical and Organic
Nomenclature, Symbols and Terminology, at
http://www.chem.qmul.ac.uk/iubmb/.
Non-standard abbreviations should
be kept to a minimum. The words to be abbreviated should be spelled out in full on the first citation and the abbreviation given in parentheses.
All abbreviations used should be listed and their meanings given on the title page (this list will be included on the front page of the
published article). Enzyme nomenclature should follow the IUBMB Enzyme Commission recommendations (
http://www.chem.qmul.ac.uk/enzyme/)
(relevant EC numbers should be given).
The International System of units (SI) should be followed (see "Quantities, Units and
Symbols in Physical Chemistry", Mills, Ian; Cvitas, Tomislav; Homann, Klaus; Kallay, Nikola; Kuchitsu, Kozo, C R C Press Blackwell Science
(UK), ISBN: 0632035838, 1995, or "Specification for quantities, units and symbols. Physical chemistry and molecular physics" BS 5775-8:1993
ISO 31-8:1992, ISBN: 0580221954, 1993). You may also wish to consult the website of the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures,
http://www1.bipm.org/en/si.
Non-standard, but conventional, units may be accepted if unambiguous and where there is no SI unit. Non-standard, but conventional,
units may be accepted if unambiguous and where there is no SI unit.
Database linking
Elsevier
aims at connecting online articles with external databases which are useful in their respective research communities. If your article
contains relevant unique identifiers or accession numbers (bioinformatics) linking to information on entities (genes, proteins, diseases,
etc.) or structures deposited in public databases, then please indicate those entities according to the standard explained below.
Authors
should explicitly mention the
database abbreviation (as mentioned below) together with the actual database number, bearing in
mind that an error in a letter or number can result in a dead link in the online version of the article.
Please use the following
format:
Database ID: xxxx
Links can be provided in your online article to the following databases (examples of citations are
given in parentheses):
•
ASTM: ASTM Standards Database (ASTM ID: G63)
•
CCDC: Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre (CCDC ID: AI631510)
•
GenBank: Genetic sequence database at the National Center for
Biotechnology Information (NCBI) (GenBank ID: BA123456)
•
GEO:
Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO ID: GSE27196; GEO ID: GPL5366; GEO ID: GSM9853)
•
MI:
EMBL-EBI OLS Molecular Interaction Ontology (MI ID: 0218)
•
MINT:
Molecular INTeractions database (MINT ID: 6166710)
•
NCBI Taxonomy:
NCBI Taxonomy Browser (NCBI Taxonomy ID: 48184)
•
NCT: ClinicalTrials.gov
(NCT ID: NCT00222573)
•
OMIM: Online Mendelian Inheritance
in Man (OMIM ID: 601240)
•
PDB: Worldwide Protein Data
Bank (PDB ID: 1TUP)
•
TAIR: The Arabidopsis Information Resource
database (TAIR ID: AT1G01020)
•
UniProt: Universal Protein Resource
Knowledgebase (UniProt ID: Q9H0H5)
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
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
Reference 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, 1996a, 1996b, 1999; Allan and Jones,
1995). Kramer et al. (2000) 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. Journal titles should be given in full.
Examples:
Reference to a journal
publication:
Cuvelier, G., Launay, B., 1986. Concentration regimes in xanthum gum solutions deduced from flow and viscosity properties.
Carbohydrate Polymers 6, 321-333.
Reference to a book:
Strunk Jr., W., White, E.B., 1979. The Elements of Style, third ed. Macmillan,
New York.
Reference to a chapter in an edited book:
Mettam, G.R., Adams, L.B., 1999. 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.
It is important that the references cited should be accessible to the general reader. References to unpublished materials should not
appear in the reference list. References to papers `in press' or in obscure sources should also be avoided, as should references to proceedings
of conferences/conference abstracts available only to the conference attendees. References to papers in private publications, e.g. a
report appearing in a publication directed to the membership of a private research organisation, must not be used.
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.
Please ensure that no more than 30 references are included
in submitted research papers.
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.
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'
• No more than 30
references uses; 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.
Additional information
Research Papers
Papers must contain a maximum of 6000 words of text, no more than
six tables or figures and NO MORE THAN 30 references. The second page of the manuscript should contain the Abstract only. The text should
then follow the sequence: Introduction, Experimental, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgements, References, Tables, Figure Captions and,
finally, Figures. Please number the pages, and each section should also be numbered.
The Abstract should be clear and concise
with a maximum of 200 words. When submitting your article, please ensure that the abstract is included in your manuscript text as well
as supplying the manuscript online when requested.
Reviews
The layout for reviews is flexible, and will be dictated to a large
extent by the points that the author is attempting to discuss. An Abstract should be included, however, and the background should be
contained in an Introduction. Details on citation and listing of references, preparation of figures and tables, abbreviations and units,
etc., are as for conventional research papers.
Rapid Communications and Research Notes
The format for these papers is flexible.
No Abstract is required, and there is no specification as to number of tables, figures or references. The paper should not be split into
sections, although it should begin with a few sentences to introduce the subject area and to indicate the nature of the problem being
examined. Likewise, at the end of the paper the conclusions drawn from the work should be summarised.
Rapid Communications and
Research Notes will be strictly limited to two printed pages in the journal (equivalent of approx. 2000 words) in total, i.e. including
title, references, tables and figures, etc. Where figures or tables are used, the number of words must be reduced to compensate for these,
giving due regard to the size of such tables and figures. Other details on preparation are as for conventional research papers.
For Rapid Communications, authors are required to justify in a covering letter why the paper should be accorded priority treatment.
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. For an extra charge, paper offprints can
be ordered via the offprint order form which is sent once the article is accepted for publication. 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.
