Guide for Authors

Submission of articles
Submission of an article to the Journal of Environmental Management implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, without the written consent of the Publisher. It is essential to give a fax number and e-mail address when submitting a manuscript. Articles must be written in good English.

Submission to the journal prior to acceptance

Submission for all types of manuscripts to Journal of Environmental Management proceeds online via the Elsevier Editorial System (EES) Website for this journal at:

http://ees.elsevier.com/jema
If you are submitting a manuscript for publication in a special issue, please contact the Editor or Guest Editor for submission instructions. Please do not submit it through the online EES unless you are specifically instructed to do so.
Revised versions of manuscripts that were not originally submitted through EES should not be re-submitted through EES.

You will be guided stepwise through the creation and uploading of the various files. When submitting a manuscript to Elsevier Editorial System, authors need to provide an electronic version of their manuscript. For this purpose only original source files are allowed, so no PDF files. Authors should select a category designation for their manuscripts (article, priority communication, research note, etc.). Once the uploading is done, the system automatically generates an electronic (PDF) proof, which is then used for reviewing. All correspondence, including the editor's decision and request for revisions, will be by e-mail.

Please submit, with the manuscript, the names and addresses of at least two potential referees.
Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to transfer copyright (for more information on copyright see http://www.elsevier.com/locate/authorrights). This transfer will ensure the widest possible dissemination of information. A letter will be sent to the corresponding author confirming receipt of the manuscript. A form facilitating transfer of copyright will be provided.
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 ES Global Rights Department, PO Box 800,Oxford, OX5 1DX, UK; phone (+44) 1865 843830, fax: (+44) 1865 853333, e-mail: permissions@elsevier.com

Electronic format requirements for accepted articles
General points:
We accept most wordprocessing formats, but Word, WordPerfect or LaTeX is preferred. Always keep a backup copy of the electronic file for reference and safety. No changes to the accepted version are permissible without the explicit approval of the Editor.
Wordprocessor documents: 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. Do not embed 'graphically designed' equations or tables, but prepare these using the wordprocessor's facility. When preparing tables, if you are using a table grid, use only one grid for each individual table and not a grid for each row. If no grid is used, use tabs, not spaces, to align columns. The electronic text should be prepared in a way very similar to that of conventional manuscripts (see also Elsevier's Guide to Publication at 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. To avoid unnecessary errors you are strongly advised to use the 'spellchecker'function of your wordprocessor.

Preparation of text
Presentation of manuscript
Please write your text in good English (American or British usage is accepted, but not a mixture of these). Italics are 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).
Use double spacing, and wide (3 cm) margins and continuous line numbering throughout the manuscript. (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. Provide the following data on the title page (in the order given):
Title: Concise and informative. Titles are often used in information-retrieval systems. Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible.
Author names and affiliation: 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 is willing to 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.
Present or 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. A structured abstract is required. For this, a recent copy of the journal should be consulted. 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. Non-standard or uncommon abbreviations should be avoided, but if essential they must be defined at their first mention in the abstract itself.
Keywords: Immediately after the abstract, provide keywords, using British 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.
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.

Arrangement of 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 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.
• Experimental / Materials 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.
• Theory and/or calculation: A Theory section should extend, not repeat, the background to the article already dealt with in the Introduction, and lay the foundation for further work. In contrast, a Calculation section represents a practical development from a theoretical basis.
• Discussion: This should explore the significance of the results of the work, not repeat them.
• Conclusions: The main conclusions of the study should be presented in a short Conclusions section, which may stand alone or form a subsection of a Discussion or Results and Discussion section
• Acknowledgements: Place acknowledgements, 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 graphics files must always be provided separate from the main text.
• Text graphics: Present incidental graphics not suitable for mention as figures, plates or schemes at the end of the article and number them 'Graphic 1' etc. Their precise position in the text can then be defined similarly (both on the manuscript and in the file). Ensure that high-resolution graphics files are provided, even if the graphic appears as part of your normal word-processed text file.

Specific remarks
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.
Nomenclature and units: Follow internationally accepted rules and conventions: use the international system of units (SI). If other quantities are mentioned, give their equivalent in SI.

References:

Responsibility for the accuracy of bibliographic citations lies entirely with the authors.

1. Citations in the text

Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa). Unpublished results and personal communications should not be in the reference list, but may be mentioned in the text. Conference proceedings abstracts and grey literature (research reports and limited circulation documents) are not acceptable citations. Citation of a reference as 'in press' means that the item has been accepted for publication.

2. Citing and listing of web references

As a minimum, the full URL and last access date 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.

3. Citing in the text

Citations in the text should be:

Single author: the author's name (without initials, unless there is ambiguity) and the year of publication;

Two authors: both authors' names and the year of publication;

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 ...."

4. List of references

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. You may use the DOI (Digital Object Identifier) and the full journal reference to cite articles in press.

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. J. Sci. Commun. 163, 51-59.

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.

Preparation of illustrations


Photographs, charts and diagrams are all to be referred to as "Figure(s)" and should be numbered consecutively in the order to which they are referred.

Please provide all illustrations as separate files.

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.

Colour figures in the printed issue can be accepted only if the authors defray the full cost. However, 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 these illustrations are reproduced in colour in the printed version. Please be informed that colour figure costs are EURO 350 for every first page. All subsequent pages cost EURO 175.

Proofs:
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.

Proofs will be sent to the author (first named author if no corresponding author is identified of multi-authored papers) and should be returned within 48 hours of receipt. Corrections should be restricted to typesetting errors; any others may be charged to the author. Any queries should be answered in full. Elsevier will do everything possible to get your article corrected and published as quickly and accurately as possible. Therefore, it is important to ensure that all of your corrections are returned to us in one all-inclusive e-mail or fax. Subsequent additional corrections will not be possible, so please ensure that your first communication is complete. Should you choose to mail your corrections, please return them to Log-in Department, Elsevier, Stover Court, Bampfylde Street, Exeter, Devon EX1 2AH, UK.

Off-Prints
The corresponding author, at no cost, will be provided with a PDF file of the article via e-mail or, alternatively, 25 free paper offprints. The PDF file is a watermarked version of the published article and includes a cover sheet with the journal cover image and a disclaimer outlining the terms and conditions of use.

Copyright
All authors must sign the "Transfer of Copyright" agreement before the article can be published. This transfer agreement enables Elsevier Ltd to protect the copyrighted material for the authors, without the author relinquishing his/her proprietary rights. The copyright transfer covers the exclusive rights to reproduce and distribute the article, including reprints, photographic reproductions, microfilm or any other reproductions of a similar nature, and translations. It also includes the right to adapt the article for use in conjunction with computer systems and programs, including reproduction or publication in machine-readable form and incorporation in retrieval systems. Authors are responsible for obtaining from the copyright holder permission to reproduce any material for which copyright already exists.

Author Enquiries
For enquiries relating to the submission of manuscripts (including electronic text and artwork) and the status of accepted manuscripts, please visit our website http://authors.elsevier.com. To track your accepted article, please visit http://www.elsevier.com/trackarticle.

Contact details for questions arising after acceptance of an article, especially those relating to proofs, are provided after registration of an article for publication.