Guide for Authors
Ethics in publishing
For information on Ethics in publishing and Ethical guidelines for journal publication
see
http://www.elsevier.com/publishingethics and
http://www.elsevier.com/ethicalguidelines.
Conflict of interest
All authors are requested to disclose any actual or potential conflict of interest including
any financial, personal or other relationships with other people or organizations within three years of beginning the submitted work
that could inappropriately influence, or be perceived to influence, their work. See also
http://www.elsevier.com/conflictsofinterest.
Submission declaration
Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously
(except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis), that it is not under consideration for publication
elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was
carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere including electronically in the same form, in English or in any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.
Accordingly, users need to keep their contact coordinates on the registration page up-todate, using the "UPDATE MY INFORMATION"
option.
A direct link to the online submission,
click here
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.
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 either British or American spelling, but be consistent, 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.
Classification codes
Please
provide up to 6 standard JEL codes. The available codes may be accessed at JEL:
http://www.aeaweb.org/journal/elclasjn.html.
Artwork
Color artwork
Please make sure that artwork files are in an acceptable
format (TIFF, EPS or MS Office files) and with the correct resolution. If, together with your accepted article, you submit usable color
figures then Elsevier will ensure, at no additional charge, that these figures will appear in color on the Web (e.g., ScienceDirect and
other sites) regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in color in the printed version.
For color reproduction
in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Elsevier after receipt of your accepted article. Please indicate
your preference for color: in print or on the Web only. For further information on the preparation of electronic artwork, please see
http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.
Please note: Because of technical complications which can arise by converting
color figures to 'gray scale' (for the printed version should you not opt for color in print) please submit in addition usable black
and white versions of all the color illustrations.
References
Reference
management software
This journal has standard templates available in key reference management packages EndNote (
http://www.endnote.com/support/enstyles.asp)
and Reference Manager (
http://refman.com/support/rmstyles.asp). Using plug-ins to wordprocessing packages, authors only
need to select the appropriate journal template when preparing their article and the list of references and citations to these will be
formatted according to the journal style which is described below.
Reference Style
All citations
in the text should refer to:
- 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.
Examples: "as demonstrated in (Allan, 1996a, 1996b, 1999; Allan and Jones, 1995). Lee et al. (2000)
have recently shown"
In the references 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:
-Griffiths W, Judge G. Testing and estimating
location vectors when the error covariance matrix is unknown. Journal of Econometrics 1992;54; 121-138 (note that journal names are not
to be abbreviated).
Reference to a book:
-Hawawini G, Swary I. Mergers and acquisitions in the U.S. banking industry: Evidence
from the capital markets. North-Holland: Amsterdam; 1990.
Reference to a chapter in an edited book:
-Brunner K, Melzer AH 1990.
Money Supply. In: Friedman BM, Hahn FH (Eds), Handbook of monetary economics, vol.1. North-Holland: Amsterdam; 1990. p. 357-396.
Citation 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.
Google Maps and
KML files
KML (Keyhole Markup Language) files (optional): You can enrich your online articles by providing KML files which
will be visualized using Google maps. The KML files can be uploaded in our online submission system. KML is an XML schema for expressing
geographic annotation and visualization within Internet-based Earth browsers. Elsevier will generate Google Maps from the submitted KML
files and include these in the article when published online. Submitted KML files will also be available for downloading from your online
article on ScienceDirect. For more information see
http://www.elsevier.com/googlemaps.
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. 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.
