Journal of Parallel and Distributed Computing
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E-mail: jpdc@elsevier.com

The Journal of Parallel and Distributed Computing (JPDC) is directed to researchers, scientists, engineers, educators, managers, programmers, and users of computers who have particular interests in parallel processing and/or distributed computing. The goal of the journal is to publish in a timely manner original research, critical review articles, and relevant survey papers on the theory, design, implementation, evaluation, programming, and applications of parallel and/or distributed computing systems. The journal provides an effective forum for communication among researchers and practitioners from various scientific areas working in a wide variety of problem areas, sharing a fundamental common interest in improving the ability of parallel and distributed computer systems to solve increasing numbers of difficult and complex problems as quickly and as efficiently as possible.

The scope of the journal includes (but is not restricted to) the following topics as they relate to parallel and/or distributed computing:

• Theory of parallel and distributed computing
• Parallel algorithms and their implementation
• Innovative computer architectures
• Shared-memory multiprocessors
• Peer-to-peer systems
• Distributed sensor networks
• Pervasive computing
• Optical computing
• Software tools and environments
• Languages, compilers, and operating systems
• Fault-tolerant computing
• Applications and performance analysis
• Bioinformatics
• Cyber trust and security
• Parallel programming
• Grid computing

Submission to this journal proceeds totally online. Use the following guidelines to prepare your article. Via the homepage of this journal ( http://www.elsevier.com/journals) you will be guided stepwise through the creation and uploading of the various files. The system automatically converts source files to a single Adobe Acrobat PDF version of the article, which is used in the peer-review process. Please note that even though manuscript source files are converted to PDF 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 and via the author's homepage, removing the need for a hard-copy paper trail.

The above represents a very brief outline of this form of submission. It can be advantageous to print this "Guide for Authors" section from the site for reference in the subsequent stages of article preparation.
It is essential to give a fax number and e-mail address when submitting a manuscript.

There are no submission fees or page charges. Each manuscript should be accompanied by a letter outlining the basic findings of the paper and their significance.

Authors are encouraged to suggest an appropriate subject area editor (SAE) to handle the review of their paper. However, the editor will assign the submission to the best-qualified SAE, based on the contents of the paper and the workloads of the SAEs. The SAE will assign peer reviewers to evaluate the quality of the manuscript and its suitability for the journal. The structure of the refereeing process will ensure the anonymity of the reviewers. An option is also provided to withhold the identity of the author(s) from the reviewers, if so requested.

Articles must be written in clear, concise, grammatical English. International Science Editing and Asia Science Editing can provide English language and copyediting services to authors who want to publish in scientific, technical and medical journals and need assistance before they submit their article or before it is accepted for publication. Authors can contact these services directly: International Science Editing ( http://www.internationalscienceediting.com) and Asia Science Editing ( http://www.asiascienceediting.com) or, for more information about language editing services, authors may contact authorsupport@elsevier.com who will be happy to deal with any questions. Please note Elsevier neither endorses nor takes responsibility for any products, goods or services offered by outside vendors through our services or in any advertising. For more information please refer to our Terms & Conditions http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/termsconditions.cws_home/termsconditions.

Manuscripts are accepted for review with the understanding that no substantial portion of the study has been published or is under consideration for publication elsewhere and that its submission for publication has been approved by all of the authors and by the institution where the work was carried out. Previous presentation or publication at a conference does not preclude publication in JPDC as long as the submitted paper is an extension of said publication. It is further understood that any person cited as a source of personal communications has approved such citation; written authorization may be required at an editor's discretion. Articles and any other material published in JPDC represent the opinions of the authors and should not be construed to reflect the opinions of the editors, the Editorial Board, or the publisher. Manuscripts that do not meet the general criteria or standards for publication in JPDC will be immediately returned to the authors without detailed review.

Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to sign a "Journal Publishing Agreement" (for more information on this and copyright see http://www.elsevier.com/copyright). Acceptance of the agreement will ensure the widest possible dissemination of information. An e-mail (or letter) will be sent to the corresponding author confirming receipt of the manuscript together with a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' form or a link to the online version of this agreement.
If excerpts from other copyrighted works are included, the author(s) must obtain written permission from the copyright owners and credit the source(s) in the article. Elsevier has preprinted forms for use by authors in these cases: contact Elsevier's Rights Department, Philadelphia, PA, USA: phone (+1) 215 239 3804, fax (+1) 215 239 3805, e-mail healthpermissions@elsevier.com. Requests may also be completed online via the Elsevier homepage ( http://www.elsevier.com/locate/permissions).

Types of articles. Research papers include original research, critical review articles, and surveys. Two categories of research papers will be published: Regular Papers and Research Notes. The Research Notes section is for manuscripts that have sufficient technical worth to merit publication, but not sufficient breadth and depth to be Regular Papers. Research Notes have a maximum length limit of 15 pages excluding references. In some cases, manuscripts submitted as Regular Papers may be accepted as Research Notes.

Special issues. To submit proposals for special issues, the potential guest editor(s) a special issue proposal by e-mail to the JPDC editorial office. Special issues will be handled by guest editors selected by the editors. Proposals should outline the topic area, state why it is significant, and indicate the potential pool of authors.

Manuscript preparation. The article should preferably be written using Elsevier's document class "elsart", or alternatively the standard document class "article". The Elsevier LaTeX package (including detailed instructions for LaTeX preparation) can be obtained from the Quickguide: http://www.elsevier.com/latex or from the Comprehensive TeX Archive Network (CTAN): see below, in the directory /tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/supported/elsevier. It consists of the files: elsart.cls, guidelines for users of elsart, a template file for quick start, and the instruction booklet "Preparing articles with LaTeX".

Figures may be inserted in the usual way using an \includegraphics command, at the position in the article where they are cited.

Your LaTeX file will be most useful as input for the printed article if you obey the following rules of thumb:

1. Be consistent. If you use a macro for a phrase, use it throughout.
2. Use standard LaTeX mark-up. Do not hardcode your own layout, e.g., section headings, but use the usual LaTeX macro for this purpose.
3. Keep it simple. Do not define macros that accomplish complicated layout. They will also make the input process complicated.

Manuscripts should be no longer than 35 double-spaced pages, not including the title page, abstract, or references. Number all pages consecutively and organize the paper as follows.

Title page (page 1). This page should contain the article title, authors' names and complete affiliations, footnotes to the title, and the address for manuscript correspondence (including e-mail address and telephone and fax numbers).

Abstract (page 2). The abstract must be a single paragraph that summarizes the main findings of the paper in less than 150 words. After the abstract a list of up to 10 keywords that will be useful for indexing or searching should be included.

References. Cite references in the text by an Arabic numeral between square brackets, as [1], [1, 2], [1, Theorem 5.4], etc. It is suggested that the text references be given in the form ''As Jones [31] showed. . .,'' rather than ''As [31] showed. . . .'' References should be listed in alphabetical order rather than the order cited in text. Type the references double-spaced throughout.

Journal
[1] K. Blathras, D.B. Szyld, Y. Shi, Timing models and local stopping criteria for asynchronous iterative algorithms, J. Parallel Distrib. Comput. 59 (1999) 446-465.

Book
[2] G.J. Lipovski, M. Malek, Parallel Computing: Theory and Comparisons, Wiley, New York, 1987.

Chapter in a book
[3] S.P. Levitan, Measuring communication structures in parallel architectures and algorithms, in: L.H. Jamieson, D.B. Gannon, R.J. Douglass (Eds.), The Characteristics of Parallel Algorithms, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1987, pp. 101-137.

Conference
[4] T.L. Casavant, J.G. Kuhl, Design of a loosely coupled distributed multiprocessing network, in: Proc. 1984 International Conference on Parallel Processing, IEEE Computer Society, Silver Spring, MD, 1984, pp. 42-45.

Technical report
[5] L.M. Napolitano Jr., The Design of a High-Performance Packet-Switched Network, Sandia National Laboratories Tech. Rep. SAND87-8676, Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore, CA, April 1987.

Ph.D. thesis
[6] M.A. Yoder, Parallel Algorithms for Isolated and Connected Word Recognition, Ph.D. thesis, School of Electrical Engineering, Purdue University, 1984.

For unpublished lectures or symposia, include the title of the paper, name of the sponsoring society in full, and the date. For journal names, follow ''Mathematical Reviews' Abbreviations of Names of Serials'' ( http://www.ams.org/msnhtml/serials-list). When in doubt about employing certain abbreviations, use clarity as a guide.

Footnotes. In text, footnotes should be avoided. If absolutely necessary, identify them by superscript Arabic numerals in order of their appearance and type them together on a separate page, double-spaced.

Tables. Number tables consecutively with Arabic numerals in order of appearance in the text. Type each table double-spaced on a separate page with a short descriptive title directly above and essential footnotes below.

Figures. Number figures with Arabic numerals. For more detailed instructions please visit our artwork instruction pages at http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.

Color figures. 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 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. For more detailed instructions please visit our artwork instruction pages at http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.
[Please note: Because of technical complications that can arise in 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 files corresponding to all the color illustrations.]

Equations. Numbers for displayed equations should be placed in parentheses at the right margin. References to equations should use the form ''Eq. (3)'' or simply ''(3).''

Biographies. The manuscript should include a brief professional biography of approximately 100 words for each author. The biography should consist of where and when the author's degrees were received, where and in what position the author is currently, what the author's research interests are, and whatever other information about the author's professional career the author wishes to include. The manuscript should also include a small photograph of each author, with the author's name printed in soft pencil on the back of each photograph.

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Proofs. The corresponding author will receive page proofs in PDF format to be checked for typesetting/editing. Corrections should be returned to the Publisher within 2 working days of receipt. If there are no corrections, this should be indicated. The Publisher reserves the right to proceed with publication if corrections are not communicated.

Author benefits
The corresponding author, at no cost, will be provided with a PDF file of the article via e-mail. The PDF file is a watermarked version of the published article and includes a cover sheet with the journal cover image and a disclaimer outlining the terms and conditions of use.

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