Guide for Authors
Mathematical
and Computer Modelling provides a medium of exchange for the diverse disciplines utilizing mathematical or computer modelling as either
a theoretical or working tool. Equal attention is given to the mechanics, methodology and theory of modelling with an attempt to advocate
either mathematical or computer modelling, or a combination of the two, in an integrative form. While the unifying aspect of the journal
is its adherence to quantitative models, it seeks diversity by being concerned with a variety of disciplines, including engineering,
biological, medical, environmental, social, behavioural and other sciences. Both theoretical and applied works which employ mathematical
or computer modelling will be considered for publication. Papers dealing with experiments shall be considered when the results are presented
as an integral part of the modelling process.
Contact details for submission
During the
submission process you will be asked to choose a member of the Editorial Board of the journal whose field of interest is closest to the
work submitted. For a complete and up to date listing of the members of the Editorial Board of the journal, please consult the journal's
webpage at:
http://www.elsevier.com/locate/mcm .
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that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere including electronically in the same form, in English or in any other language,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.
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.
Full Online 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.
Due to publishing constraints, only three submissions per author, per year will be considered, at the discretion of
the Editor-in-Chief. Cognate papers by the same author will not be published in the same issue; such series of papers will be considered
only with the understanding that, if accepted, they will not appear in the same issue.
Referees
Please
read the requirements for submitting reviewers thoroughly and completely before preparing an appropriate list of referees to submit on-line
with your manuscript.
Failure to meet the requirements will result in the rejection of your article.
REQUIREMENTS FOR SUBMITTING REVIEWERS
(1) Please prepare a list of 8 (eight) proposed reviewers. You
MUST
include
Full Names, Department, University, Country and Email Addresses
for
each
proposed reviewer. This
list should not contain names which have been suggested by you or any of your co-authors for previously submitted manuscripts. It should
be a globally geographically diverse list of potential reviewers; there should be no more than two suggested referees from any particular
area/region/country.
If you, or any of your co-authors, have submitted to our offices previously, to any of our journals, please
note that you must have a different list of reviewers for each manuscript submitted.
All proposed reviewers MUST be fluent
in English to ensure the integrity of each review and the correct processing of all manuscripts.
(2) Proposed reviewers
MUST BE
knowledgeable in your area of research and these reviewers should not be persons with whom any of the authors have
in the past or currently have a personal/working/professional relationship (i.e., instructors, co-workers, advisors, students, former
co-authors, etc.).
(3) Reviewers
MUST NOT
be a member of any of our Journals' (Applied Mathematics Letters (AML),
Computers and Mathematics with Applications (CAMWA), and Mathematical and Computer Modelling (MCM)) Editorial Boards:
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaleditorialboard.cws_home/843/editorialboard
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaleditorialboard.cws_home/301/editorialboard
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaleditorialboard.cws_home/623/editorialboard
Use of wordprocessing software
It
is important that the file be saved in the native format of the wordprocessor used. The text should be in single-column format. Keep
the layout of the text as simple as possible. Most formatting codes will be removed and replaced on processing the article. In particular,
do not use the wordprocessor's options to justify text or to hyphenate words. However, do use bold face, italics, subscripts, superscripts
etc. When preparing tables, if you are using a table grid, use only one grid for each individual table and not a grid for each row. If
no grid is used, use tabs, not spaces, to align columns. The electronic text should be prepared in a way very similar to that of conventional
manuscripts (see also the Guide to Publishing with Elsevier:
http://www.elsevier.com/guidepublication). Note that source
files of figures, tables and text graphics will be required whether or not you embed your figures in the text. See also the section on
Electronic artwork.
To avoid unnecessary errors you are strongly advised to use the 'spell-check' and 'grammar-check' functions of
your wordprocessor.
LaTeX
If the LaTeX file is suitable, proofs will be produced without
rekeying the text. The article should preferably be written using Elsevier's document class 'elsarticle', or alternatively any of the
other recognized classes and formats supported in Elsevier's electronic submissions system, for further information see
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/authorsview.authors/latex-ees-supported.
The Elsevier 'elsarticle' LaTeX style file package (including detailed instructions for LaTeX preparation) can be obtained
from the Quickguide:
http://www.elsevier.com/latex or from the Comprehensive TeX Archive Network (CTAN): see below, in the
directory /tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/elsarticle. It consists of the files: elsarticle.cls, complete user documentation for the
class file, bibliographic style files in various styles, and template files for a quick start.guidelines for users of elsart, a template
file for quick start.
CTAN is an archive with up-to-date copies of all the public-domain versions of TeX, LaTeX, Metafont and ancillary
programs, which is made available via a mirrored network of FTP servers. You can enter the CTAN archive via a web interface in the UK
(
http://www.tex.ac.uk), in the USA
http://www.ctan.org), or in Germany (
http://www.dante.de/software/ctan)
(page in German). You can search for a package on CTAN via
http://www.ucc.ie/cgi-bin/ctan/. You can also enter the archive
via FTP at
ftp://ftp.tex.ac.uk, at
ftp://ftp.dante.de, at
ftp://ctan.tug.org, or at one of the
many mirror servers; see for a list the UK or USA CTAN web pages. When a CTAN server does not respond, please try another one.
Note
that CTAN is not related to Elsevier, and that Elsevier's Customer support cannot accept complaints or answer questions about the availability
of any CTAN server.
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
for 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.
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.
Theory/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.
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.
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
a short collection of bullet points that convey the core findings of the article. Highlights are optional and should be submitted in
a separate file in the online submission system. Please use 'Highlights' in the file name and include 3 to 5 bullet points (maximum 85
characters, including spaces, per bullet point). See
http://www.elsevier.com/highlights for examples.
Keywords
Immediately after the abstract, provide a maximum of 6 keywords, using American spelling and avoiding
general and plural terms and multiple concepts (avoid, for example, 'and', 'of'). Be sparing with abbreviations: only abbreviations firmly
established in the field may be eligible. These keywords will be used for indexing purposes.
Classification
Codes
Please provide classification codes as per the standard AMS codes. A full list and information for these can be found
at
http://www.ams.org/msc.
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.).
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 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
Text: Indicate references by number(s) in square brackets in line with the text.
The actual authors can be referred to, but the reference number(s) must always be given.
Example: '..... as demonstrated [3,6]. Barnaby
and Jones [8] obtained a different result ....'
List: Number the references (numbers in square brackets) in the list in
the order in which they appear in the text.
Examples:
Reference to a journal publication:
[1] J. van der Geer, J.A.J.
Hanraads, R.A. Lupton, The art of writing a scientific article, J. Sci. Commun. 163 (2010) 51–59.
Reference to a book:
[2]
W. Strunk Jr., E.B. White, The Elements of Style, fourth ed., Longman, New York, 2000.
Reference to a chapter in an edited book:
[3] G.R. Mettam, L.B. Adams, How to prepare an electronic version of your article, in: B.S. Jones, R.Z. Smith (Eds.), Introduction
to the Electronic Age, E-Publishing Inc., New York, 2009, pp. 281–304.
Video data
Elsevier
accepts video material and animation sequences to support and enhance your scientific research. Authors who have video or animation files
that they wish to submit with their article are strongly encouraged to include these within the body of the article. This can be done
in the same way as a figure or table by referring to the video or animation content and noting in the body text where it should be placed.
All submitted files should be properly labeled so that they directly relate to the video file's content. In order to ensure that your
video or animation material is directly usable, please provide the files in one of our recommended file formats with a preferred maximum
size of 50 MB. Video and animation files supplied will be published online in the electronic version of your article in Elsevier Web
products, including ScienceDirect:
http://www.sciencedirect.com. Please supply 'stills' with your files: you can choose
any frame from the video or animation or make a separate image. These will be used instead of standard icons and will personalize the
link to your video data. For more detailed instructions please visit our video instruction pages at
http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.
Note: since video and animation cannot be embedded in the print version of the journal, please provide text for both the electronic and
the print version for the portions of the article that refer to this content.
Supplementary data
Elsevier
accepts electronic supplementary material to support and enhance your scientific research. Supplementary files offer the author additional
possibilities to publish supporting applications, high-resolution images, background datasets, sound clips and more. Supplementary files
supplied will be published online alongside the electronic version of your article in Elsevier Web products, including ScienceDirect:
http://www.sciencedirect.com. In order to ensure that your submitted material is directly usable, please provide the data
in one of our recommended file formats. Authors should submit the material in electronic format together with the article and supply
a concise and descriptive caption for each file. For more detailed instructions please visit our artwork instruction pages at
http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.
Submission checklist
The following list will be useful during the final checking of an article prior to sending
it to the journal for review. Please consult this Guide for Authors for further details of any item.
Ensure that the following
items are present:
One author has been designated as the corresponding author with contact details:
• E-mail address
• Full postal address
• Telephone and fax numbers
All necessary files have been uploaded, and contain:
•
Keywords
• All figure captions
• All tables (including title, description, footnotes)
Further considerations
•
Manuscript has been 'spell-checked' and 'grammar-checked'
• References are in the correct format for this journal
•
All references mentioned in the Reference list are cited in the text, and vice versa
• Permission has been obtained for use
of copyrighted material from other sources (including the Web)
• Color figures are clearly marked as being intended for color
reproduction on the Web (free of charge) and in print, or to be reproduced in color on the Web (free of charge) and in black-and-white
in print
• If only color on the Web is required, black-and-white versions of the figures are also supplied for printing purposes
For any further information please visit our customer support site at
http://support.elsevier.com.
Use of the Digital
Object Identifier
The Digital Object Identifier (DOI) may be used to cite and link to electronic documents. The DOI consists
of a unique alpha-numeric character string which is assigned to a document by the publisher upon the initial electronic publication.
The assigned DOI never changes. Therefore, it is an ideal medium for citing a document, particularly 'Articles in press' because they
have not yet received their full bibliographic information. The correct format for citing a DOI is shown as follows (example taken from
a document in the journal
Physics Letters B):
doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2010.09.059
When you use the DOI to create URL
hyperlinks to documents on the web, the DOIs are guaranteed never to change.
Proofs
One
set of page proofs (as PDF files) will be sent by e-mail to the corresponding author (if we do not have an e-mail address then paper
proofs will be sent by post) or, a link will be provided in the e-mail so that authors can download the files themselves. Elsevier now
provides authors with PDF proofs which can be annotated; for this you will need to download Adobe Reader version 7 (or higher) available
free from
http://get.adobe.com/reader. Instructions on how to annotate PDF files will accompany the proofs (also given online).
The exact system requirements are given at the Adobe site:
http://www.adobe.com/products/reader/tech-specs.html.
If
you do not wish to use the PDF annotations function, you may list the corrections (including replies to the Query Form) and return them
to Elsevier in an e-mail. Please list your corrections quoting line number. If, for any reason, this is not possible, then mark the corrections
and any other comments (including replies to the Query Form) on a printout of your proof and return by fax, or scan the pages and e-mail,
or by post. Please use this proof only for checking the typesetting, editing, completeness and correctness of the text, tables and figures.
Significant changes to the article as accepted for publication will only be considered at this stage with permission from the Editor.
We will do everything possible to get your article published quickly and accurately – please let us have all your corrections within
48 hours. It is important to ensure that all corrections are sent back to us in one communication: please check carefully before replying,
as inclusion of any subsequent corrections cannot be guaranteed. Proofreading is solely your responsibility. Note that Elsevier may proceed
with the publication of your article if no response is received.
Offprints
The corresponding
author, at no cost, will be provided with a PDF file of the article via e-mail. 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.
