Guide for Authors
Official Journal of the South African Association of Botanists (
http://www.sabotany.com)
The
South African Journal of Botany publishes original papers that deal with the classification, biodiversity, morphology, physiology,
molecular biology, ecology, biotechnology, ethnobotany and other botanically related aspects of species that are of importance to southern
Africa. Manuscripts dealing with significant new findings on other species of the world and general botanical principles will also be
considered and are encouraged.
Types of Paper
Reviews, Mini-reviews, Research papers, Short
Communications and Research Notes will be considered.
Reviews: Review articles will be by Editor invitation only, but suggestions
for Review topics may be forwarded to the Editor for consideration.
Mini-Reviews: are short reviews updating the scientific
community on important advances in the plant sciences. They are not longer than 6 printed pages with no more than 40 references.
Original Research Papers: should report the results of original research. The material should not have been previously published
elsewhere, except in a preliminary form.
Short Communications: similar to original papers but with limited data. See also,
under the heading "Additional information for "New species descriptions"
Research Notes: these will not exceed two printed
pages and include only one table or one figure.
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 and verification
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carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, including
electronically without the written consent of the copyright-holder. To verify originality, your article may be checked by the originality
detection software iThenticate. See also
http://www.elsevier.com/editors/plagdetect.
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.
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.
Submit your article
Please submit your article
via
http://ees.elsevier.com/sajb/
Referees
A highly qualified Editorial Board,
in collaboration with dedicated referees, ensures peer-reviewing of all manuscripts and the maintenance of international scientific standards.
All submitted papers are refereed by a member of the Editorial Board and at least two independent referees. The Editor-in-Chief may,
however, decide not to submit a manuscript for review if it is judged to be of poor quality, failing to meet the standards of SAJB with
respect to science, language expression, presentation and/or required style
Taxonomic treatment
Descriptions
of new species should form part of a revision of a genus or infrageneric taxon. If the author(s) can give a reasonable motivation why
this is not possible, then new species descriptions will be considered for publication only as Short Communications, with a maximum of
one title page and two additional pages per species (including illustrations and maps, both of which should preferably be designed for
printing in single column width). The author(s) are encouraged to submit multiple new species from the same genus in one article. Only
new species from the Flora of southern Africa region will be considered for publication.
Authors of botanical names are abbreviated
according to Authors of Plant Names (Brummitt and Powell 1992, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew). Authors should be given the first time a
name is mentioned, or alternately in a table where all relevant names are listed (e.g., table of voucher specimens).
References cited
in the protologue are abbreviated according to TL-2 and are not included in the literature cited.
The basionym and other homotypic
combinations are arranged chronologically in the same paragraph. Heterotypic names are in separate paragraphs.
Herbarium acronyms
follow
Index Herbariorum.
Original type locality information in a foreign language or using archaic/outdated place names
should be indicated using inverted comas, with any relevant corrections for modern usage, including conversions to metric units, added
in square brackets.
When the collection date is known this data should be included in the type citation and preferably in the additional
specimens examined. Months of the year are to be given as: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec.
GPS co-ordinates
are to be excluded from all specimens cited.
Examples: Type: South Africa. Western Cape, Beaufort West (3222): 'Renosterkopf'
[Renosterkop] (-BB), 1850,
Zeyher 854 (TCD, lecto.- image!, here designated; SAM!, P - image! [2 sheets], isolecto.).
Type:
South Africa. Western Cape, Caledon (3419): Ratelrivier flats (-DC), 12 Feb 1958,
Willems 19 (NBG, holo.!; NBG!, K!, iso.).
Type: South Africa. Precise locality unknown: 'Cap. Bonae Spae' [Cape of Good Hope],
Thunberg s.n.THUNB-UPS 20137 (UPS,
holo. - microfiche!).
Type: South Africa. KwaZulu Natal, Stanger (2931): Natal, near 'Port Natal' [Durban] (-CC),
Krauss 418
(MO, sheet with collection label in bottom left corner, lecto.!, here designated; BM!, K! [2 sheets], MO!, NBG!, S!, isolecto.).
Specimens examined are cited under each species treatment and arranged into paragraphs by country and within these paragraphs
by Province. Within each Province the specimens are ordered according to the quarter-degree grid regerence system (Leistner and Morris
1976) [see paragraph below]
The following order of countries in the southern African region should be used: Namibia, Botswana, South
Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho. Any other countries are to be listed at the end of this sequence.
Within South Africa the provinces are
arranged as follows: Limpopo, North-West, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Northern Cape, Western Cape and Eastern Cape.
Distributional data for each of the species should be recorded using Quarter Degree Grid Cells (outlined in Leistner and Morris 1976).
In this system, the basic unit is the one-degree square of latitude and longitude, which is designated by a degree reference number (viz.,
degrees of latitude and longitude of the north-west corner) and the district name of that square.
EXAMPLES:
Additional
specimens examined.
Botswana.
2615 (Luderitz): Diamond Area No. 1, Sperrgebiet, south of Rotkuppe gate (-CD), 2 Aug 2001,
Mannheimer 1391 (WIND); Road to Grillental from Kaukausib, Blue ridge (-DC), 5 Sep 2002,
Mannheimer 2200 (WIND).
2715
(Bogenfels): Diamond Area No. 1, en route from Tsabiams to Grillenthal (-BA), 5 Sep 2002,
Bartsch, Loots and Mannheimer 1028
(WIND); Approach to Kaukausib Plain to south (-BA), 5 Sep 2002,
Mannheimer 2195 (WIND); Sandy-gravel plain east of Kaukausib
Fountain (-BA), 12 Sep 2005,
Mannheimer 2769(WIND, JRAU); Karas district, Sperrgebiet, Kaukausib Drainage (-BA), 3 Mar 2007,
Burke 7001 (PRE).
South Africa. WESTERN CAPE:
3218 (Clanwilliam): Near Eendekuil, western foot of Piekenierskloof
Pass (-DB), 28 Aug 2009,
Magee, Boatwright, Manning and Goldblatt 161 (NBG, PRE, K, BOL).
3319 (Worcester): Tulbagh (-AC),
Sep 1919,
Bolus 16734 (BOL); roadside near Gouda (-AC), 9 Sep 1951,
Esterhuysen 18840 (BOL [3 sheets], K, PRE).
2) Biodiversity issues - Each country has its own rights on its biodiversity. Consequently for studying plants one needs to follow
the international, national and institutional rules concerning the biodiversity rights.
All Editors and Authors are requested to
ensure that suitable taxonomic works are cited in support of the identification of ANY organism named in their publications.
Biodiversity issues
Each country has its own rights on its biodiversity. Consequently for studying plants
one needs to follow the international, national and institutional rules concerning the biodiversity rights.
All Editors and Authors
are requested to ensure that suitable taxonomic works are cited in support of the identification of ANY organism named in their publications.
New
species descriptions - Descriptions of new species should form part of a revision of a genus or infrageneric taxon. If the author(s)
can give a reasonable motivation why this is not possible, then new species descriptions will be considered for publication only as Short
Communications, with a maximum of one title page and two additional pages per species (including illustrations and maps, both of which
should preferably be designed for printing in single column width). The author(s) are encouraged to submit multiple new species from
the same genus in one article. Only new species from the Flora of southern Africa region will be considered for publication.
Animal
and clinical studies - Investigations using experimental animals or products derived from animals must state in the Methods section
that the research was conducted in accordance with the internationally accepted principles for laboratory animal use and care as found
in for example the European Community guidelines (EEC Directive of 1986; 86/609/EEC) or the US guidelines (NIH publication #85-23, revised
in 1985). Investigations with human subjects will not be published by the South African Journal of Botany. The Editors will reject papers
if there is any doubt about the suitability of the animal procedures used.
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.
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
Any species or infraspecific taxon
studied is to be referenced against appropriate literature used to identify the material concerned. Give full scientific name(s) of plant(s)
used, as well as cultivar (cv.) or variety (var.) where applicable. All growth conditions should be properly described. Sufficient detail
of the techniques used should be provided to allow easy repetition.
Results
Results should
be clear and concise. Do not include material appropriate to the Discussion.
Discussion
This
should highlight the significance of the results and place them in the context of other work. Do not be over-speculative or reiterate
the results. If desired the Results and Discussion sections may be amalgamated.
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. It must not exceed 5% of the manuscript.
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.
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.).
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
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.
Examples:
Reference to a journal publication
(journal names in full, not abbreviated):
Van der Geer, J., Hanraads, J.A.J., Lupton, R.A., 2000. The art of writing a scientific
article. Journal of Science Communication 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.
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.
Data at PANGAEA
Electronic archiving of supplementary data enables readers to replicate, verify and build
upon the conclusions published in your paper. We recommend that data should be deposited in the data library PANGAEA (
http://www.pangaea.de).
Data are quality controlled and archived by an editor in standard machine-readable formats and are available via Open Access. After processing,
the author receives an identifier (DOI) linking to the supplements for checking. As your data sets will be citable you might want to
refer to them in your article. In any case, data supplements and the article will be automatically linked as in the following example:
doi:10.1016/0016-7037(95)00105-9. Please use PANGAEA's
web interface to submit your data (
http://www.pangaea.de/submit/).
Submission checklist
It
is hoped that this list will be useful during the final checking of an article prior to sending it to the journal's Editor for review.
Please consult this Guide for Authors for further details of any item.
Ensure that the following items are present:
One
Author designated as corresponding Author:
• E-mail address
• Full postal address
• Telephone and fax numbers
All necessary files have been uploaded
• Keywords
• All figure captions
• All tables (including title,
description, footnotes)
Further considerations
• Manuscript has been "spellchecked" and "grammar-checked"
• Manuscript
should have numbered pages, and line numbering throughout the text and preferably continuous not starting at 1 on each page.
•
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://epsupport.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 or, alternatively, 25 free paper offprints. If the corresponding
author opts for paper offprints, this preference must be indicated via the offprint order form which is sent once the article is accepted
for publication. Additional paper offprints can also be ordered via this form for an extra charge. 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.
