Instructions for Authors for the
Journal of Synchrotron Radiation
Experimental Facilities Division, Bldg. 401
Advanced Photon Source
Argonne National Laboratory
9700 South Cass Avenue
Argonne, IL 60439
USA
e-mail: dmm@aps.anl.gov
1. Scientific scope
The Journal of Synchrotron Radiation seeks to cover all aspects of synchrotron radiation thus bringing together the full range of interests and skills of the synchrotron radiation community. Contributions are invited within the general areas of instrumentation, methods and novel applications. Instrumentation papers covering synchrotron radiation sources and beamlines, optics, detectors, electronics and data acquisition, and sample chambers and environment are welcomed. Methods and applications papers are invited within the categories of diffraction, spectroscopy and imaging.
2. Categories of contributions
2.1. Full Articles
Full Articles should not normally exceed the equivalent of about 10000 words (1000 words are equivalent to about four pages of double-spaced manuscript). All papers are sent to referees (ordinarily two) before they are accepted for publication.
2.2. Short Communications
These are intended for the presentation of topics of limited scope or for preliminary announcements of novel research findings. They are not intended for interim reports of work in progress, and must report results that are of scientific value in their own right.
Short Communications differ from ordinary articles not only in being shorter (they should not normally exceed 1000 words), but also in being printed in smaller type. They are sent to referees in the normal way.
2.3. Reviews
The Main Editors occasionally invite leaders in selected areas to write Lead Articles, which are forward-looking reviews of specific topics. In addition, unsolicited review articles may be submitted. A brief outline of the proposed article should first be sent to one of the Main Editors. All selected Lead Articles and review articles will be refereed in the usual manner. These articles should not normally exceed 15000 words.
2.4. Computer Programs
A brief description of the purpose, strategy, computer language, machine requirements, input requirements and the type of results obtained should be included. It is also ordinarily required that the adequacy of the documentation shall have been proven by the successful use of the program by someone outside the author's institution. Computer Programs should not normally exceed 5000 words. They are sent to referees in the normal way.
2.5. Laboratory Notes
These are very brief descriptions of special devices, equipment modifications, techniques for accomplishing certain tasks etc. A simple schematic drawing may often be preferable to an actual photograph of the apparatus. These articles should not normally exceed 500 words and will not be refereed.
2.6. Computer Program Abstracts
This section provides a rapid means of communicating up-to-date information concerning both new programs or systems and significant updates to existing ones. Either the names and addresses of those people outside the author's laboratory who have used and tested the program(s) or a source-code listing and test execution should be provided. These will be sent to the referees as supporting material but will not be published or deposited in any form. A Computer Program Abstract should not exceed 500 words in length and should use the standard format given in J. Appl. Cryst. (1985), 18, 189-190. Reprints of this paper may be obtained from the Managing Editor.
2.7. Letters to the Editor
These may deal with non-technical aspects of synchrotron radiation, its role, its propagation, the proper functions of its Societies etc. or may make a technical observation that would usefully be brought to wider attention. Letters should be sent to one of the Main Editors. They will not be refereed.
2.8. New Commercial Products
Announcements of new commercial products are published free of charge. The descriptions, up to 300 words or the equivalent if a figure is included, should give the manufacturer's full address. All correspondence should be sent to one of the Main Editors.
The International Union of Crystallography can assume no responsibility for the accuracy of the claims made.
2.9. Synchrotron Radiation Meetings and Short Courses
This section contains details of meetings of scientific societies, congresses, summer schools etc. that are of interest. Contributions should be sent to the Editorial Office in Chester.
3. Submission and handling of manuscripts
3.1. Submission
Manuscripts should be prepared on one side of the paper in double-spaced format. All contributions should be submitted in triplicate and authors are reminded to keep an exact copy of the original and revised manuscript for later editorial adjustments and for checking proofs.
Papers should be brought to the IUCr Cynchrotron Radiation Satellite meeting and handed in at the Proceedings Desk or sent to Dr. Dennis Mills, Experimental Facilities Division, Bldg. 401, Advanced Photon Source, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, IL 60439 no later than August 28, 1996.
3.2. Languages of publication
The languages of publication are English, French, German or Russian. All contributions must be accompanied by an English language Abstract.
3.3. Handling of manuscripts
Dr. Dennis Mills, Journal Co-editor, is responsible for choosing referees and for accepting or rejecting the paper. This responsibility includes decisions on the final form of the paper and interpretation of these Notes when necessary.
For accepted papers, it is the responsibility of the Managing Editor to prepare the paper for printing. This may involve correspondence with the authors and/or the responsible editor in order to resolve ambiguities or to obtain satisfactory figures or tables. The date of acceptance that will appear on the published paper is the date on which the Managing Editor receives the last item required. Proofs will be sent to the author who signed the letter of submission unless the Managing Editor is informed of some other suitable arrangement.
On rare occasions, an editor may consider that a paper is better suited to another IUCr journal. Alterations to the journal of publication will only be made after full discussion with the communicating author.
3.4. Machine-readable submissions
Authors who have used TEX, LATEX, WordPerfect or Word to prepare their manuscripts should send a machine-readable version after acceptance. The following formats may be used: 3.5 and 5.25 in IBM-compatible and 3.5 in Apple Macintosh diskettes. Short Communications should be accompanied by a diskette whenever possible. It would be appreciated if all machine-readable submissions were accompanied by an ASCII dump of the file(s) to aid possible troubleshooting.
Authors may also send the version of the paper accepted by the Co-editor to the editorial office by e-mail or ftp (see Section 11).
3.5. Author's warranty
The submission of a paper is taken as an implicit guarantee that the work is original, that it is the author(s) own work, that all authors concur with and are aware of the submission, that proper credit is given to others, that the manuscript has not already been published (in any language), and that it is not being considered and will not be offered elsewhere while under consideration for an IUCr journal. For these reasons, the submission must be made over the signature of at least one author.
3.6. Copyright
Except as required otherwise by national laws, an author must sign and submit a copy of the Transfer of Copyright Agreement form (given in at the end of these Instructions) for each manuscript before it can be accepted.
3.7. Author grievance procedure
An author who believes his paper has been unjustifiably rejected by the Co-editor may appeal to one of the Main Editors for a new review.
3.8. Contact e-mail address
The contact author should, where possible, provide an e-mail address. This will be used for editorial communications and will normally appear in the published paper.
4. Layout and typography
Contributions should be prepared on one side of the paper in double-spaced format with wide margins, and should conform to the general editorial style of IUCr journals.
4.1. Type style
The editorial staff in Chester will indicate to the printer the style of type to be used. However, it is helpful if authors indicate vectors and tensors by a wavy underline.
4.2. Mathematics and letter symbols
The use of the stop (period) to denote multiplication should be avoided except in scalar products. Generally no sign is required but, when one is, a multiplication sign (x) should be used.
Greek letters should not be spelled out except in marginal notes of clarification.
Care should be taken not to cause confusion by using the same letter symbol in two different meanings.
Gothic, script, or other unusual lettering should be identified in marginal notes. The printer may be instructed by the Managing Editor to use another type face if that indicated by the author is not readily available.
Equations, including those in published Appendices, should be numbered in a single series.
5. Abstract and keywords
All scientific contributions must be preceded by an English language Abstract. The Abstract should state concisely the principal results obtained.
The Abstract should be suitable for reproduction by abstracting services without change in wording. It should not repeat information given in the title. Ordinarily 200 words suffice for a full-length article and 100 words for shorter contributions. It should make no reference to tables, diagrams, or formulae contained in the paper. It should not contain footnotes. Numerical information given in the Abstract should not be repeated in the text. It should not include the use of `we' or `I'.
Literature references in an Abstract are discouraged. If a reference is unavoidable, it should be sufficiently full within the Abstract for unambiguous identification, e.g. [Smith (1994). J. Synchrotron Rad. 1, 21-31].
Authors should supply at least one and up to five keywords.
6. Diagrams and photographs (`figures')
6.1. Design
The choice of tables and figures should be optimized to produce the shortest printed paper consistent with clarity. Duplicate presentation of the same information in both tables and figures is to be avoided, as is redundancy with the text. In a paper only those figures which are strictly necessary to illustrate the techniques or results described will be published: any others will be deposited. The text should be adequate to give the remaining information.
Supplementary diagrams may be deposited (see Section 10.1).
In papers which use powder profile fitting or refinement (Rietveld) methods, figures which present the experimental and calculated diffraction profiles of the material studied should also contain the difference profile. As primary diffraction data cannot be satisfactorily extracted from such figures, the basic digital diffraction data should be deposited (see Section 10.3)
6.2. Quality
Diagrams must be provided in `hard-copy' form, that is, as careful drawings in black ink or as high-quality photographic copies (glazed prints, not mounted). An individual hard-copy diagram must be provided for each figure.
6.3. Colour figures
Figures in colour are accepted at no cost to the author provided that the editor agrees that they improve the understanding of the paper. They should be provided as glossy prints or slides; laser printer or photocopier output will generally be unsatisfactory for colour reproduction. Slides should be accompanied by a photocopy showing the required figure layout.
6.4. Size
Diagrams should be as small as possible consistent with legibility. If possible, each diagram should be provided on a separate sheet of about A4 International Paper Size (210 x 297 mm). They will normally be further reduced by the printer, generally so that the greatest width including lettering is less than the width of a column of the journal (approximately 85 mm). Figures at greater than column width are allowed at editorial discretion.
6.5. Lettering and symbols
Fine-scale details and lettering must be large enough to be clearly legible (not less than 1.2 mm in height) after the whole diagram has been reduced to one column (85 mm) width. Lettering should be kept to a minimum; quantitative data should be given as tables and descriptive matter should be placed in the legend.
6.6. Numbering and legends
Diagrams and photographs must be numbered as figures in a single series, normally in the order in which they are referred to in the text. A list of the legends (`figure captions') is to be attached to the manuscript.
6.7. Electronic submission of figures
After acceptance of the paper for publication, authors may send figures direct to the editorial office by e-mail or ftp (see Section 11).
Figures may be sent as HPGL, or PostScript files. A complete list of file formats that are supported can be obtained from the editorial office. Hard-copy figures must be provided in all cases.
7. Tables
7.1. Economy in use of tables
Numerical information is generally most economically presented in tables. Text and diagrams should not be redundant with the tables.
Small tables will normally be set in type while large tables may be photographically reproduced or deposited.
7.2. Design, numbering and size
Tables must be numbered in a single series of arabic numerals, normally in the order in which they are referred to in the text. They should be provided with a caption either at the top or, if the table is to be photographed, on a separate sheet.
Tables should be carefully designed to occupy a minimum of space consistent with clarity. Tables to be photographed should be prepared in single spacing, without excessive space between columns.
8. Nomenclature
8.1. Crystallographic nomenclature
Atoms of the same chemical species within an asymmetric unit should be distinguished by an appended arabic numeral. Chemical and crystallographic numbering should be in agreement wherever possible. When it is necessary to distinguish crystallographically equivalent atoms in different asymmetric units the distinction should be made by lower-case roman numeral superscripts (i.e. i, ii, iii etc.) to the original atom labels. Other details should conform with Acta Crystallographica [Acta Cryst. (1994), D50, 2-6].
8.2. Nomenclature of chemical compounds etc.
Names of chemical compounds and minerals are not always unambiguous. Authors should therefore quote the chemical formulae of the substances dealt with in their papers.
Chemical formulae and nomenclature should conform to the rules of nomenclature established by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (IUBMB), the International Mineralogical Association and other appropriate bodies. As far as possible the crystallographic nomenclature should correspond to the systematic name.
Any accepted trivial or nonsystematic name may be retained, but the corresponding systematic (IUPAC) name should also be given.
If help on assigning systematic names is sought from advisory sources, authors are requested to indicate the source consulted.
8.3. Units
The SI system of units is to be used except that the ångström (symbol Å, defined as 10-10 m) is preferred to the nanometre (nm) or picometre (pm). Recommended prefixes of decimal multiples should be used rather than `x10n'.
9. References
References to published work must be indicated by giving the authors' names followed immediately by the year of publication, e.g. Hasnain, Helliwell & Kamitsubo (1994) or (Hasnain, Helliwell & Kamitsubo, 1994). Where there are six or more authors the reference in the text should be indicated in the form Hasnain et al. (1994) or (Hasnain et al., 1994) etc. (all authors should be included in the full list).
At the end of the paper a list giving full details of all references should be appended separately. In the reference list, entries for journals (abbreviated in the style of Chemical Abstracts), books, multi-author books, computer programs, personal communications and undated documents should be arranged alphabetically and conform with the style shown below.
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Bürgi, H.-B. (1989). Acta Cryst. B45, 383-390.
Hervieu, M. & Raveau, B. (1983a). Chem. Scr. 22, 117-122.
Hervieu, M. & Raveau, B. (1983b). Chem. Scr. 22, 123-128.
Hummel, W., Hauser, J. & Bürgi, H.-B. (1996). In preparation.
Jones, P. T. (1987). Personal communication.
McCrone, W. C. (1965). Physics and Chemistry of the Organic Solid State,Vol. 2, edited by D. Fox, M. M. Labes & A. Weissberger, pp. 725-767. New York: Interscience.
Perkins, P. (undated). PhD thesis, University of London, England.
Sheldrick, G. M. (1976). SHELX76. Program for Crystal Structure Determination. University of Cambridge, England.
Smith, J. V. (1988). Chem. Rev. 88, 149-182.
Smith, J. V. & Bennett, J. M. (1981). Am. Mineral. 66, 777-788.
Vogel, A. (1978). Textbook of Practical Organic Chemistry, 4th ed. London: Longman.
When more than ten references are taken from a data base (usually for a structural paper), a condensed reference notation of the Coden type should be used.
10. Supplementary publication procedure (deposition)
10.1. Purpose and scope
Parts of some papers are of interest to only a small number of readers, and the cost of printing these parts is not warranted. Arrangements have therefore been made for such material to be deposited with the IUCr, the Brookhaven Protein Data Bank and the ICDD as appropriate.
The information to be deposited is at the discretion of the Co-editor and may include:
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* Details of the experimental procedure.
* Details of the stages of structure refinement.
* Primary data for techniques such as XAFS.
* Details of mathematical derivations given only in outline in the main text and in mathematical Appendices.
* Lengthy discussion of points that are not of general interest or that do not lead to definite conclusions but that do have significant value.
* Additional diagrams.
10.2. Preparation of material for deposit Material for deposit should:
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* be of a quality such that photocopies of it are completely legible;
* have dimensions for text and tables not exceeding A4 International Paper Size (210 x 297 mm) (larger dimensions may be acceptable in exceptional circumstances);
* not be photographically reduced so that character heights are less than 1.2 mm;
* contain the title page of the paper to which it relates (including the Abstract);
* have pages clearly numbered to ensure the correct sequence;
* be sent in triplicate with the paper when it is submitted.
10.3. Powder diffraction data
For papers that present the results of powder diffraction profile fitting or refinement (Rietveld) methods, the primary diffraction data, i.e. the numerical intensity of each measured point on the profile as a function of scattering angle, will be deposited.
Co-editors will send powder diffraction data (reported either in the paper or in the deposited material) to the International Centre for Diffraction Data (ICDD), 12 Campus Boulevard, Newtown Square, PA 19073-3273, USA. These data will then be checked and assigned an ICDD reference number which will, where possible, be published in the paper.
10.4. Macromolecular structures
Data deposited should correspond to the level of detail described in the structural paper. For all structural studies of macromolecules, coordinates and structure factors must be deposited with the Protein Data Bank at Brookhaven National Laboratory if a total molecular structure has been reported. Authors should supply the Protein Data Bank reference codes for inclusion in the published paper.
An author may request that the structure factors be given a privileged status for a period of no longer than four years and for atomic coordinates no longer than one year from the date of publication. Earlier release would require the specific consent of the author.
10.5. XAFS data
For papers that present XAFS data of an unknown system, the deposition of primary chi(K) data will be encouraged.
10.6. Other spectroscopic, diffraction and imaging data
Deposition of primary data is generally encouraged. Please enquire prior to submission.
11. File transfer
After acceptance of the paper for publication, authors with computer access to the Internet may use anonymous file transfer protocol (ftp) to transfer large electronic files to the editorial office in Chester. Files larger than 70K bytes should be transferred in this way, smaller files can be sent by e-mail to med@iucr.ac.uk .
The procedure for transferring files by ftp is described below. Files need to be deposited in a directory called `incoming' with a filename constructed from the reference number supplied by the Co-editor. Files containing text in TEX or LATEX should be given the extension .tex, and WordPerfect or Word files should be given the extensions .wp or .doc, respectively. Files containing diagrams in HPGL, or PostScript format should be given the extensions .hpg, or .ps, respectively. Multiple files for the same submission should be identified by filenames constructed as ref.id.ext where id indicates the contents, e.g. xz1087.fig1.ps and xz1087.fig2.ps.
The procedure for transferring files is given below.
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(i) On your workstation enter: ftp ftp.iucr.ac.uk
(ii) Wait for Name ...: prompt and enter: anonymous
(iii) Wait for Password: prompt and enter: your e-mail address
(iv) Wait for ftp> prompt and enter: cd incoming
(v) Transfer a file from your account
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(e.g. j29.ps) as an identifiable name
(e.g. ja0325.ps): put j29.ps ja0325.ps
(vii) Finish off the ftp session by entering: bye
(viii) Send an e-mail to Chester (med@iucr.ac.uk) with a list of the files transferred by ftp
12. Electronic status information
Authors may obtain information about the current status of their papers via the world-wide web at the address http://www.iucr.ac.uk/docs/status.html/ (authors will need to provide the Co-editor reference number of their paper and the last name of one of the authors) or by e-mail by sending an e-mail message to status@iucr.ac.uk with the Co-editor reference number and the name of one of the authors as the subject line (e.g. JA0325 Smith). The body of the message should be empty. A status report will be returned by e-mail.
13. Reprints
Twenty-five reprints of each published article will be provided to a nominated author free of charge.