Authors' Guidelines

The following practical advice is offered to authors or prospective authors who wish to submit original book manuscripts for consideration for publication.

Content

Information contained in contributions must be technically sound, of current relevance, free of commercial bias and presented logically in readily understandable English. Due allowance will be made for those whose mother tongue is not English. Use concrete rather than abstract terms. Avoid jargon. Where appropriate, use the third person singular or plural rather than the first person.

Submission Procedure

(i) Submit two hard copies of each manuscript, together with 3½" diskette (if available). If submitting the manuscript on disk, see point (vii).

(ii) Enclose the originals of illustrations (details provided below), or good quality copies initially, to be followed by the originals immediately upon acceptance of the manuscript.

(iii) Obtain and provide evidence of any necessary release or clearance (company or organisation) prior to publication of the manuscript.

(iv) State, in an accompanying letter, whether any part of the manuscript, has been published elsewhere. Obtain the copyright-holders written permission for the material to be reproduced.

(v) Provide a brief professional biography (co-ordinating author only).

(vi) Enclose details of your preferred address for correspondence and return of proofs for checking and approval, and a telephone and fax number at which you may be contacted. Notify the Editor of any change of address while your manuscript is being prepared for publication.

(vii) (a) Macintosh users — Text should be supplied in Microsoft Word for Macintosh or Word Perfect for Macintosh. Graphs and photos should be supplied on a separate disc, using TIFF format only. The position of tables should be indicated in the text but not entered. Tables should be supplied in hard copy. Microsoft Word 5.1 has provision for graphs and drawings and they may be submitted in this format should you wish.

(b) IBM PC users — Text can be accepted in Word Perfect, Word for Windows or AMI-PRO, as well as ASCII format. Graphs, tables and photographs should all be submitted separately as hard copy, with photographs preferably in black and white.

Manuscript Presentation

(i) All copy should be typewritten or word-processed in double line spacing, using one side of the paper only and leaving generous margins for editing.

(ii) The title of each chapter should be followed by the author’s name (or names in the case of co-authors) and professional address.

(iii) The text should be arranged as follows: Preface; introduction; main body of book (chapters divided into numbered sections and sub-sections); references and/or bibliography at end of each chapter; appendix (where appropriate).

(iv) References should be numbered sequentially at the end of chapters, with superscript numbers to designate the appropriate reference in the text. The preferred format is: (For journals) author’s surname, initials, title of paper, full title of journal, volume, number, page, and year; and (for books) author, title, publisher, city of publication, page, and year.

(v) All figure captions should be numbered and listed on a separate sheet.

(vi) Illustrations and tables should be referred to in the text. Tables should have a brief caption, and should be clearly designated as tables rather than figures.

(vii) Standard symbols and abbreviations should be used, or else defined in the text when first used.

(viii) The use of SI units is preferable.

Preparation of Illustrations

(i) Illustrations should be included only where they genuinely support the text. They should be provided on separate sheets detachable from the manuscript.

(ii) Originals should be supplied of all photographs used, and must be sharp and of good contrast.

(iii) Line drawings are preferably submitted in finished form. Lettering should be large enough to be legible when the figure is reduced.

(iv) Care should be taken with numbering and packing of original artwork to avoid damage or defacement.

Proofs

Proofs of the text and artwork are forwarded to authors for checking and approval.

Checklist (tick)

[ ] 2 copies of manuscript (plus 3½" disk if available)

[ ] Brief professional biography of co-ordinating author

[ ] Original artwork/photographs

Please address manuscripts to: ELECTROCHEMICAL PUBLICATIONS LTD

ASAHI HOUSE, CHURCH ROAD, PORT ERIN, ISLE OF MAN IM99 8HD, BRITISH ISLES

TELEPHONE: +44 (0) 1624 834941/834888 FACSIMILE : +44 (0) 1624 835400 E-Mail: author@elchempub.com