I

Materials Science

A Guide for Authors

I. General

□ Submission of papers

Manuscripts (one original + two copies of original typescript and drawings) should be sent to:

Prof. Wieslaw Strek

Editor Materials Science

Institute of Low Temperature and Structure Research

P O. Box 1410, 50-950 Wroclaw 2

Poland

e-mail: ed@int.pan.wroc.pl or strek@int.pan.wroc.pl.

□ Original material

Submission of a manuscript implies that it is not being simultaneously considered for publication elsewhere and that the authors have obtained the necessary authority for publication.

□ In the beginning

Before you start, it's a good idea to familiarize yourself with the journal's style and arrangement, and, in particular, the reference citation style and structure of the reference list as given in this Guide for Authors.

□ Order of material

Authors who are not fluent in English are urged to seek assistance in the preparation of their manuscripts from knowledgeable individuals. Manuscripts should be double-spaced throughout on one side of A4 white paper. Pages should be numbered consecutively

Please adhere to the following order: Title, Author(s), Affiliation(s), Abstract, Keywords, Main text, Acknowledgements, Appendix, References, Figure captions, Tables.

The running Title of less than 55 characters should be placed above the article and next Author(s), Affiliation(s).

The Abstract must be a single paragraph that summarizes the main findings of the paper in less than 150 words.

After the abstract a list of up to 10 Keywords that will be useful for indexing or searching should be included.

The Main text should be consisted the introduction, experimental section, results and discussion.

The Introduction should be as concise as possible, without subheadings.

The Experimental section should be sufficiently detailed to enable the experiments to be reproduced.

Results and Discussion may be combined and may be organized into subheadings.

Acknowledgments should be brief and should precede the references.

Equations should be typewritten with an Arabic numeral if necessary for reference placed in brackets to the right of the equation. Reference to equations should be in the form ''[Eq. 3].''

References to the literature should be consecutively numbered in square brackets in the text and listed in Reference list in numerical order (without brackets) at the end of main text. Use the most recent edition of the Chemical Abstracts Service Source Index for abbreviations of journal titles. Only articles that have been published or are in press should be included in the references. Unpublished results or personal communications should be cited as such in the text. Please note the following examples

¨ for a journal reference:

1. J.W. McDonald, G.D. Friesen, W.E. Newton, Inorg. Chim. Acta, 121 (1986), 33.

2. A.A. Demidovich, A.A. Shkaradevich, L.E. Batay, et al., Proc. SPIE 3176 (1997), 172.

3. O.V. Sizova, V.I. Ivanova, A.I. Panin, Koordinazionnaja Khimia, 23 (1997), 277 (in russian)

4. J. Lipiński, L. Komorowski, J. Phys. Chem., to be published.

¨ for a book reference:

5. R.D. Shannon, Structure and Bonding in Crystals, Academic Press, San Diego 1981.

6. C.E. Weaver, L.D. Pollard, The Chemistry of Clay Minerals, Elsevier, Amsterdam 1973, p. 141.

7. B.G. Wybourne, Effective operators and symmetry, in: Excited States of Transition Elements, W. Strek et al. (Eds.), World Scientific, Singapore 1992, p. 298.

8. A.R. Silin, A.N. Trukin, Point Defects and Elementary Excitation in Cristalline SiO₂, Zinatne, Riga 1985 (in russian).

Figures (as line art images: drawings (line graphs) and bar charts, and as halftone images: pictures, photographs, micrographs) should be in a finished form suitable for publication. Figure captions should be typed on a separate sheet. Number figures consecutively with Arabic numerals, and indicate with the first author's name on the bottom of page (for photos on the back) of each figure. Lettering on drawings should be professional quality or generated by high-resolution computer graphics and must be large enough to withstand appropriate reduction for publication.

Colour Figures. Illustrations in colour can be accepted only if the authors defray the cost. Mounted colour figures must be submitted on paper or flexible board due to the nature of the reproduction process.

Tables should be numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals in order of appearance in the text. Type each table double-spaced on a separate page with a short descriptive title typed directly above and with essential footnotes below. Tables longer than two manuscript pages should be submitted as clear, sharp glossy photographs. They will be reproduced by photoreproduction and should be designed to fit the journal page after 50% reduction in each dimension. Errors in such tables cannot be corrected in proof.

II. After acceptance

When your paper was accepted for printing in Materials Science we strongly encourages authors to submit an electronic version of their accepted manuscript.

Regardless of the software and file format used, one hard copy of the accepted version of the manuscript must be supplied.

III. Electronic manuscripts

□ Advantages

Electronic manuscripts have the advantage that there is no need for the rekeying of text, thereby avoiding the possibility of introducing errors during typesetting and resulting in reliable and fast delivery of proofs. Please remember that this electronic version must exactly match the final hard copy that was accepted.

□ Hardware/Software

It does not really matter which computer or wordprocessor you use; but it does help us to process your file further if you let us know such details. Please complete the form at the end of this leaflet and enclose it with e‑mail, the diskette or CD!ROM.

Note: We cannot guarantee the usability of all formats' much will depend on your adherence to the following guidelines. Should your file prove to be unusable, for whatever reason, we reserve the right to publish your article from the printout supplied.

□ Word‑Processing files

Most word-processing packages are acceptable; however, we prefers the authors use a recent version of Microsoft Word or Corel WordPerfect. Manuscripts saved with formatting intact are preferred. Rich-text format (.rtf extension) is acceptable, but plain text (.txt extension) files are discouraged.

Most formatting codes will be removed or replaced by codes on processing your article. It is therefore, not important how you display titles, headings, etc., as long as you do so in a consistent manner throughout the entire manuscript. If your word processor allows presentation in double column format or you have a page make-up option, do not use them: use the single column format. In addition, do not use options such as automatic word breaking or a justified layout. However, you are encouraged to use your wordprocessor's facilities to indicate text attributes, such as bold face, italics, subscript, superscript, etc.

The elements of the electronic file should be ordered so that all nontext elements, e.g., figure captions and footnotes, are out of the text stream. The footnotes should be placed after the figure legends at the end of the manuscript. Do not use the footnote function of the software. Thus, the order should be: title, author(s), affiliation(s) including e-mail addresses, abstract, keywords, main text, acknowledgements, appendix, references, figure legends, footnotes. Incorporate the above-listed components into one file.

Symbols and foreign characters can be set with word-processing software by altering typefaces to a corresponding font that displays the appropriate character. Use the Symbol font for Greek characters whenever possible. When special characters are unavailable, please note them on the hard-copy printout as not appearing properly in the electronic file. Do so by circling or making notes in the left margin.

Use the automatic word-processing wraparound feature and not hard returns (¶) for line breaks within a paragraph. Only use hard returns at the end of each paragraph and after heads. Use only one space between words and sentences. Do not use automated bulleting, numbering, or internal linking.

We may set tables from electronic files, typeset them conventionally, or scan them as graphics. Remember that, inside the table use tabs, not spaces, to align the columns. Therefore, when providing tables electronically, please place them in a file separate from the manuscript.

Use the software's spell-checking and page-numbering capabilities before final transmission. Do not embed graphics into a word-processing file. See the Graphics section below for instructions on preparing electronic artwork.

□ Keyboard discipline and accuracy

Do not use double-byte characters for special symbols. Please take care to distinguish properly between the digit 1 and the letter l (also 0 and O): do not use a lowercase letter "l" for a one or an uppercase letter "O" for a zero. Use tabs for indents (paragraphs), not spaces or the indent function. Be accurate: in processing your manuscript your typing errors might stay undetected. Use the spell check if your wordprocessor has such a feature.

Upon acceptance

After final revision, your electronic manuscript plus one hard copy an exactly matching versions (as printouts) should be submitted together to the accepting editor. The electronic manuscript and the printout(s) will then be forwarded to the publisher. It is important that the tile on electronic manuscript and the printout(s) are identical. Please note that no deviations from the version accepted by the Editor are permissible without the prior and explicit approval of the Editor. Such changes should be clearly indicated on an accompanying printout of the file.

□ Copyright transfer

The copyright of published papers will be vested in the publisher. All authors must sign the "Copyright Transfer Agreement" before the article can be published. This transfer agreement enables Wroclaw Technical University Press to protect the copyrighted material for the authors, but does not relinquish the author's proprietary rights.

□ Author benefits

The publisher will provide 25 offprints at no charge.

□ Problems?

If you run into any difficulties, are unsure about anything or would like further information, please do not hesitate to contact us:

Prof. Wieslaw Strek

Editor Materials Science

Institute for Low Temperature and Structure Research

P O. Box 1410, 50-950 Wroclaw

Poland

Phone: +48-71-343 50 21/177 Fax: +48-71-344 10 29

e-mail: ed@int.pan.wroc.pl or strek@int.pan.wroc.pl.

IV. Graphics

If you are considering the submission of your manuscript as an electronic file, you may wonder whether we would also like to have an electronic version of the illustrations. Although there are still a large number of technical difficulties to overcome, we are processing graphic files in a growing number of cases. Both scanned and computer‑generated illustrations created as line art images: drawings (line graphs) and bar charts, and as halftone images: pictures, photographs, micrographs, either colour or black & white are acceptable. The colour halftone will be printed as a grayscale images. (Note: the colour printing will be charge by author!)

□ Requirements

The following requirements are to be met:

Hard copy in all cases. Since we cannot a priori guarantee the usability of your graphic file(s) hard-copies of all illustrations should accompany the accepted printout of the manuscript in all cases. One set should be in publishable condition.

Diskette. Files should preferably be submitted on diskette IBM format. Submission via e-mail is not recommended for large files.

Format. BMP, TIFF, JPEG or EPS files are preferred. TIFF files should preferably be compressed, but only LZW compression is acceptable. JPEG halftone image files could be compressed, but JPEG line art files should be not compressed. Please note that corrections in EPS figures are only possible if they have been prepared with Adobe Illustrator 3.0 or higher versions. The usability of other formats is to a large extend dependent on the information you supply us with concerning the soft‑ and hardware used. It is a good idea to put the relevant information in the header of the file. The software and its original format could be used:

Adobe Photoshop from Adobe

Adobe Illustrator from Adobe

CorelDraw from Corel

MicrocalOrigin from Microcal Software

Chemdraw from CambridgeSoft

IsisDraw from MDL Information Systems

□ Resolution

Drawings made with Adobe Illustrator and CorelDraw (IBM/DOS) generally give good results. Drawings made in WordPerfect or Word generally have too low a resolution; only if made at a much higher resolution (1016 dpi) can they be used. Files of scanned line arts are acceptable if done at a minimum of 1016 dpi. For scanned halftone images a resolution of 300 dpi is sufficient. Scanned images compressed with JPEG usually give no problems. Please note that scanned images cannot be enlarged, only reduced.

□ Specifications

Please complete the form at the end of this leaflet and enclose it with the diskette(s) and the last revised (accepted) version of your manuscript.

V. Transmission of Electronic Materials

Authors are requested to include in their electronic submission a cover letter and all ancillary materials.

Transmission of electronic files is quicker and more reliable if the files are first compressed or encoded. Files created using most popular compression/encoding schemes from the Windows. Acceptable formats include: ZIP, RAR, CAB, ARC, ARJ, LHZ, TAR, TGZ, TAZ, TZ, GZ, Z, UU, UUE, XXE, BHX, MIM. All other formats and self-extracting archives (EXE and SEA), are not acceptable.

Important: Please choose unique, descriptive file names. File names should include the corresponding first author's last name (or it abbreviation). Examples: JohnsonText.doc, FoxTab2.doc or SmithFig3.tif.

□ E-mail

Manuscript files can be transmitted via e-mail if the total file size of all attached files does not exceed 2 megabytes. In the body of the e-mail, please submit a cover letter include the name of the journal to which the manuscript has been transmitted, the title of the manuscript, the names of all the authors, the type of computer used to create the files, the type of software and version number used to create the files, and a list of all file names.

□ Storage Media

We accept materials on 3.5-inch high-density (not double-density) diskettes or CD-ROMs (especially when the files are large ! more than 2MB). Diskettes should be formatted for DOS/Windows (not Macintosh). Note on the diskette label the operating system, software, file format, and version numbers used to create the disk: e.g., Windows 95 ! Word 97; Windows 98 ! WordPerfect 9. If you submit your electronic materials on one of these media, we recommend using the special packaging materials available and shipping them via a reputable express courier service.

Your file is valuable. Take no risks and use a new diskette. Save your file in the native format of the wordprocessor used. If you have the option to save your files in 'flat ASCII', please do not use it. Ensure that only the relevant file (one complete article only) and any graphics (see Section IV) are on the diskette.

We regret that storage media cannot be returned.

□ Don't forget

Label the diskette or CD with first author last name and the name of the file(s) name. Please do not forget to complete the form at the end of this leaflet und enclose it with the diskette and the last revised (accepted) version of your manuscript.

Check list for files on diskette or CD

If you are sending us a diskette or CD containing text and graphics files, you will help us considerably by completing the form below and enclosing it with your diskette, and the original manuscript + one hard copy of the accepted manuscript corretions.

Materials Science (check list)

Title of article: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Author(s): . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Text file