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AUTHOR INFORMATION PACK 12 Aug 2015 www.elsevier.com/locate/is 1 INFORMATION SYSTEMS AUTHOR INFORMATION PACK TABLE OF CONTENTS . XXX . Description Audience Impact Factor Abstracting and Indexing Editorial Board Guide for Authors p.1 p.2 p.2 p.2 p.2 p.4 ISSN: 0306-4379 DESCRIPTION . Information systems are the software and hardware systems that support data-intensive applications. The journal Information Systems publishes articles concerning the design and implementation of languages, data models, process models, algorithms, software and hardware for information systems. Subject areas include data management issues as presented in the principal international database conferences (e.g. ACM SIGMOD, ACM PODS, VLDB, ICDE and ICDT/EDBT) as well as data-related issues from the fields of data mining, information retrieval, internet and cloud data management, web semantics, visual and audio information systems, scientific computing, and organisational behaviour. Implementation papers having to do with massively parallel data management, fault tolerance in practice, and special purpose hardware for data-intensive systems are also welcome. All papers should motivate the problems they address with compelling examples from real or potential applications. Systems papers must be serious about experimentation either on real systems or simulations based on traces from real systems. Papers from industrial organisations are welcome. Theoretical papers should have a clear motivation from applications. They should either break significant new ground or unify and extend existing algorithms. Such papers should clearly state which ideas have potentially wide applicability. In addition to publishing submitted articles, the Editors-in-Chief will invite retrospective articles that describe significant projects by the principal architects of those projects. Authors of such articles should write in the first person, tracing the social as well as technical history of their projects, describing the evolution of ideas, mistakes made, and reality tests. Technical results should be explained in a uniform notation with the emphasis on clarity and on ideas that may have applications outside of the environment of that research. Particularly complex details may be summarised with references to previously published papers. We will make every effort to allow authors the right to republish papers appearing in Information Systems in their own books and monographs. Editors-in-Chief: Dennis Shasha Gottfried Vossen

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Page 1: 0306-4379dd

AUTHOR INFORMATION PACK 12 Aug 2015 www.elsevier.com/locate/is 1

INFORMATION SYSTEMS

AUTHOR INFORMATION PACK

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

XXX.

• Description• Audience• Impact Factor• Abstracting and Indexing• Editorial Board• Guide for Authors

p.1p.2p.2p.2p.2p.4

ISSN: 0306-4379

DESCRIPTION.

Information systems are the software and hardware systems that support data-intensiveapplications. The journal Information Systems publishes articles concerning the design andimplementation of languages, data models, process models, algorithms, software and hardware forinformation systems.

Subject areas include data management issues as presented in the principal international databaseconferences (e.g. ACM SIGMOD, ACM PODS, VLDB, ICDE and ICDT/EDBT) as well as data-relatedissues from the fields of data mining, information retrieval, internet and cloud data management, websemantics, visual and audio information systems, scientific computing, and organisational behaviour.Implementation papers having to do with massively parallel data management, fault tolerance inpractice, and special purpose hardware for data-intensive systems are also welcome.

All papers should motivate the problems they address with compelling examples from real or potentialapplications. Systems papers must be serious about experimentation either on real systems orsimulations based on traces from real systems. Papers from industrial organisations are welcome.

Theoretical papers should have a clear motivation from applications. They should either breaksignificant new ground or unify and extend existing algorithms. Such papers should clearly state whichideas have potentially wide applicability.

In addition to publishing submitted articles, the Editors-in-Chief will invite retrospective articles thatdescribe significant projects by the principal architects of those projects. Authors of such articlesshould write in the first person, tracing the social as well as technical history of their projects,describing the evolution of ideas, mistakes made, and reality tests.Technical results should be explained in a uniform notation with the emphasis on clarity and on ideasthat may have applications outside of the environment of that research. Particularly complex detailsmay be summarised with references to previously published papers.

We will make every effort to allow authors the right to republish papers appearing in InformationSystems in their own books and monographs.

Editors-in-Chief:Dennis ShashaGottfried Vossen

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AUDIENCE.

Researchers and Practitioners involved in information systems, in particular the management ofdatabases, information retrieval and programming languages.

IMPACT FACTOR.

2014: 1.456 © Thomson Reuters Journal Citation Reports 2015

ABSTRACTING AND INDEXING.

ASLIBBIOSISElsevier BIOBASECompuScienceCambridge Scientific AbstractsChemical AbstractsComputer ContentsCurrent Contents/CompuMathCurrent Contents/Engineering, Computing & TechnologyCurrent Contents/SciSearch DatabaseInformation Science AbstractsLibrary and Information Science AbstractsERICEngineering IndexINSPECPASCAL/CNRSPIRAResearch AlertSSSA/CISA/ECA/ISMECZentralblatt MATHScopus

EDITORIAL BOARD.

Editors-in-Chief

Felix Naumann, Universität Potsdam, Potsdam, GermanyDennis Shasha, New York University, New York, New York, USAGottfried Vossen, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Muenster, Germany

Area Editors

Sihem Amer-Yahia, Yahoo! Labs - New York, New York, New York, USATorben Bach Pedersen, Aalborg University, Aalborg Øst, DenmarkCarsten Binnig, Baden-Wuerttemberg Cooperative State University, Mannheim, GermanyRainer Böhme, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Münster, GermanyPhilippe Bonnet, University of Copenhagen, København Ø, DenmarkFelipe Carino Jr., Carino Consulting, Arcadia, California, USALukasz Golab, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, CanadaMing Hua, Facebook, Menlo Park, California, USAYannis Ioannidis, University of Athens, Athens, Ilisia, GreeceBettina Kemme, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Quebec, CanadaFlip Korn, ATT Labs Research, Florham Park, New Jersey, USATim Kraska, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USALaks Lakshmanan, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, CanadaMaurizio Lenzerini, Università di Roma "La Sapienza", Roma, ItalyPericles Loucopoulos, Loughborough University, Leicestershire, England, UKAmélie Marian, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey, USARalf Schenkel, Universität Passau, Passau, GermanyDan Suciu, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USAJens Teubner, Technische Universität Dortmund, Dortmund, Germany

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Martin Theobald, Universiteit Antwerpen, Antwerpen, BelgiumJan van den Bussche, Universiteit Hasselt, Diepenbeek, BelgiumMathias Weske, Universität Potsdam, Potsdam, GermanyLimsoon Wong, National University of Singapore, Singapore, SingaporeXifeng Yan, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California, USA

Editorial Advisory Board

M. Arenas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, ChileP.A. Bernstein, Microsoft Research, Redmond, Washington, USAC. Bin, Peking University, Beijing, ChinaA.F. Cardenas, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USAM. Castellanos, Hewlett Packard Labs, Palo Alto, California, USAR. Cheng, The University of Hong Kong, Hong KongF. Crestani, Università della Svizzera Italiana (USI), Lugano, SwitzerlandA. Cuzzocrea, Università della Calabria, Rende, ItalyM.L. Damiani, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, ItalyG.C. Everest, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USAA.L. Furtado, Pontificia Universidade Catolica (PUC), Rio de Janeiro, BrazilA. Gal, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, IsraelT. Härder, Technische Universität Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern, GermanyT. Johnson, AT&T Research, Florham Park, New Jersey, USAF. Li, The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USAS. Link, University of Auckland, Auckland, New ZealandV. Markl, Technische Universität Berlin (TUB), Berlin, GermanyW. Martens, Universität Bayreuth, Bayreuth, GermanyG. NavarroS.B. Navathe, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USAT. Palpanas, Université Paris Descartes, Paris, FranceD. Papadias, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong, ChinaM. Papazoglou, Tilburg University, Tilburg, NetherlandsM. Reichert, Universität Ulm, Ulm, GermanyM. Riedewald, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, USAS. Rinderle-Ma, Universität Wien, Vienna, AustriaS. Rozen, Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USAM. Safar, Kuwait University, Kuwait, KuwaitT. Skopal, Charles University in Prague, Prague, Czech RepublicV. Tannen, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USAA. Tomasic, Vercelle Laboratories, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USAS. Vansummeren, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Bruxelles, BelgiumJ.T.L. Wang, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, New Jersey, USAW. Wang, Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, New Jersey, USAA.I. Wasserman, Carnegie Mellon University, Moffett Field, California, USAB. Weber, Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck, Innsbruck, AustriaM. Weidlich, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, IsraelJ. Xu, Yahoo! Inc. Labs - Sunnyvale, Sunnyvale, California, USAM. Yiu, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong KongX. Yu, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

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GUIDE FOR AUTHORS.

Information Systems publishes articles concerning the design and implementation of languages, datamodels, software and hardware for information systems.

BEFORE YOU BEGINEthics in publishingFor information on Ethics in publishing and Ethical guidelines for journal publication seehttp://www.elsevier.com/publishingethics and http://www.elsevier.com/journal-authors/ethics.

Conflict of interestAll 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 thesubmitted work that could inappropriately influence, or be perceived to influence, their work. Seealso http://www.elsevier.com/conflictsofinterest. Further information and an example of a Conflict ofInterest form can be found at: http://help.elsevier.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/286/p/7923.

Submission declaration and verificationSubmission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (exceptin the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis or as an electronicpreprint, see http://www.elsevier.com/sharingpolicy), that it is not under consideration for publicationelsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsibleauthorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewherein the same form, in English or in any other language, including electronically without the writtenconsent of the copyright-holder. To verify originality, your article may be checked by the originalitydetection service CrossCheck http://www.elsevier.com/editors/plagdetect.

Changes to authorshipThis policy concerns the addition, deletion, or rearrangement of author names in the authorship ofaccepted 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 authorof 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 thatthey 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 bythe corresponding author will be forwarded by the Journal Manager to the corresponding author, whomust follow the procedure as described above. Note that: (1) Journal Managers will inform the JournalEditors of any such requests and (2) publication of the accepted manuscript in an online issue issuspended until authorship has been agreed.After the accepted manuscript is published in an online issue: Any requests to add, delete, or rearrangeauthor names in an article published in an online issue will follow the same policies as noted aboveand result in a corrigendum.

CopyrightUpon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to complete a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' (formore information on this and copyright, see http://www.elsevier.com/copyright). An e-mail will besent to the corresponding author confirming receipt of the manuscript together with a 'JournalPublishing 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 internalcirculation within their institutions. Permission of the Publisher is required for resale or distributionoutside 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 areincluded, the author(s) must obtain written permission from the copyright owners and credit thesource(s) in the article. Elsevier has preprinted forms for use by authors in these cases: please consulthttp://www.elsevier.com/permissions.

For open access articles: Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to complete an 'ExclusiveLicense Agreement' (for more information see http://www.elsevier.com/OAauthoragreement).Permitted third party reuse of open access articles is determined by the author's choice of user license(see http://www.elsevier.com/openaccesslicenses).

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Author rightsAs an author you (or your employer or institution) have certain rights to reuse your work. For moreinformation see http://www.elsevier.com/copyright.

Role of the funding sourceYou are requested to identify who provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/orpreparation of the article and to briefly describe the role of the sponsor(s), if any, in study design; inthe collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision tosubmit the article for publication. If the funding source(s) had no such involvement then this shouldbe stated.

Funding body agreements and policiesElsevier has established a number of agreements with funding bodies which allow authorsto comply with their funder's open access policies. Some authors may also be reimbursedfor associated publication fees. To learn more about existing agreements please visithttp://www.elsevier.com/fundingbodies.

Open accessThis journal offers authors a choice in publishing their research:

Open access• Articles are freely available to both subscribers and the wider public with permitted reuse• An open access publication fee is payable by authors or on their behalf e.g. by their research funderor institutionSubscription• Articles are made available to subscribers as well as developing countries and patient groups throughour universal access programs (http://www.elsevier.com/access).• No open access publication fee payable by authors.

Regardless of how you choose to publish your article, the journal will apply the same peer reviewcriteria and acceptance standards.

For open access articles, permitted third party (re)use is defined by the following Creative Commonsuser licenses:

Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)Lets others distribute and copy the article, create extracts, abstracts, and other revised versions,adaptations or derivative works of or from an article (such as a translation), include in a collectivework (such as an anthology), text or data mine the article, even for commercial purposes, as longas they credit the author(s), do not represent the author as endorsing their adaptation of the article,and do not modify the article in such a way as to damage the author's honor or reputation.

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND)For non-commercial purposes, lets others distribute and copy the article, and to include in a collectivework (such as an anthology), as long as they credit the author(s) and provided they do not alter ormodify the article.

The open access publication fee for this journal is USD 3100, excluding taxes. Learn more aboutElsevier's pricing policy: http://www.elsevier.com/openaccesspricing.

Green open accessAuthors can share their research in a variety of different ways and Elsevier has a number of greenopen access options available. We recommend authors see our green open access page for furtherinformation (http://elsevier.com/greenopenaccess). Authors can also self-archive their manuscriptsimmediately and enable public access from their institution's repository after an embargo period. Thisis the version that has been accepted for publication and which typically includes author-incorporatedchanges suggested during submission, peer review and in editor-author communications. Embargoperiod: For subscription articles, an appropriate amount of time is needed for journals to deliver valueto subscribing customers before an article becomes freely available to the public. This is the embargoperiod and begins from the publication date of the issue your article appears in.

This journal has an embargo period of 24 months.

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Language (usage and editing services)Please write your text in good English (American or British usage is accepted, but not amixture of these). Authors who feel their English language manuscript may require editingto eliminate possible grammatical or spelling errors and to conform to correct scientificEnglish may wish to use the English Language Editing service available from Elsevier'sWebShop (http://webshop.elsevier.com/languageediting/) or visit our customer support site(http://support.elsevier.com) for more information.

SubmissionOur online submission system guides you stepwise through the process of entering your articledetails and uploading your files. The system converts your article files to a single PDF file used inthe peer-review process. Editable files (e.g., Word, LaTeX) are required to typeset your article forfinal publication. All correspondence, including notification of the Editor's decision and requests forrevision, is sent by e-mail.

RefereesPlease submit the names and institutional e-mail addresses of several potential referees. For moredetails, visit our Support site. Note that the editor retains the sole right to decide whether or not thesuggested reviewers are used.

PREPARATIONUse of word processing softwareIt is important that the file be saved in the native format of the word processor used. The textshould be in single-column format. Keep the layout of the text as simple as possible. Most formattingcodes 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 eachindividual 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 thatsource files of figures, tables and text graphics will be required whether or not you embed your figuresin 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 word processor.

LaTeXYou are recommended to use the Elsevier article class elsarticle.cls(http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/elsarticle) to prepare your manuscript andBibTeX (http://www.bibtex.org) to generate your bibliography.For detailed submission instructions, templates and other information on LaTeX, seehttp://www.elsevier.com/latex.

Article structureSubdivision - numbered sectionsDivide your article into clearly defined and numbered sections. Subsections should be numbered1.1 (then 1.1.1, 1.1.2, ...), 1.2, etc. (the abstract is not included in section numbering). Use thisnumbering also for internal cross-referencing: do not just refer to 'the text'. Any subsection may begiven a brief heading. Each heading should appear on its own separate line.

IntroductionState the objectives of the work and provide an adequate background, avoiding a detailed literaturesurvey or a summary of the results.

Material and methodsProvide sufficient detail to allow the work to be reproduced. Methods already published should beindicated by a reference: only relevant modifications should be described.

Theory/calculationA Theory section should extend, not repeat, the background to the article already dealt with in theIntroduction and lay the foundation for further work. In contrast, a Calculation section represents apractical development from a theoretical basis.

ResultsResults should be clear and concise.

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DiscussionThis should explore the significance of the results of the work, not repeat them. A combined Resultsand Discussion section is often appropriate. Avoid extensive citations and discussion of publishedliterature.

ConclusionsThe main conclusions of the study may be presented in a short Conclusions section, which may standalone or form a subsection of a Discussion or Results and Discussion section.

AppendicesIf there is more than one appendix, they should be identified as A, B, etc. Formulae and equations inappendices 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. Avoidabbreviations and formulae where possible.• Author names and affiliations. Please clearly indicate the given name(s) and family name(s)of each author and check that all names are accurately spelled. Present the authors' affiliationaddresses (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, thee-mail address of each author.• Corresponding author. Clearly indicate who will handle correspondence at all stages of refereeingand publication, also post-publication. Ensure that the e-mail address is given and that contactdetails are kept up to date by the corresponding author.• Present/permanent address. If an author has moved since the work described in the article wasdone, or was visiting at the time, a 'Present address' (or 'Permanent address') may be indicated asa footnote to that author's name. The address at which the author actually did the work must beretained as the main, affiliation address. Superscript Arabic numerals are used for such footnotes.

AbstractA concise and factual abstract is required. The abstract should state briefly the purpose of theresearch, the principal results and major conclusions. An abstract is often presented separately fromthe article, so it must be able to stand alone. For this reason, References should be avoided, but ifessential, then cite the author(s) and year(s). Also, non-standard or uncommon abbreviations shouldbe avoided, but if essential they must be defined at their first mention in the abstract itself.

HighlightsHighlights are mandatory for this journal. They consist of a short collection of bullet points thatconvey the core findings of the article and should be submitted in a separate editable file in theonline 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/highlightsfor examples.

KeywordsImmediately after the abstract, provide a maximum of 6 keywords, using American spelling andavoiding general and plural terms and multiple concepts (avoid, for example, 'and', 'of'). Be sparingwith abbreviations: only abbreviations firmly established in the field may be eligible. These keywordswill be used for indexing purposes.

AbbreviationsDefine abbreviations that are not standard in this field in a footnote to be placed on the first pageof the article. Such abbreviations that are unavoidable in the abstract must be defined at their firstmention there, as well as in the footnote. Ensure consistency of abbreviations throughout the article.

AcknowledgementsCollate acknowledgements in a separate section at the end of the article before the references and donot, therefore, include them on the title page, as a footnote to the title or otherwise. List here thoseindividuals who provided help during the research (e.g., providing language help, writing assistanceor proof reading the article, etc.).

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UnitsFollow internationally accepted rules and conventions: use the international system of units (SI). Ifother units are mentioned, please give their equivalent in SI.

Math formulaePlease submit math equations as editable text and not as images. Present simple formulae inline with normal text where possible and use the solidus (/) instead of a horizontal line for smallfractional terms, e.g., X/Y. In principle, variables are to be presented in italics. Powers of e are oftenmore conveniently denoted by exp. Number consecutively any equations that have to be displayedseparately from the text (if referred to explicitly in the text).

FootnotesFootnotes should be used sparingly. Number them consecutively throughout the article. Many wordprocessors can build footnotes into the text, and this feature may be used. Otherwise, please indicatethe position of footnotes in the text and list the footnotes themselves separately at the end of thearticle. Do not include footnotes in the Reference list.

ArtworkElectronic artworkGeneral points• Make sure you use uniform lettering and sizing of your original artwork.• Embed the used fonts if the application provides that option.• Aim to use the following fonts in your illustrations: Arial, Courier, Times New Roman, Symbol, oruse fonts that look similar.• Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text.• Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files.• Provide captions to illustrations separately.• Size the illustrations close to the desired dimensions of the published version.• Submit each illustration 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.FormatsIf your electronic artwork is created in a Microsoft Office application (Word, PowerPoint, Excel) thenplease supply 'as is' in the native document format.Regardless of the application used other than Microsoft Office, when your electronic artwork isfinalized, please 'Save as' or convert the images to one of the following formats (note the resolutionrequirements for line drawings, halftones, and line/halftone combinations given below):EPS (or PDF): Vector drawings, embed all used fonts.TIFF (or JPEG): Color or grayscale photographs (halftones), keep to a minimum of 300 dpi.TIFF (or JPEG): Bitmapped (pure black & white pixels) line drawings, keep to a minimum of 1000 dpi.TIFF (or JPEG): Combinations bitmapped line/half-tone (color or grayscale), keep to a minimum of500 dpi.Please do not:• Supply files that are optimized for screen use (e.g., GIF, BMP, PICT, WPG); these typically have alow number of pixels and limited set of colors;• Supply files that are too low in resolution;• Submit graphics that are disproportionately large for the content.

Color artworkPlease make sure that artwork files are in an acceptable format (TIFF (or JPEG), EPS (or PDF), orMS Office files) and with the correct resolution. If, together with your accepted article, you submitusable color figures then Elsevier will ensure, at no additional charge, that these figures will appearin color online (e.g., ScienceDirect and other sites) regardless of whether or not these illustrationsare reproduced in color in the printed version. For color reproduction in print, you will receiveinformation regarding the costs from Elsevier after receipt of your accepted article. Pleaseindicate your preference for color: in print or online only. For further information on the preparationof electronic artwork, please see http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.Please note: Because of technical complications that can arise by converting color figures to 'grayscale' (for the printed version should you not opt for color in print) please submit in addition usableblack and white versions of all the color illustrations.

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Figure captionsEnsure that each illustration has a caption. Supply captions separately, not attached to the figure. Acaption should comprise a brief title (not on the figure itself) and a description of the illustration. Keeptext in the illustrations themselves to a minimum but explain all symbols and abbreviations used.

TablesPlease submit tables as editable text and not as images. Tables can be placed either next to therelevant text in the article, or on separate page(s) at the end. Number tables consecutively inaccordance with their appearance in the text and place any table notes below the table body. Besparing in the use of tables and ensure that the data presented in them do not duplicate resultsdescribed elsewhere in the article. Please avoid using vertical rules.

ReferencesCitation in textPlease ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and viceversa). Any references cited in the abstract must be given in full. Unpublished results and personalcommunications are not recommended in the reference list, but may be mentioned in the text. If thesereferences are included in the reference list they should follow the standard reference style of thejournal 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 acceptedfor publication.

Reference linksIncreased discoverability of research and high quality peer review are ensured by online links tothe sources cited. In order to allow us to create links to abstracting and indexing services, such asScopus, CrossRef and PubMed, please ensure that data provided in the references are correct. Pleasenote that incorrect surnames, journal/book titles, publication year and pagination may prevent linkcreation. When copying references, please be careful as they may already contain errors. Use of theDOI is encouraged.

Web referencesAs a minimum, the full URL should be given and the date when the reference was last accessed. Anyfurther 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 adifferent heading if desired, or can be included in the reference list.

References in a special issuePlease ensure that the words 'this issue' are added to any references in the list (and any citations inthe text) to other articles in the same Special Issue.

Reference management softwareMost Elsevier journals have a standard template available in key referencemanagement packages. This covers packages using the Citation Style Language,such as Mendeley (http://www.mendeley.com/features/reference-manager) and also otherslike EndNote (http://www.endnote.com/support/enstyles.asp) and Reference Manager(http://refman.com/support/rmstyles.asp). Using plug-ins to word processing packages which areavailable from the above sites, authors only need to select the appropriate journal template whenpreparing their article and the list of references and citations to these will be formatted accordingto the journal style as described in this Guide. The process of including templates in these packagesis constantly ongoing. If the journal you are looking for does not have a template available yet,please see the list of sample references and citations provided in this Guide to help you format theseaccording to the journal style.

If you manage your research with Mendeley Desktop, you can easily install the reference style forthis journal by clicking the link below:http://open.mendeley.com/use-citation-style/information-systemsWhen preparing your manuscript, you will then be able to select this style using the Mendeley plug-ins for Microsoft Word or LibreOffice. For more information about the Citation Style Language, visithttp://citationstyles.org.

Reference formattingThere are no strict requirements on reference formatting at submission. References can be in any styleor format as long as the style is consistent. Where applicable, author(s) name(s), journal title/booktitle, chapter title/article title, year of publication, volume number/book chapter and the pagination

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must be present. Use of DOI is highly encouraged. The reference style used by the journal will beapplied to the accepted article by Elsevier at the proof stage. Note that missing data will be highlightedat proof stage for the author to correct. If you do wish to format the references yourself they shouldbe arranged according to the following examples:

Reference styleText: Indicate references by number(s) in square brackets in line with the text. The actual authorscan 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 appearin 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.

Journal abbreviations sourceJournal names should be abbreviated according to the List of Title Word Abbreviations:http://www.issn.org/services/online-services/access-to-the-ltwa/.

Video dataElsevier accepts video material and animation sequences to support and enhance your scientificresearch. Authors who have video or animation files that they wish to submit with their article arestrongly encouraged to include links to these within the body of the article. This can be done in thesame way as a figure or table by referring to the video or animation content and noting in the bodytext where it should be placed. All submitted files should be properly labeled so that they directlyrelate to the video file's content. In order to ensure that your video or animation material is directlyusable, please provide the files in one of our recommended file formats with a preferred maximumsize of 150 MB. Video and animation files supplied will be published online in the electronic versionof 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 ormake a separate image. These will be used instead of standard icons and will personalize thelink to your video data. For more detailed instructions please visit our video instruction pages athttp://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions. Note: since video and animation cannot be embeddedin the print version of the journal, please provide text for both the electronic and the print versionfor the portions of the article that refer to this content.

AudioSlidesThe journal encourages authors to create an AudioSlides presentation with their published article.AudioSlides are brief, webinar-style presentations that are shown next to the online article onScienceDirect. This gives authors the opportunity to summarize their research in their own words andto help readers understand what the paper is about. More information and examples are available athttp://www.elsevier.com/audioslides. Authors of this journal will automatically receive an invitatione-mail to create an AudioSlides presentation after acceptance of their paper.

Supplementary materialElsevier 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 bepublished online alongside the electronic version of your article in Elsevier Web products, includingScienceDirect: http://www.sciencedirect.com. In order to ensure that your submitted material isdirectly usable, please provide the data in one of our recommended file formats. Authors shouldsubmit the material in electronic format together with the article and supply a concise and descriptivecaption for each file. For more detailed instructions please visit our artwork instruction pages athttp://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.

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Interactive plotsThis journal enables you to show an Interactive Plot with your article by simply submitting a data file.For instructions please go to http://www.elsevier.com/interactiveplots.

Submission checklistThe following list will be useful during the final checking of an article prior to sending it to the journalfor 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 addressAll 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 theInternet)Printed version of figures (if applicable) in color or black-and-white• Indicate clearly whether or not color or black-and-white in print is required.• For reproduction in black-and-white, please supply black-and-white versions of the figures forprinting purposes.For any further information please visit our customer support site at http://support.elsevier.com.

AFTER ACCEPTANCEUse of the Digital Object IdentifierThe Digital Object Identifier (DOI) may be used to cite and link to electronic documents. The DOIconsists of a unique alpha-numeric character string which is assigned to a document by the publisherupon the initial electronic publication. The assigned DOI never changes. Therefore, it is an idealmedium for citing a document, particularly 'Articles in press' because they have not yet received theirfull bibliographic information. Example of a correctly given DOI (in URL format; here an article in thejournal Physics Letters B):http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2010.09.059When you use a DOI to create links to documents on the web, the DOIs are guaranteed never tochange.

ProofsOne set of page proofs (as PDF files) will be sent by e-mail to the corresponding author (if we donot have an e-mail address then paper proofs will be sent by post) or, a link will be provided inthe e-mail so that authors can download the files themselves. Elsevier now provides authors withPDF proofs which can be annotated; for this you will need to download Adobe Reader version 9 (orhigher) available free from http://get.adobe.com/reader. Instructions on how to annotate PDF fileswill accompany the proofs (also given online). The exact system requirements are given at the Adobesite: 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 (includingreplies to the Query Form) and return them to Elsevier in an e-mail. Please list your correctionsquoting line number. If, for any reason, this is not possible, then mark the corrections and any othercomments (including replies to the Query Form) on a printout of your proof and return by fax, or scanthe 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 asaccepted for publication will only be considered at this stage with permission from the Editor. Wewill do everything possible to get your article published quickly and accurately. It is important toensure that all corrections are sent back to us in one communication: please check carefully beforereplying, as inclusion of any subsequent corrections cannot be guaranteed. Proofreading is solelyyour responsibility.

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OffprintsThe corresponding author, at no cost, will be provided with a personalized link providing 50days free access to the final published version of the article on ScienceDirect. This link canalso be used for sharing via email and social networks. For an extra charge, paper offprintscan be ordered via the offprint order form which is sent once the article is accepted forpublication. Both corresponding and co-authors may order offprints at any time via Elsevier'sWebShop (http://webshop.elsevier.com/myarticleservices/offprints). Authors requiring printed copiesof multiple articles may use Elsevier WebShop's 'Create Your Own Book' service to collate multiplearticles within a single cover (http://webshop.elsevier.com/myarticleservices/booklets).

AUTHOR INQUIRIESYou can track your submitted article at http://www.elsevier.com/track-submission. You can track youraccepted article at http://www.elsevier.com/trackarticle. You are also welcome to contact CustomerSupport via http://support.elsevier.com.

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