Instructions for Authors

1 General

Particle & Particle Systems Characterization accepts review articles, original papers (research reports as well as theoretical accounts) and short communications on all aspects that are implied by the journal's title and subtitle. Furthermore, comments on publications in Part. Part. Syst. Charact. are welcome if they contribute to the scientific discussion.

Manuscripts may be submitted to any member of the editorial board (please refer to first page for complete addresses).

Authors are encouraged to submit their manuscripts in electronic form (one document please). MS Word^®, Postscript or PDF-Files are all acceptable formats, however, PDF is the most preferred format. Please use E-Mail or any type of Windows^®-formatted medium (diskette, CD, ZIP-disk) to submit the electronic documents.

Alternatively, a printed version of the manuscript may be submitted in triplicate.

After acceptance of the manuscript, a printed version and an electronic version (refer to section 4) must be submitted.

All accepted manuscripts are edited before printing to ensure scientific consistency, clarity of presentation and uniformity of journal style.

The author for correspondence will receive proofs (in most cases as PDF files) after typesetting of the manuscript.

The author must inform the editor of manuscripts submitted, soon to be submitted, or in press in other journals that have a bearing on the manuscript being submitted. Part. Part. Syst. Charact. does not publish manuscripts that have already appeared in print or electronically.

2 Language

Papers must be written in English (American spelling). Authors who are less familiar with the English language should seek assistance from proficient colleagues in order to produce manuscripts that are grammatically and linguistically correct.

3 Organization of Manuscript

Authors are requested to adhere to the rules given below and to follow the examples in every detail.

3.1 Typing

Manuscripts must be typed with double spacing in all parts (including footnotes, references, tables, legends) on paper not exceeding 30 cm in height (standard A4 or 8.5 × 11 paper is appropriate) leaving a 4 cm left-hand margin.

In the manuscript title and all headings please capitalize the first letters of all words except conjunctions, articles and prepositions.

All variables should be written italicized in the text and in formulas, e.g., T = 293 K.

Abbreviations should be used thriftly. All abbreviations must be explained at their first occurrence in the text and in a list of abbreviations in the section "Nomenclature".

3.2 Size of Manuscript

Review articles should not exceed 35 typewritten pages.

Original papers should not exceed 20 typewritten pages.

Short communications should be limited to 8 typewritten pages plus not more than 4 illustrations.

3.3 Introductory Material

The first page of the manuscript should contain the following items in the sequence given:

a) The title of the paper with as many meaningful terms as possible, but limited to about 12 words.

b) The names of all authors with at least one forename spelled out for every author. Moreover, each author's last name is to be followed by an asterisk (or similar symbol) that refers to a footnote giving the author's address.

c) The line "(Received: ...)".

d) A footnote that repeats the names of all authors with academic titles and gives the author's affiliations with complete postal addresses. If authors are at different addresses, several footnotes are required. Furthermore, the corresponding author should be labeled "(corresponding author)" and a telephone number and E-Mail address should be given.

3.4 Abstract

The second page of the manuscript should start with an abstract that summarizes the contents of the paper. Its length should not exceed 15 lines. The abstract should be as informative as possible. An extended repetition of the paper's title is not considered to be an abstract.

Subsequently a line "Keywords: ..." should be added with 3 to 5 keywords specified in alphabetical order.

3.5 Division of Text

Manuscripts should be divided into sections and subsections by headings and subheadings which are numbered as in these Instructions.

The following sections are to be put at the end of the text in the sequence given: Acknowledgements, Nomenclature, References, Tables, Legends of Illustrations.

3.6 References

Responsibility for the accuracy of references rests with the authors.

References are to be limited in number to those necessary. Frequently, collective reference to older publications can be made by citing a review in which these publications are listed.

References are to be numbered sequentially in the order in which they are cited in the text. The numbers should be enclosed in square brackets, thus:

"... as was shown by Brown [1, 2], Johnson et al. [3-6]."

References are to be collected in numerical order at the end of the manuscript under the heading "References". They should also be typed with double spacing and correspond in detail to the following examples:

3.6.1 Journal Articles

The names of all authors should be given starting with initials of first names followed by the surname. Names of different authors should be separated by a comma (not by "and"). Titles of journals are to be abbreviated in accordance with the "Chemical Abstracts Service Source Index (CASSI)" and italicized. The journal title should be followed (no comma) by the year of publication (in boldface), comma, volume number (italicized), comma, page range, period. For example:

[1] J. E. Lee, P. Sinclair, Dynamics of Smokes, I: Size Characterization of Spherical Particles. Sci. Technol. 1978, 15, 315-319.

3.6.2 Unpublished Work

Papers that are unpublished but have been submitted to a journal may be cited with the journal's name followed by "submitted for publication" or "in press".

In all other cases reference must be made to "unpublished work" or "personal communication".

3.6.3 Books

[2] B. H. Kaye, Direct Characterization of Fineparticles. Wiley, New York, 1981, p. 112.

Titles of books must never be abbreviated.

3.6.4 Chapters from Multi-author Books

[3] H. M. Sutton, Flow Properties of Powders and the Role of Surface Character, in Characterization of Powder Surfaces (Eds.: G. D. Parfitt, K. S. W. Sing), Academic Press, London, 1976, pp. 107-158.

3.6.5 Theses

[4] E. D. Hirleman, Optical Technique for Particulate Characterization in Combustion Environments, PhD Thesis, Purdue University, 1977.

3.6.6 Patents

[5] B. O. Miller, U.S. Pat. 2542356 (1952), Dow Chemical Co.; [Chem. Abstr. 1961, 51, 2870].

3.7 Footnotes

Footnotes to the text are to be avoided. If comments or explanations on the text must be given separately, they are to be handled in the same way as references (see Section 3.6): They are to be referred to by numbers in square brackets and are to be included with the list of references in the places corresponding to their numbers.

3.8 Tables

Every table must be referred to in the text.

Tables are to be numbered with Arabic numerals in the sequence in which they occur.

They are to be typed on extra pages (one page per table) at the end of the manuscript.

In the text, the position at which a table belongs is to be marked by "Table ..." in the middle of an extra line. Every table must begin with a caption that starts with, e.g., "Table 3:". The caption must explain in detail the contents of the table. As for the table itself, it must be written so that it can be read and understood without reference to the text.

Every column and every line of a table must he labeled unambiguously and indicate units wherever data are reported.

3.9 Figures

3.9.1 General Remarks

Figures will be printed in black and white unless special circumstances demand the use of color. Colored figures can only be printed if the author is prepared to pay part of the costs incurred. For more information please contact the publisher (please refer to first page for contact information).

Every figure must be referred to in the text.

Figures must be submitted on separate pages. Their size should be large to ensure best print quality after size reduction. Every figure will be reduced to a width of 85 mm by the publisher. Larger sizes can be printed in exceptional cases only. Numbers, letters and symbols inscribed must be large enough to be still 1,5 mm high after the figure has been reduced to the printing format.

All figures are to be numbered with Arabic numerals in the sequence in which they are cited. In the text, the position at which a figure belongs is to be marked by "Figure ..." in the middle of an extra line.

Every figure must be accompanied by a legend that begins with for example, "Fig. 5:". The legend must explain in detail the contents of the figure and - as the figure itself - must be comprehensible without reference to the text. Legends are not to be typed under the figures, but should be collected on separate pages at the end of the manuscript.

Particular care should be taken to ensure that all figures reporting data are unambiguously labeled with regard to units and, in their legends, provide adequate information about the conditions under which the data were obtained.

3.9.2 Diagrams

Special symbols used in a diagram should be explained in the drawing rather than in the legend, as the typesetter may not have special symbols available.

3.9.3 Photographs (Halftones)

Photographs of apparatus, microscopic views or other items are to be submitted as glossy prints or as electronic images.

3.9.4 Representation of Results of Particle Size Analysis

The graphical representation of particle size analysis data and the nomenclature used to characterize common entities such as particle size, cumulative and density values of distribution should follow the recommendations given in the International Standard ISO 9276-1.

3.10 Structural Diagrams and Mathematical Equations

Structural diagrams of molecules as well as mathematical equations should be drawn or written in the manuscript at the places in which they belong. They should always stand alone, i.e. occupy extra lines. All equations should be labeled consecutively with Arabic numerals in parentheses in the right-hand margin. Reference to equations in the text: Eq. (5).

3.11 Quantities, Units, Abbreviations, Nomenclature

Only Sl quantities and units are to be used. If data with non-SI units are to be reported, they should be put in parentheses behind the corresponding data with Sl units.

Symbols used to represent variables, constants, quantities, properties, etc. as well as abbreviations must be defined in the text at their first occurence. In addition, a list of symbols and a list of abbreviations (if applicable) in alphabetical order must be compiled at the end of the text under the heading "Nomenclature". The list of symbols should include the symbol, its unit and the meaning. For example:

4 Preparing the Final Manuscript in Electronic Form

An electronic version of the final revised manuscript should be submitted together with a printed version after the paper has been accepted for publication. In order to save unnecessary work it is advisable to follow the guidelines below already when preparing the initial version of the manuscript.

1. The text should be typed as "continuous text", that is with carriage returns only at the end of a paragraph.
2. The manuscript should not be fragmented into separate files (including text, formulas, tables, legends). Please save only the graphics in separate files.
3. Graphics should not be integrated in the text. Please store them in separate files. Most preferable formats are Postscript, EPS, TIFF and bitmap (TIFF and bitmap in high resolution, at least 600 dpi).
4. The text should be stored in two formats: in the standard format of the word-processing program (no PDF this time) and in RTF (rich text format).
5. Tables should be submitted as text and not as graphical elements.
6. Preferred word-processing programs are: Microsoft Word^® and WordPerfect^®. Documents prepared with other word-processing programs will be converted if possible.
7. Please use only one font type (except for Greek letters, which should be typed in the Symbol font). Special characters should be highlighted in the hard copy.
8. Please label the storage medium with the name of the main author and the manuscript number.