Crystal Engineering - Instructions to Authors
Authors are encouraged to submit their articles online via CrystSubmit. We will endeavour to
publish articles submitted using CrystSubmit within 10 days of acceptance on the Crystal
Engineering website (Crystal-Engineering.net). Authors may also submit directly to the Editorin-Chief by e-mail or by regular mail if they are unable to use CrystSubmit; however, we can not
guarantee the same rapid publication times.
Instructions to Authors who use CrystSubmit
Best results can be obtained by retrieving and using the template appropriate to your word
processor from CrystSubmit via Crystal-Engineering.net
CrystSubmit is an online submission and review environment and as such follows a different
way of working than a conventional paper submission system. Authors are required to go to the
website and upload their article (compuscript) and its associated artwork; an electronic (PDF)
proof is generated and the reviewing process is carried out using that PDF. Authors and editors
send and receive all correspondence by e-mail and no paper correspondence is performed.
However, authors are legally obliged to sign and return a physical copyright transfer form by
conventional mail.
Note: compuscripts submitted via CrystSubmit are used to generate a PDF file for the review
process but may be edited after acceptance to follow journal standards. It is important that all
graphical and tabular elements be placed within the text, this will allow the preferred position of
placement to be indicated; however, please note that due to journal conventions, it may not be
possible to meet all requirements for placement of artwork.
Journal policy
Papers must be in English. Papers are submitted on the understanding that the subject matter has
not been previously published and is not being submitted elsewhere. Authors must accept full
responsibility for the factual accuracy of the data presented and should obtain any authorization
necessary for publication.
Compuscript preparation
The corresponding author’s full e-mail address and fax number are required by the CrystSubmit
submission process. The compuscript will be used to generate a PDF file and should be compiled
in the normal order.
Text: We can accept most word-processing formats (but prefer Microsoft Word: IBM or
Macintosh). Most formatting codes will be removed or replaced on processing your article so
there is no need for you to use excessive layout styling. In addition, do not use options such as
automatic word breaking, justified layout, double columns, automatic paragraph numbering
(especially for numbered references) or EndNote. However, do use bold face, italic, subscripts,
superscripts, etc.
Title: The title should be brief, specific and rich in informative words.
Authors and affiliations: Where possible, supply given names, middle initials and family names
for complete identification. Use superscript lowercase letters to indicate different addresses,
which should be as detailed as possible, and must include the country name. The corresponding
author should be indicated with an asterisk, and contact details (fax, e-mail) should be placed in a
footnote. There should be only one corresponding author. Information relating to other authors
(e.g. present addresses) should be placed in footnotes indicated by the appropriate symbols (see
below).
Abstract: Authors must include a short abstract that states briefly the purpose of the research, the
principal results and major conclusions. References and compound numbers should not be
mentioned in the abstract unless full details are given.
Keywords: Provide up to five keywords for indexing.
Article body: Articles should generally be presented as follows: title of paper, names and
affiliations of authors, Abstract (not to exceed 150 words), Keywords, Introduction,
Experimental, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgements, and References. If a Conclusions section
is used, it should not be a restatement of information contained in the Abstract. The Introduction
section should not be used to summarize results, rather this section should give appropriate
background information and indicate why the research to be described was undertaken. In the
Experimental section the source of the material studied should be clearly stated. Inclusion of all
the synthetic details for new preparations is encouraged. Use only standard SI symbols and
abbreviations (except as noted below) in text and illustrations. Except for commonly used
symbols, provide a definition on the first use of a symbol. The angstroms symbol (Å) is preferred
in place of nanometers. Communications and Reviews must include an Abstract and a Keywords
list. A covering letter detailing the need for rapid publication is required for each submission of a
Communication. Ensure that all tables, figures and schemes are placed and cited in the text in
numerical order. Chemical structures should be placed in the text. Use your word processor's
embed function to ensure that (vector-based) structures drawn with programs like Chemdraw®
are saved in your word processor document.
References: Indicate references in the text by consecutive numbers in brackets, e.g., [1,2], as
part of the line of text, not raised above it. Place any punctuation after the reference citation. The
full reference is cited in a numbered list at the end of the text. The first initials and last name of
all authors must be given in each reference. Examples:
1. H.S. Sack, M.C. Moriarity, Solid State Comm. 3, (1995) 87.
2. G. Blasse, B.C. Grabmaier, Luminescent Materials, Springer, Berlin, 1994.
3. J.B. Goodenough, in H. Reiss (Ed.), Progress in Solid State Chemistry, vol. 5, Pergamon,
Dordrecht, 1971, p. 145.
4. W.D. Kingery, H.K. Bowen, D.R. Uhlmann, Introduction to Ceramics, 2nd ed.,
Wiley-Interscience, New York, 1976, pp. 540-548.
Footnotes: Footnotes should appear at the bottom of the appropriate page and be indicated by
the following symbols: *, , , , .
Crystallographic Data: Cell parameters will not be published in the Abstract. An abbreviated
table of the crystallographic data and refinement parameters for all new structure determinations
should be provided in a single table. The format to be followed is given in Table 1. Unusual
features of the structure solution or refinement (e.g., disorder, poor crystal quality, space-group
ambiguity, etc.) should be discussed in the text. Tables of fractional coordinates and extensive
tables of bond distances and angles will not be published. Authors are required to electronically
submit (as ASCII text only) CIF files for each new structure determination prior to review of the
manuscript. Multiple CIFs for a single manuscript should be combined into a single file. Each
individual CIF file should end with the line ‘#== =END’ even if only one structure is included.
Upon acceptance of the paper, the Editorial Office will make the CIF files available on the
journal website and submit CIF files directly to the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre
(CCDC). The Editorial Office will provide authors with a CCDC number for each new structure.
This number is to be included in the second line of the table of crystallographic parameters. It is
not necessary to include a statement regarding supplementary material in the text as this
information will be published in the inside cover of each issue. Crystallographic Data in Table 1
is available in PDF format.
Table 1. Crystallographic data
Structural formula or compound name
CCDC deposit no.
CCDC-1290/# (# to be provided by editors)
Chemical formula
Formula weight
Crystal system
Space group
T, C
a, Å
b, Å
c, Å
, deg
, deg
, deg
V, Å3
Z
calcd, g cm-1
, mm-1
Ra
Rwa
aMay
include final R-values on both observed data and all data.
Electronic submission of a Crystallographic Information File (CIF) containing data for each
crystal structure reported is required for review.
Tables: All tables should be cited in the text, and numbered in order of appearance with Arabic
numerals. All table columns should have a brief explanatory heading and, where appropriate,
units of measurement. Vertical lines should not be used. Footnotes to tables should be typed
below the table, each on a separate line, and should be referred to by superscript letters.
Graphics: The following points should be taken into consideration when preparing electronic
graphic files: Tagged Image File Format (TIFF) or Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) files are
preferred. Suggested packages for line graphics are ChemDraw, IsisDraw, Adobe Illustrator
(version 3.0 or above), Freehand and Corel Draw. Graphics created in WordPerfect and Word
generally have too low a resolution for our requirements. Files of scanned line graphics can be
accepted at a minimum resolution of 1000 dpi, for scanned halftones, 300 dpi, and scanned
line/tones, 500 dpi. Colour should be scanned at 300 dpi (500 dpi for colour line/tones).
All artwork must be included in the word processor file as well as uploaded separately. The
separately uploaded artwork will be used to produce the paper journal. Figures, schemes and
equations must be cited in the text and numbered in order of appearance with Arabic numerals;
other graphics should be placed at a particular position in the text but not specifically referenced.
All graphics (including chemical structures) must be supplied. Please ensure that all illustrations
within a paper are consistent in type and quality. Captions should not be included as part of the
graphic; instead all captions should be supplied in the text. All graphics files must be named with
the figure or scheme number. If graphics are created using ChemDraw the preferred settings are:
font 10 pt Helvetica, chain angle 120o, bond spacing 18% of length, fixed length 14.4 pt (0.508
cm), bold width 2.0 pt (0.071 cm), line width 0.6 pt (0.021 cm), margin width 1.6 pt (0.056 cm),
and hash spacing 2.5 pt (0.088 cm). Compound numbers should be in boldface. Stereoscopic
pairs drawings will be accepted only where appropriate and must be of correct viewing size
(approximately 62 mm between centres).
Photographs: Photographs should be scanned and saved as JPG or TIFF formats and saved in
true colour at a minimum of 300 dpi resolution.
Copyright
After acceptance of the manuscript for publication, authors will be sent a ‘Transfer of Copyright’
agreement. This agreement must be signed before the article can be published. Please see the title
page for further details. Authors are responsible for obtaining from the copyright holder
permission to reproduce any figures for which copyright exists. Please note that photocopied
signatures are not acceptable.
Offprints
A gratis copy of the issue containing the author’s article and fifty free offprints will be supplied,
and an offprint order form will be sent to the corresponding author on acceptance of the paper for
ordering additional offprints. Correspondence regarding offprints should be directed to: The
Author Services Department, Elsevier Science Ltd, The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington,
Oxford OX5 1GB, UK.
Instructions for alternative submission methods
Hard-copy submission of papers: Three double-spaced copies of the manuscript (the original
plus two good copies) as well as a disk should be submitted to: Mike Zaworotko, Department of
Chemistry, University of South Florida, 4202 East Fowler Avenue, Tampa, FL 33620-5250,
USA; Tel: + 813 974 4129; Fax: +813 974 1733; e-mail: zaworo@chuma1.cas.usf.edu. The
guidelines for manuscript preparation given above should be followed. Electronic submission of
a Crystallographic Information File (CIF) containing data for each crystal structure reported is
required for review. (Hard copies of supplementary material and structure factors are not
required.) The covering letter should provide telephone and fax numbers and the e-mail address
of the corresponding author.
E-mail submission of papers: All files should be prepared as for CrystSubmit and sent to the
following address: zaworo@chuma1.cas.usf.edu