Editor-in-Chief: Prof. K. D. Rainsford, Biomedical Research Centre,Division of Biomedical Sciences, Sheffield Hallam University, PondStreet, Sheffield S1 1WB, UK.
Tel.: + 44 (0)114 225 3006/3039.Fax: + 44 (0)114 225 2020. E-mail: K.D.Rainsford@shu.ac.uk
Papers should be original and unpublished or considered forpublication elsewhere. A statement to this effect should be made inthe accompanying letter submitted with the manuscript. It is theresponsibility of the principal author to secure requisite permissionfrom his or her employer and all papers submitted are understood tohave received due clearance(s) for publication.
All manuscripts will be reviewed anonymously by at least twoindependent reviewers not connected (as much as this is practicable)with one another. Reviewers will be given a simple question andanswer analysis sheet to complete. Where exceptional comment isrequired this can be noted. Stylistic queries or those concerning theEnglish or presentation of the manuscript will be noted byunderlining in red pen of the relevant part or section and themanuscripts will be returned to the author(s) annotated as such. Itwill not be the task of reviewers to exhaustively point out errors ofsyntax or spelling in the text, since this is time consuming.
Acceptance of the manuscript will depend on the accuracy inpresentation. The reviewers will only correct errors of English inspecial cases where English is clearly not the mother tongue of theauthors. In all other cases language correction will take place afterthe manuscript has been accepted.
The Editor's decisions on acceptance shall be final.
Preparation of the typescript
Typescripts must be in English, typed with double line spacing,single-sided on A4 sheets (8.5'' 11'')or American Quarto size, andshould be numbered consecutively.
Manuscripts can be in the form of full length publications oforiginal scientific research, short notes on methodology or findings(with positive or negative outcome) complete in themselves, reviews,letters to the Editor, or invited Editorials.
Full length publications should be laid out in the following order:
It should be noted that the selective use of published work toreinforce the prejudiced idea or results of the author will not beaccepted. The literature review, while concise, should becomprehensive, even if there are results of others which arecontradictory or controversial.
Units of measurement, abbreviations and symbols should follow theInternational System of Units (SI). For chemical nomenclature, theconventions of the International Union of Pure and AppliedChemistry and the official recommendations of the IUPAC -- IUBCombined Commission on Biochemical Nomenclature shouldbe followed.
Equations should be numbered consecutively with arabic numerals inparentheses on the right-hand side of the page. Special symbolsshould be identified in the margin.
The use of footnotes is not recommended.
Tables
The same data should not be given in both text and tables or figuresand tables. Tables should be given short informative titles withstandard abbreviations of units of measurement added betweenparentheses. Every table should be numbered consecutively in arabicnumerals according to their sequence in the text. Each table withtheir title should be submitted on a separate sheet. Vertical linesshould not be used between columns. Any explanation essential forunderstanding the table should be given as a footnote below the table.
Figures
All figures (line drawings and photographs) should be submittedseparately, unmounted and not folded, preferably on glossy paper.Lettering in the figures should be proportional to the size of thefigure to ensure legibility after reduction. If a scale is needed forthe figure, use a bar scale rather than a numerical scale that wouldneed to be recalculated and changed after reduction. On the back ofeach figure should be indicated lightly in soft pencil: (1) the topof the figure by an arrow and (2) the author name and figure number.All figures should be numbered in arabic numerals and mentioned inthe text. A list of figure captions should be supplied on a separatesheet.
Photographs are only acceptable if they have good contrast andintensity. Sharp and glossy copies are required. Reproductions ofphotographs already printed cannot be accepted. Colour illustrationsmay be published at the author's expense.
Formulae
Formulae should be typed with ample space. Subscripts andsuperscripts should be clearly indicated. Greek letters and othernon-Latin or handwritten symbols should be explained in the marginwhere they are first used. Take special care to show the differencebetween 0 (zero) and the upper-case letter O and between the number 1(one) and the lower-case letter l. Give the meanings of all symbolsimmediately after the equation in which they are first used.Equations should be numbered sequentially at the right-hand side inbrackets. The use of fractional powers instead of root signs isrecommended. Powers of `e' should be denoted by `exp'. Levelsof statistical significance which can be mentioned without furtherexplanations are and ***(p>0.001).The form 0.05 < p <0.01 is unacceptable;only the lowest level of significance should be given. In chemicalformulae, valence of ions should be given as, e.g. Ca2+ andCo22-, not as Ca++ or Co2-. Isotope numbersshould precede the symbols, e.g. 18O. The use of chemicalformulae in the text is to be avoided. The name of the compoundshould be given in full. Exceptions may be made in the case of a verylong name occurring frequently or in the case of a compound beingdescribed as the end product of a gravimetric determination. Anaccompanying textual description should be given of the effect of allbut the simplest formulae.
References
The references should be cited in full, according to the HarvardSystem. Names and dates are given in the body of the text and analphabetical list of references at the end of the manuscript.References in the text should give the author(s) surname with theyear of publication in parentheses. When reference is made to a workby two authors, both names should be give. References to a work bymore than two authors should give the name of the first author,followed by `et al.' in italics. If several papers by thesame author(s) and from the same year are cited, a, b, c, should beplaced after the year of publication.
Examples of references:
Jensen, P. and Kharazmi, A. (1991). Computer-assisted image analysisassay of human neutrophil chemotaxis in vitro, J. Immunol.Methods 144, 43--48.
Leung, A. and Foster, S. (1996). Encyclopedia of common naturalingredients. John Wiley, New York.
Aboutable, E. A., El-Azzouny, A. A. and Hammerschmidt, F. J. (1986).Aroma volatiles if Nigella sative L. seeds, in: Progressin Essential Oil Research, Proceedings of The International Symposiumon Essential Oils, E. J. Brunke (Ed.), pp. 44--55. De Gruyter,Berlin, Germany.
If a publication is in press, the references should be made ascomplete as possible, e.g. stating the name of the journal adding``in press''.
Word-processor disks
The publisher's production department can use your word-processordisks. If available, please send a copy of the disk with your finalrevised manuscript. This gives a substantial decrease in typesettingtime and ensures that there are no re-keying errors in the article.If you provide a disk, please follow these instructions:
(1) Label the disk with the author's name, the wordprocessor/computer used (e.g. IBM-PC, Macintosh), the name of theprogram (e.g. WordPerfect, MS-Word, TeX). If you have an editor'smanuscript number, include it in the label.
(2) Send the manuscript as three files; if possible keep the text,figure legends, and tables/figures in separate files. File names mustclearly indicate the content of each file.
(3) Send separate disks if you submit more than one article at thetime.
(4) A hard copy printout of the manuscript that exactly matches thedisk files must be supplied. Special characters and symbols which arenot included in the printer used, should be left as blank spaces inthe files and these should be correctly written in the printout inred.
(5) Do not use footnotes and do not justify the right-hand margin.
Copyright
In general an author may quote briefly from other published works buthe or she should obtain permission from the holder of copyright ifwishing to use substantial extracts or to reproduce tables, plates,or other illustrations. If the copyright-holder is not the author ofthe quoted or reproduced material, it is recommended that thepermission of the author should also be sought. Permission toreproduce copyright material should be submitted with the manuscript.Material in unpublished letters and papers is also protected and mustnot be published unless permission has been obtained. A suitableacknowledgement of any quoted or reproduced material must always bemade.
Proofs
Proofs will be sent to the designated author to check typesettingaccuracy. Alterations to the original manuscript at this stage willresult in considerable delay in publication and, therefore, are notaccepted unless charged to the author. Proofs should be returnedwithin two days of receipt.
Offprints
Twenty-five offprints and a password-protected PDF-file willbe supplied with each article for personal use, free of charge.Additional offprints may be ordered at prices shown on the order form,which will be sent to the author together with the proofs.
There will be no page charges
VSPPostal address: P.O. Box 9000, 2300 PA Leiden, The Netherlands