Guidelines for authors

Microscopy and Analysis publishes articles on any aspect of light, electron and scanning probe microscopies, compositional analysis, optics, imaging and their applications. Your article will be read by over 120,000 microscopists worldwide, more than all other microscopy journals and magazines.

Dr Julian Heath, Editor

Please read all sections to avoid any problems or misunderstandings.

•  Click here to download the Author Guidelines as a concise PDF version.

1. CONDITIONS OF ACCEPTANCE FOR ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN MICROSCOPY AND ANALYSIS

• All articles published in Microscopy and Analysis must conform to these Guidelines.
• Any articles that do not follow our Guidelines will not be considered for publication.
• We do not return manuscripts unless specifically requested.
• We accept articles from for-profit and not-for-profit sources. Articles with a commercial bias written solely to advertise a product will not be accepted.
• Articles should not have been published previously in exactly the same form, but articles that summarize previously published material are acceptable, provided existing copyright restrictions are not infringed.
• Copyright of articles and their content must be assigned to John Wiley and Sons Ltd.
• We will either pay you up to UK£55 / Euros 88 / US$82 per page or we will supply you with 200 free reprints of your article.
• Articles commissioned or written by a manufacturer, supplier or agency will not qualify for fees or free reprints.
• The Publisher reserves the right to edit text, make changes to illustrations, or change any given publication date without notice.
• Submission of an article to Microscopy and Analysis will be taken as your binding agreement to the above terms.

2. FORMATTING YOUR MANUSCRIPT

Please study a recent copy of Microscopy and Analysis to familiarise yourself with the style used for our articles, their layout and the number and size of illustrations.

Articles in PDF form are available for download on this site for your use as samples.

2.1 General points

• Do not use text formatting, e.g. headings, body text, hyperlinks, etc. The printer requires plain text (for MS Word = normal).
• The language of the magazine is British or American English.
• Non-English speaking authors are recommended to have an English speaker check their manuscripts for correct spelling and grammar.
• SI units must be used. Do not use microns.
• All micrographs must carry scale bars or state the horizontal field width (HFW).
• Common problems with author submissions are listed in section 7

2.2 Your manuscript must include the following sections, in this order:

• Title: Not more than 72 characters and spaces to fill two lines in the magazine. Titles will be edited to fit two lines. The use of well known abbreviations and microscopy acronyms is permissible, e.g. AFM, EM, LM, SEM, SPM, TEM.
• Author(s) name(s)
• Author(s) address(es) Use numbers to link names with addresses
• Page Banner: Two words for use as a page banner and cover page teaser
• Biography of first or senior author: max 60 words
• Small colour photo/digital image of first or senior author
• Abstract: max 100 words
• Six Keywords: see our Archive pages for common keywords used by other authors
• Acknowledgements: max 20 words
• Author Details: Full name and address and contact information for first author only
• Introduction
• Materials and Methods
• Results: Must be written in the past tense
• Discussion
• Conclusion(s)
• Legends to Figures/Illustrations: All figures must carry a legend describing their content. Refer to figures in the text as Figure 1, Figures 2 a,b, Figures 3-5, etc.
• References: A minimum of 5 and a maximum of 15 references are required.

2.3 Text formatting

The printer uses a defined layout and Frutiger sans-serif fonts for Microscopy and Analysis. The Frutiger font was designed for use at the new Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, France. Any formatting that you apply to your text will be changed by the printer, so please observe the following:

• Text should be submitted as normal text without any formatting applied to title, headings, body text, bolding, italics, etc.
• Equations should use serif fonts, not italics. The Frutiger font is not suitable for italics.
• Symbols should be standard notation as unusual symbols cannot be easily printed.
• Units must be SI and have a space after the number, e.g. 100 nm.
• Quotes: use single quotes for emphasis or neologisms, e.g. a 'smart' electron, and double quotes for reported speech, e.g. He said: "The electron was smart."

2.4 References

Please include at least three references that will give the reader some background information about the techniques, specimens and applications described in your article.

For example, if you are writing about the use of AFM to study the mechanical properties of polymers, include one review/textbook about AFM, one review/textbook about polymers, and one review/textbook about studies similar to yours. These references must be highlighted in your reference list.

References should be inserted in the text as [1], [2], or [1-3], etc., and should be numbered at the end of the article in the same order using 1. 2. 3. etc. Use the following format for the References (note the layout and punctuation):

• Crewe A. V. Is there a limit to the resolving power of the SEM? Electron Microscopy 3:2105-2108, 1986.
• Binnig G. and Smith D. Single-tube 3D scanner for scanning tunnelling microscopy. Rev. Sci. Instr. 57(4):1688-1689, 1986.

If there are more than two authors, use et al:

• Jones A. V. et al. Electron microscopy in materials science. J. Elect. Microsc. 222(1):567-689, 1987.

For books and conference proceedings use:

• Peachey L. D. et al. Correlated confocal and IVEM imaging of the same cells. In: The Science of Biological Specimen Preparation. Eds: Malecki M. and Roomanns G.M. Scanning Microscopy International, Chicago, USA. pp 237-247, 1996.

If referring to an article in Microscopy & Analysis use Volume(Issue):pp-pp(Edition),Year; Please state edition (UK, EU, AM, AP) after page numbers as editions follow different numbering sequences. For example:

• Young P. et al. Environmentally controlled optical microscopy for the pharmaceutical sciences. Microscopy and Analysis 10(2): 5-7(UK), 2003.

2.5 Observing the page limit

Your article must fit into the number of pages offered to you by the Editor when we commissioned your article. 1 page = 750 words; 2 pages = 1500 words; 3 pages = 2500 words; 4 pages = 3500 words (these limits include figure legends and references). If your article exceeds the word and figure limit, publication could be delayed. Our readers appreciate the high resolution colour images that we are able to print in our magazine. So it is important that you design your article around your illustrations. If you would like to have large images you must reduce the length of your text.

3. PREPARATION OF FIGURES

Microscopy and Analysis is renowned for the high quality colour illustrations in its articles. To ensure the best reproduction of your figures follow the following instructions:

3.1 Submit your figures as either:

• High-quality colour or black-and-white photographic prints, or
• Digital images on a CD (preferable).

3.2 Instructions for digital images (graphics and micrographs). TIFFs or JPEGs?

• Graphics: only TIFF images or graphics software files are acceptable as JPEGs can cause loss of detail in lines, lettering and numbers.
• Micrographs: TIFF or JPEG images are acceptable if they are saved at high resolution and low compression with no loss of detail.
• Combined micrographs and graphics: only TIFF images or graphics software files are acceptable as JPEGs can cause loss of detail in lines and numbers.
• Send digital images as separate files. Do not embed your figures in the text of your manuscript.
• Submit digital images at the highest possible resolution to ensure the best reproduction. The minimum resolution is 1000 x 1000 pixels or 1MB (at least 300 pixels or dpi printing resolution).

See below for further information on the resolution of digital images.

3.3 Reproduction

• Most figures will be printed at one column width, i.e. 57 mm x 57 mm (2.2" x 2.2").
• It is the author's responsibility to ensure that the originals and/or disk versions are of sufficient quality and resolution to show all details and labels after a 50% or more reduction in size. If you want to show graphs, please ensure that the lines and labels are large enough to be clearly visible, minimum 12 pt.

3.4 Scale bars

• All micrographs must contain scale bars or a HFW (horizontal field width) value.
• Do not use magnifications as your micrographs may be reduced or enlarged by the Printer.

3.5 Copyright

Authors will be asked to certify that the original material they send us has not be used before. Permission to publish previously published material must be obtained from the copyright holder and in the text you should say: "This (photograph/graph/figure etc.) was published in (state the source) and is reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder."

4. SUBMITTING YOUR ARTICLE

• Mail us your text and images on a CD together with a printed version. If we cannot read your CD files we will use the printed version.
• The text and figures must submitted as separate files. Do not embed or link your figures in the text.
• Write your name and the file name(s) on the CD cover.
• Complete Forms 2, 3 and 4, which will be sent to you by the Office once your article has been commissioned.

MAIL YOUR MANUSCRIPT, DISKS AND FORMS TO:

Victoria Regan, Assistant Editor,
Microscopy and Analysis,
John Wiley & Sons, Ltd,
The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester,
West Sussex PO19 8SQ, UK

Tel: 44 (0)1243 770257
Fax: 44 (0)1243 770432

5. GOING TO PRESS

Articles are normally published 12 months after submission. Two months before your publication date, the Editor will prepare your manuscript for publication. If the Editor has any queries about your manuscript he will contact you by email. Your edited manuscript will then be sent to the Printer who will prepare page proofs. The page proofs will be sent to you as a pdf file by email for any corrections and your approval. It is most important that you return these proofs with any corrections within seven days of receipt so as not to delay publication.

6. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON DIGITAL IMAGES

Microscopy and Analysis is printed using offset lithography. Images are converted using a screen into a series of dots each containing a variable amount of four colours: cyan, magenta, yellow and black (= CMYK format).

Take a look at these images of a typical page from M&A:

A. Below is part of a page from the magazine showing a yellow tinted area between some text.

B. This is the same area enlarged 2x, with a higher magnification view inserted top right. Notice the dots that make up the yellow tint. In the main image the number of dots has been counted. There are 93 dots per half inch, i.e. 186 per inch or 7.5 per mm.

This means that if your image has at least 186 pixels per inch the printer should, in theory, be able to reproduce each pixel with the lithography dots. But there could be a sampling problem. Suppose the printer was to start converting your image into print at a point between the first two of your image's pixels, everything else would be misregistered and the resulting printed image would be blurred. So to ensure faithful reproduction, it is essential that your image has twice as many pixels, i.e. at least 300 per inch. That is why we ask you to supply your images at twice or more the printer's resolution. (For the cognoscenti, this problem is called the "Nyquist Sampling Theorem".)

7. COMMON PROBLEMS WITH AUTHOR SUBMISSIONS

If you do not follow these Guidelines, the editorial and production staff will have to contact you and ask you to resubmit material; this can delay publication of your article. Common problems experienced by our staff are listed below with advice on how to solve them