ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY Company, are fully responsible for all material published in ES&T. This policy is a general one applicable to all editors of ACS publications. The members of the Advisory Board are chosen by the Editor to provide input to ES&T operations. The members represent various constituent groups in the research and reader communities, and they serve three-year terms. Although the editors seek advice and help from individuals in the scientific community and from advisory groups, it is ultimately the editors' responsibility to provide editorial direction, set editorial policies, and make individual publication decisions. General guidelines and overall editorial policies set by the editors form the basis for evaluating reviewers comments on research articles. The peer review process Each manuscript submitted to the current research section is reviewed by the Editor and, on the basis of its content, assigned to one of the Associate Editors or to the Editor (hereafter called technical editor). The subject matter of the manuscript determines which editor will receive the file. The technical editor and local editorial assistant are responsible for the manuscript, including choosing reviewers; evaluating the content of the paper; taking into account the comments of reviewers; communicating ultimate acceptance or rejection to the corresponding authors; monitoring the progress of the review process; and carrying out a final check of accepted manuscripts for appropriate format and style. Reviewers are picked by the technical editors. Two or three reviewers are usually selected for each paper. Selection is based on the subject matter of the paper, the experts available in a given area, and the editorial staff member's knowledge of the habits of proposed reviewers. Thus, known slow or uncritical reviewers are avoided when possible. Potential reviewers for each paper are identified through various means, one of which may be a computer search of subjects that reviewers have indicated are their areas of expertise. Reviewers are normally asked to respond within four weeks, and if they are late, reminders are sent. Late review notifications are generated and dispatched as fax messages on a weekly basis. Reviews are sent directly to the technical editor to whom the paper has been assigned. Reviews may be returned by fax, electronic mail, and regular mail. If the reviewers do not agree on the disposition of the paper, or if the technical and scientific strengths or shortcomings of the work have not been adequately addressed, the editor may select additional
reviewers. The reviews (usually at least two) are used by the technical editor in making the final decision about the disposition of die manuscript. Letters communicating the decision proceed directly from the office of the technical editor to the corresponding author. Tips for authors • Prepare your paper with the editorial requirements of £S&r and the audience of the publication in mind. Papers prepared for other journals are likely to need some revision to make them suitable for ES&T. • Clearly state in the introduction the purpose of the work and put the work into perspective with earlier work in the area. This may appear obvious, but authors often fail to clearly state the purpose and significance of their work. • Write concisely. Manuscripts are expected to be not more than 4100 words in length (20 manuscript pages) including text, tables and references, plus five figures. If more figures are desired, the text length should be decreased proportionately. Papers should be double spaced, 12 point type, on one side of 22 x 28 cm paper. Longer manuscripts dealing with large-scale studies are accepted occasionally but are subject to extremely critical review by editors and reviewers for significance, breadth, and clarity. Long papers that do not meet these criteria may be summarily rejected. Do not repeat information, figures, or tables that have appeared elsewhere. Use illustrative data rather than complete data where appropriate. • Suggest names and addresses of possible reviewers for your paper. If possible, please also include phone, fax, and e-mail address. You may also suggest the names of persons whom you do not want to review the paper. The editors try to use at least one reviewer who has been suggested by authors. This cannot be assured, however, since specific reviewers may not be available or may already be overloaded. • Follow the Current Research Author's Guide. • If your manuscript is rejected or requires revision: Read the reviews carefully. If the reviewers have missed the point, as authors often claim, consider how the presentation can be clarified and improved to make the point clear. If reviewers have not understood, it is unlikely that readers will understand. Is the manuscript, after all, more suitable for another journal? Is the work sufficiently complete, or do you need to do more work before seeking publication? If you feel strongly that the paper has not been judged fairly, then carefully revise the manuscript, taking into account the re-
viewers' criticisms, and send the manuscript to the office of the technical editor with a rebuttal letter asking that the manuscript be reconsidered. Provide an itemized list of changes made in the manuscript in response to reviewer comments, as well as objective rebuttals to all other criticisms.
Current research author's guide This manuscript preparation guide is published to aid authors in writing, and editors and reviewers in expediting the review and publication of, research manuscripts in Environmental Science & Technology, including full research articles and communications. For a detailed discussion with examples of the major aspects of manuscript preparation, please refer to The ACS Style Guide (1986). Instructions for authors and a copyright transfer form are printed in the first issue of each volume. Please conform to these instructions when submitting manuscripts. These instructions are available via the World Wide Web byfirstselecting "Electronic Publications," then "Journal Home Pages," andfinallythe journal name at URL http://www.ChemCenter.org. Submission of manuscript The following procedure applies to the submission of manuscripts for consideration as research articles, Research Communications, Critical Reviews, Policy Analysis articles, and Correspondence. Five copies of the manuscript and a cover letter should be sent to the Editor, Environmental Science & Technology, Department of Environmental Sciences & Engineering, School of Public Health, 131 Rosenau Hall, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7400. Include telephone number, fax, and e-mail addresses for the corresponding author, if possible. Title Use specific and informative titles. They should be as brief as possible, consistent with the need for defining the subject of the paper. If trade names are used, give generic names in parentheses. Key words in titles assist in effective literature retrieval. Authorship List the first name, middle initial, and last name of each author. Omit professional and official titles. Give the complete mailing address where work was performed. When present address of an author is different, include the new information in a footnote. In each paper with
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ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY more than one author, the name of the author to whom inquiries should be addressed carries an asterisk. The explanation appears on the contents page. Include an e-mail address, telephone and fax number for the corresponding author, if possible. Abstract An abstract, which will appear at the beginning of each paper, in ES&T and ES&T News and Research Notes must accompany each manuscript. Use between 150 and 200 words to give purpose, methods or procedures, significant new results, and conclusions. Write for literature searchers as well as journal readers, but do not include background material in the Abstract. Abstracts submitted to ACS journals as part of an accepted manuscript will be published in Advance ACS Abstracts up to eight weeks before the journal is published. Authors should take this into account when planning their intellectual and patent activities related to the paper. The actual date of the abstract publication is recorded in a footnote in the published paper. Notice: Authors have the option of designating a figure or table from their paper to be published along with their abstract in the new publication, ES&T News and Research Notes. The selected figure should convey significant details of the research; maps, photographs, and other types of background information are not recommended. Designation of the selected figure or table should be indicated right after the abstract of the manuscript. If no figure or table is designated, it will be assumed that the author has chosen not to select one. Publication of the abstract is contingent upon acceptance of the full paper. A separate abstract should not be prepared specifically for this new product. Key words Authors are asked to suggest up to six key words that may be used by Chemical Abstracts and other electronic search systems at ACS for identifying and cataloging the manuscript after publication. Text Consult a current issue for general style. Note requirements for brevity! Assume your readers to be professionals not necessarily expert in your particular field; therefore, spell out all acronyms on first use. Historical summaries are seldom warranted. However, documentation and summary material should be sufficient to establish an adequate background. Divide the article into sections, each with an appropriate heading, but do not over sectionalize. The text should have only
enough divisions to make organization effective and comprehensible without destroying the continuity of the text. Keep all information pertinent to a particular section within that section. Avoid repetition. Do not use footnotes; include the information in the text. Please remember to number all pages of the manuscript. Authors are encouraged to shorten the text of manuscripts by including in supporting information extensive figures, tables, descriptions of experimental details and text that might be of interest particularly to specialists in the field. This material is available to subscribers of ES&T and ES&T News and Research Notes on the World Wide Web. Note: Color figures that are included in supporting information may be reproduced in color on the Web without cost to authors (see Supporting Information section). Introduction. Briefly discuss the relationship of your work to previously published work, but do not attempt to survey the literature completely. If a recent article has summarized work on the subject, cite the summarizing article without repeating its individual citations. In general, the Introduction should be no more than 2 double-spaced word processed pages with no figures or tables. Experimental section. Describe pertinent and critical factors involved in all experimental work so that the method can be reproduced, but avoid excessive description. Apparatus: List devices only if of specialized nature. Reagents: List and describe preparation of special reagents only. Procedure: Omit details of procedures that are common knowledge to those in the field. Brief mention of published procedures may be included, but details must be left to literature cited. Results and discussion. This section provides the authors with the opportunity to discuss their findings, postulate explanations for data, elucidate models, and compare their results with those of other works. Be complete but concise. Avoid nonpertinent comparisons or contrasts, speculations that are unwarranted by the new information presented in the paper, and verbose discussion. Conclusions. In the past, ES&rhas allowed authors to include a section summarizing conclusions of the work. Given the intense competition for space in the journal, we have discontinued this practice. Do not include a conclusions section in ES&T research articles. Include major conclusions in the abstract and in the results and discussion section. Manuscript requirements Manuscripts should be prepared with strict attention to brevity but the text should be long enough to clearly reveal
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the significance and contribution of the work. The vast majority of articles are expected to be fewer than five published pages (fewer than 20 pages of doublespaced text including references, graphs, and tables). Longer manuscripts are accepted occasionally but are subject to extremely critical review by editors and reviewers for breadth, significance, and clarity of composition. Long papers that do not meet these criteria may be summarily rejected. Five complete legible copies of the manuscript are required. They should be typed double or triple spaced on one side of 22 x 28 cm paper, with text, tables, and illustrations of a size that can be mailed to reviewers under one cover. Duplicated copies will be accepted only if very clear. If pertinent references are unpublished, furnish copies of the work or sufficient information to enable reviewers to evaluate the manuscript. When tables are submitted, they should be furnished with appropriate titles and should be numbered consecutively with Arabic numbers in order of reference in the text. Double space with wide margins, and prepare tables in a consistent form, each on a separate 22 x 28 cm sheet. Figures should be carefully designed and prepared. Use high-quality white paper; avoid the use of thin, transparent, or textured paper. All figures should be prepared by use of a high-quality graphics plotter or printer (typing does not reproduce well); lettering should be of a size that can be read after reduction. Label the axes outside the graph proper. Number all illustrations consecutively. Supply typed captions and legends on a separate page. Original drawings (or sharp prints) of graphs and diagrams and glossy prints of photographs should be provided when the manuscript is submitted. Tables and figures should not be incorporated within the manuscript; they should appear each on a separate page, after the references. Color reproduction of figures is possible provided the author pays all incremental charges. An estimate of these charges will be given upon request. A letter acknowledging the author s willingness to defray the cost of color reproductions should accompany the revised manuscript. Note: Color figures that are included in supporting information may be reproduced in color on the Web without cost to authors (see Supporting Information section). Nomenclature The nomenclature should conform with current American usage. Insofar as possible, authors should use systematic names similar to those used by Chemical Ab-
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY stracts Service or IUPAC. Chemical Abstracts nomenclature rules are contained in Appendix IV of the current Chemical Abstracts Index Guide. A list of ring systems, including names and numbering systems, is found in the Ring Systems Handbook, American Chemical Society, Columbus, OH, 1993. Use consistent units of measure (preferably SI). If nomenclature is specialized, include a Nomenclature section at the end of the paper, giving definitions and dimensions for all terms. Write out names of Greek letters and special symbols in margin of manuscript at point of first use. If subscripts and superscripts are necessary, place them accurately. Avoid trivial names. Trade names should be defined at point of first use (registered trade names should begin with a capital letter). Identify typed letters and numbers that could be misinterpreted, for example, one and the letter 1, zero and the letter O. Formulas and equations Chemical formulas should correspond to the style of ACS publications. Chemical equations should be balanced and numbered consecutively along with mathematical equations. The mathematical portions of the paper should be as brief as possible, particularly where standard derivations and techniques are commonly available in standard works. Safety Authors are requested to call special attention—both in their manuscripts and in their correspondence with the editors—to safety considerations such as explosive tendencies, precautionary handling procedures, and toxicity. Acknowledgment Include essential credits in an Acknowledgment section at the end of the text. Meeting presentation data or other information regarding the work reported (for example, financial support) is included here. References Literature references should be numbered and listed in order of reference in text. Attach copies if available. Give complete information, using abbreviations for titles of periodicals as in the Chemical Abstracts Service Source Index, 1907-89. For periodical references to be considered complete, they must contain authors surnames with initials, journal source, year of issue, volume number, and the first and last page numbers of the article. Consult The ACS Style Guide for reference style. The accuracy of the references is the responsibility of the authors. They should
be listed by author, patentee, or equivalent. In the text, just the number should be used, or the name should be followed by the number. Authors are discouraged from including references to personal correspondence or to unarchived material obtained from the World Wide Web. Anonymous is not acceptable for authorship. If the author is unknown, list the reference by company, agency, or journal source. Do not list references as in press unless they have been formally accepted for publication.
in any particular issue. For information, contact Microforms Program at the ACS in Washington, DC, or call (202) 872-4554.
Supporting information Extensive tables, graphs, spectra, calculations, or other material auxiliary to the printed article will be included in the microfilm edition of the journal. Identify supporting information as to content, manuscript title, and authors. Three copies of the supporting information, one in a form suitable for photo reproduction, should accompany the manuscript for consideration by the editor and reviewers. The material should be typed on white paper with black typewriter ribbon or printed on a high-quality (300 dpi) laser printer. If individual characters for any of the material, computer or otherwise, are broken or disconnected, the material is definitely unacceptable. Authors are encouraged to shorten the text of manuscripts by including in supporting information extensive figures, tables, descriptions of experimental details and text that might be of interest particularly to specialists in the field. This material is available to subscribers of ES&T and ES&T News and Research Notes on the World Wide Web. Note: Color figures that are included in supporting information may be reproduced in color on the Web without cost to authors. Figures and illustrative material should preferably be original high- contrast drawings or good prints of originals. Optimum size is 22 x 28 cm. Minimum acceptable character size is 1.5 mm. The caption for each figure should appear on the same piece of copy with the figure. Be sure to refer to supporting information in text where appropriate. Supporting information may be obtained in photocopy or microfiche form at nominal cost. Material of more than 20 pages is available in microfiche only. Photocopy or microfiche must be stated clearly in the order. Prepayment is required. See instructions at the end of individual papers. The supporting information is abstracted and indexed by Chemical Abstracts Service. Subscribers to microfilm editions receive, free, the supporting information in microfiche form from individual papers
Electronic manuscript submission General information. The final accepted version of the manuscript should be submitted in electronic form. Manuscripts prepared with the software packages listed below will be used for production, providing the following guidelines are adhered to. Documents prepared with other word-processing packages will be handled on an experimental basis with the understanding that the use of these files in production cannot be guaranteed Failure to adhere to the following instruc tions may prevent all or part of the material supplied on disk from being used in production. A hardcopy version of the manuscript is required for review. The disk should accompany the final accepted version of the manuscript. The version on the disk MUST exacdy match the final version accepted in hardcopy. When preparing a manuscript, use tb document mode or its equivalent in the word-processing program; i.e., do not save files in "Text Only" (ASCII) mode. Do not include any page-layout instructions such as placement information for graphics in the file. The text should be left-justified, and automatic end-of-line hyphenation should be turned off. Use carriage returns only to end headings am paragraphs, not to break lines of text. Do not insert spaces before punctuation. References must conform to the format printed in the journal. Ensure that all characters are correctly represented throughout the manuscript: for example, 1 (one) and 1 (ell), 0 (zero) and O (oh), x (ex) and x (times sign). Check the final copy carefully for consistent notation an< correct spelling. The Editorial Office conversion program will faithfully translate any errors to the typeset copy. Check the disk with a virus detection program. Disks containing viruses will not be processed. Label the disk with the manuscript number and the corresponding author name. Provide the platform, version of software used, and filenames on the Diskette Description form.
Manuscript preparation: Text and figures
All text (including the title page, abstract, all sections of the body of the paper, figure captions, scheme or chart ti-
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