PRST-PER - Information for Contributors
Information for Contributors
(Revised July 2007)
Information for Contributors contains instructions for manuscript
preparation.
Table of Contents
Mission
Physical Review Special Topics - Physics Education Research (PRST-PER)
aims to publish papers that contain original experimental and theoretical results
on the teaching and/or learning of physics. The journal is completely electronic
with electronic submission, refereeing, publication, and with the archival record
being an online journal. Therefore the journal uses submission procedures which
differ from the other Physical Review journals. Submissions are restricted
to a limited number of standardized formats. Since Microsoft (MS) WORD and LaTeX
have been dominant as the word-processing tools for authoring manuscripts, standardized
templates and macros for these two programs have been developed and should be
used by authors (see below). A further goal has been to rely on the World Wide
Web where possible; in particular, web-based submission and review forms are
available which should make it very convenient for authors and referees to enter
data in a structured fashion, allowing further automation of routine database
entry.
General Information top
Information relevant to manuscript preparation and to the editorial process
for APS journals is available on the APS research journals World
Wide Web server. As noted above, however, as a purely electronic journal,
Physical Review Special Topics - Physics Education Research has special
requirements, so information applicable to other APS journals may not apply
to PRST-PER.
Submission top
Manuscripts must be submitted electronically (via direct Web
upload or via e-print servers). Interactive submission
forms are an integral part of the submission process. These forms aid authors
in supplying all the information needed in a structured format which furthers
efficient processing; they also provide a location for additional free form
information.
Please specify the author to whom correspondence should be
addressed, and give all available communications information for this individual
(postal and electronic mail addresses, phone and fax numbers). Please specify
the section to which the paper is submitted, and give Physics and Astronomy
Classification Scheme (PACS) index
categories. These categories are used in preparing the annual subject index.
If an important subject of your paper cannot be appropriately classified in
the PACS scheme, please give an appropriate keyword or phrase, and indicate
approximately where in the scheme this topic would be best placed.
The APS copyright-transfer
form must be executed before publication. While the transfer of copyright takes
effect only upon acceptance of the paper for publication, supplying the form
initially can prevent unnecessary delays. The form may be executed online as
part of the submission process in most cases. Alternatively, the signed form
may be sent via postal mail to the Editorial Office, 1 Research Road, Ridge, NY 11961-2701. (We cannot accept forms sent via email.) The form is available on the Web via the Author
Forms subpage of forms.aps.org. Be sure
to use the latest version of the form.
For detailed information about electronic submissions, see http://authors.aps.org/ESUB/.
Submissions must be formatted in REVTeX
(preferred) or MS
WORD. The main body of the textual material of the paper (including tables,
captions, etc.) must be in electronic form, as a single file. Auxiliary files
and figures must also be sent electronically via the Web or e-print mechanisms.
The file should produce double-spaced output. Copies of the manuscript sent
by regular mail will not be processed.
Figures must be received in at least review quality form before editorial processing
can begin. They should be submitted in PostScript format and only via e-print
servers or direct Web upload. JPEG format is also
accepted for photographic images. Supplemental electronic material (e.g., java,
movies) will be accepted and linked to form the published manuscript.
On resubmission, it is only necessary to resend the figures if the originals
in our file are no longer valid. For further information see the APS
submission server.
Resubmission top
When a manuscript is resubmitted, please include a summary of changes made
and a brief response to all recommendations and criticisms. The interactive
resubmission forms available on the APS
submission server should be used for the transmission of modified manuscripts
via e-print servers or direct Web upload. These forms should also be used when
a manuscript previously submitted to another APS journal is resubmitted to Physical
Review Special Topics - Physics Education Research. For any resubmission,
please state whether or not the figures have been modified, and supply new figures
if there have been such changes. Please update any other information (e.g.,
address and communication information) that has changed since initial submission.
General text requirements top
Readability of the journal is an important consideration.
Authors are urged to take special care in assuring that their manuscripts are
well organized and clearly written. Manuscripts should be written in scientific
English, in a style consistent with that of the journal. It is not possible
for the editorial office to undertake extensive corrections of manuscripts,
due to time constraints and the risk that the authors' meaning might be distorted.
Manuscripts requiring extensive corrections are therefore not processed. For
this reason, authors whose native language is not English are urged to seek
help from a native English speaker. Accessibility of papers
is a matter of significant concern, and at least the abstract and introduction
of each article should be written so as to be understandable by a broad spectrum
of readers.
Formats
For general format and style, consult recent
issues of this journal and the Physical
Review Style and Notation Guide. Additional style guidelines can be found
in the Fourth Edition of the AIP
Style Manual.
Title top
The writing of the title deserves special care. It should be concise but
informative enough to facilitate information retrieval. Capitalize only
the first word in the title, proper names, chemical symbols, etc.; other
words should begin with lower-case letters, just as they would in the
text. For manuscripts submitted to the Comments section, "Comment on ..."
followed by the title of the paper to which the Comment refers is,
however, good practice. Do not use serial numbers in titles unless the
number is followed by a specific title. If you wish to use a serial
number, please provide information on the other published articles in the
series.
Authors top
The names of authors may be listed in any order in the byline
at the beginning of a paper. The author who submits the paper is responsible
for ensuring that all coauthors have approved the paper and for checking that
the form of each name (e.g., initials versus full names) is that normally used
by the author.
If the authors are at different institutions, they may be grouped by
institution with the name of the institution following each group. If the
authors are not grouped by institution, the names of institutions may be
listed following the list of authors. Each author's name should then be
followed by a superscript number (or numbers) which refers to a similar
superscript number preceding the appropriate institution (or
institutions). Normally, the most concise presentation is preferred.
Footnotes to an author's name or address are intended to facilitate
locating or communicating with an author. In many cases, it can be helpful
to identify an author as "spokesperson" or "author to whom correspondence
should be addressed." Footnotes giving email addresses of one or more
corresponding authors are strongly encouraged. All information concerning
research support should appear in the acknowledgments. Footnotes which
describe an author's position or title are not acceptable.
Abstract top
Every paper must have an abstract. It should be about 5% of the length of
the article, but less than 500 words. It should state all subjects about
which new information is given and the conclusions and results. For
experimental papers it should specify clearly what quantities were
measured, what objects were studied, and under which experimental
conditions. It should be self-contained and not contain footnotes, coined
words, or acronyms which are not explained.
Notation top
Notation should be clear, compact, and consistent with standard usage. Equations
should be neatly formatted, punctuated, and aligned to bring out their structure,
and numbered on the right. (a) Diacritical marks (tildes, etc.) can be put over
any symbol, including indices. (b) Three-vectors are generally set in roman
boldface type. More general vectors, matrices, etc., are usually set in lightface
italic type, although boldface may alternatively be used. (c) Be careful when
using the solidus (/) in fractions. For example, 1/2a means 1/(2a),
not (1/2)a. Use appropriate bracketing if needed to ensure clarity.
Symbols and units top
Physical Review Special Topics - Physics Education Research tries
to follow the recommendations on symbols and units of the International
Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) and of the National Institute of Standards
and Technology. Metric units (preferably SI), not British units, are used, unless
the British unit is part of the name of an object.
References and footnotes top
References cited in text material must be numbered in order of their first
citation, and should appear in a separate double spaced list at the end of the
text. They should be designated by online Arabic numerals enclosed in square
brackets. Use the tagging provided by the authoring tools (special REVTeX
and MS WORD
macros) developed for Physical Review Special Topics - Physics Education
Research whenever possible to allow automatic generation of hyperlinks.
Footnotes (for subsidiary remarks, not for references) may
be placed at the bottoms of published pages. Such footnotes to text material
should be designated by superscript numerals, numbered consecutively throughout
the paper, and placed at the bottoms of the manuscript pages on which they are
cited. Authors who do not wish to use this option should combine references
and footnotes in a single list, designated by online numerals in square brackets,
numbered consecutively in order of first citation, and placed at the end of
the text. References and footnotes within tables should be designated by superscript
lower case roman letters and given at the end of the table.
In preparing the list of references for papers the author should be guided
by the Physical Review Style and Notation
Guide, especially Table
I and the list of Journal
Title Abbreviations, and by the corresponding material in the AIP
Style Manual. When reference is made to internal reports or other items
not available in the open literature, it is the responsibility of the author
to provide sufficient information to enable the reader to obtain a copy of the
referenced material. References to classified reports or other documents with
restricted circulation should be avoided. The names of all authors should be
given in the references, unless the number of authors is greater than three.
Though contrary to standard Physical Review reference style, Physical Review Special Topics - Physics Education Research encourages authors to expand the citation format to include titles on all references as an aid to the reader. The appropriate citation format should be in the form: N. D. Finkelstein and S. J. Pollock, "Replicating and understanding successful innovations: Implementing tutorials in introductory physics," Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 1, 010101 (2005). However, to encourage fairness in referencing, citation titles will be removed if the expanded format is not used for ALL citations.
Acknowledgments top
Acknowledgments of support must be placed in an acknowledgments paragraph at
the end of the text of a manuscript. Not all types of acknowledgments are appropriate
for the Physical Review. We do not include acknowledgments to those
who helped in the preparation of the document being published; to referees or
editors (unless they were involved before the paper was first written); to those
who contributed general encouragement (family, friends) or services which were
not directly part of the research. References to positions, titles, and awards
are inappropriate as are dates associated with awards. Examples of suitable
acknowledgments are thanks to other scientists for scientific guidance given
in discussions or by the communication of results, mention of technical assistants
who helped in the actual research, and citation of funding agencies which sponsored
the work. Acknowledgments should be a simple statement of thanks for help and
may not be a dedication or memorial. Acknowledgments to people should precede
those of financial support.
Tables top
Separate tables (numbered in the order of their appearance) should be used
for all but the simplest tabular material; they should have captions that
make the tables intelligible without reference to the text. The structure
should be clear, with simple column headings giving all units. The
decision on whether results should be published in long tables depends on
the precision of the data, i.e., whether they can be obtained accurately
enough from a figure, and on how many readers are likely to use the
numbers relative to the space needed in the journal. If experimental
results are likely to be used as reference values by other authors, the
publication of the numbers is desirable. If additional numerical data can
be obtained from a data center, from the author, or another source, either
as tables or in electronic form, indicate how and in what format they can
be obtained. Authors with extensive tabular material should query the
editors about making it available.
Figures top
Figures should be planned for the column width of the Physical Review
(8.6 cm or 3 3/8 in.). If the detail shown requires it, 1.5 or 2 columns may
be used. A note should be left on such figures. High-quality figures must be
supplied, appropriately scaled to match closely the final publication size.
Figures should be numbered in the order in which they are referred to in the
text. They should be identified (outside the image area) by the number, the
name of the first author, and the journal. An indication, e.g., "TOP," of the
intended orientation of a figure is helpful, especially in ambiguous cases.
Each figure must have a caption that makes the figure intelligible without reference
to the text; list captions on a separate sheet. Text should be placed in the
caption, not on the figure. Groups of figures that share a (single) caption
must be labeled "(a), (b)," etc. It is preferable that all parts of a figure
be submitted as a single piece.
Figures must be prepared so that all details can be seen in the online
journal. The smallest symbols must be at least 2 mm high and plotted
points should be at least 1 mm in diameter after the figure is scaled for
publication. Avoid small open symbols which tend to fill in, small dots
and decimal points, and shading or cross-hatching that is not coarse
enough to withstand reproduction. Curves should be smooth; curves and
lines should have consistent line widths of sufficient weight [final
weight of at least 0.18 mm (0.5 point)]. The resolution of the drawing
software and output device should be set as high as possible (preferably
600 dpi or higher).
The figure itself should have labeled axes with units enclosed in parentheses.
Use the form I (103 A), not I x 103
amps. Use half spacing within compound units, not hyphens or periods. Avoid
ambiguous usage of the solidus ("/") [e.g., use (W/sr cm), not (W/sr/cm)]. When
possible, integer numbers should be used on the axis scales of figures (e.g.,
1, 2, 3, or 0, 5, 10, not 1.58, 3.16, 4.75). Decimal points must be on the line
(not above it). Use 0.5 not 0.5. Use the same number of digits to the right
of the decimal point for all numbers on the axis scales. A number must be both
before and behind the decimal point; e.g., 0.2, not .2. For complete instructions
see the Physical Review Style and Notation
Guide or the AIP Style
Manual.
Avoid submitting prescreened (scanned) images of photographic material
(see also the submission information above); reproduction of such figures
in the online journal may not be satisfactory. There is a risk of moiré
patterns appearing in the final product. There are greater possibilities
for successful reproduction in the journal when data are processed
directly rather than via scanning of hard-copy renditions. If scanning of
hard copies is necessary, set the resolution of the scanning software as
high as possible (preferably 600 dpi or higher) and scale the figure to
its final published size.
In preparing figures, care should be taken to present the scientific results accurately. If images used in any of the figures have been manipulated, except for adjustments that affect the picture as a whole (e.g., overall brightness), the modification should be described clearly in the caption or text.
Figures might be more effective in color. This option is available
(see also the submission information above). To alert readers of monochrome
reproductions of the article that the archive figure is in color, begin the
caption with "(Color)".
Miscellaneous top
The relation of the paper to previously published work should
be explained clearly. This should include the work of other authors and previously
published work of the present authors, including meeting abstracts and conference
reports. If the present results correct, supplement, or supersede previous results,
this should be stated. (Preprints and internal laboratory reports are not considered
publications.) Indicate which results are new, as distinguished from results
obtained previously.
In order to reproduce figures, tables, etc., from another
journal, authors must show that they have complied with the requirements of
the publisher of the other journal, possibly including written agreement of
both publisher and author of the originally published work. (If the original
journal is published by APS, only the written agreement of the original author
is required to reproduce a few figures or tables.)
Specify uncertainties. Distinguish statistical and other errors.
In the case of measurements relative to a standard, state whether the error
includes the error in the standard.
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