INFORMATION FOR CONTRIBUTORS
(July 2007)
Table of Contents
Mission
Physical Review Special Topics - Accelerators and Beams (PRST-AB)
aims to publish papers that contain advances in the science and technology
of accelerators and beams by presenting new results or reviewing active
areas of research. 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, with the goal of
making use of the authors' keystrokes for automatically filling a
manuscript database, generating article wrappers that include links to
works referred to in the manuscript, and in final production of a
well-formatted electronic document. Meeting this goal means that
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 prepared for recent accelerator conferences,
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. The hoped for efficiencies should allow for
production of a high quality, low cost journal.
For information regarding the subject matter
coverage and editorial process of PRST-AB, see Editorial Policies and Practices.
General information
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 - Accelerators and Beams has special
requirements, so information applicable to other APS journals may not
apply to PRST-AB.
Submission - general
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 current version of
the form.
Web upload
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.
For information about submission via
e-print servers or direct Web upload, see the
APS
submission server. Copies of the manuscript sent by regular mail will
not be processed.
Figures
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 from 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.
Physical Review Special Topics - Accelerators and Beams aims
to publish author-supplied manuscript files that can be used for
production essentially as submitted. (Some minor style modifications may
be made if needed.) If the paper is accepted for publication, the file
is converted to production format and coding (eventually XML), from which
base the journal pages are composed. So that this journal can be offered
free of charge, authors must adhere closely to the requirements of the
specially enhanced REVTeX and
MS
WORD manuscript preparation formats which have been developed for this
journal. Papers intended for Physical Review Special Topics - Accelerators
and Beams must be submitted and resubmitted only electronically.
Questions about file eligibility should be directed to prstabtex@aps.org.
Figures will be used directly (electronically) in the production
composition process.
Resubmission
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 - Accelerators and Beams. 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
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
The writing of the title deserves special care. It should convey
the greatest amount of information in the smallest number of words. Words
that do not carry information, such as The..., A..., On...,
Investigation of..., Study of..., should generally be omitted.
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, such as Beam acceleration. II. Surface currents
in cavities. If you wish to use a serial number, please provide information
on the other published articles in the series.
Authors
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
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
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
Physical Review Special Topics - Accelerators and Beams 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.
Physical Review Topics - Accelerators and Beams follows the
recommendations
of the S.U.N. Commission of IUPAP on the symbols to be used for nuclides
and their states. The nucleon number (mass number) of a nuclide is shown
as a left superscript (197Au). A right superscript is used for
indicating a state of ionization (Ca2+). A right subscript is
used for indicating the number of atoms in a molecule (H2).
For beam particles, n, p, d, t, h, and
the symbol alpha may be used. For other beam particles, only
the usual symbols 6Li, 12C, ... should be used.
For target nuclides, use 1H, 2H, 3He,
4He, ... . Do not use D, T, ... .
References and footnotes
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 - Accelerators and Beams
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.
For the proper form for references, see the Physical Review
Style and Notation Guide (especially
Table I and the
list of Journal
Title Abbreviations). The names of all authors of cited papers should normally be given except when the number of authors is very large (say, more than 10). 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.
Bibliographic links
It is important to confirm the accuracy of bibliographic information
in references. This is very important for an all electronic journal;
establishing functional hyperlinks from reference lists to bibliographic
and document databases depends on the accuracy of the data contained in
the anchor reference. Hyperlinks
will enable all readers (including editors and
referees) to click on references and jump directly to the material
cited. If the reference citations are incorrect or incomplete (e.g., missing
author name, or an incorrect volume number or page), the associated hyperlinks
may fail, and the usefulness of a paper in the online environment may be
diminished. Since at the present time such links work only from the reference
section, work cited anywhere in the paper, including in figure and table
captions and in Note(s) added, should be included in the reference
section.
Acknowledgments
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
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
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 × 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
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.)
Enough information about the
apparatus and methods should be
presented to permit evaluation of the procedure. For example, for a
beam profile experiment, give relevant dimensions, analyzer thickness
and composition, and spatial resolution.
An example of data should be presented (such
as a beam composition spectrum, bunch distribution, or luminosity profile)
to show the quality of the data. If results depend on theoretical assumptions,
state what the assumptions are. If the measurement is relative to a standard,
state what reference value was used. If results depend on a sign convention,
state the convention and give references.
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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