Manuscript Submission FAQ

Please read the guidelines below then visit the Journal’s submission site https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/asp to upload your manuscript.

NOTE: Manuscripts not conforming to the guidelines outlined in the Instructions for Authors will be returned to the author for reformatting. A PDF file of the Instructions for Authors is also available for download.

 

Q. I was asked to change the title of my accepted paper. Why?

A. A manuscript should have a straightforward title that adequately describes the primary area of research and the technique or methodology utilized. We follow the ACS Style Guide, 3rd ed. (pg. 20) with regard to titles:

"The title serves two main purposes: to attract the potential audience and to aid retrieval and indexing [for more information on the retrieval and indexing process, see https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/help-readers-find-your-article#Title].

 

Q. What are the style requirements for Applied Spectroscopy?

A. It is our job to help you present your research as clearly and professionally as possible, and the author guidelines describe  formatting and style requirements for both Applied Spectroscopy and Applied Spectroscopy Practica. The author guidelines can be found here. SAGE's LaTeX and Word templates can also be cound at https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guidelines#PreparingYourManuscript.


Q. How do I obtain permission to use figures from a paper previously published in Applied Spectroscopy?

A. Please consult the detailed information at https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/journals-permissions. As noted at the SAGE Publishing permissions link provided, "[i]f you are unable to locate the title on RightsLink, please request permission from the Copyright Clearance Center at www.copyright.com. If you are still unable to secure permission, please email us at permissions@sagepub.com. Please allow up to four weeks to process your request."

1. On the Copyright Clearance Center home page, search for "Applied Spectroscopy" in the "Get Permission" field.
2. On the results page, the third occurrence of Applied Spectroscopy refers to the journal, published by the Society for Applied Spectroscopy.
3. Click on the applicable "Pay-Per-Use Options" button, and a menu will expand to show the permission types available for purchase.

Please forward the confirmation of your purchase to the Managing Editor (Kristin S. MacDonald at applied_spectroscopy@chem.ubc.ca) to receive a PDF copy of the published article.


Q. What is the maximum number of graphics or figure files I can upload with my paper?

A. We ask that all authors include no more than six to eight (6–8) figures in JPG or TIF format to accompany their paper. We encourage authors to consolidate findings and data appropriately, e.g., place related graphics panels together as one figure labeled (a), (b), etc. For further information on formatting and presenting data, please see the following resources: www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/books_vdqi and www.scantips.com/basics09.html.

 

Q. Is there a limit to how many tables I may include with my submission?

A. Please include no more than four tables with any submission. For additional tables, please upload the files as Supplemental Material to be readily accessible on the SAGE Publishing platform.


Q. What figure file formats do you accept?

A. The manuscript submission system will only accept the following high-resolution formats for figures: .tif and .jpg. Rasterized files (i.e., those files with a .tif or .jpg extension) require a resolution of at least 300 dpi (dots per inch). Line art should be supplied with a minimum resolution of 800 dpi.; a combination of grayscale and color should be a minimum of 600 dpi for best resolution enlarged to fit a single column at 3.5 inches (88.9 mm). The easiest formula to use when preparing figures and images for Applied Spectroscopy is


      pixel width = column width in inches (3.5) x final desired resolution (600 dpi)

 

In other words, a figure should be approximately 2100 pixels when saved at 600 dpi (3.5” X 600 dpi). For highest resolution we suggest saving each file using an 8.5" x 11" standard piece of paper at 600 dpi as a template for an LZW-compressed .tif file, e.g., a figure will then be approximately 5100 pixels X 6600 pixels when saved (8.5” X 600 dpi; 11” X 600 dpi). The press officially recommends a maximum figure size of 2000 pixels x 2000 pixels. These files will be large, but it will give us the latitude to reset the figures correctly and at high resolution. For an online tutorial covering the graphics file formats, templates, and conversion processes used for Applied Spectroscopy, consult the website of Applied Spectroscopy's publishing partner, SAGE Publishing. One final note, please use a simple sans serif font for labeling figures (i.e., arial).


Q. I was told you no longer accept figures created using PowerPoint or other Microsoft Office product. Why don’t you accept these files?

A. PowerPoint files cause a variety of problems with the manuscript tracking system and the final file preparation process for layout. We are not the only science, technology, engineering, or medical (STEM) journal to discourage .ppt files. PowerPoint files are typically large (some have been over 10 MB each and will not upload to the system), but the real problem is the fact that .ppt files require an intermediate conversion step to save them as .png, .jpg, .eps, or .tif files for publication. The conversion process often causes misalignment or outright loss of important file data. We have found it is better to save the file as a native .png, .eps, .tif (with LZW compression), or .jpg. All figure files must be in a format that can be read by Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, or other image processing product.


Q. Why was the format of my equations changed?

A. All equations are reformatted using the MathType program according to the authoritative publishing guide to mathematics, Mathematics Into Type, by Ellen Swanson and Arlene O’Sean. The following conventions for publishing mathematics should be followed:

          • All Greek characters should appear in normal face (i.e., Roman, not italic).

• All variables represented by a Latin letter should be in italics.

• All constants and designators (i.e., kmax) should be in normal (Roman) face.

• Vectors should be lowercase bold and matrices should be uppercase bold (both in normal, Roman, face).

• Inline equations are modified when necessary through the use of parentheses or a solidus for fractions instead of being stacked.


Q. Why were the hyphens stripped from such compound phrases as “physiologically induced”, “biologically manipulated”, etc. from my paper during editing?

A. Hyphens are left out of such phrases as "physiologically induced" because it is grammatically incorrect to place hyphens after words ending in -ly per various style guides. It is common format to only hyphenate compound modifiers in front of nouns. Applied Spectroscopy also does not hyphenate measures and metric units, e.g., 15-mm tubes. While this likely sounds like another fiddly English grammar lesson, we follow the conventions of such resources as the American Chemical Society Style Guide, 3rd. ed., and the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th and 16th eds. If you are concerned that something was edited in error, please contact us for further information and clarification.

 

Q. Why was the format for my references changed?

A. All references should be double-spaced and in 12-point font, collected in a list at the end of the manuscript. Journal titles should be abbreviated using the standard American Chemical Society/CASSI abbreviations (http://cassi.cas.org/search.jsp). A searchable database of titles and their abbreviations is also available at http://scieng.library.ubc.ca/coden/#TOP.

The basic format for references is

A.B. Author, C.D. Author, E.F. Author, G.H. Author, et al. "Title of the Article". Journal Name (as abbreviated per CASSI available at http://cassi.cas.org/search.jsp). Year. Volume number(issue number): page-range.

We ask that you also verify the accuracy of the references for discoverability on publication.