January 2016
When you first log into the new submission server you will notice that there are headings listed with the different phases of processing your manuscript goes through at the editorial office. (You may or may not see all of these, depending on what stage your manuscript is at.) So what do they mean?
On the upper left side of the page you will notice your name, email address, and affiliation. Simply click on the Update button to change any of this information if necessary.
Click on this button and you can start the submission of a new manuscript. (As well as update your contact information if needed.)
You have started a new submission and chosen to save it for later or did not hit the submit button when you were finished.
A completed (re)submission will appear here until APS submissions staff process it.
You have been sent a message regarding your manuscript from the editors; no further action will be taken on the manuscript until we hear back from you.
When your (re)submission is processed it will appear under this heading until it is sent out for review or the editor contacts you with other information.
Your manuscript is currently out for review.
When your paper has been accepted or published it will appear under this heading with a link to the accepted or published paper.
Consider whether you wish color figures in print or whether color online only and grayscale in print will be adequate. Be aware that color figures in print incur substantial charges for which authors and their institutions are responsible. Please see the Color-in-Print memo for our pricing and payment policy. If the article is accepted, these charges must be paid before it can be forwarded to our composition vendor for publication. Electronic figures submitted in color (PostScript or EPS preferred) will be published online in color at no extra charge to authors. Note, however, that grayscale images printed from color figures do not generally have monotonic gray scales.
For color online figures only, take care to ensure that captions and text references to the figures are appropriate for both the online color and print grayscale versions, and that the figure will be sufficiently clear in both versions. (The same figure file is used for both the print and the online versions.)
Check the accuracy of your references. (Avoid broken links in the online version of the journal.)
Include the complete source information for any references cited in the abstract. (Do not cite reference numbers in the abstract. Abstracts are reprinted in various abstract journals and databases where the numerical citation is not useful.)
Number references in text consecutively, starting with [1].
If your native language is not English, please consider enlisting the help of an English-speaking colleague in preparing the text.
Use a spell checker. (Referees are not favorably impressed by careless mistakes.)
Submit electronic files in REVTeX (preferred), LaTeX, and MSWord. Portable Document Format (PDF) or PostScript files may delay the publication of your manuscript.
Figures should be submitted separately. We prefer PostScript or EPS files.
For more information, see the Web Submission Guidelines.
With your submission, include a list of possible referees who are experts on the subject matter and not your close colleagues. Please consider including younger individuals who, while possibly less well known, are sufficiently knowledgeable to be effective referees.
Please use standard Windows fonts in any Word document. If you use an unusual font, we will probably not have it and, therefore, be unable to convert your Word document to PDF for viewing.
We recommend conventional file naming (plain ascii without punctuation or spaces) and a flat directory structure; non-conforming file names and subdirectories will prevent successful preview PDF generation.
If submitting from a large collaboration, please follow the Guidelines for Collaboration Submissions to ensure proper coding of the author list in your REVTeX file.
Include figures in your Word document as pictures. Include equations by using Design Science's MathType equation editor rather than Word's built-in editor, and tables by using Word's Table Editor. Please do not embed any of these items as objects, since this will cause a problem with our conversion of your file to PDF.
Submit separate figure files (PostScript or EPS preferred) in addition to embedding the figures in the manuscript if you submit in MS Word or PDF format. Although we discourage the use of any unusual fonts, if it is necessary, please embed these type fonts in your PostScript or EPS files so that we are able to generate proper output.
For REVTeX and LaTeX files, please run BibTeX before submitting your paper, and read-in (i.e., \input) or paste the resulting .bbl file within the reference section of your paper.
If your attempted submission is not successful, please do not begin a new submission. Please continue with the same attempted submission, or send a message to [email protected] for further assistance. Do not start numerous, unnecessary submissions.
When sending a message for assistance to [email protected], please be sure to include the full text of any error messages received. This will help us to determine quickly and resolve the source of any problems encountered.
In any resubmission letter, provide (1) a concise summary of your rebuttal to the major points of criticism raised by the referees, (2) a point by point, polite, professional response to the referee reports, and (3) a list of changes.
If your paper is accepted, please check the proofs carefully, even if you have submitted your paper as an electronic file. (The conversion, copy-editing, and formatting processes will inevitably introduce changes and some errors might result.)