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South African Journal of Chemistry
Instructions to authors..../ Instructions aux auteurs....
Publication Policy: Original work in all branches of
chemistry is published in the South African Journal of
Chemistry. Contributions in English may take the form of
papers or short communications, and critical reviews may
occasionally be published. All manuscripts are assessed by
referees, and may be returned to the authors if extensive
revision is required or if the style or presentation does not
conform to Journal practice. It is understood that
copyright for all published material is vested in the South
African Chemical Institute and that authors bear sole
responsibility for the factual accuracy of their publications.
The use of electronic technology at all stages in the publication
process leads to rapid publication times, and wide dissemination
of the research presented.
A Paper is a comprehensive contribution to the subject,
and includes all essential experimental information and a
critical discussion of results. Introductory material and
background discussion should be terse and relevant. Although
brevity is encouraged, a long but cohesive paper is more
acceptable than fragmented accounts on a single theme. A Short
Communication is a concise account (ca. 1500 words) of
novel and significant results of which urgent publication is
warranted. Short communications will be processed as
expeditiously as possible. A Review is an authoritative
and critical account of recent and current research in a
specialized field, to which the author has made notable
contributions. Prospective authors are requested to submit to the
Secretariat a suggested topic and a brief outline of the scope of
the review before writing it. On submitting material for
publication, authors are encouraged to supply the names and
e-mail addresses of two or three potential referees. The editors
reserve the right to approach these nominated referees, or not,
at their discretion. Authors submitting work for publication are
required to complete and sign an exclusive copyright transfer
form, without which publication may not proceed. Copyright
transfer forms may be printed, completed, signed and either
posted or faxed to the Secretariat at the address given below.
Lay-out of Manuscripts: Manuscripts should be prepared
using one of the standard word-processing packages, e.g.
Microsoft Word or Word Perfect. The preferred font is Arial 12
point which also contains greek letters under the subset
"Basic Greek" (otherwise use the font Symbol), with a
line spacing of 1.5. Indent all paragraphs, and avoid breaking a
word at the end of a line, except where a hyphen occurs. The
first page should commence with the name and complete address of
the author to whom correspondence is to be sent. The Title,
which should be concise but sufficiently informative for
information retrieval purposes, should be followed by the authors'
names (one given name, initials and surname). The complete
address(es) should be typed below the appropriate author(s).
The text of the manuscript should be preceded by an Abstract
of no more than 200 words in English. The abstract should not
contain information which is meaningless without referring to the
text; thus avoid equation and formula numbers unless qualified by
an adequate description. Do not refer to illustrations, tables
and literature. For short communications the abstract should be
limited to one or two short sentences.
A paper may be organized under main headings such as Introduction,
Results, Discussion (or Results and Discussion),
and Experimental. A limited number of side-headings may be
employed if they aid comprehension. In short communications the
text should not be interrupted by headings; but essential
experimental information should be given under the heading Experimental.
Content of Manuscripts: Authors should follow IUPAC
rules for nomenclature and the International System of Units (SI)
as far as possible. Familiar abbreviations may be used, but
should be defined once if any doubt exists. Experimental data for
organic and inorganic compounds should be presented in a
consistent manner; the preferred sequence for reporting the new
data is: m.p., [a ]D, l max, e , n max,
m/z (Found: C, ; H, ; N,. Calc. for CwHxNyOz
: C, ; H, ; N, %). Superfluous data, e.g =2E m/z and n max
details, which are not structurally significant, should be
omitted. Novel preparations of known compounds should be
accompanied by a literature reference and significant comparative
data, e.g. lit.,_ m.p., [a]D. Standard preparations of
known compounds are unnecessary, and repetitive descriptions of
similar procedures should be avoided. In the latter cases one
typical description will suffice, and may be accompanied by
tables of analytical and spectral data.
Tables should be numbered consecutively in arabic
numerals (e.g. Table 1) and should bear a short, yet adequate
caption. Footnotes to tables should be designated by lower-case
letters which appear as superscripts to appropriate entries.
Tables should be in a readable form not exceeding A4 size in
portrait format. Column headings should be organized such that
they represent a physical quantity divided by its unit, e.g. T/K,
so that the entries in the columns are dimensionless. Columns of
integral numbers should be right-justified, and floating-point
numbers should be aligned according to their decimal points.
Tables should be prepared using the Microsoft Word table
function, rather than using tabulations. They should be
positioned within the body of the text, at the nearest convenient
location to their first mention in the text.
Equations should be numbered consecutively using
parenthesized arabic numerals flush with the right-hand margin.
When numbering, make no distinction between chemical and
mathematical equations. Equations should commence at the
left-hand margin, signs should be spaced, and no more than 50
characters (including spaces) should occupy each line in the
manuscript. In mathematical equations, use the solidus (/) to
minimize space requirements. Wherever possible, complicated
superscripts and subscripts should also be typed in a single line
with the aid of a solidus. Exponential expressions should be
presented as exp(...). Equations generated using other software
(e.g. ChemDraw or Microsoft Equation) than the word-processor,
should not be embedded in the text, but should be submitted as
JPG (or GIF, PSP, BMP) files and as original files. The position
of the equation should be clearly indicated in the text.
References should be numbered consecutively in order of
appearance in the text, as unparenthesised superscripts to the
right of any punctuation, and are listed at the end of the paper.
Journal references are given by initials and surnames of all
authors, journal, year, volume, first page; and
book references by initials and surnames of all authors, title
(initials and surnames of all editors followed by ed. or eds.),
volume, edition, publisher, city or cities, country, date,
page(s). Titles of journals are abbreviated according to Chemical
Abstracts practice (see 'Bibliographic Guide for Editors and
Authors'. American Chemical Society, Washington, 1974). Authors
should avoid using footnotes, and the use of reference managers
is discouraged.
Illustrations should be submitted on separate A4
sheets. There are no restrictions on the use of colour for
articles appearing in The South African Journal of Chemistry;
indeed authors are encouraged to make full use of colour graphics
in order to enhance the presentation of their work. Graphics
files should be prepared at a maximum width and height of 500
pixels, with white space being kept to a minimum, while retaining
an opaque background. JPG, GIF, ChemDraw and ChemWindows files
are preferred. Authors should use graphics computer packages,
ensuring that lines have uniform thickness and that lettering is
of a size which will be clearly legible after reduction. Freehand
or typewritten drawings or lettering are not acceptable. One set
of original illustrations, or glossy photoprints, and three sets
of copies should accompany each submission. All original
illustrations must be fully identified on the back. Labels of the
axes of graphs, like Table column headings, should represent a
physical quantity divided by its unit, e.g. ln(k/dm_ mol-_
s-_), so that the quantities on the axes are
dimensionless. Figures should be numbered consecutively using
arabic numerals (e.g. Figure 1), and descriptive captions should
be included in the text at the appropriate positions.
Illustrations should not exceed A4 size and should be submitted
as separate JPG (or GIF, PSP, BMP) files.
Three-dimensional Images of, for example, results from
molecular modelling or molecular orbital calculations may be
displayed as 3D images, which allow readers to rotate, zoom in,
etc. to inspect the figures more closely. These figures may be
viewed using the Chime™ plug-in (
Structural formulae should be drawn with the aid of
standard computer packages, such as ChemWindows or ChemDraw, and
individually designated by unparenthesised boldface arabic
numerals corresponding to those in the text; roman numerals are
not acceptable. Authors who use ChemDraw must use the built-in
ACS style when preparing structural formulae. Authors who use
other drawing packages must adjust the settings so that they are
as close as possible to the following specifications: bond
length: 0.508 cm (14.4 point); double bond spacing: 18% of bond
length; bold width: 0.071 cm (2 point); line width: 0.021 cm (0.6
point); hash spacing: 0.088 cm (2.5 point); chain angle: 120º;
font: Arial 10 point. When several structural formulae are
depicted, they should be grouped in logical blocks and not
scattered throughout the text. Numbering should be consecutive if
possible, and formulae should not be repeated if used in a later
lay-out; the number will suffice. Blocks of numbered structural
formulae do not usually require further designation, but their
preferred position in the text should be indicated. Reaction and
mechanistic sequences may be numbered and referred to as schemes
if this facilitates discussion in the text. A descriptive caption
is preferred when the scheme is numbered. For submission of
structural formulae and schemes the same instructions apply as
for the submission of illustrations. For editing purposes they
should be sent as original files in addition.
Spectra: Many software packages allow spectra,
chromatograms, etc. to be saved in JCAMP-DX format. The file
specifications for some of these packages are available free from
the IUPAC Working Party on Spectroscopic Data Standards
(JCAMP-DX) website. Plots in JCAMP-DX format may then be
displayed using the Chime™ plug-in, and expanded and
manipulated on screen. Providing JCAMP-DX files allows readers to
save published spectra for direct comparison with their own
spectra.
Crystallographic data: Papers containing crystallographic data
are assessed in terms of their chemical significance. However,
sufficient data should be included to enable other workers to
reproduce and extend the calculations. The presentation of
crystal data should conform to recommendations of the Commission
on Crystallography of the IUCr (Acta Crystallogr., 1967, 22,
445). Authors should submit for refereeing purposes and
subsequent deposition (see Supplementary Material) all
supplementary crystallographic data as a Crystallographic
Information File (CIF), which should include anisotropic
vibrational parameters and structure factor tables: these tables
should not be numbered. Significant derived data, such as those
bond lengths, bond angles and torsion angles, with their
estimated standard deviations, which are necessary for the
discussion, should be tabulated for publication. Full details of
the refinement should be included. Authors presenting molecular
coordinates from crystallographic or modelling studies in their
submitted articles should use Brookhaven Protein Databank (PDB),
MDLI Molfile or xyz formats. While coordinates provided by most
crystallographers normally come in SHELX format, conversion of
SHELX to PDB format may be easily accomplished using SHELX93,
Chem3D or Babel.
Supplementary Material: In certain cases, detailed
compilations of data or calculations may be considered by the
authors, or by the editors and referees, to be of limited
interest to readers. Authors may submit or be advised to submit
such information as supplementary material. At the time of
publication this will be deposited in the CSIR Reference Library
in Pretoria, and copies will be made available to interested
readers at a nominal charge.
Archiving and Compressing Files: For ease of handling,
text and graphic files may be archived and compressed into one
single file. Utilities such as WinZip and Stufflt will archive
and compress authors' files. Other programs such as TAR will
archive files, which can then be compressed using a program such
as gzip. Recommended file types include ZIP, ARJ, LZH, TAR, Z,
GZ, TAZ, TGZ, UUencode, BinHex and MIME.
Manuscripts for publication should be submitted to: The
Secretary, The South African Chemical Institute, P.O. Box 407,
Wits, 2050, South Africa.
Manuscripts must be submitted in triplicate on A4 paper, using
1.5-spaced typescript with adequate margins. Table headings with
the tables and figure captions should be included. All
illustrations, figures, equations etc. must be submitted
separately. A machine readable form of the manuscript in the
correct publication format should be available and sent via email
or on diskette by mail on request. All files to be submitted in
machine readable form must be thoroughly checked for viruses
before submission.
Acceptance of an article is confirmed when the article is
passed for editing. A diskette containing the files corresponding
exactly to the text must be submitted with the final (accepted)
version of the manuscript. Submission of the files by email is
encouraged. The editors reserve the right to make further changes
to bring manuscripts up to the expected standards and in
conformity with the in-house style.
The author will be notified when proofs of an article are
available for checking. Authors are requested to return any proof
changes to Sabinet within 48 hours of notification that the
proofs are ready for checking. Articles published in The South
African Journal of Chemistry may not be published elsewhere
without the written permission of the South African Chemical
Institute. Submission of article files is regarded as an
undertaking that the same material is not being considered for
publication in another journal.
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