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How do I prepare my files for submission in Editorial Manager?
Last updated on September 12, 2023Watch this short video on Preparing to submit your manuscript.
Before you begin to submit a manuscript to a journal using Editorial Manager (EM) you will need to have your submission files ready. Each journal has individual requirements and guidelines, and the general guidelines below apply only when they do not contradict the Journal's policies.
For general information on the submission and publication process, and resources for writing your manuscript, see Elsevier's Author Hub.
How
Always start with the journal's Guide for Authors. Not sure which journal? See the Elsevier® JournalFinder.
- Locate the journal homepage, and find the Guide for Authors link near the top of the page.
- Or, if you have the journal's submission site open: click the "Instructions for Authors" linkin the About menu on the top navigation bar.
Check the journal's Guide for Authors for any of the following:
- The article types accepted for submission, and the structure and required elements for each article type. Some journals may even include templates for download.
- If the journal uses double-anonymized peer review, you will need to separate out the title page with author details from the rest of the manuscript. The Guide for Authors will give details of what should be on the title page.
- Minimum or maximum lengths for submission, requirements for figures and other media files, research data guidelines etc.
- If the journal requires a certain Author Agreement, Conflict of Interest, or other sort of Declaration form, it should be linked in the Guide for Authors.
- If the journal requires a Cover Letter, the Guide for Authors should tell you what is expected.
- Look for a submission checklist in the Guide for Authors for more details. You can find a generic checklist here.
- If submitting LaTeX files, see these guidelines and resources .
- When preparing a revision, the journal may require a Revised manuscript with tracked changes along with the revision. Check your decision letter or the journal's Guide for Authors before you begin editing your manuscript.
When there is any difference between general guidelines and what is in the journal's Guide for Authors, please do follow the journal requirements.
If the journal does not have a checklist in the Guide for Authors, you can find a generic checklist here.
- Want to submit your paper in LaTeX? Check out the guidelines and resources which will help you prepare and submit your paper. Journals that expect LaTeX submissions will often be configured for the manuscript to be uploaded as a PDF for review, with the LaTeX source files in an archive (.tar,.zip, etc.) file.
- For revisions, before you begin to update your manuscript check the decision letter and Guide for Authors. Some journals require a Tracked Changes file, and you will need to know this before you begin to edit your file.
Preparing for Metadata Extraction
When you upload your Title Page (double-anonymized journals) or Manuscript (single-anonymized journals), EM will attempt to extract metadata (i.e. title, abstract, author details), so you do not have to type in all the information yourself. Note that Extraction is only possible for .doc, .docx or .pdf files.
For best results:
- The extraction process works best if the file contains formatting that differentiates between different parts of the document.
- At the minimum, headings, titles, captions, etc should each be on a separate line, with the content on a new line underneath. For example, the word Abstract should be on it's own line before the abstract.
- The title and headings of the document could stand out from the text with a larger font size, bold, and/or color. Formatting titles and headings using MS Word 'heading' styles works well.
- The file should not be formatted with complex structural formatting such as multi-column layouts, text boxes, or elements made with drawing tools.
- The ideal order for the first page of a file for metadata extraction:
- Title/subtitle (as the very first thing in the file)
- Short title (if included, use the heading “Short Title” on the previous line.)
- Author Names (use the heading “Authors” on the previous line.)
- Author Affiliations
- Corresponding author information
- Abstract (use the heading “Abstract” on the previous line)
- Keywords (should be separated by a semicolon followed by a space. A single keyword has a 256-character limit. Use the heading “Keywords” on the previous line.)
- Follow the journal's Guide for Authors when preparing references, or see the general guidelines for references.
- Some journals require a certain reference style for submission.
- Some journals allow any reference style as long as it is consistent and complete.
- EM will attempt to validate and link your references to aid in the review process. For this to be successful,
- The references should be at the end of the manuscript, with a heading "References" or "Bibliography" on the previous line.
- The heading should be formatted differently from surrounding text, for example with an MS Word 'heading' style.
- Each reference should be a separate paragraph , without any line breaks within the reference.
- You must remove any reference manager field codes.
- The exact formatting and style of each reference is not critical to the validation process, as long as all the necessary information is included it should be successfully interpreted.
General guidelines for common file types
- Supplementary material including:
- Research data posted on an open repository, for example Mendeley, can be linked to your submission with the following required details:
- Name of the repository
- Title of the dataset as it appears in the repository
- Source of the data
- Direct link to the dataset
To preserve anonymity, do not use the name of any author, or other personal identifiers, in any filenames. The filenames can be seen by Editors and Reviewers.
Each of your files should be uniquely named without any special characters, using standard file extensions, and no more than 80 characters in the filename. The filenames will be visible to reviewers and editors, and it is recommended to use a simple and anonymous naming convention. If you need some way to make filenames unique, use version numbers or dates at the end. Some example filenames:
- Manuscript v1.docx
- Video.mp4
- Figure 3 02-Sep-2021.tiff
- Revision 1 tracked changes.docx
- Revision 1 final.docx
If submitting LaTeX files, see these guidelines and resources for file naming and other preparation.
For quicker upload when you have many files:
- Set aside the title page (for double-anonymized journals) or full manuscript file (for single-anonymized journals)
- Compress all the other files into a .zip or .tar file.
- The file you set aside will be uploaded first, for metadata extraction. Then the compressed file can be uploaded and EM will unpack the individual files.
During the submission process you will be asked for information other than what is uploaded in files. You can save time be gathering these details before you begin.
Journals can customize their submission questions and metadata requirements, but the common details most journals request include:
- The title and full name of each co-author, in the form that each person prefers for publication, their Institution, and preferred contact email.
- The Author Contributor Role for each listed co-author.
- The details of any research funding, including grant numbers, that is relevant to the submission.
Several keywords that describe the subjects within the submission.
When you have all your files ready you can proceed to Submit your Manuscript to a journal using EM.
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