Author Guidelines

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Acceptable file formats

Please use Microsoft Word®

Use of the following brief guidelines will help you to ensure prompt error-free publications that precisely reflect your intent.

• Equations need to be editable so we recommend that you create them with the built-in Microsoft® Equation Editor included with your version of Word.

• Tables should be created with Word’s Insert Table function and placed within your paper. If the table has already been made, please be sure it has been made with Word’s Table features. .

Submission Guidelines

For initial Submissions,

• Submit a single compiled main manuscript WORD or PDF.

• Include Supporting information (SI) at the end of the main manuscript file or as a separate SI Appendix file, if part of your article.

Manuscript Guidelines

• The manuscript, including the abstract, references, and captions should be set up on a 21.6 X 28 cm (8 X 11 in. or A4) grid with ample margins. It is essential that the motivation for the research presented, central results, and conclusion be stated in nontechnical language that is intelligible to a broad audience. The manuscript must be in good scientific American English. All pages need to be numbered consecutively.

• The manuscript should be arranged in the following order: title, author(s), affiliation(s), abstract, text, acknowledgments, appendixes, and references. Figures, with figure captions, may be embedded within the manuscript to assist the reviewers. In addition, please submit separate figure source files.

• The abstract should serve as an index (including all subjects, major and minor, about which new information is given) and as a summary (presenting the conclusions and all results of general interest in the article). It should be one paragraph with approximately 250 words. The abstract should not contain displayed mathematical equations, footnotes, references, graphics, or tabular material.

• Authors’ names should be presented consistently across all publications to facilitate indexing and avoid ambiguity.

Equations should be punctuated and aligned to bring out their structure and should be numbered on the right. 

Notation must be legible, clear, compact, and consistent with standard usage.

Footnotes to the title should be set as a “Note” above the byline footnotes. For footnotes to the bylines, use a), b), c), etc. Footnotes within tables should be designated by lowercase roman letter superscripts and given at the end of the table. NB: Footnotes in text are not permitted. Authors can either insert information within the text or add the information to the reference list.

References should be set as a double-spaced list at the end of the text. The names, including initials, of all authors in each reference should be given (in the text, the use of et al. is permitted). All references to books and journal articles, listed at the end of the paper, are to appear in only one of these three formats:

• By number, in order of first appearance, presenting the names of the authors, the journal name, volume, first page number only, and year, as in:

19L. M. Pecora, T. L. Carroll, G. A. Johnson, D. J. Mar, and J. F. Heagy, Chaos 7, 520 (1997).

This paper will be listed as the 19th in the list of references and cited as 19 or Ref. 19.

• In alphabetical order according to the first author’s last name, also including the title of the paper cited, journal name, volume, first and last page, and year, as in:

Pecora, L. M., Carroll, T. L., Johnson, G. A., Mar, D. J., and Heagy, J. F., “Fundamentals of synchronization in chaotic systems, concepts, and applications,” Chaos 7, 520–543 (1997).

This paper will be cited as “Pecora et al. (1997).” If there are several papers by the same author(s) and the same year, they should be distinguished by letters, as in (1997a).

• Alphabetically listed references (with full titles and page ranges) may be numbered according to their alphabetical order and cited by their number.

Tables must be placed within the text of your paper and numbered with roman numerals in the order of appearance. They should be used for all but the simplest tabular material and contain captions that make the tables intelligible without reference to the text. The structure should be clear, with simple column headings denoting all units. Unaltered computer output and notation are generally unacceptable.

Preparing Graphics

Guidelines

• Figures must be embedded, in place, in your article-text file for the reviewer’s reference. Should your paper be accepted for publication, you will be asked to upload individual figure files.

• Number figures in the order in which they appear in text.

• Identify all figure parts with (a), (b), etc. Avoid any large size differences of the lettering and labels used within one illustration.

• Submit illustrations in the size and resolution you wish them to appear in print.

  • The maximum published width for a one-column figure is 3.37 inches (8.5 cm). The maximum width for a two-column figure is 6.69 inches (17 cm). The maximum depth of figures should be 8 ¼ in. (21.1 cm). Legends or labels within figures should be a minimum of 8-point type size (2.8 mm high; 1/8 in. high). A minimum of 0.5 point width for lines.

  • Each illustration should be prepared for 100% reproduction to avoid problems arising from large reductions in size.

  • Ensure that lettering and lines are dark enough and thick enough to reproduce clearly, especially if reduction is necessary. Remember that fine lines tend to disappear upon reduction.

  • IMPORTANT: All fonts must be embedded in your figure files.

Electronic graphic formats

• Use only these file formats: EPS (preferred format), PS, TIFF (.tif), PDF, JPEG (.jpg). Application files (e.g., Corel Draw, Microsoft Word) are not acceptable.

• Scalable vector formats (i.e., SVG, EPS, and PS) are greatly preferred. Hexa Publishers suggests the use of Adobe Illustrator (Paid, OS X, Windows) or Inkscape (Freeware, OS X, Windows, Linux) for the creation of acceptable illustrations and Adobe Photoshop (Paid, OS X, Windows) or GIMP (Freeware, OS X, Windows Linux) for the editing of acceptable photographs.

• Submit a single file for each figure with figure parts; label each part (a), (b), etc.

• When submitting your manuscript, include all illustrations and line art for your paper.

• Set the correct orientation for each graphics file.

• Set the graphic for:

  • Line art: 600 dpi resolution and black/white bitmap, not grayscale.

  • Halftones: 264 dpi and grayscale, not black/white bitmap.

  • Combinations (line art and halftone): 600 dpi for and grayscale, not black/white bitmap.

  • Color online: 300 dpi TIFF, PS, or EPS format. If selecting a file mode, use RGB (red, green, blue).

Production-ready PDF graphics

For accepted manuscripts, PDF as the source file for illustrations is not preferred. However, properly prepared PDF illustration files may be used in the production process of your accepted manuscript if you follow these guidelines:

• PDF should only be used as the source file for illustrations when the preferred formats (PS, EPS, or TIFF) cannot be generated.

• In the PDF illustration, the resolution of any shaded or photographic images must be 600 pixels per inch (PPI).

• Within the PDF illustration, resolution of line art with no shading should be 1200 pixels per inch (PPI).

• All fonts must be embedded in the PDF.

• When creating a PDF through your application's print command, select "High Quality Print."