Instructions to Authors Crystal Research and Technology invites manuscripts of review articles and original papers, and book reviews. Only manuscripts of reviews and original papers not yet published and not submitted for publication elsewhere in any medium of public nature, including electronic journals and computer databases, will be accepted for publication in the journal. Papers have to be submitted only via the Crystal Research and Technology manuscript submission site: mc.manuscriptcentral.com/crat ! In the interest of a fast and efficient refereeing and publication process, your manuscript should fulfil a few requirements. Please make sure to prepare your manuscript according to the following guidelines! The manuscript should fall within the scope of the journal, and the motivation and relevance of the research must be clearly emphasized in the introduction section. Manuscripts should be well-conceived (in terms of novelty and formulation of aim of undertaking the study), well-organized (in terms of logic in selecting results for inclusion in a manuscript) and well-written (in terms of presentation of the contents and scientific ideas in a reasonably correct language). Manuscripts describing minor extensions of previously published papers or describing routine growth methodologies of different compounds and their characterization by standard techniques are not appropriate for the journal and will not be considered for publication. Manuscripts, partly or entirely published elsewhere or submitted for publication elsewhere, and written in bad English will not be considered for publication. When writing their manuscripts the authors should keep in mind the following key points: Relevance and novelty (originality) of the contents of the manuscript should be emphasized. There should be sound motivation for undertaking the study. It is not sufficient to mention that, so far the authors are aware, the compound of the study has not been studies before. There must be sufficient discussion of the context of the work, and suitable referencing. In a manuscript it is not sufficient to present observations and results alone without explaining them against the background of the existing scientific literature. Significant parts of the manuscript should not have already been published. Serial publications are discouraged and a follow-up paper must contain significant new material. Expression and communication of ideas, readability and discussion of concepts should be clear. The length of the manuscript should be appropriate for sufficient interest for the space required. Formatting of manuscripts A full description covering the details of manuscript preparation and submission can be found as part of the template package. Here you can find our Word template for Original Papers: Word document template If possible, please format your manuscript using the Word document template for Original Papers. Manuscripts should be submitted in English electronically. However, while writing a manuscript the authors should adhere to either British or American English. As a general guideline, texts of manuscripts of reviews and original papers should not exceed 25 and 15 pages (format A4 (21 cm x 29.7 cm), one-sided, single-spaced, 2 cm overall margin) plus 15 and 10 figures and/or tables, respectively. All pages of the manuscript of a paper should be numbered consecutively. The manuscript of a paper should be arranged as follows: title of the paper, author(s') name(s) (initials followed by family name), complete address(es) of his/her(their) institution(s), a maximum of 6 keywords reflecting the contents of the paper, abstract, main text (including figures, figure captions and tables), acknowledgements, and references. The corresponding author of a paper and his e-mail address must be given as a footnote on the first page of the manuscript. The name of the corresponding author in the list of authors should be indicated with an asterisk (*). The Introduction section should be written in such a way that it reflects the current state of the subject and explains clearly why the study described in the manuscript was undertaken. Conclusions should enumerate only the main findings (not experimental observations) of the study after presenting and discussing the observations. In the conclusions, the authors should state precisely and clearly what they have achieved after carrying out their study against the background of the set goal and whether the study has improved our understanding of the science of the phenomena and processes involved. References should be numbered [in square brackets] in the text and listed in the order of appearance at the end of the paper, in the format common used for journal article and book citations. Journal title abbreviations according to the INSPEC List of Journals should be used. e.g. for journals: [1] B. N. Roy, T. Wright, and A. Baker, Cryst. Res. Technol. 31, 1039 (1996). [2] C. H. Yang, J. L. Li, and B. Wang, Cryst. Res. Technol. 39, 297 (2004). for books: [3] C. Kittel, Introduction to Solid State Physics, 8th Edition (Wiley, New York, 2005). [4] C. Janot, Quasicrystals - A Primer (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1992) p. 345. Please avoid references to conferences because they are not accessible to the average reader. Use symbol font for all Greek letters, while math mode for all mathematical equations and symbols. Do not use math mode for chemical symbols. Please use Times New Roman, and Symbol fonts as much as possible. Some fonts (e.g. Asian or Russian character fonts) may cause problems and should be avoided. Figures and tables should be restricted to the minimum needed to clarify the text. Please submit your manuscript exclusively as ONE SINGLE readable Word or Postscript file. You need to embed ALL figures and tables within this file. All the figures must be in a form suitable for a direct reproduction. The text in figures must be large enough for clear readability! Manuscript(s) should be fit for composition; badly arranged manuscripts will be rejected. Submission Papers have to be submitted only via the Crystal Research and Technology manuscript submission site: mc.manuscriptcentral.com/crat ! Steps for using the Crystal Research and Technology online submission system: If you use the system for the first time, you need to click on the "Create Account" link. IMPORTANT: Please check whether you already have an account in the system before trying to create a new one. If you have reviewed or authored for the journal in the past you will have had an account created. If you have forgotten your login details, enter your email address under "Password Help" on the Log In screen. You will receive an automatically generated e-mail, providing you with the details to access your personal site (login and password). Once logged in, please click on "Author Center" and let the system guide you through the submission process. Online help is available at all times. It will be possible to exit and re-enter the system without losing any information at any stage of the submission process. All submissions are kept strictly confidential. Authors can follow the progress of their manuscripts on their personal site: All manuscripts of the authors submitted to and all review reports written for Crystal Research and Technology are archived here. This author site should also be used to upload the revised and final versions of all manuscripts submitted to the journal. Note that when multiple files are uploaded ("Main Document" and "Image"), the system generates a single PDF file. Manuscripts that are clearly inappropriate for the journal can be rejected without consulting referees. Figures should preferably be submitted in full color, but should also be easily readable on a black/white printout. After acception 1. For final composition and printing of the manuscript a file having Microsoft Word-, Rich Text (rtf)- or pure Text-Format is needed. 2. As a requirement of publication of your article, you must agree to the Conditions of Publication either during online submission or by signing a hard copy of the copyright transfer agreement after acceptance. Please send the filled Copyright Transfer Agreement to the Editorial Office by fax, mail oe e-mail. 3. Galley-proofs will be send to the corresponding author by e-mail in pdf-format. Proof reading should be limited to the correction of typographical errors. Deletions and insertions are not permitted in proof reading. 4. After publication the corresponding author will receive a high resolution PDF (300 dpi, not 72 dpi online version) for 50 hardcopies through e-mail. Whole issues, reprints (at least 50 copies) and PDFs for an unlimited number of hardcopies are available against payment.