The following information applies to conference proceedings only.
It is important that you adhere to the information on this page as well as that in the general guidelines to ensure your manuscript is prepared and submitted to us correctly, so that we are able to process and publish the book in a smooth and timely manner.
Conference proceedings: book editor responsibilities
Keep in touch. Maintain regular contact with us as you prepare the book. Let us know how the book is progressing and inform us of any difficulties you may be having as soon as you are able.
Adhere to the submission deadlines, as agreed with us in your Formal memorandum of agreement. We will work with you to ensure that any deadlines are realistic and achievable. If you are struggling to meet your submission date please contact us as soon as possible.
Adhere to the book length, as agreed with us in your Formal memorandum of agreement. If the book looks to be far shorter or longer than agreed, please contact us as soon as possible.
Invite your chapter authors to contribute in advance of the meeting. Once you have a finalised list of chapter authors, send this to us so that we can begin preparing License to publish agreements for the principal chapter authors.
Maintain regular contact with your chapter authors.
Ensure that your chapter authors understand their responsibilities – that is, to deliver their chapters to you by the submission date agreed in their License to publish, to use our guidelines whilst preparing their chapter, and to seek permissions for the reuse of third party materials.
Ensure that finished chapters are supplied ready for publication.
Give as much information as you can on the marketing support form (sent to you three months before submission) to help us in promoting your book to the best of our ability.
Provide a list of keywords that our picture editors can use to source a cover image (five months before the submission date we will begin to design the cover for your book). You can also supply a suggested image.
Write a preface for the book. This should be an overview of the book.
Prepare the manuscript following our guidelines, including a table of contents and index
Submit the complete and final manuscript to us, with all requested materials, following instructions provided by us.
Approve the index and proofs in a timely manner.
Contacting authors
You should begin contacting potential contributors as soon as possible once we have agreed to publish the conference proceedings. This should be well in advance of the meeting so the chapter authors can begin preparing their chapters.
You can use our Sample chapter invitation letter when contacting potential authors.
Sample chapter invitation letter
As soon as all the chapter authors have agreed, you will need to complete our Author information spreadsheet so that we can begin preparing and sending Licences to publish agreements to all the lead chapter authors.
Author information spreadsheet
We will maintain regular contact with you regarding the progress of chapters. Please consider these a prompt for you to check-in on contributors’ progress.
We recommend that you contact your contributors regularly, with increased frequency approaching the submission date.
Templates & sample documents
Conference proceedings template
Royal Society of Chemistry EndNote style file
Preparing the book
Preface
As editor, you will need to provide a preface for the book. A preface generally comprises an overview of the book. You may want to discuss the conference, its scope and the speakers who have contributed to the book. The preface is often followed by thanks and acknowledgments to people who were helpful during the time of writing.
One to two pages is usually sufficient.
Table of contents
You will need to provide a list of the chapter titles - including Part/Section headings where applicable, together with the names of the contributors to that chapter - in the order that the chapters are to appear in the book. A template is provided to help with the formatting. Page numbers will be added by us at proof stage.
Subject index
A subject index will be generated during the production process. This will be automatically generated from key words in the chapters.
Before submission, use the highlight tool in Word to highlight the first occurrence of every word to be included in the index. In the event that two different indexes are deemed necessary (for example, a subject index and an author index), please use a different colour highlight for each index.
Cover image
Around five months before the submission of the manuscript we will ask for image ideas for the book cover.
You should provide a list of key words that our picture editors can use to guide their image search.
You may also submit an image for consideration. The image should be a full colour TIF, EPS or JPEG file, with a minimum resolution 300 dpi at final size, and free of any copyright restrictions. If permissions or acknowledgements are necessary, please ensure you have sent these to us along with the image. Visit our Bookshop to view recent covers of similiar books (for example, other books in the same series) to see how the image will be used.
The use of any suggestions is at our discretion. The cover will then be designed and sent to you for approval.
Submitting the manuscript
Chapter authors will submit their final chapters to you. Conference proceedings are treated as camera-ready copy, so we will not typeset or copy-edit the book. Therefore it is important that you check each contribution thoroughly so that, upon submission to us, the typescript is ready for publication. Please do not send any draft chapters.
You will need to ensure that each chapter adheres to the following notes.
- The chapter has been supplied in Word and not as a PDF.
- The font for the chapter is Arial 10 point.
- The correct paper and margin size have been used.
- That single line spacing has been used.
- That the text is fully justified.
- That headings are all the correct style.
- That all figures/schemes/tables are in their correct place within the text, and not gathered at the end of the chapter.
- That an abstract has been supplied, and that this is provided in a separate file to the chapter.
You will need to submit to us the following files:
- Title page for the book (including all editor names and contact details)
- Preface and any other optional front matter
- Table of contents
- Separate Word files for each chapter, with index terms highlighted
- An abstract for each chapter
- Copyright Permissions for illustrations where the chapter author is not the copyright holder the document (see Copyright Information and Permissions for further information)
- A completed Marketing support form
The final and complete manuscript should be submitted to us using our Large File Transfer system. Please contact us to receive your link to use the system.
The production process
Once we have received your completed manuscript, and we are satisfied that everything has been submitted in accordance with our guidelines, the manuscript will go through our production processes.
Proofs
A set of paginated PDF proofs of the book will be sent to the book editors only. Contributors will not receive proofs. This is for a final check and it is not anticipated that there should be any corrections at this stage.
You will have one week only to have a final look at the typescript and check the index before the book is printed.
In the event that corrections are needed, please use the commenting and notes tools in Adobe Acrobat to mark up the PDFs. Please do not try and edit the PDF itself. Only essential corrections will be considered.
On publication
A bulk order purchase of the book will have been negotiated as part of your Formal memorandum of agreement.
You will be sent an order form to confirm the quantity of books required, the name and address for the invoice, and the delivery address for the books. The delivery address can either be a single address if you plan to distribute the books yourself, or the addresses of the individual participants. If the books are to be dispatched to the individual participants, you will need to supply us with labels with their names and addresses. On receipt of this order an official invoice will be sent to you. Once payment is received the books will be dispatched on publication.
Extra postage payments may be charged if the average postage charge goes above the standard postage charge included in the contracted discount price.
Conference proceedings: chapter author responsibilities
Sign and return your License to publish in a timely manner. Without this we cannot publish your contribution.
Keep in touch with your book editor. Inform him or her of any difficulties you may be having as soon as you are able.
Adhere to the submission deadlines, as agreed with us in your License to publish. If you are struggling to meet your submission date please contact the editor as soon as possible.
Adhere to the book length, as agreed with us in your Licence to publish. If your chapter looks to be far shorter or longer than agreed, please contact the editor as soon as possible.
Seek any necessary permissions for the reuse of third-party materials. You will need to supply us with evidence that this has been done when the manuscript is submitted.
Prepare your chapter following our guidelines.
Submit the complete and final chapter to your editor, with all requested materials, following instructions provided by us.
Formatting your chapter
The manuscript will be submitted to us as camera-ready copy, so it is important that you use the following settings in preparing your chapter:
- Paper size: custom page size of 15.6 cm wide × 23.4 cm high
- Margins: custom margins of
- Top: 2.3 cm
- Bottom: 1.7 cm
- Left: 1.7 cm
- Right: 1.7 cm
- Font: Arial 10 pt.
- Spacing: the text should be justified and occupy the whole page, with single line spacing.
- Paragraphs: the first line of each paragraph should be indented 0.5 cm unless the paragraph follows a heading, in which case there should be no indentation. Do not leave a line between paragraphs.
- Do not leave pages short of the bottom margin. If there is insufficient space for a figure or table at the bottom of a page, complete the page with subsequent text and place the figure or table at the top of the next page.
Chapter opener
The chapter title and the names and addresses of the contributors should appear at the top of the page as shown in the conference proceedings template chapter.This should list the following.
- The number of the chapter – for example, Chapter X, where X is your designated chapter number as agreed with your editor
- The title of the chapter, all upper case and starting on line 1
- A list of all contributors to the chapter, starting in line 8; use superscripted letters to signify affiliation and an asterisk to indicate the corresponding contributor (single contributors do not require either of these)
- Mailing addresses for each contributor's place of employment (no private addresses); there should be one line space following the contributors' names before the addresses
- Email address for the corresponding contributor (no telephone numbers or fax numbers required)
- The first main heading should start on line 18
Headings
- Headings and sub-headings should be typed in the styles as follows:
1 MAIN HEADING
1.1 First-value sub-heading
1.1.1 Second-value sub-headings.
- Headings should not be the last line on a page.
- Main headings should be set flush left. They should start with the chapter number followed by a single space and then the heading typed all in upper case. There should be one line space above and below the main heading.
- First-value sub-headings should be set flush left, with initial capitals for principle words, and bold. There should be one line space above and one line below.
- Second-value sub-headings are typed as part of the succeeding paragraph with initial capitals for all principle words, and italic. They are followed by a full stop and the text begins on the same line. One line space should be left above the heading.
Figures
- All figures must be supplied greyscale.
- Graphs etc should be embedded as images rather than editable objects.
- Figures should be positioned on the same page as the text in which they are discussed or on the following page.
- Figures are best positioned centrally at the top or bottom of a page. If the figure is not at the top of a page there should be one line space above it.
- All illustrations should be mentioned in the text.
- Each figure should have a descriptive caption, numbered in a single sequence beginning Figure 1, Figure 2, etc. The rest of the caption should immediately follow on and be typed in italics and placed below the figure. There should be a full point at the end of the caption. There should be a line space above and below the caption.
- Electronic artwork files should be of adequate resolution; 300–600 dpi is recommended.
- If figures are being reproduced from another publication, please ensure you have obtained and acknowledged copyright permission. See Copryight & permissions for further information. A completed copyright and permissions form should be returned with your chapter to your editor if applicable.
Equations
- These should be flush left.
- They should be displayed on a separate line with a line space above and below them.
- The equations should be numbered in a single sequence using Arabic numerals in parentheses on the right-hand side of the page.
Tables
- These should be placed at the top or bottom of a page and be centred on the page width.
- Each table should have a descriptive caption above the table, beginning Table 1, Table 2 etc. The rest of the caption should immediately follow on and be typed in italics. There should be a full point at the end of the caption. There should be one line space above and below the caption.
- Table border lines should only appear above and below the table header row and at the foot of the table.
Bibliographic references & footnotes
- References should be indicated in the typescript by superior Arabic numerals, which must be cited in numerical sequence and appear after any punctuation.
- The abbreviations to be used for journal titles should follow the Chemical Abstracts Service Source Index (CASSI).
- The references should be collected at the end of the chapter, and do not need to be started on a new page.
- The style of references should follow the examples below. Pay particular attention to the use of punctuation and bold/italic fonts. An EndNote style file is available.
1. D. O. Bassett and A. J. Hills, Am. Lab., 1987, 19, 28.
2. E. Yourdon, Modern Structured Analysis, Yourdon Press, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1989.
3. A. W. Oxford in Progress in Medicinal Chemistry, ed. G. P. Ellis and D. K. Luscombe, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1992, p. 239.
Templates & sample documents
Conference proceedings template
Royal Society of Chemistry EndNote style file
Abstracts
Each chapter must be accompanied by an abstract. These will be used in our eBook collection to promote the content, but they will not appear in the printed book.
The abstract should be a 50–250 word summary of the work and must not include references or figures.
Submitting your chapter
Once you have completed your chapter, please submit to your book editor the following files:
- Your chapter, in Microsoft Word, containing:
- Cover page
- Chapter text
- References
- Captions for figures/tables
- Tables
- The chapter abstract, supplied as a separate Word file
- Separate files for all images (they should not be embedded in the typescript)
- Copyright Permissions for illustrations where they are not the copyright holder (see Copyright & Permissions for further information)
Please ensure that you check your chapter carefully before submitting as it will not be copy-edited or typeset before publication and you will not receive proofs.
On publication
The eBook version will be published approximately two weeks in advance of the print edition.