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Initial Manuscript Preparation Guidelines for

Cities and the Environment Journal

This document provides details on requirements pertaining to initial manuscript submission to Cities and the Environment Journal (CATE). All manuscripts must have correct formatting to be forwarded to reviewers. Authors interested in the technical details of producing quality electronic documents in Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF) should consult the manual:
A Guide to PDF for Authors.

COPYEDITING

The publisher of CATE, Berkeley Electronic Press/Digital Commons, has designed a system to improve the scholarly publication process for authors. Among the many improvements we offer over traditional journals, the most significant is that we try to dramatically shorten the period between the initial submission and the final publication of a peer-reviewed article. Much of this time savings is due to the innovative use of electronic publication. These innovations, however, require certain changes in the way authors need to prepare accepted manuscripts for electronic publication.

The Cities and the Environment Journal does not copyedit manuscripts. Authors are their own copyeditors and typesetters. This means that authors need to pay greater attention to the editing and look of their manuscripts than is typically required by print journals. If you have reasons to doubt your proficiency with respect to spelling, grammar, etc. (e.g., because English is not your native language), then you may wish to employ—at your expense—the services of a professional copyeditor.

You can find a list of approved copyeditors who are familiar with the CATE style at http://www.bepress.com/copyeditors.html.

FORMATTING REQUIREMENTS FOR INITIAL SUBMISSIONS

PAGE LAYOUT and SPACING for INITIAL SUBMISSION

  • Page size must be 8.5 x 11-inches (“letter” size). Do not use A4.
  • Double space your text.
  • Insert line numbers in your text.
  • All margins (left, right, top and bottom) should between 1 inches (2.5 cm), including your tables and figures.
  • Use a single column layout with both left margins justified. (Footnotes and references must be left-justified as well.)
  • Add one space between paragraphs and between paragraph and section heading.
  • Indent all paragraphs except those following a section heading.
  • An indent should be at least 10 em-spaces (10 em-spaces is equivalent to 1 tab)
  • Equations, long quotations, theorems, propositions, special remarks, tables, figures, etc. should be set off from the surrounding text by additional space above and below. Otherwise, do not insert an extra space between paragraphs of text.
  • Do not “widow” or “orphan” text; make sure that headings are on the same page as the text that follows them, and do not begin a page with the last line of a paragraph. This also applies to titles or notes attached to tables.
  • There should be no pages where more than a quarter of the page is empty space, unless it is absolutely impossible to do so.
  • All text should be left justified (i.e., flush with the left margins).

MANUSCRIPT CONTENT

  • Copyedit your manuscript.
  • Do not include a title page or abstract. (Begin the document with the introduction. The title page and abstract will be added to your paper by the bepress system.)
  • Do not include page numbers[abc1] [abc2] , headers, or footers. (The CATE/Digital Commons system will add the appropriate header with page numbers).
  • Do not identify author names in the text of your manuscript. To add or edit co-authors, you must use the “Revise submission” form.
  • Make sure all author and co-author information is complete. Click on “Preview submission” to make sure that all your co-authors' names and affiliations appear correctly.
  • Do not include acknowledgments in your manuscript. Instead, enter acknowledgments in the “Acknowledgements” section on the “Revise submission” form, so that they may be incorporated into the title page produced for publication.
  • Write your article in English, using proper grammar and punctuation. If you are unsure of proper English usage and grammar, please consider having your manuscript reviewed and edited for language before submitting to CATE.
  • Submit your manuscript, including tables, figures, appendices, etc., as a single file (Word, RTF, or PDF files are accepted).
  • Consider supplying supplemental files to enhance your manuscript. Please note that readers and reviewers will not be automatically directed to your additional files. You should note their existence in the text or appendix. If you feel that the figures, tables or other associated files could be better viewed as a separate file, you may provide it also as a supplemental file in addition to appearing in the manuscript. Note that readers will have to download your supplemental files separately. Supplemental files may include graphics, videos, photos, etc.
  • Use the following document structure (keep in mind that there is no title page):
  1. Introduction (titling this section is optional)
  2. Subsequent sections which include all tables, figures, and footnotes referenced in the text
  3. Appendices (if any)
  4. Literature Cited - Include a proper bibliography following the guidelines in the references section below.

BOOK REVIEWS

  • Book reviews must start with the citation of the book at the top of the first page.

FONTS

TYPE and SIZE

We cannot accept Type3 fonts. The following is a brief guide to fonts with respect to layout. Please also see the discussion in “A Guide to PDF for Scholars” (http://www.bepress.com/manuals.html1) for font-related issues in the production of good PDF files.

  • Font:
    • Main Body—12 pt. Times or the closest comparable font available
    • Equations—12 pt. Times or the closest comparable font available
    • Footnotes—10 pt. Times or the closest comparable font available
    • Tables, graphs & figures—Text accompanying graphs, figures and tables should be no smaller than 8 pt.

FONT FACES

Use Times or the closest comparable font available, except, possibly, where special symbols are needed. If you desire a second font, for instance for headings, use a sans serif font (e.g., Arial or Computer Modern Sans Serif).

COLORED TEXT

  • Set the font color to black for the majority of the text. CATE encourages authors to take advantage of the ability to use color in the production of figures, maps, images, and graphs. However, you need to appreciate that this will cause some of your readers problems when they print the document on a black and white printer. For this reason, you are advised to avoid the use of colors in situations where their translation to black and white would render the material illegible or incomprehensible.
  • Please ensure that there are no colored mark-ups or comments in the final version, unless they are meant to be part of the final text. (You may need to “accept all changes” in track changes or set your document to “normal” in final markup.)

EMPHASIZED TEXT, TITLES, and FOREIGN TERMS

  • To indicate text you wish to emphasize, use italics rather than underlining. The use of color to emphasize text is discouraged.
  • Foreign terms should be set in italics rather than underlined.
  • Titles of books, movies, etc., should be set in italics rather than underlined.

HEADINGS

Headings (e.g., title of sections) should be distinguished from the main body text by their fonts or by using small caps.

  • Use the same font face for all headings and indicate the hierarchy by reducing the font size.
  • Put space above and below headings. Spacing must be consistent around all headings.
  • Primary headings should be BOLD FACE CAPS. Secondary headings should be Bold Title Case.

FOOTNOTES

  • Footnotes must appear at the bottom of the page on which they are referenced rather than at the end of the paper.
  • Footnotes must be in 10 pt. Times or closest comparable font available.
  • They must be single spaced, and there must be a footnote separator rule (line).
  • Please make sure there is no excess blank space above or below the footnote line divider.
  • Footnote numbers or symbols in the text must follow, rather than precede, punctuation.
  • Excessively long footnotes are better handled in an appendix.
  • All footnotes should be left- justified (i.e., flush with the left margins).

TABLES, FIGURES & GRAPHS

  • If figures are included, use high-resolution figures.
  • To the extent possible, tables, figures, and graphs should appear in the document near where they are referenced in the text.
  • Large tables, figures or graphs should be put on pages by themselves.
  • Make sure to use at least 8 pt. font size in tables, figures and graphs.
  • Tables, figures and graphs should be identified in numerical order, based on when they are referred in the text. Numbering of tables is independent of figure numbering (each should start at 1). In the text, refer to tables by name in parentheses, “(Table 1).”
  • All tables should have a short descriptive caption, summarizing the data contained within. The caption should appear above the table. Caption text should define all variables, symbols and abbreviations used in the table. Each column of the table must be labeled with a heading and units listed in parentheses. Keep units consistent within each column. If tables span more than a single page, abbreviated captions should appear at the top of each page, restating the title of the table and specifying its continuation, “(Table 1, continued).”
  • Everything must be easily readable when viewed on a computer screen at 100% and when physically printed.
  • All tables and figures must fit within 1" margins on all sides (top, bottom, left and right) in both portrait and landscape view.
  • Tables or figures may also be posted in a separate document or file.
  • See the appropriate discussion in A Guide to PDF for Scholars Using the bepress System for details on how best to prepare figures electronically.

MATHEMATICS and EQUATIONS

  • Roman letters used in mathematical expressions as variables must be italicized. Roman letters used as part of multi-letter function names should not be italicized. Subscripts and superscripts must be a smaller font size than the main text.
  • Use 12 pt. Times or the closest comparable font available
  • Type short mathematical expressions inline.
  • Longer expressions must appear as display math, as must expressions using many different levels (e.g., such as fractions).
  • Important definitions or concepts can also be set off as display math.
  • Number your equations sequentially.
  • Insert a blank line before and after each equation.
  • Whether equation numbers are on the right or left is the choice of the author(s). However, make sure to be consistent in this.
  • Avoid symbols and notation in unusual fonts. This will not only enhance the clarity of the manuscript, but it will also help ensure that it displays correctly on the reader's screen and prints correctly.
  • When proofing your document, pay particular attention to the rendering of the mathematics, especially symbols and notation drawn from other-than-standard fonts.

LITERATURE CITED

REFERENCES WITHIN TEXT

  • Within the text of your manuscript, use the author-date method of citation. For instance, “As noted by Smith (1776).” Or “ (Jones 1895)”. No comma is necessary to separate name from year.
  • When there are two authors, use both last names. For instance, “Edlin and Reichelstein (1996) claim … ”
  • If there are three or more authors give the last name of the first author and append et al. For instance, a 1987 work by Abel, Baker, and Charley, would be cited as “Abel et al. (1987).”

· For multiple citations, list in date order, separated by semi-colon. For example, (Nowak 1999; Grove and Smith 2003; Cumming et al. 2008)

· If two or more cited works share the same authors and dates, use “a,” “b,” and so on to distinguish among them. For instance, “Jones (1994b) provides a more general analysis of the model introduced in Example 3 of Jones (1994a).”

  • When citations appear within parentheses, use commas—rather than parentheses or brackets—to separate the date from the surrounding text. For instance, “ … (see Smith, 1776, for an early discussion of this).”

LITERATURE CITED SECTION

It is the author's obligation to provide complete references with the necessary information. Our editors do not check this.

  • After the last sentence of your submission (text or appendix), please insert a line break—not a page break—and begin your references on the same page.
  • Title the section LITERATURE CITED and place a blank line below the section header.
  • Do not split an individual reference between two pages. If the entirety of the reference does not fit on the page it starts on, then move the entire reference to start on the following page.
  • References must be in alphabetical order and have margins left-justified.
  • Use hanging indents for citations (i.e., the first line of the citation should be flush with the left margin and all other lines should be indented from the left margin by a set amount). Citations should be single-spaced with extra space between citations.
  • Within the references section, the citations can be formatted as you like, provided (i) the formatting is consistent and (ii) each citation begins with the last name of the first author. That is, the following would all be acceptable:
    Smith, Adam (1776) The Wealth of Nations, …
    Smith, A., The Wealth of Nations, … , 1776.
    Smith, Adam: The Wealth of Nations, 1776, …
  • For website citations include the URL and a date when the URL was last successfully accessed.