Conference issue of the Journal of Solid State Chemistry

Selected contributions to the ISBB05 will be included into a special issue of JSSC. The manuscripts are to be prepared according to the guidelines of Elsevier (see below). They will be critically peer-reviewed by independent experts. Manuscripts must be submitted by 30 August via the online submission sytem of Elsevier. Authors should indicate clearly that the article is expected to become part of the special Boride issue.
A paper copy of the manuscript is to be submitted at the reception desk during the conference.
Further information regarding the publication process can be found at: http://authors.elsevier.com/JournalDetail.html?PubID=622898

Guide for Authors

Note: By submitting your work to this journal you are guaranteeing that:

• The data are original. Data that have been previously published, by yourselves or others, must be noted as such, and you must have permission from the original copyright holder (usually the publisher) and the original author to reuse the material.
• The text is original.
• The manuscript is not currently under consideration of publication elsewhere.
• All co-authors listed have agreed to the publication of the manuscript in its current form in this journal.

The Journal of Solid State Chemistry is a research journal devoted to the chemical, structural, thermodynamic, electronic, magnetic, and optical properties and processes of solids. Theoretical and experimental contributions are both welcome. In addition to original articles, critical reviews in selected, rapidly developing fields are occasionally presented. The journal also carries a Rapid Communications section.

Submission of Manuscripts

It is a condition of publication that all manuscripts must be written in clear and grammatical English. Authors are strongly encouraged to submit their manuscripts online via the dedicated Journal of Solid State Chemistry Web site at http://ees.elsevier.com/yjssc.Text plus artwork should be transmitted in electronic form to this address. Each manuscript must also be accompanied by a cover letter outlining the basic findings of the paper and their significance. Complete instructions are available at the submission Web site. Authors who are unable to provide an electronic version are kindly asked to contact the editorial office prior to submission (e-mail:jssc@elsevier.com("jssc"AT"elsevier.com") ; telephone: (619) 699-6483; or fax: (619) 699-6801).

There are no submission fees or page charges.

Manuscripts are accepted for review with the understanding that no substantial portion of the study has been published or is under consideration for publication elsewhere and that its submission for publication has been approved by all of the authors and by the institution where the work was carried out. Written authorization may be required at the editor's discretion. Manuscripts that do not meet the general criteria or standards for publication in Journal of Solid State Chemistry will be immediately returned to the authors, without detailed review. Articles and any other material published in the Journal of Solid State Chemistry represent the opinions of the author(s) and should not be construed to reflect the opinions of the editor(s) and the publisher.

Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to transfer copyright (for more information on copyright, see http://authors.elsevier.com). This transfer will ensure the widest possible dissemination of information. A letter will be sent to the corresponding author confirming receipt of the manuscript. A form facilitating transfer of copyright will be provided after acceptance.

If material from other copyrighted works is included, the author(s) must obtain written permission from the copyright owners and credit the source(s) in the article.

Elsevier has preprinted forms for use by authors in these cases; contact

Elsevier Global Rights Department, P.O. Box 800,
Oxford OX5 1DX, UK;
phone: (+44) 1865 843830,
fax: (+44) 1865 853333,
e-mail: permissions"AT"elsevier.com .

Types of Articles. Manuscripts may be presented as Articles (i.e., conventional full-length expositions) or Rapid Communications (brief rapid communications of important new work). The editors will evaluate the suitability of an article for consideration as a Rapid Communication according to the following criteria:

• (a) The article contains unique, exciting, and novel results with a clear requirement for rapid publication;
• (b) articles may be of preliminary nature, but experimental details of the preparation and conditions must be fully documented so that the experiment can be repeated.

Each manuscript must be accompanied by a submittal letter that clearly identifies it as a Rapid Communication.

Accepted manuscripts will be published on an accelerated publication schedule.

Rapid Communications should be no longer than 3000 words, with an absolute minimum of figures, tables, and references; an abstract not exceeding 150 words should also be provided. Manuscripts that are judged not to warrant priority publication may be considered for publication as regular articles. Preparation of Manuscript. Authors who are not fluent in English are urged to seek assistance in the preparation of their manuscripts from knowledgeable individuals. Manuscripts may be prepared using MS-Word, TeX, or LaTeX. In addition, Adobe PDF files are welcome, but they must be supplied along with the MS-Word or LaTeX files. The Elsevier LaTeX package (including detailed instructions for LaTeX preparation) can be obtained from the Author Gateway at http://www.authors.elsevier.com/latex. It consists of the files elsart.cls (use this file if you are using LaTeX2e, the current version of LaTeX), elsart.sty and elsart12.sty (use these two files if you are using LaTeX2.09, the previous version of LaTeX), guidelines for users of elsart, a template file for quick start, and the instruction booklet "Preparing Articles with LaTeX."

Pages should be numbered consecutively and organized as follows:

• The title page (p. 1) should contain the article title, authors' names and complete affiliations, footnotes to the title, and the address for manuscript correspondence (including e-mail address and telephone and fax numbers).
• The abstract (p. 2) must be a single paragraph that summarizes the main findings of the paper in less than 150 words suitable for use in Chemical Abstracts.
• After the abstract a list of up to 10 keywords that will be useful for indexing or searching should be included.
• The introduction should be as concise as possible, without subheadings.
• The experimental section should be sufficiently detailed to enable the experiments to be reproduced.
• Results and Discussion may be combined and may be organized into subheadings.
• Acknowledgments should be brief and should precede the references.
• Equations. Equation numbers should be placed in parentheses to the right of the equation. Reference to equations should be in the form "Eq. (3)."

References to the literature should be cited by number in brackets in the text and listed in numerical order at the end. Use the most recent edition of the Chemical Abstracts Service Source Index for abbreviations of journal titles. Only articles that have been published or are in press should be included in the references. Unpublished results or personal communications should be cited as such in the text. Please note the following examples:

[1] K. Henmi, Y. Hinatsu, N. Masaki, J. Solid State Chem. 148 (1999) 353-360.
[2] R.D. Shannon, Structure and Bonding in Crystals, Academic Press, San Diego, 1981.
[3] D. Babel, A. Tressaud, in: P. Hagenmuller (Ed.), Crystal Chemistry of Fluorides, Academic Press, San Diego, 1985, p. 143.

Figures. Number figurers consecutively with Arabic numerals. Please refer to http://authors.elsevier.com/artwork for detailed instructions on preparing electronic artwork. Color Figures. Illustrations can be printed in color at no cost to the author when they are judged by the editor to be essential to the presentation. Please discuss this option with the editor. Alternatively, if together with your accepted article, you submit usable color figures, then Elsevier will ensure, at no additional charge, that these figures will appear in color on the Web (e.g., ScienceDirect and other sites) regardless of whether these illustrations are reproduced in color in the printed version. When paying for color reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Elsevier after receipt of your accepted article. For further information on the preparation of electronic artwork, please see http://authors.elsevier.com/artwork.

Please note: Because of technical complications that can arise in converting color figures to "gray scale" (for the printed version should you not opt for color in print), please submit in addition usable black-and-white files corresponding to all the color illustrations.

Graphical Abstract. A structure or figure representative of each article will appear in the Table of Contents along with the article title, author names, and page numbers. With your manuscript submission, please provide a structure or figure for this purpose. Please note that the figure will have to be reduced significantly to fit in the Table of Contents; final size will be 2 x 2 inches or smaller. The figure should be readable at this reduction. Please indicate on the title page of your manuscript which figure you would like to appear in the Table of Contents. A short legend should accompany the figure.

Cover Art. The cover contains a photographic element that changes from time to time. Thus, the editors invite contributors to submit photographs for possible inclusion on the cover. Line art will not be considered for the cover; please submit halftones only. Possible cover photos should be included with the submitted manuscript and should be clearly identified as possible cover art in the submittal letter.

Tables should be numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals in order of appearance in the text. Each table should be given a short descriptive title directly above it, with essential footnotes below.

Guidelines for Manuscripts Dealing with Crystal Structures.

Because of continually changing methodologies and broadening applications to problems in solid state chemistry, the editors have established a new set of guidelines for manuscripts containing results of crystal structure analyses. These guidelines are intended to encourage systematic presentation of information commonly expected by editors, reviewers, and readers of this journal. They are to provide helpful suggestions to authors while preparing manuscripts and a "checklist" for referees.

General Requirements

The policy of this journal is that the determination of a crystal structure may be a vital, but not total, contributor to results reported. Its relative emphasis may vary considerably and manuscripts dealing with crystallography may be identified according to several categories:

(a) Those describing state-of-the-art structural determinations, in which the structure itself is the principal objective of the work; structural interpretation and relationships to solid state chemistry, however, must be prominent in the discussion.

(b) Those in which structural properties are discussed in the context of a larger problem, so that purely structural aspects are of secondary importance. (c) Those designed to deal with problems of phase purity, chemical constitution, and the like, where rudimentary structural information suffices.

Clearly, the amount of detailed structural information required is greatly dependent upon the general nature of any given manuscript. For manuscripts dealing primarily with determining the structure of a well-characterized phase, the following guidelines should be observed.

For manuscripts in which the determination of a crystal structure is a lesser part of the reported work, these should be followed sufficiently to document the adequacy of methods used to support the main conclusions of the research. In any specific instance, the degree to which the requirements and guidelines must be followed is to be assessed by referees who are recognized practitioners in the field and, ultimately, by the editors of this journal.

Supporting Information and Structure Details:

For compounds containing organic and organometallic moieties (i.e., C-H bonds) the supporting information data should be sent to the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre (CCDC) as an ASCII file by e-mail or as a hard copy. Do not include structure factors. Submission of CIF files is strongly recommended. (CCDC, 12 Union Road, Cambridge CB2 1EZ (UK); tel.: (44) 1223-336-408; fax: (44) 1223-336-033; e-mail: deposit"AT"ccdc.cam.ac.uk; WWW: http://www.ccdc.cam.ac.uk).

CCDC will assign a registry number to the data, which should be included with the following standard text in the manuscript: "Crystallographic data (excluding structure factors) for the structure(s) reported in this paper have been deposited with the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre as supplementary publication no. CCDC__. Copies of the data can be obtained free of charge on application to CCDC, 12 Union Road, Cambridge CB2 1EZ, UK (fax: (44) 1223 336-033; e-mail: deposit"AT"ccdc.cam.ac.uk).

For purely inorganic compounds, the supporting information data should be sent to Fachinformationszentrum Karlsruhe via e-mail or by FTP (in the last case, contact FIZ beforehand) to FIZ, 76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen (Germany); tel.: (49) 7247-808-205; fax: (49) 7247-808-666; e-mail: crysdata"AT"fiz-karlsruhe.de; FTP: ftp.fiz-karlsruhe.de (path:/pub/csd) ; WWW: http://www.fiz-informationsdienste.de/en/FG/Kristall/index.html under "Products and Services."

Submission of CIF files is strongly recommended. A CSD number will be assigned and it should be included with the following standard text in the manuscript: "Further details of the crystal structure investigation(s) can be obtained from the Fachinformationszentrum Karlsruhe, 76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany, (fax: (49) 7247-808-666; e-mail: crysdata"AT"fiz.karlsruhe.de) on quoting the depository number CSD__."

Guidelines

A. Articles that report refined single-crystal structures must be accompanied by a crystallographic information file (CIF or equivalent).

B. The abstract should include the chemical formula, crystal system, space group (Hermann-Mauguin symbol), lattice constants with esd's, Z, type of data collection and any special refinement procedures, R factors, and a description of all significant structural features.

C. The experimental section should summarize the following information and appropriate literature references should be given: chemical formula and formula weight; source of material and its color; sample characteristics (single-crystal dimensions or particle size, if a potential problem); and yield in %. The synthetic procedures should be written clearly and concisely so others skilled in the art can readily reproduce them.

Also required is information on the type of data collection, including instrument used, any correction for fluctuations in incident intensity, and (for powder diffraction) detector used, sample rocking, resolution, diffraction geometry, and step-scan intervals; type of filter or monochromator; lattice constants (with esd's) and temperature and wavelength of radiation used, and for single crystals, also cell volume and experimental and calculated densities (with esd's) if structural uncertainties remain; Z; possible space groups (and method of distinguishing between groups with the same absences); absorption coefficient and method of correcting for absorption, if necessary; number of reflections, or range of data, used in the refinement; description of the structure determination and refinement, including a brief outline of the method and program package used, values and sources of f, f', and f'' for X rays or of scattering lengths (b values) for neutrons, plus any relation of them to partial site occupancies, the function minimized in refinement and criteria used for terminating it, constraints imposed upon refined parameters, the forms of weights in the refinement, definitions and final values of R factors (weighted and unweighted) [e.g., Rl (RF2), Rwp, Rexp, S], and characterization of any extinction corrections applied.

Depending upon the particular method used, the following information should also be included.

1. For single-crystal determinations, include the number of independent reflections measured and number excluded (giving reasons) and the agreement factors between multiply measured or equivalent reflections. If a standard analysis program is used, it should be clearly identified and literature reference given; in this case, most required information will be presented implicitly. Any modifications should be fully described.

2. For Rietveld analyses and pattern decomposition studies, the 2 step size and the total numbers of reflections and profile points should be given. If a nonstandard analysis program is used, at least the handling of peak-shape asymmetry, background, preferred orientation, standard deviations, weights, lattice parameter errors, forms of R factors, and correlation matrices should be supplied explicitly, as necessary. If fundamental to discussing the refinement, the following information should also be given, explicitly or by appropriate reference: constraints imposed; omitted regions, and justification if they are extended; identification of impurities. Any particularly significant impurity should also be characterized as an additional refinable structure (or omitted). For pattern-recognition studies, also provide corrections made to intensities and constraints on peak-shape parameters.

3. For other methods, such as identification of superstructures, disorder, CD waves, magnetic structures, powder results (not refined), and Laue methods, provide what is appropriate at the level suggested by the preceding, e.g., magnetic form factors and a list of dobs with relative intensities (scaled 0-100). If applicable, describe the method for indexing the diffraction patterns, and list observed and calculated line positions, including those not indexed.

4. Lattice images relevant to solid state properties should be accompanied by representative electron diffraction patterns and computed images, if very high resolution images are used.

D. Discussion of the structural results should contain appropriate description of the structure and the following standard information: Tables specifying all atomic coordinates (with esd's) and important bond distances and angles (with esd's) should be included. ORTEP drawing is recommended when atomic displacements or atomic motions are significant (e.g., ionic conductors, superlattice structures solved as a substructure, and phase changes). It may be appropriate to add a table of anisotropic Debye-Waller (temperature) factors. With Rietveld analyses, a figure showing observed, calculated, and difference profiles (including background) for at least one of a series of refinements should be included.

If some regions were excluded during refinement, the figure given should have the data for those regions restored, in order to expose effects of an impurity. Any aspects of the structural results that are tentative or less firmly grounded because of problems in experimental conditions or refinement procedures should be identified to warn future readers (not having access to the data) of the possibility that the results presented could have an alternative interpretation. For manuscripts in which a previously determined structure is further refined, clear documentation of improvements in the quality of the determination should be given, e.g., in R factor, reduced esd's, and closer equality in chemically equivalent bond distances.

E. Authors are required to supply further details of any crystal structure they are reporting as CIF files (in addition to depositing them with CCDC or ICSD databases; see "General Requirements" above). The CIF files will be sent to the reviewers along with the manuscript. Manuscripts lacking CIF files as supporting information may be delayed in the review process and the authors will be asked to supply them.

When a manuscript is submitted, a copy of this material must also be provided for the reviewers. Such material is retained in the journal's editorial office for no longer than one year after publication of the article.

Further Information

All questions arising after acceptance of a paper, especially those concerning proofs, should be directed to:

Elsevier Issue Management
Journal of Solid State Chemistry
525 B Street, Suite 1900
San Diego, CA 92101-4495, USA
E-mail: a.yturralde"AT"elsevier.com

For inquiries relating to the status of accepted articles, please visit http://www.elsevier.com/locate/authors.

Proofs

Corresponding authors will receive proofs as a PDF file and they are obliged to respond within 48 hours. To avoid delay in publication, only necessary changes should be made. Authors will be charged for alterations that exceed 10% of the total cost of composition.