INSTRUCTIONS FOR AUTHORS

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Note

Authors are advised that adherence to the instructions to authors will help speed up the refereeing and production stages for most papers.

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Submission

Manuscripts should be sent in triplicate to the Editor-in-Chief at the following address:

  • Editor-in-Chief: HE Haralambides
    Professor of Maritime Economics
    Center for Maritime Economics and Logistics
    Rotterdam School of Economics / Erasmus University Rotterdam
    Burg. Oudlaan 50, 3062 PA Rotterdam, The Netherlands
    E-mail: haralambides@few.eur.nl

The corresponding author's name, affiliation, full address (including telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail address) and any other contact particulars should only appear in the cover letter.

Submission of a paper for refereeing means that the author certifies that the manuscript has not been accepted for publication by another journal, nor is it being refereed elsewhere at the same time.

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Electronic submission

Papers can also be submitted by electronic mail. To maintain the integrity of the double-blind refereeing process, two separate files must be submitted:

Cover letter

The cover letter must contain: (i) the title of the paper as well as a statement indicating that the paper is not currently being considered by another journal; (ii) complete information on the corresponding author (address and other contact particulars); (iii) acknowledgements and headnotes as well as information on possible co-authors.

The main body

The editorial office can receive files only in MS-Word (*.doc) format. An electronic acknowledgement is sent when the paper has been safely retrieved.

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Manuscript style

Submissions should be in English, typed in double spacing with wide margins (including notes and references) on one side of A4 paper and numbered consecutively. Only the title of the paper should appear on the first page of the manuscript. All authors should obtain assistance, if necessary, in the editing of their papers for correct spelling and use of English grammar.

Articles should normally not exceed 8000 words, be written clearly and concisely, and avoid unnecessary jargon. Articles must be preceded by an abstract of not more than 200 words, and six keywords suitable for indexing and online search purposes. The abstract should set out clearly the issues to be investigated (i.e. why the paper is written), the methodology used, and the main conclusions(s). Preferably the abstract should be written in non-technical language.

It is essential that the article concludes with a section where the author(s) summarise their main conclusions, possible need for further research, as well as the potential impact of the article on business, government or policy-making. To the extent possible, this section should be written in a way that is broadly understandable to the non-specialist.

IMPORTANT: authors are expected to be aware of, and make reference to, relevant works published earlier in the Journal. Abstracts of earlier works appear in the website of MEL.

Figures which contain only textual rather than diagrammatic information should be designated as tables. Figures and tables should be numbered separately and consecutively, and presented on separate sheets. Their position in the text should be indicated in the manuscript. All figures and tables should have a caption.

Authors are requested to follow our instructions on how to prepare and submit their figures, for more information see www.palgrave-journals.com/pal/palgrave_artwork_guidelines.pdf.

A running head of not more that 30 characters should be supplied for papers with longer titles.

Sections and subsections should be clearly differentiated but should NOT be numbered.

Papers must be written without the use of footnotes. Endnotes should be limited to the absolute minimum as they can be disruptive to the natural flow of the argument.

Mathematical expressions and Greek or other symbols should be written clearly with ample spacing. Any unusual characters should be indicated on a separate sheet.

Please use UK English spelling throughout. Take as a guide the new edition of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary. UK spellings will therefore prefer ‘-ize&rsquo to ‘-ise’ as a verb ending.

References in the text

The whole citation should follow the Harvard style, enclosed within parentheses (author surname, year) if not a natural part of the surrounding sentence; the year should be enclosed within parentheses if the names do form a natural part of the surrounding sentence. Citations of works by two authors should have ‘and’ (not an ampersand) between the names. Citations of works by three or more authors should have the first author followed by et al in italics with no trailing stop.

Publications by the same author(s) in the same year should be identified with a, b, c (e.g. 2008a, 2008b) closed up to the year.

Personal communications should be listed as such where they are cited in the text, and not listed in the references.

    Example:
    Since Paterson (1983) has shown that… This is in results attained later (Kramer, 1984). Results have been reported (Don Graham, 1989, personal communication).

Articles not yet published should show ‘forthcoming’ in place of the year (in both the reference and the citation). ‘In press’ should be used in place of the volume, issue and page range details.

    Example:
    Sharp Parker, A.M. (forthcoming) Cyberterrorism: An examination of the preparedness of the North Carolina local law enforcement. Security Journal, in press.

List of References

References are placed in alphabetical order of authors. Examples of correct forms of references for alphabetical style:

Book

    Slovic, P. (2000) The Perception of Risk. London: Earthscan Publications.

Edited volume

    Nye Jr, J.S., Zelikow, P.D. and King D.C. (eds.) (1997) Why People Don’t Trust Government. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Chapter in book

    Flora, P. and Alber, J. (1981) Modernization, democratization, and the development of the welfare state. In: P. Flora and A.J. Heidenheimer (eds.) The Development of Welfare States in Europe and America. New Brunswick and London: Transaction Books, pp. 17–34.

Article in journal

    Thompson, K., Griffith, E. and Leaf, P. (1990) A historical review of the Madison model of community care. Hospital and Community PsychiatryS 41(6): 21–35.

Article in newspaper

    Webster, B. (2008) Record bonus for Network Rail chief, despite Christmas chaos. The Times, 6 June: p1.

Newspaper or magazine article (without a named author)

    Economist (2005) The mountain man and the surgeon. 24 December, pp. 24–26.

Article online

    Gardener, T. and Moffatt, J. (2007) Changing behaviours in defence acquisition: a game theory approach. Journal of the Operational Research Society, advance online publication 28 November, doi: 10.1057/palgrave.jors.2602476.

Other online resource

    Green Party. (2005) Greens call for attack on asylum ‘push factors’. Green Party report, 4 March, http://www.greenparty.org.uk/index.php?nav=new&n=1838, accessed 9 March 2005.

Conference proceedings

    Sapin, A. (ed.) (1985) Health and the Environment. Proceedings of the Conference on Biological Monitoring Methods for Industrial Chemicals; 30–31 March 1984, Chicago, IL. Chicago: American Toxological Association.

Conference paper

    Harley, N.H. (1981) Radon risk models. In: A.R. Knight and B. Harrad, (eds.) Indoor Air and Human Health. Proceedings of the Seventh Life Sciences Symposium; 29–31 October, Knoxville, TN. Amsterdam: Elsevier, pp.69–78.

Papers/talks presented at a conference but not published

    Martin, S. (2003) An exploration of factors which have an impact on the vocal performance and vocal effectiveness of newly qualified teachers and lecturers. Paper presented at the Pan European Voice Conference; 31 August, Graz, Austria.

Dissertation/thesis

    Young, W.R. (1981) Effects of different tree species on soil properties in central New York. MSc thesis, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.

Research papers/reports/working papers

    Bloom., G. et al (2005) Poverty Reduction During Democratic Transition: The Malawi Social Action Fund 1996-2001. Brighton, UK: Institute of Development Studies. IDS Research Report no. 56.

Mimeo

    Bond, S. A., Hwang, S., Lin, Z. and Vandell, K. (2005) Marketing Period Risk in a Portfolio Context: Theory and Empirical Estimates from the UK Commercial Real Estate Market. Cambridge, UK: Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge (mimeo).

Speech

    Blair, A. (2003) Britain in the World. Speech to FCO Leadership Conference. London, 7 January.

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Proofs

Page proofs are sent to the corresponding author at the address indicated in the accompanying letter to the Editor-in-Chief. The difficulty and expenses involved in making amendments at the page proof stage make it essential that authors prepare their typescripts carefully and avoid any rewriting at this stage. Should any substantial amendments be made, contributors may be charged the additional typesetting costs. Proofs must be returned to the publishers within 48 hours of receipt by fax, first-class post, airmail or courier. Failure to return proofs will result in the publication of the paper being delayed.

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PDF

Corresponding authors will receive a PDF of their article. This PDF offprint is provided for personal use. It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to pass the PDF offprint onto co-authors (if relevant) and ensure that they are aware of the conditions pertaining to its use.

The PDF must not be placed on a publicly-available website for general viewing, or otherwise distributed without seeking our permission, as this would contravene our copyright policy and potentially damage the journal’s circulation. Please visit www.palgrave-journals.com/pal/authors/rights_and_permissions.html to see our latest copyright policy.

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Authors must sign a Contributor Agreement before their article can be published. The transfer agreement enables Palgrave Macmillan to protect copyrighted material on behalf of the authors, but it does not relinquish the author's proprietary rights. The copyright transfer covers the exclusive right to reproduce and distribute the article in print and electronic format, including reprints, photographic reproductions, microform or any other reproduction of similar nature, including electronic retrieval systems.

Permission to reproduce copyrighted material in a submitted article must be obtained by the authors before submission and any acknowledgements should appear in the typescript or captions as appropriate.

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Business correspondence

Business correspondence and enquiries relating to advertising, subscriptions, backnumbers or reprints should be addressed to the Publishers at Palgrave Macmillan Journals, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS, UK.