Physical Review & Physical Review Letters
Manuscript Submission

Introduction
Web Submission
Interactive Forms for Email or Hardcopy Submission
Other Forms for Email or Hardcopy Submission
Resubmissions
Related Information
Help

SUBMISSION to Physical Review Special Topics - Accelerators and Beams


Authors from outside the United States may find it faster to send their files via the mirror server.

INTRODUCTION: MODES OF SUBMISSION

Manuscripts may be submitted to Physical Review and Physical Review Letters by a variety of electronic methods: A manuscript which has already been placed on the APS or Los Alamos e-print server may be submitted to a journal without retransmitting the file; a manuscript may be submitted to both the APS e-print server and a journal at the same time ; a manuscript may be submitted directly to a journal via Web-based file upload or via email. (Electronic submissions must meet certain file requirements .) Manuscripts may also be submitted in hardcopy form. Submission forms, including interactive Web forms, are available for all of these modes to aid authors in supplying all the information needed, in a structured format which furthers efficient processing. (The forms also provide a location for additional "free form" information.) A separate form is available for resubmissions (including transfers to another APS journal). Forms are not yet available for errata; see special instructions.

WEB BASED SUBMISSIONS


INTERACTIVE FORMS FOR EMAIL OR HARDCOPY SUBMISSION

Please select the appropriate journal:


OTHER FORMS FOR EMAIL OR HARDCOPY SUBMISSION

Please select the appropriate journal and format of the submission form:

RELATED INFORMATION

HELP

Submission of an Existing E-print
If you are an author of an e-print which has already been placed on a server, and now wish to submit it to a journal, go to the form for the
APS or Los Alamos server. Much of the information needed for journal submission will already have been supplied as part of the e-print posting; the submission form will appear with those fields already filled in, for you to confirm or correct. Fill in the remaining fields as appropriate. When you click on the "submit" button, the filled-in form and copies of the manuscript and figure files will be sent to the journal. For e-prints on the Los Alamos server, this must be done at least 24 hours after the initial posting (since the files will not be available prior to that time).

Submission to a Journal and to the APS E-print Server
To submit to the APS e-print server and to a PR/PRL journal at the same time, first go to the
server and post the e-print as explained there. As soon as you have finished uploading the files for your paper, you will be presented with a link for submitting the e-print to a PR/PRL journal, which goes immediately to the same form mentioned above, which you should again check and complete before submitting to the journal.

Submission to Journal via Web Upload
You may use the technology of Web upload to submit to the journal even if you do not wish to post the manuscript on an e-print server. This uses the "file" input field for a form that was included in the HTML 3.2 standard as of May 1996, and had been supported by several browsers (including Netscape 2.0) prior to that date. This approach automatically uses a reliable MIME encoding scheme and the HTTP transport mechanism to transfer files, and thus avoids the truncation, modification, hand-conversion, and other problems that frequently plague the transfer of files by email. Unfortunately, use of this requires that your web browser support this part of the HTML 3.2 standard - you can check this quickly when you get to one of the "File upload" fields in a form: if you do not see a neighboring "Browse" button that gives you access to your local file system, your browser probably does not support file uploads. We are currently also providing a "URL download" field as an alternative to "file upload." This allows users whose browsers do not support file upload still to use the web transfer mechanism, but they must provide their files at an http or ftp URL location that is accessible from the APS.

A partial list of browsers and platforms that do not fully support this file upload feature is available here.

To submit your paper, go to the form for the appropriate journal: Physical Review A / B / C / D / E / Letters and fill out the form. The first page of this form is the standard cover letter form, but with an additional field requesting the number of files you plan to upload. If you package your files into a single "tar"-format file, then this number is 1. Otherwise, it is the number of individual files you are sending - generally, the number of figure files plus 1 for the main text file. When you complete the first page of the form, a second page appears which contains the number of "file" input fields you requested. When you click the "submit" button, the filled-in form is sent electronically to the journal, and the manuscript and figure files are uploaded from your computer to the journal. A copy of the form is emailed to you for your information.

Electronic File Requirements for submission via Web upload.

Submission to Journal via Email
To submit via email, go to the interactive Web form for the appropriate journal: Physical Review
A / B / C / D / E / Letters and fill in the requested information. After you fill out the form, the completed form will be emailed to you. If your browser does not support forms, you could alternatively download the ASCII form for the appropriate journal: Physical Review A / B / C / D / E / Letters and insert the requested information. You should send the form to prXtex@aps.org (where X = a, b, c, d, e, or l designates the intended journal) along with the manuscript file. For the initial submission, use as the subject ``submit'' followed by the three-letter abbreviation for the name of the journal (pra, prb, prc, prd, pre, or prl) and the last name of the first author; for example, ``submit pra jones'' or ``submit PRA Jones.'' Receipt of an electronic submission will be acknowledged within 24 hours. Copies of the manuscript should not be sent by regular mail (only original figures) unless the electronic transmission has not been successful.

Editorial processing of an electronic mail submission cannot begin until at least review-quality copies of the figures are received. Electronic-mail transmission (one figure per file) of PostScript-formatted figures will normally meet this need. Use as the subject ``submit'' followed by the three-letter abbreviation for the name of the journal (pra, prb, prc, prd, pre, or prl), the last name of the first author, and the figure number; for example, ``submit pra jones fig 1'' or ``submit PRA Jones Fig 1.'' Alternatively, you could send scanner-reproducible journal-quality ``originals'' immediately by overnight mail. A third possibility is to send review-quality figures by fax (516-591-4141), while the ``originals'' are sent by conventional or overnight mail as soon as possible; please mark the fax transmission as being part of an electronic-mail submission.

Electronic File Requirements
The Editorial Office can use files formatted in REVTeX (preferred), LaTeX, Harvmac, or Plain TeX. The file must be in ASCII containing no control codes, with line lengths of 80 characters or less. All textual material of the paper (including tables, captions, etc.) should be in electronic form, as a single file. The file should produce double-spaced output. REVTeX is APS's LaTeX macro package used to produce compuscript files with the standard structure and coding needed for our journals. The REVTeX software (macros, examples, and documentation) is available via ftp to aps.org in the /pub/revtex directory. For further information on REVTeX, inquire by electronic mail to mis@aps.org.

Figures transmitted electronically should be in PostScript. Each PostScript figure should be presented in a separate file, clearly labeled. The files should print correctly when sent by themselves to our PostScript printer (the standard 35 fonts are available). The figures should NOT be included within the manuscript file itself; encapsulated PostScript figures may be ``called into'' the manuscript file. We prefer that the captions and figure call-in commands, if any, be in the last portion of the manuscript file. Further details are available here.

Hardcopy Submission to Journal
To submit in hardcopy form, first go to the appropriate interactive submission form: Physical Review
A / B / C / D / E / Letters and fill in the requested information. After you fill out the form, the completed form will be emailed to you. If your browser does not support forms, you could alternatively download the appropriate form in ASCII: Physical Review [A / B / C / D / E / Letters] or TeX: Physical Review [A / B / C / D / E / Letters] and insert the requested information. A PostScript version is also available: Physical Review [A / B / C / D / E / Letters] and the Editorial Office will supply hardcopy of the form on request. Send the form along with the manuscript in quadruplicate for Physical Review A, E, or Letters (triplicate for B, C, or D) to the Editors, 1 Research Road, P.O. Box 9000, Ridge, NY 11961-9000 (telephone number 516-591-4000). The manuscript, including the abstract, references, and captions, should be neatly typed in English, on good letter size (e.g., 8-1/2 X 11 in. or A4) white paper with ample margins. [The first copy, used for production purposes if the paper is accepted for publication, must be printed (double spaced) on one side of the paper only; additional copies, used for review purposes, may be printed on both sides of the paper.] The type size and line spacing should be sufficient to accommodate editorial markings and should be legible to our keyboarders (no more than three lines per inch and no more than 88 characters per 6 inches).

Resubmissions
An
interactive resubmission form is now available for email, web-based-upload, and hard-copy transmission of modified manuscripts. This form should also be used when a manuscript previously submitted to one APS journal is being submitted in modified form to another one (typically a former Physical Review Letters submission being transferred to Physical Review). A separate interactive resubmission form is now available for papers in the xxx e-print archives.

If the manuscript was originally submitted electronically, please avoid resubmission by conventional means (paper, postal mail); continue to use one of the electronic modes. When resubmitting electronically, please send the complete file for the text if there have been any changes.

When using the form to resubmit via web upload, please see the instructions for initial submission via upload.

For email or hard-copy resubmission, the filled-out form will be emailed to you. It should be included with the manuscript transmission.

If your web browser does not support forms, in lieu of the form please be sure to include with your resubmission a summary of changes made and a brief response to all recommendations and criticisms. Similarly, please state whether or not the figures have been modified, and supply new PostScript or scanner-reproducible figures if there have been such changes; also update any other information (e.g., address and communication information) which has changed since initial submission.

Send email to prXtex@aps.org (where X = a, b, c, d, e, or l designates the journal). Use as the subject of the message ``resub'' followed by the manuscript code number and the last name of the first author; for example, ``resub AB1234 Smith'' or ``resub ab1234 smith.''

If the resubmission is by conventional mail, please send four copies (PR A, E, L) [three copies (PR B, C, D)] of a complete modified manuscript; if changes are few, you may alternatively send four [three] copies of those pages on which changes have been made (no more than three or four pages), but make sure that the page breaks are the same as in the initial manuscript.

Errata
The submission forms are not generally suitable for Errata. Errata can be sent either by electronic or postal mail. Be sure to include communications information (postal and email addresses, phone and fax numbers).

Submission Forms
The submission forms are intended to aid authors in supplying all the information needed, in a structured format which furthers efficient processing. (The forms also provide a location for additional unstructured information.) We provide here some guidance in filling out the forms.

The title, at least one author, and the corresponding author's name and communications information is required before the form will be accepted.

Title and Authors: "Cutting and pasting" may make inserting this information easier and more accurate. Currently, no specific format is required when filling in the author list. First author et al. is acceptable when the list exceeds three authors.

Corresponding author: Individual to whom all correspondence will be sent by the Editorial Office.

Communications information: We prefer having all types of communications information (postal and email addresses, phone and fax numbers), since in various circumstances they may all be useful. Of course, if you do not have a fax number, for example, leave this space blank.

Article type: Indicate here whether the manuscript is submitted as a regular article, Brief Report, Comment/Reply, or Rapid Communication (or, for PRL, Letter or Comment). If the manuscript is a Comment, give the name of the author, and the volume and page of the article being commented on. Similarly, if you are submitting a Reply, give the author and code number of the Comment to which you are replying.

For transfers from PRL, please indicate the manuscript code number. This will facilitate transfer of the records, and help avoid delays in processing.

PACS numbers and, for most journals, subject-matter section: You are asked to suggest these to aid in efficient processing and in correctly placing your manuscript (if published) in the Table of Contents and the Annual Subject Index. Information is available about PACS and the journal sections: Physical Review A [TeX, PostScript, HTML], B [TeX, PostScript, HTML], C [TeX, PostScript, HTML], D [Frequently Used PACS Codes], E (TeX , PostScript, HTML], Letters [TeX, PostScript, HTML].

Referee suggestions: These are particularly welcome when a manuscript treats a highly specialized subject. The editors are, of course, not constrained to select a referee from the suggestions.

Copyright Transfer
A signed copyright-transfer form [ASCII, TeX, PostScript] should be sent at time of submission, and will be required before publication. While the transfer of copyright takes effect only upon acceptance of the paper for publication in an APS journal, supplying the form initially can prevent unnecessary delays. For an electronic submission, send the copyright-transfer form by postal mail as soon as possible (it cannot be sent electronically since we must have the physical signature); for a hardcopy submission, include it with the manuscript.

Submission of Auxiliary Material for E-PAPS
Complementary material associated with an article (e.g., data tables, color image files, multimedia files) may be submitted for joint review. If the article is published this material will be deposited in the Physics Auxiliary Publication Service (PAPS) of the American Institute of Physics. Information about PAPS can also be obtained in the following formats: [ASCII, TeX, PostScript].

Requests for assistance should be addressed to help@aps.org.


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