Guidelines for authors

Chinese Physics Letters is an international journal reporting novel experimental or theoretical results in all fields of physics. Published monthly by the Chinese Physics Society and IOP Publishing Ltd, the journal is one of the source publications of SCIENCE CITATION INDEX by the Institute for Scientific Information of USA. Contributions from all over the world are welcome.

SUBMISSIONS

Submit manuscripts in English to Chinese Physics Letters, Editorial Office, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 603, Beijing 100190, China; e-mail:cpl@iphy.ac.cn; phone: 86-10 82649490 or 82649024; fax: 86-10 82649604. The text of the article can be prepared using Microsoft Word or any common variant Tex (including LaTex, REVTex, EMTeX, etc.), for the latter the text must be sent in pdf format. Articles are preferably submitted via the Chinese Physics Letters website in formats of PDF or Doc/Docx (all including figures and tables if any) without the need to send a hard copy. Submission implies that the manuscript has not been published previously, and is not currently submitted for publication elsewhere. Please include your e-mail address, phone and fax numbers on the first page of the manuscript.

After submitted successfully, please wait for email that will be sent by Editorial Office after a proper process. Then you can trace the status of your manuscript and referees’ comments via the Chinese Physics Letters website.

MANUSCRIPT

Chinese Physics Letters publishes letters of not more than about five journal pages (about 3500 words including figures and formulae and excluding title, abstract and references) and comments of not more than one journal page. Ultimately it is the responsibility of the author to provide a paper of the proper length. Avoid excessive white space in figures; unneeded numbering of displayed equations may add length. In the case of excessive length, the paper must be shortened prior to review.

STYLE GUIDE

Title: title should be simple, concise and informative.

Author(s) name(s) and affiliations: a list of all authors, as well as corresponding addresses, should be provided. Each address should be preceded by a numerical superscript corresponding to the same superscript after the name of the author concerned. Addresses should contain all information necessary for effective mail delivery.

Abstract: an abstract must accompany each article. It should be a concise summary of the results, conclusions, and/or other significant items in the paper. Together with the title, it must be adequate as an index to all the subjects treated in the paper, and will be used as a base for indexing. Avoid displayed mathematical expressions. Define all nonstandard symbols and abbreviations. Do not use footnote indicators. If a reference must be made, include it in square brackets. Summarize the experimental or theoretical results, the conclusions, and/or other significant items in the paper. If space permits, include any important new quantitative data. In summarizing results, be exact, direct, and specific.

Physics and Astronomy Classification Scheme (PACS) indexing codes: each manuscript must be given PACS numbers, developed by the American Institute of Physics. There should be no more than five index number codes, the principal index code should be placed first.

Main body of the paper: the body of the paper should include all the information of the research, but no subtitles.

Mathematical material: the text should make clear distinctions between physical variables, mathematical symbols, units of measurement, abbreviations, chemical formulas, etc. Hand-written Greek letters should be written fully in the margin at the first place of mention. Authors who have access to italic and boldface should use these to identify physical or mathematical variables. Variables are to be set in normal italic, vectors in boldface. Physical constants such as the speed of light or the Boltzmann constant are also set in normal italic.

Italic type should be avoided for the following:
-units of measurement (e.g. km, g, K, cm⁻², s⁻²)
-Mathematical signs such as sin, cos, log, exp, etc.
-Chemical formulas.

References:
Journal articles: citation of a journal article must include the names of the authors (or, optionally, the first author followed by ‘et al’ if there are four or more), the year of publication, the abbreviation of the journal name, the volume number, and the initial page number. The journal abbreviations are those established by Chemical Abstracts Service and published by them in Chemical Abstracts Service Source Index. If the abbreviation cannot be determined, give the full title.

Monographs: citation of a monograph must include the name(s) of the author(s), the exact title of the book, the publisher’s location and name, and the date of publication; the last three items should be in parentheses. Edition number (if any), volume number (if any), and page number(s) or article number.

Collections: citation of a contribution to a collection must include the name(s) of the author(s) of the contribution, the exact title of the collection, the name(s) of the editor(s), and the publication data as for a monograph.

Figure and table captions: each caption should be written as a single brief paragraph without indentation. Figures and tables should be consecutively numbered with Arabic numerals.

Figures: good quality figures have the following characteristics. They should be produced in resolution of 600 dpi/in and have lines, letters, numbers and symbols of uniform strength and contrast. Figures (except photographs) are often reduced to 8 × 8 cm. The final thickness of a line in a figure usually lies within the range 0.15–0.20mm or 1.5 pb. When preparing the
figures, authors should pay attention to the widths of lines and similar details, as some (e.g. dotted or thin lines) may disappear after reduction. Particular attention should be paid to line strengths in graphics prepared in vector formats.

ACCEPTANCE

If an article is accepted for publication in the journal, we will inform the author. If your manuscript has been produced electronically we would like to publish it from your files. All articles in the paper edition of our journals are published using LaTeX typesetting code. For manuscripts can be prepared in LaTeX, Plain TeX, REVTeX, WinWord, Wordperfect or ASCII code.

Video guides to scientific writing

In this two-part video lecture, Professor Ling-An Wu from the Chinese Academy of Sciences presents a comprehensive guide to writing scientific papers in English. Having spent the early part of her life living in the UK, Wu returned to China where she has gained extensive experience in both optics and physics education. This lecture (delivered primarily in Mandarin) is aimed at graduate, postdoctoral and early career researchers who want to improve their ability to express scientific results in written English. Part one looks at the format and structure of scientific articles, while part two looks at common errors in written English.

Want further editing support?
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