Submissions

The journal publishes in English only. Manuscripts written in another language are not accepted, and authors whose first language is not English are asked to have the text checked before submission: a manuscript that cannot be read reliably by the reviewers will be returned.

Unsolicited survey papers are not reviewed. Authors who believe a survey of their field is needed are welcome to write to the editorial office with a proposal.

Manuscripts must be organised in the following order:

1. Title — specific and informative, without abbreviations.
2. Authors and affiliations — full names of all authors, each linked to the institution where the work was carried out.
3. Corresponding author — name, postal address and email of the author who will handle correspondence.
4. Abstract — a single paragraph stating the problem, the method, the principal results and the conclusion. No references, no undefined abbreviations.
5. Keywords — terms by which the article should be found.
6. Main text — normally introduction, methods, results, discussion and conclusion; the internal division may follow the conventions of the field.
7. Acknowledgements — contributions that do not qualify for authorship.
8. Declarations — funding, competing interests, author contributions, data availability, use of artificial intelligence, and ethics approval where applicable. See section 5 below.
9. References.
10. Appendices — material that supports but would interrupt the main text.

The reference list is arranged in alphabetical order by the surname of the first author, and every entry in it must be cited in the text. Each reference must be complete enough for a reader to find the work: all authors, year, full title, journal or publisher, volume, issue, page range, and the DOI where one exists.

References must be checked against the original sources before submission. Citations copied from another paper's reference list without verification are a frequent source of error and are treated as a defect in the manuscript.

• Number figures and tables consecutively in the order they are first mentioned in the text, and refer to every one of them by number.
• Give each a caption that can be understood without reading the surrounding text: table captions above the table, figure captions below the figure.
• Supply figures at a resolution high enough to remain legible in print. Lettering inside a figure must stay readable at the size at which it will be printed.
• Define every symbol, abbreviation and unit used in a figure or table, either in the caption or in a note beneath it.
• For any figure, table or extended quotation taken from another publication, obtain written permission from the copyright holder before submission, cite the source in the caption, and supply the permission with the submission files.

Every manuscript must carry the declarations listed below, placed after the acknowledgements and before the reference list. Where one does not apply, state that explicitly rather than omitting it — "This research received no specific grant from any funding agency" is a declaration; silence is not.

Submissions are made through this site. Authors register an account or log in, then follow the submission wizard.

• Upload the manuscript as a PDF. An editable Word file of the same manuscript must be supplied as well, since it is needed for copyediting and typesetting.
• Choose the section — Technical Sciences, Chemical Sciences, Economics, or Earth Sciences and Geography — that matches the principal contribution of the work.
• Enter the metadata in the system as well as in the manuscript: title, every author with affiliation and email, abstract and keywords. This is what feeds the article's DOI record and its indexing, so it must match the manuscript exactly.
• Upload any permissions, data files or supplementary material as separate submission files.

Personal data entered during submission is used only for the purposes of this journal; see the Privacy Statement.

The editors first check that the manuscript is within scope and complete. It is then sent to two independent reviewers under a single-anonymous model, and the Editor-in-Chief takes the final decision. After acceptance, authors receive proofs and have five days to return corrections. The full procedure is described under Policies.