Instructions for authors

Authors should send to the Editorial office FOUR copies of their paper, which should conform to the following requirements, and a signed statement that their paper is not under consideration with any other journal (see “Proofs, Copyright and Considerations of submission – number 4” below).

MANUSCRIPT REQUIREMENTS

1. Manuscripts should be typed on one side of the paper, in double spacing, with ample margins. The pages should be numbered consecutively, with added pages numbered 1(a), 1(b), etc
2. Manuscripts should not normally exceed 10 Journal pages (or about 5000 words). Each figure is equivalent to about one-third of a page, and hence manuscripts should not exceed 20 typed, double-spaced A4 pages, including figures, tables, references and appendices. Technical notes, letters and viewpoints should not exceed six manuscript pages.
3. Illustrations, photographs, tables, etc should accompany the script on separate sheets and take account of the page size of the Journal. Wherever possible, figures should be clearly prepared for direct photographic reproduction. Figure captions and table headings should be provided on a separate page at the end of the script.
4. A running head of not more than 30 characters should be supplied for papers with long titles.
5. Sections and subsections should be clearly differentiated but should not be numbered.
6. Papers should be written without the use of footnotes.
7. Mathematical expressions and Greek or other symbols should be written clearly with ample spacing. Use widely accepted symbols and abbreviations, following the style of BS 1991 Part 2 1954.
8. Spelling should conform with The Concise Oxford Dictionary.
9. References should be indicated in the text by a raised figure (unbracketed) and should run in numerical order. They should be listed in order to citation (not alphabetically) at the end of the article, and should include: authors names and initials; where there are more than four authors, give one author and et al; followed by the date of publication; for papers, the title, the name of the journal, the volume number and the first and last page numbers; for books, the title, the publisher and the place of publication.
   
   Please adopt the following style for references:

   Journals (abbreviate titles as in the World List of Scientific Periodicals):

   1 Chau PYK, Bell PC (1993). Designing effective simulation-based decision support systems; an empirical assessment of three types of decision support systems. J Opl Res Soc 46: 315-331.

   Books:

   2 Miser HJ (1995). Handbook of Systems Analysis Volume 3: Cases. Wiley: Chichester.

   Papers in a contributed volume:

   3 Osman IH (1995). An introduction to meta-heuristics. In: Lawrence M, Wilsdon C (eds). Operational Research Tutorial 1995. Operational Research Society: Birmingham, pp 92-122.

   Conference papers:

   4 Kim I, Hendry L (1995). Politics – a whole new ball game for DEA? Presented at the 37th Annual Conference of the Operational Research Society. Canterbury, UK.

   Unpublished reports and theses (which should be available on request):

   5 Desa MI. Bus fleet maintenance modelling in a developing country. PhD thesis, 1995, University of Salford.

1. At the head of each paper there should be an abstract of not more than 150 words, followed by 3-6 keywords defining the essential content of the paper. The abstract should be sufficiently comprehensible to enable any reader of the Journal to judge the paper’s potential interest. Since this abstract will be published in International Abstracts in Operations Research, it should be complete in itself and contain no references. A list of keywords is given below. The keywords are used in the referee selection process, and in the construction of the annual index.
2. All theoretical papers should commence with an introduction which is comprehensible to non-specialist readers.
3. Where appropriate, worked examples should be included in theoretical papers to assist the understanding of non-specialist readers.
4. All case-study papers should commence with an introduction which indicates clearly that this is an account of an actual project.
5. All papers should end with a conclusion which summarizes the vale of the work and, where appropriate, indicates possible directions for future developments.
6. Wherever possible, theorems, computer programs, lists and calculations should be placed in appendices.

1. Proofs of papers are sent to authors for checking and correction of fact, especially with regard to mathematical content. Alterations to diagrams and non-essential textual changes should be avoided. Proofs must be returned promptly within 7 days of receipt. Failure to do so may result in the paper being published with editorial corrections only.
2. Twenty-five reprints of each paper are provided free to the author, and further reprints and copies of the issue (at a specially reduced rate) may be ordered when proofs are returned.
3. The copyright of all material published in the Journal is held by the Operational Research Society. The author must complete and return the provided copyright form.
4. Submission of a paper for refereeing means that the author certifies that the manuscript is not copyrighted; nor has it been accepted for publication (or published) by a refereed journal; nor is it being refereed elsewhere at the same time. Submission of a paper to more than one journal simultaneously is unacceptable both to the Editor of the Journal of the Operational Research Society and to the editors of other journals in the field of OR. Until a statement of this effect is received a submitted paper will not be sent to referees.
5. If authors use material within their article that has been published elsewhere then they must obtain the permission of the earlier publisher.
6. Authors wishing to use material from the Journal should consult the Editor.
7. Authors may publish figures or any other part of their contribution in any other work directly by them, without asking permission, provided that the usual acknowledgements are made.

KEYWORDS

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Last Updated 21 March 2001