Information for Contributors

Where to Submit Your Manuscript | Contact Editorial Office | Statement of Ethics and Responsibilities of Authors
Open Access | Accepted Manuscripts | How to Prepare Your Manuscript | English Language Editing Assistance
Multimedia | Supplemental Material | Free Color Online
How to Prepare Your Illustrations | Manuscript Preparation Checklist
PoP Style Files | Sample Manuscript

Read PoP's General Editorial Policies

Where to Submit Your Manuscript

Submit manuscripts via Peer X-Press^®, the journal’s online manuscript submission system, located at http://pop.peerx-press.org.

Author instructions are available through a link after you successfully log into Peer X-Press^®. After registering and submitting information and files, you may use Peer X-Press^® to check on the status of your manuscript throughout the peer review process.

A cover letter should specify authors, title, Journal, corresponding author’s e-mail address, and any special requests. Note that the cover letter will not be accessible to the reviewers.

Unless otherwise stated, submission of a manuscript will be understood to mean that the paper has been neither copyrighted, classified, published, nor is being considered for publication elsewhere, and that the corresponding author has obtained the agreement of all coauthors to submission of the manuscript.

Agreement to the terms of AIP’s Transfer of Copyright Agreement form is required for publication in this journal. No claim is made to original U.S. Government works. When submitting your original or revised manuscript to the journal's online submission site (http://pop.peerx-press.org), you will be able to provide electronic consent to the Transfer of Copyright Agreement.

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Contact the Editorial Office

Contact the Editorial Office for Physics of Plasmas at:

Physics of Plasmas
American Institute of Physics
Suite 1N01
2 Huntington Quadrangle
Melville, NY 11747-4502, USA

Telephone: +1 516-576-2347
E-mail: pop-edoffice@aip.org

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Statement of Ethics and Responsibilities of Authors

This journal is published as part of the charter of its publisher, the American Institute of Physics (AIP), to advance and diffuse knowledge of the science of physics and its applications to human welfare. To that end, it is essential that all who participate in producing the journal conduct themselves as authors, reviewers, editors, and publishers in accord with the highest level of professional ethics and standards.

A detailed statement of what this journal expects is available here.

By submitting a manuscript to this journal, each author implicitly confirms that it meets the highest ethical standards.

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Open Access

Through participation in Author Select^®, authors may choose open access for their published article. By supporting both publication and archiving costs through payment of a $2200 fee, authors may instruct the journal to provide free online access to the published article, in perpetuity, to any online user. A subscription to the online journal will not be required to access full-text versions of these open access articles. See details about Author Select and look for information during manuscript submission.

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Accepted Manuscripts

Authors whose manuscripts have been accepted for publication will receive correspondence informing them of the issue for which it is tentatively scheduled. Date of publication may be before the cover date of the issue. Authors may access publication data for their manuscripts online through AIP’s AMSIS service.

Proofs and all subsequent correspondence pertaining to papers in the production process should be addressed to:

Editorial Supervisor
Physics of Plasmas
American Institute of Physics
Suite 1NO1
2 Huntington Quadrangle
Melville, NY 11747-4502, USA

Telephone: +1 516-576-2367
FAX: +1 516-576-2233
E-mail: php@aip.org

Reference must be made to the AIP identification number (e.g., 001201PHP), title, author, and scheduled issue date. A limited number of alterations in proof are unavoidable, but the cost of making extensive alterations after the article has been typeset may be charged to the author. Please do not address correspondence about proofs, reprints, artwork, color printing and publication charges, etc., to the Editors. To do so simply delays the appropriate action and response.

Through AIP’s Accepted Manuscript Status Inquiry System (AMSIS), authors may access information about significant milestones for their accepted manuscript during the production process at AIP. AMSIS can be used only by authors of accepted manuscripts; authors will use Peer X-Press^® to monitor their submitted manuscripts during peer review.

Information regarding publication and color printing charges, and similar material may be found on the inside front cover of each printed issue.

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How to Prepare Your Manuscript

English Language Editing Assistance

AIP recommends Edanz for authors who wish to have the language in their manuscripts edited by a native-English-speaking language editor who is also a scientific expert. Edanz is a global editing service with offices in Japan and China. Use of an editing service is neither a requirement nor a guarantee of acceptance for publication. Please contact Edanz directly to make arrangements for editing and to receive a quotation regarding price and time.

For general format and style, consult recent issues of the journal. Link to the journal’s General Editorial Policies here. Note that there are some style requirements specific to Physics of Plasmas. Information on these requirements, is available online or from the Editorial Office via mail (see Princeton mailing address above), e-mail (physplas@pppl.gov), or fax (609-243-2427). REVTeX4 macros that will assist in formatting the manuscript are available on the AIP web site at: www.aip.org/pubservs/compuscript.html.

Acceptable manuscript file types include Word, LaTeX, and PDF. PDF is acceptable for the review process only and a source Word or LaTex file is required for production. For authors who use LaTeX, REVTeX 4.1 is now available and includes style files for AIP journals and associated instructions. REVTeX 4.1 is available here.

Note for TeX users:

Please note that AIP does not compose/typeset pages in TeX. Instead we use the generic markup language XML (Extensible Markup Language). As a result, the format and layout, especially math, may look somewhat different to what was originally created in TeX.

While we appreciate the benefits to authors of preparing manuscripts in TeX, especially for math-intensive manuscripts, it is neither a cost-effective composition tool (for the volume of pages AIP currently produces) nor is it a format that can be used effectively for online publishing.

XML is critical to ensure that online content is discoverable, searchable, and accessible well into the future. It is a W3C standard that has been adopted by many publishers as well as by many software industry market leaders. Information in XML can be processed easily by computers and is both hardware and software independent. Tagged XML data is an ideal archive format as identification and extraction of specific content for reuse is relatively easy. A single XML source file is generated from authors’ TeX or Word files and feeds our entire process. All end-products and deliverables, whether print or electronic, are derived from this single XML file, reducing the chance of errors or inconsistencies.

The maximum length for Regular Articles is 11 typeset pages. Any paper exceeding this length will incur a charge of $150 per excess page, separate from standard page charges.

The purpose of the Letters section is to provide rapid dissemination of important new results in the fields regularly covered by Physics of Plasmas. Results of extended research should not be presented as a series of letters in place of comprehensive articles. Except for length, manuscripts are governed by the same criteria as longer articles. There is, however, a three‑month time limit from date of receipt to acceptance for processing Letters manuscripts. Timeliness and current importance of the subject matter, and brevity and clarity of presentation determine the acceptability of contributions. Feasibility studies and proposals for future research will seldom be accepted. When submitting a manuscript, authors must include a brief statement justifying rapid publication in the Letters section. Each Letter should be self‑contained and may on occasion be followed by a comprehensive article in Physics of Plasmas or elsewhere. The length of a Letter is limited to four (4) printed pages (eight columns) including space allowed for title, figures, tables, references, and an abstract. Letters that exceed this limit will be returned at galley stage with a note to the author(s) stating that a length adjustment is necessary. Section headings are not allowed in Letters.

Brief Communications include important research results of more limited scope than regular articles. The submission of material having a peripheral, or merely cursory, nature is strongly discouraged. Brief Communications are limited to four (4) printed pages. Similar to Letters, papers that exceed four pages will be returned. Section headings are not allowed in Brief Communications.

Comments and Responses. The purpose of a Comment is to correct significant errors in articles published in the Journal, to take issue with the conclusions reached, or to provide additional insight or corroboration. Comments must be concise, substantive, and free of polemics. They must address scientific issues only. Comments on questions of priority or calling attention to an oversight in a reference list are discouraged.

The title of the Comment should be in the following format: Comment on "Title of paper" [Phys. Plasmas citation for paper]

The title of the Response should be in the following format: Response to "Comment on 'Title of paper'" [Phys. Plasmas citation for Comment-- leave page number blank]

Comments and Responses must include an abstract, and authors should attempt to limit their length to two journal pages.

Errata. Errata may be submitted to correct errors or omissions in previously published papers. Errata should essentially be able to stand alone, e.g., if correcting errors in an equation, include the entire corrected equation, or if correcting a figure, include the correct version of the figure. The title of the Erratum should be in the following format: Erratum: "Title of Paper" [Phys. Plasmas citation for paper]

Presentation: Authors are requested to follow certain basic rules required for speedy publication and a more satisfactory appearance of the published paper. The speed with which papers are processed in the Editorial Office and prepared for publication by the American Institute of Physics can be increased considerably if authors would follow these guidelines in the preparation of manuscripts.

The Manuscript, including the abstract, references, and captions, should be set up for 21.6 x 28 cm (8-1/2 x 11 in. or A4) pages with ample margins. It should be carefully proofread by the author. The manuscript must be in good scientific American English; this is the author’s responsibility. Number all pages in single sequence. The title page should contain the title of the article, the names and affiliations of the authors, and a short abstract. Parts of the manuscript should be arranged in the following order: title, author, affiliation, abstract, text, acknowledgments, appendices, and references. Figures, with figure captions, may be embedded within the manuscript to assist the reviewers. Papers should not be lengthened by unnecessary descriptions and repetitions, but neither should authors use a telegraphic style detrimental to the clarity and understanding of the paper.

The title of a paper should be as concise as possible but informative enough to facilitate information retrieval. For series publications of closely related papers, the descriptor “Part I,” or simply “I,” will not be included as part of the title of an article unless Part II has already been submitted for publication in the Journal. Part III, IV, etc., are likewise unacceptable unless the prior parts have already been accepted or have appeared in this Journal, and are properly identified in the references.

Authors’ names should preferably be written in a standard form for all publications to facilitate indexing and avoid ambiguities.

Authors with Chinese, Japanese, or Korean names may choose to have their names published in their own language alongside the English versions of their names in the author list of their publications. For Chinese, authors may use either Simplified or Traditional characters. Chinese, Japanese, or Korean characters must be included within the author list of the manuscript when submitting or resubmitting. The manuscript must be prepared using Microsoft Word or using the CJK LaTeX package. Specific guidelines for each authoring tool are given here. To ensure that we have processed the manuscript files correctly, you must proof the PDF of the manuscript as produced by the Peer X-Press^® system on first submission. In addition, it is essential that you check carefully any production proofs you receive prior to the publication of your paper.

The Abstract should be self-contained (contain no footnotes). One should not have to read the paper to understand the abstract. It should be adequate as an index (giving all subjects, major and minor, about which new information is given), and as a summary (giving the conclusions and all results of general interest in the article). The abstract should be limited to 150 words and be written as one paragraph; it should not contain displayed mathematical equations or tabular material. References that appear in the abstract must be fully cited there; numbered references begin in the body of the text.

Equations should be punctuated and aligned to bring out their structure and numbered on the right. Mathematical operation signs indicating continuity of the expression should be placed at the left of the second and succeeding lines. Use x rather than a centered dot, except for scalar products of vectors. The solidus (/) should be used instead of built-up fractions in running text, and in display wherever clarity would not be jeopardized. Use “exp” for complicated exponents.

Notation must be legible, clear,, and consistent with standard usage. All unusual symbols whose identity may not be obvious must be identified the first time they appear, and at all subsequent times when confusion might arise. Superscripts are normally set directly over subscripts; authors should note where readability or the meaning requires a special order.

Acknowledgments should appear under that heading at the end of the main text (before the appendices, footnotes, tables, figure captions, and figures, if any). Acknowledgment of financial support should appear as the last paragraph under the same heading.

References and footnotes should be in the form shown in recent issues of this journal. References in the abstract must be cited there. Additionally, all machines, such as TFTR, JET, or LASNEX, must be given a general reference the first time they are mentioned in the abstract and again in the text. There should be no reference to classified publications even if the titles are unclassified. In all cases, "unpublished" references, including internal laboratory reports, are not acceptable. (An unpublished paper or an internal laboratory report may only be used if it is first deposited with AIP’s EPAPS service , or is on deposit with a national depository, such as the U.S. National Technical Information Service.)

The following are acceptable references:

Give the full author list for each reference. All text references (excluding tables and captions) should be listed in sequential order of appearance. All publishing company acronyms (AIP, U.P., IAEA, etc.) must be fully spelled out each time it is cited in the reference list. Titles of papers in journals are omitted except where the article has not yet been published.

Separate Tables (numbered with Roman numerals in the order of their appearance in the text) should be used for all but the simplest tabular material; they should have captions that make the tables intelligible without reference to the text. The structure should be clear, with simple column headings giving all units. Footnotes to the table should be indicated by superscripts, a, b, c, etc., and begun anew for each table. Tables should appear on separate pages after the references.

The Editors will examine all new submissions for appropriate referencing. A good bibliography should have a broad representation of related publications and a strong list of background references (for the non-expert). Bibliographies should NOT be one-dimensional, i.e., directed only towards the authors' own research or research at the authors' institutions, but must place the paper in context with other work. Papers that do not meet these standards may be rejected without review.

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AUTHOR GUIDELINES FOR MULTIMEDIA SUBMISSIONS

Multimedia files can be included in the online version of published papers. These multimedia files can be viewed by simply clicking on a link in the paper, provided the reader has a video player, such as Windows Media Player^TM, QuickTime Player^TM, or RealOne Player^TM installed.

Please adhere to the following guidelines when preparing multimedia files for submission:

• When incorporating multimedia, note that the paper should be written so that the print version can be understood on its own.
• Submit all multimedia files initially with the manuscript.
• Treat all multimedia files as figures, numbered in sequence as they are referred to in text. (Multimedia files will not have a numbering scheme separate from the figures.)
• All multimedia files must be cited in the text, referred to by their figure number.
• For each multimedia file, provide a figure, which is a static representation of the multimedia file. Also provide an accompanying caption. At the end of the caption, include the phrase, "(enhanced online)."
• Video and other enhanced files should be in a format that the majority of readers can view without too much difficulty. See the multimedia guidelines here for specific submission requirements.

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Supplemental Material

Supplemental files may be of two types:

• Files to aid the reviewer and not for publication.
• Supplementary information for publication alongside the manuscript.

Appropriate items for publication as supplemental material include; multimedia (e.g., movie files, audio files, 3D rendering files), data tables, and text (e.g., appendices) that are too lengthy or of too limited interest for inclusion in the article. Links (URLs) in the online (printed) journal article allow users to navigate directly to the associated files. Note that subdirectories (folders) are not acceptable. Name files appropriately, so that all files can reside at the root directory, allowing successful linking between the published paper and its associated supplemental material.

All supplemental material must be approved by the Journal Editor as part of a manuscript's normal review cycle, and must be listed in the reference section as follows: "See supplementary material at [URL will be inserted by AIP] for [give brief description of material]."

For additional information about depositing or retrieving supplementary material, see the Supplemental Material homepage.

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How to Prepare Your Illustrations

For best results, please adhere to these guidelines when preparing your illustrations for submission.

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Free Color Online

If authors supply usable color graphics files in time for the production process, color will appear in the online journal free of charge. A usable color graphics file must be in one of the following formats: Encapsulated PostScript (.eps), PostScript (.ps), Tagged Image File Format (.tif), and Portable Document Format (.pdf). No other type of color illustration is acceptable, and only one version of each graphics file will be accepted.

In order to maintain online color as a free service to authors, the journal cannot accept multiple versions of the same graphics file. Authors may not submit two versions of the same illustration (e.g., one for color and one for black & white). When preparing illustrations that will appear in color in the online journal and in black & white in the printed journal, authors must ensure that: (i) colors chosen will reproduce well when printed in black & white and (ii) descriptions of figures in text and captions will be sufficiently clear for both print and online versions. This is the author’s responsibility.

If usable color graphics files are received in time for the production process, authors will see color versions of those illustrations when viewing their author proofs. (The Corresponding Author will receive e-mail notification from AIP when the proof, as a PDF file, is available for downloading.)

Although figures will appear in color online, the printed version of the article will contain black-and-white images. Therefore, a descriptive term other than a color is needed in the caption to support the data of discussion. For example, instead of “the red and blue symbols” write “the red circles and blue squares.” By adding the descriptive terms “circles” and “squares” the print reader, seeing the image in black and white, would have a clearer picture as to what is being explained in the figure.

The procedures for obtaining color in the printed journal remain unchanged. Authors or their institutions must bear the cost of any color they wish to use in print. See information about color printing charges here.

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Manuscript Preparation Checklist

Use this checklist to avoid the most common mechanical errors in submitted manuscripts:

1. Number all pages in single sequence.
2. type references in the style used by this journal.
3. Submit cover letter, manuscript file, illustration files, and any supplemental files via Peer X-Press^®, the journal’s online submission system, located at http://pop.peerx-press.org.
4. The original figures must be in the final published size, not oversized, with all parts of the figure contained in one file for that figure.
5. When submitting your original or revised manuscript to the journal’s online submission site (http://pop.peerx-press.org), please provide electronic consent to the Transfer of Copyright Agreement.
6. Obtain permission for reuse of any previously published material and include proper citation information within manuscript. For guidelines and blank form click here.

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