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Subject Matter
The Journal of the American Leather Chemists Association publishes
manuscripts on all aspects of leather science, engineering, technology,
and economics, not just those within the traditional scope of leather
chemistry. The Journal Editor and the Editorial Board of the Journal
will consider publication of any original research papers or articles
related to the concerns of the industry. Some examples are; the quality
of hides and skins, new and improved methods and equipment for producing
and evaluating leather, studies of tanning materials, development of new
and improved leathers and leather chemicals, studies of the comparative
quality of leather and substitute materials, utilization of leather,
studies of collagen and other leather by-products, impacts of changes in
leather products industries, and investigations into more efficient
tannery operations including safe and healthful working conditions, and
safe and economical disposition of waste products.
Types of Articles
To allow the greatest possible latitude to scientists, engineers,
technologists, economists, and production people who have developed new
information on any of the subjects, the Journal accepts articles in four
categories, Technical Papers, Technical Notes, Reviews and Invited
Papers/Lectures. Technical Papers are complete technical articles that
comprise the Journal's major publication emphasis. They should be a
thorough treatment of a specific subject, including such tables,
drawings and photographs as may be needed to illustrate the points made
in the text and to justify the conclusions drawn. The papers may be of
any length, but should not generally exceed 15 Journal pages (not
counting photographs and drawings); this would be a maximum of about 25
double-spaced pages of typed text and tables. Technical Papers are
subject to peer review prior to acceptance (see section of this policy
entitled Peer Review for details of this process.)
Technical Notes are generally shorter than Technical Papers but may also
contain appropriate illustrative material and tables. The publication of
Technical Notes was originally designed to accommodate less formal
presentations from the tanning industry but may come from research
institutions that use them for the publication of preliminary scientific
reports or laboratory techniques. Other appropriate subjects for
Technical Notes are methods of operation, safety precautions,
laborsaving devices, management innovations, helpful hints to other
tanners, and descriptions of equipment, chemicals, and other supplies.
Although the editorial pages of the Journal are not to be used for
advertising purposes, the industry's suppliers are invited to submit
Notes on the nature, properties, function, or method of use of a
product, so long as technical data are included to justify the
statements made. Notes are also appropriate for publication of certain
papers presented at meetings of the Association. Notes are less formal
presentations than Papers, but they must meet the literary standards of
the Journal. Notes, however, will not be peer reviewed and need not
contain an experimental section or references.
Review Papers and Invited Papers/Lectures will be published only on
currently important theoretical or practical aspects of leather science,
manufacture, and economics. Usually such papers are prepared at the
request of the Journal Editor or of various ALCA committees. They may or
may not be peer reviewed.
General Requirements for Manuscripts
The first page of a manuscript should have at the top a running head.
This is usually an abbreviated title, limited to about 40 characters
that will be printed at the top of each Journal page of the article. The
running head should be followed by the complete title, which should be
as brief as possible consistent with providing a precise identification
of the subject. The authors' name(s) follow the title, with the
corresponding author first (unless otherwise indicated by a footnote).
Authors should have contributed to the conception of the study, the
analysis of the data, and the writing of the manuscript. Individuals
that have not participated in all of these facets of the work should be
cited in the Acknowledgment section. The location where the work was
done including the name of the organization, city, state, and ZIP code
and country if other than the US is presented under the authors. If the
paper was presented orally, the occasion, place and date of the
presentation should appear as a footnote to the title. If the present
connection of any of the authors is different from the location
indicated, this should also be indicated by a footnote to the author's
name. The title, author, and location should be followed by an abstract,
not exceeding 150 words. The Abstract tells why the work was done and
briefly states the results and their significance.
Some flexibility is allowed for the body of the paper. However, the
editor prefers that Technical Papers be divided into the following
sections: Introduction, Experimental, Results, Discussion, Conclusions,
Acknowledgements, and References. While the Introduction should state
the purpose of the investigation and its relationship to other work, it
should not contain a complete review of the literature. However, the
Introduction must cite important contributions to the subject matter
that have been previously published and clearly state how the work in
the submitted manuscript differs from them. It will then be up to the
reviewing members of the Editorial Board as well as the Editor to decide
whether the paper covers sufficiently original work to be acceptable for
publication in JALCA.
The Experimental section must be detailed enough to permit other
investigators to verify the work. It must include the source and grade
of all chemicals that are used as well as detailed descriptions of any
equipment used to make the measurements The actual data obtained should
be given under Results, and their interpretation under Discussion. Often
a clearer and more concise presentation can be achieved by combining the
Results and Discussion sections. Conclusions should be brief and must be
based on the reported results. Any necessary credits should appear in
the Acknowledgments section.
References should be numbered consecutively throughout the paper as
superscripts. At the end of the paper, the complete citations should be
given, numbered in the same order in which they are referred to in the
paper. In the list of references, this Journal is referred to as JALCA;
for other journals, the Chemical Abstracts abbreviations should be used.
"In press" references are discouraged. Private communications should
appear in the text as footnotes, with the name and address of the
correspondent. They should not be included with the references.
For other editorial details, recent copies of the Journal should be
consulted. This is the best method for determining the correct format.
Further Requirements for Manuscripts
Manuscripts should be typewritten double-spaced on 8.5 by 11-inch paper,
with 1-inch margins. Three copies should be submitted. The extra copies
of the manuscript should include copies of illustrative material, but
these copies need not be of reproduction quality. In addition to the
hard copy, the editor requests that manuscripts be submitted in
electronic format (either as an email attachment or on computer disc)
For technical papers that will be reviewed, electronic format is not
required with the initial submission but is requested after the paper is
revised based on the recommendations by the reviewers. Having the final
paper in electronic format eliminates printer's transcription errors,
expedites printing, and reduces the cost of printing.
Mathematical equations should be centered between successive lines and
identified by consecutive numbers in parentheses at the right hand
margin for subsequent reference. Chemical equations and structural
formulas should be carefully hand or preferably computer drawn and
placed in the desired location in the text.
Standard abbreviations such as mm, C, and hr are used without a period
(except for in., to avoid confusion with the preposition). Abbreviations
should be avoided in titles and abstracts, since these are often
translated into other languages. When in doubt, do not abbreviate. Spell
out percent in the text, although % is permissible in tables. Use M for
moles, not as an abbreviation for molar. Use mM for 10-3M and μM for
10-6M. Use mM per liter instead of micromoles per ml. Data to be
compared should all have the same powers of 10.
Tables
Tables should be numbered consecutively with Roman numerals. They should
be prepared in a form that is consistent with tables that have appeared
in recent issues of the Journal. Tables with more than 6 or 7 columns
that must be printed sideways on the page should be avoided if at all
possible.
Figures
Figures are preferred in electronic format in order to avoid the cost of
the printer scanning them. Photographs should be 8 by 10 inch glossies.
Drawings should be done on high quality paper with India ink. Lettering,
if not done with a letter set, should be of comparable neatness and
clarity. Where needed, illustrations should contain a dimension bar for
size designation. If graph paper is used, cross-sectional lines must be
in blue; other colors interfere with good reproduction. Ordinates and
abscissas of graphs should be labeled along the axes and outside the
graph proper. Captions and legends for Figures should be provided on a
separately. If there is a question about the proper orientation of an
illustration, the "top" should be labeled. Avoid the use of oily
overlays, such as draftsmen's tracing paper or wax paper. Do not mail
prints face to face; place them flat between two heavy pieces of
cardboard (thin corrugated paper does not adequately protect photographs
in the mail).
Figures should be numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals. The
figure number, with the author's name, should appear on the back or
front of each drawing or photograph, but the captions or legends need
not be included. For un-mounted photographs, use an adhesive label for
this identification, since pencil marks invariably make an indentation
on glossy prints. Color reproduction of figures can be provided but at
additional expense to the author.
Peer Review
Technical Papers are reviewed by two members of the Editorial Board or
by experts on the subject of the paper before they are accepted for
publication. If the reviewers find that the subject is not of interest
to subscribers to the Journal (see the Subject Matter section of this
policy for details) or the reported work is not original, the manuscript
will be rejected for publication. The Introduction section must make the
case for the originality of the reported work. The reviewers will also
determine whether the reported work is scientifically/technically valid.
Scientific validity includes:
· design of the experiments,
· interpretation of the results
· conclusions justified by the presented data
Criteria that must be met to be technically valid are:
· meets all requirements defined in the General Requirements for
Manuscripts section of this policy
· adequate experimental controls
· all reported data averaged from multiple measurements
· a measure of the uncertainty in the reported averages such as a
standard deviation
· valid statistical inferences when comparing measured quantities
In addition, the reviewers will determine whether the presentation meets
the literary standards of the Journal. To meet this requirement, the
manuscript must:
· be understandable to English-speaking readers
· use proper English grammar and standard American spelling,
abbreviations, and decimal conventions
· not contain misspelled words, wrong words, and inappropriate matches
between the tense of the subject and the verb
The reviewers will recommend revisions to the manuscript to make it
acceptable for publication. The authors must respond to all of the
reviewers’ recommendations either by revising the manuscript or by
explaining why they deem the recommendation inappropriate. The Editor
will determine whether all of the recommendations have been responded to
appropriately. Failure of the authors to respond to all of the
recommendations is a basis for rejection. The reviewers also may make
suggestions that would improve the impact of the paper. Suggestions do
not require a response.
Other than an inappropriate subject or lack of originality, papers can
be made acceptable for publication by revision. However, papers
requiring excessive revision, in the opinion of the reviewers or the
Editor, will not be accepted for publication. The significance of the
reported work will contribute to the decision of the amount of required
revision that is excessive.
The Journal Editor makes the final decision as to acceptability of
manuscripts for publication in JALCA. Also, the Journal Editor reserves
the right to make editorial changes to manuscripts that he accepts.
Life Lines
Every manuscript should be accompanied by a brief biography of each of
the authors to be published under "Life Lines." Authors whose work has
appeared recently in the Journal may simply cite the issue and page of
the previous "Life Line" biography.
Publication Rights
All authors of papers to be published in the Journal, except those
employed by the Federal government, will be required to sign a "Transfer
of Copyright" form before the paper is published. Those employed by the
Federal government will be required to provide a certification that they
are government employees.
All papers based on oral presentations at the annual meetings of the
American Leather Chemists Association are the property of the
Association, and the Journal has exclusive rights to publish them.
Contents of papers published in the Journal may not be republished
elsewhere without the written permission of the Journal Editor.
Permission will be granted for publication of the entire paper in
non-English-language journals and trade journals or for summaries of the
paper along with reference to the complete article in JALCA in
English-language technical journals.
Correspondence on Manuscripts
Manuscripts should be sent to the Journal Editor, whose name and address
is on the cover of the Journal. Future correspondence regarding the
manuscript will be addressed to the first-named author unless specific
instructions are received to the contrary.
Proofs and Reprints
When an issue of the Journal is formatted in the publishing program, the
printer will transmit by email to the corresponding author a galley
proof of his/her paper in pdf format. The authors are requested to
indicate any changes directly on the proofs and to fax to the Journal
Editor only the pages of the proof with changes. If the Journal Editor
does not receive correspondence from the authors within 2 weeks of the
date of transmission of the galley proofs, it will be presumed that the
authors were satisfied with the proof.
Reprints of Journal articles are available from the printer, KSA&D, Inc.
A reprint order form, which is sent to the author with the galley
proofs, should be faxed to KSA&D, Inc. at 610-966-9155 indicating the
number of reprints required. KSA&D, Inc. will mail an estimate including
shipping charges. KSA&D is offering a pdf file as an alternate to
reprints that will save authors the cost of shipping printed material.
Upon receipt of your payment, KSA&D, Inc. will proceed with your reprint
or pdf order.
Publication Order Policy
Completed manuscripts based on presentations given at the ALCA
Convention will be published ahead of other completed manuscripts. Since
presentations given at the Convention are already in the public domain,
it was felt that they should appear in print as soon as possible after
the Convention. Completion is defined as receipt by the Editor of a
manuscript that has been revised in accord with the recommendations of
the reviewers. This change in publication-order policy serves as a
further incentive for authors to submit and present papers at the
Convention. Manuscripts from convention-presenters will be published in
the order that they are completed. To be fair to non-convention
contributors, no manuscript will be published more than 12 months after
it is completed. |
