Title

The title should be concise and informative and must reflect the content of the article. Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible.

Author list and their affiliations

Author names and affiliations. Please clearly indicate the given name(s) and family name(s) of each author and check that all names are accurately spelled. Present the authors’ affiliation addresses (where the actual work was done) below the names. Indicate all affiliations with a lowercase superscript letter immediately after the author’s name and in front of the appropriate address. Provide the full postal address of each affiliation, including the country name and, if available, the e-mail address of each author.

Corresponding author. Clearly indicate who will handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication. This responsibility includes answering any future queries about Methodology and Materials. Ensure that the e-mail address is given and that contact details are kept up to date by the corresponding author.

Present/permanent address. If an author has moved since the work described in the article was done, or was visiting at the time, a ‘Present address’ (or ‘Permanent address’) may be indicated as a footnote to that author’s name. The address at which the author actually did the work must be retained as the main, affiliation address. Superscript Arabic numerals are used for such footnotes.

Subdivision – numbered sections.

Divide your article into clearly defined and numbered sections. Subsections should be numbered 1.1 (then 1.1.1, 1.1.2, …), 1.2, etc. (the abstract is not included in section numbering). Use this numbering also for internal cross-referencing: do not just refer to ‘the text’. Any subsection may be given a brief heading. Each heading should appear on its own separate line.

Introduction.

The introduction should be short and designed to capture the reader’s interest and set the stage for the paper. Describe the broad topic to which your work will contribute, identify open scientific questions, and provide a brief regional context, if necessary. Conclude the introduction with the precise scientific objectives of the paper and a statement of your overall approach. Most importantly, the introduction must identify a clear scientific research question (or questions), as well as explain, for a broad international audience, the importance of addressing this particular research question (or questions). Manuscripts with only technical, exploration, or analytical objectives and recommendations that has no international appeal and will not be considered

Relevant setting, material and methods.

If your manuscript deals with a specific location, briefly describe the geographic and geologic setting of your study area. If you need to provide additional background on work done by others or that you have previously published in order to put your work into context, be sure that this background is limited to what is directly relevant to your study and its context and questions. Do not include any of the research results from the current study in this section.

Briefly describe the methods and materials used to produce the results in your study. Methods that have already been published by you or others should be summarized and referenced, rather than repeated. If you quote directly from a previously published method, use quotation marks, and cite the source. Describe any modifications you have made to existing methods, and explain the rationale. In short, provide (or adequately reference) enough detail to allow an independent research to reproduce your methodology.

Theory/calculation

A Theory section should extend, not repeat, the background to the article already dealt with in the Introduction and lay the foundation for further work. In contrast, a Calculation section represents a practical development from a theoretical basis.

Results

Present your findings in a logical order in a clear, and concise way without discussing what you think your results mean. Objectively describe your data, observations, and uncertainties. Don’t re-hash methodology, and save explanations/interpretations of what your results indicate for the Discussion section.

Discussion

The Discussion section is the place to interpret the results obtained and to place them in the broader context of other studies from the literature. Unless the research results are complex, do not reiterate your research results in this section, and do not present additional research results. Be sure to provide clearly explained arguments and compelling evidence – don’t expect the reader to accept statements of interpretation on faith, and, if your interpretations differ from previously published interpretations, provide convincing evidence that your interpretation is better. It is good practice to discuss the uncertainties and limitations of your work and to identify ways for further research to deal with these.

Conclusions

If your paper is long or your data and arguments are complex, you may need to start the conclusions with a very short summary of the most important points. The conclusions should not focus on repeating what you did. Instead, address the significance and implications/applications of your work in the context of the research question that you raised in your introduction. Do not include statements about future work, which could be construed as a claim of ownership or priority.

Appendices

If there is more than one appendix, they should be identified as A, B, etc. Formulae and equations in appendices should be given separate numbering: Eq. (A.1), Eq. (A.2), etc.; in a subsequent appendix, Eq. (B.1) and so on. Similarly for tables and figures: Table A.1; Fig. A.1, etc.

Abstract

The abstract should briefly describe the context of the work, the research question, and the methods used, and focus on the results obtained and their meaning and interest for the scientific community.

Keywords

Immediately after the abstract, provide a maximum of 6 keywords, avoid plural terms and multiple concepts (avoid, for example, ‘and’, ‘of’). Be sparing with abbreviations: only abbreviations firmly established in the field may be eligible. These keywords will be used for indexing purposes.

Abbreviations

Define abbreviations that are not standard in this field in a footnote to be placed on the first page of the article. Such abbreviations that are unavoidable in the abstract must be defined at their first mention there, as well as in the footnote. Ensure consistency of abbreviations throughout the article.

Acknowledgements

Collate acknowledgements in a separate section at the end of the article before the references and do not, therefore, include them on the title page, as a footnote to the title or otherwise. List here those individuals who provided help during the research (e.g., providing language help, writing assistance or proof reading the article, etc.). Provide also the funding sources.

Reference list

Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa). Any references cited in the abstract must be given in full. Unpublished results and personal communications are not recommended in the reference list, but may be mentioned in the text. If these references are included in the reference list they should follow the standard reference style of the journal and should include a substitution of the publication date with either ‘Unpublished results’ or ‘Personal communication’. Citation of a reference as ‘in press’ implies that the item has been accepted for publication.

Nomenclature and units

Follow internationally accepted rules and conventions: use the international system of units (SI). If other quantities are mentioned, give their equivalent in SI. You are urged to consult IUPAC: Nomenclature of Organic Chemistry for further information.

Math formulae

Please submit math equations as editable text and not as images. Present simple formulae in line with normal text where possible and use the solidus (/) instead of a horizontal line for small fractional terms, e.g., X/Y. In principle, variables are to be presented in italics. Powers of e are often more conveniently denoted by exp. Number consecutively any equations that have to be displayed separately from the text (if referred to explicitly in the text).

Footnotes

Footnotes should be used sparingly. Number them consecutively throughout the article. Many word processors build footnotes into the text, and this feature may be used. Should this not be the case, indicate the position of footnotes in the text and present the footnotes themselves separately at the end of the article.

The quality of the figure should be high enough for publication. All text and symbols must be readable without external help.
General points
• Make sure you use uniform lettering and sizing of your original artwork.
• Preferred fonts: Arial (or Helvetica), Times New Roman (or Times), Symbol, Courier.
• Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text.
• Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files.
• Indicate per figure if it is a single, 1.5 or 2-column fitting image.
• For Word submissions only, you may still provide figures and their captions, and tables within a single file at the revision stage.
• Please note that individual figure files larger than 10 MB must be provided in separate source files.

Formats
Regardless of the application used, when your electronic artwork is finalized, please ‘save as’ or convert the images to one of the following formats (note the resolution requirements for line drawings, halftones, and line/halftone combinations given below):
EPS (or PDF): Vector drawings. Embed the font or save the text as ‘graphics’.
TIFF (or JPG): Color or grayscale photographs (halftones): always use a minimum of 300 dpi.
TIFF (or JPG): Bitmapped line drawings: use a minimum of 1000 dpi.
TIFF (or JPG): Combinations bitmapped line/half-tone (color or grayscale): a minimum of 500 dpi is required.

Please do not:
• Supply files that are optimized for screen use (e.g., GIF, BMP, PICT, WPG); the resolution is too low.
• Supply files that are too low in resolution.
• Submit graphics that are disproportionately large for the content.
Color artwork
Please make sure that artwork files are in an acceptable format (TIFF (or JPEG), EPS (or PDF) or MS Office files) and with the correct resolution.
Captions to tables and figures
Ensure that each table and figures has a caption. A caption should comprise a brief title (not on the figure itself) and a description of the table/figure. Keep text in the table/figures themselves to a minimum but explain all symbols and abbreviations used preferably in the figure itself
Tables and figures
After the Captions, provide the tables and figures, prepared according to the instructions given below (Artwork). To indicate object size in figures, use a scale bar in the figure rather than mentioning a magnification factor: The latter will be wrong after reduction of the figure
Tables

Please submit tables as editable text or preferably as spreadsheets and not as images. Tables can be placed either next to the relevant text in the article, or on separate page(s) at the end. Number tables consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text and place any table notes below the table body. Be sparing in the use of tables and ensure that the data presented in them do not duplicate results described elsewhere in the article. Please avoid using vertical rules and shading in table cells.

References
Text Reference style
The reference style for intext citation and reference list is the APA 7th Edition.
All citations in the text should refer to:
1. Single author: the author’s name (without initials, unless there is ambiguity) and the year of publication;
2. Two authors: both authors’ names and the year of publication;
3. Three or more authors: first author’s name followed by “et al.” and the year of publication.
Citations may be made directly (or parenthetically). Groups of references should be listed first alphabetically, then chronologically.
Examples: “as demonstrated (Allan, 1996a, 1996b, 1999; Allan and Jones, 1995). Kramer et al. (2000) have recently shown ….”
List: References should be arranged first alphabetically and then further sorted chronologically if necessary. More than one reference from the same author(s) in the same year must be identified by the letters “a”, “b”, “c”, etc., placed after the year of publication.