SOFT MATTER
How to write your article
Here you'll find guidance and tips for first-time and experienced authors on writing style and the best way to structure an article.
For help structuring and formatting your whole manuscript, choose one of these article templates.
For detailed information on acceptable formats for your figures, visit our section on Figures, graphics, images & cover artwork.
For a quick reference checklist to help you prepare a high quality article, download our ‘How to publish’ guide.
Microsoft Word templates
Microsoft Word article template
Microsoft Word communication template
Template user guide
LaTeX templates
LaTeX article template
LaTeX Communication template
If using the LaTeX template, please provide us with both the native files and a PDF file of your manuscript including all of your figures (as this format is the most accessible to our reviewers). Please note as part of the publishing process, articles are converted to a different format for professional typesetting.
Overleaf
We host our LaTeX templates with Overleaf, an authoring tool that helps collaborators easily prepare and edit their manuscripts with realtime format previewing, easy document sharing and collaboration, and user support and LaTeX help.
We also host our PCCP LaTeX template and Soft Matter LaTex template with Overleaf, which have the additional benefit of a quick and simple one-click submission process.
Find out more about our partnership with Overleaf on the PCCP homepage or Soft Matter homepage.
Referencing templates: Endnote style files
You can automatically format references from your Endnote citation manager using our style files. Files are compatible with both Windows and Macintosh.
Endnote style files
Chemical structure templates
Use our templates to produce clear chemical structures in ChemDraw. This will allow you to optimise the layout for the page dimensions of our journals.
Figures & graphics
Colour images may be used free of charge both online and in print (we use CMYK colour model)
Figures, Schemes and Charts should be supplied as TIFF files, with a resolution of 600 dpi or greater. You can supply EPS or PDF files instead, but we will need to convert these to TIFF files in the final article
Images should fit within either single column (8.3 cm) or double column (17.1 cm) width, and must be no longer than 23.3 cm. They should be prepared to make best use of the space available and must not be larger than a single page
Any text, numerical data or scale bars should be clearly legible and sized appropriately so that any data may be accurately interpreted
Figures including logos, trademarks or brands names (for example Lego® or Rubik’s Cube®) should not be used. You must obtain permission to use any figure or graphic belonging to someone else; see our guidance on using third party material in Royal Society of Chemistry publications
Table of contents entry
A table of contents entry (graphical abstract) is required, which should be submitted at the revision stage. This should include an eye-catching graphic and 1-2 sentence(s) of text to summarise the key findings of the article to the reader. It will appear in the table of contents and feeds – for example, RSS feeds.
The graphic should:
Be simple, but informative
Capture the reader’s attention (the use of colour is encouraged)
Include a structure, scheme, graph, drawing, photograph or combination that conveys the message of the article. Please note, complex schematics or spectra should be avoided
Be original, unpublished artwork created by one of the co-authors. Preferably, the graphic should not be reused and appear again within the article
Be suitable for, and uphold the standards of, a scholarly publication that has a global reach
Not contain any elements that are offensive or inappropriate, in particular words or images that are discriminatory
Not contain large amounts of text. Text should be limited to the labelling of compounds, reaction arrows and diagrams, with long phrases or sentences being avoided. Any text should be clearly legible to a reader
Not contain logos, trademarks or brands names
The text should:
Be concise and focus only on the key findings of the manuscript and their importance
Avoid repeating or paraphrasing the title or abstract.
Be provided in an editable format, e.g. .docx file
Table of Contents specifications:
The figure should be a maximum size of 8 cm wide x 4 cm high. It is recommended that authors make use of the full space available
Figures should be supplied as TIFF files, with a resolution of 600 dpi or greater
The text supplied should be 1-2 sentences long, using a maximum of 250 characters
Photographs
Photographs should be provided at the best resolution available (minimum 600 dpi) as TIFF, PDF or JPEG files
Biography photographs should be 4 cm wide x 5 cm high (individual photograph) or 8.3 cm wide x 5 cm high (group photograph)
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更多详情：
https://www.rsc.org/journals-books-databases/author-and-reviewer-hub/authors-information/prepare-and-format/
