The following information applies to Specialist periodical reports (SPRs) only.
It is important that you adhere to the information on this page and in the general guidelines to ensure your manuscript is prepared and submitted to us correctly, so that we are able to process and publish the book in a smooth and timely manner.
SPR editor responsibilities
Keep in touch. Maintain regular contact with us as you prepare the book. Let us know how the book is progressing and inform us of any difficulties as soon as you are able.
Adhere to the submission deadlines, as agreed with us. We'll work with you to ensure that any deadlines are realistic and achievable. If you're struggling to meet your submission date please contact us as soon as possible.
Adhere to the book length, as agreed with us. If the book looks to be far shorter or longer than agreed, please contact us as soon as possible.
Invite your chapter authors to contribute to the book. Once you have a finalised list of chapter authors, send this to us so that we can begin preparing Licences to Publish for the principal chapter authors and providing them with instructions for formatting their chapters.
Maintain regular contact with your chapter authors.
Make sure that your chapter authors understand their responsibilities – that is: to deliver their chapters to you by the submission date agreed in their Licence to Publish; to use the RSC guidelines whilst preparing their chapter; and to seek permissions for the reuse of third-party materials.
Ensure that finished chapters are supplied with wording and scientific content ready for publication.
Submit the complete and final manuscript to us, with all requested materials, following the instructions provided.
Commissioning
The minimum preferred volume size is 240 pages – for example, six chapters of 40 pages. Ideally, you should aim to commission 8–10 chapters, which allows for delayed content to be carried over to the next volume.
Commissioning may take one or two months, but it's essential that you pass contributor information to us only when all the contributors have been selected and have agreed to contribute. This ensures all contributors receive their Licence to publish at the same time and that we can process their details efficiently.
As soon as all the chapter authors have agreed, you should complete our author information spreadsheet so we can prepare and send a Licence to publish to all the lead chapter authors, along with chapter formatting instructions.
We'll maintain regular contact with you regarding the progress of chapters. Please consider these a prompt for you to check on contributors’ progress.
We recommend that you contact your contributors once every two months; however, you should increase the frequency as the submission date approaches.
Progress
SPR volumes are published annually (or biannually), so it's important the publication of these books adheres to a strict schedule. Regular contact with contributors is essential to be certain that typescripts are delivered on time. Contributors unable to meet their deadline can have their chapter carried over to the next volume, and – if notified early enough – a replacement contribution should be found.
Please keep an eye on chapter length; chapters that are significantly below the invited length (<60% less) will impact on the overall extent of the volume. Note that chapter author payments are capped at 40 pages.
Should a contributor write significantly more than the invited length for his or her chapter (>40% more) an additional page payment may be made at our discretion; please contact us in the first instance.
We'll maintain regular contact with you regarding the progress of chapters. Please consider these as a prompt for you to check on contributors’ progress.
Preparing your book
Detailed information on formatting, as well as a sample chapter and an EndNote file for references, can be found in the general guidelines.
Submitting the manuscript
Contributors will be contracted to submit their chapters to you two months ahead of the volume submission deadline.
As the editor it is your responsibility to proofread chapters before submitting them to us. No copy editing is undertaken by us. We provide chapter authors with chapter formatting instructions, and it's vital you make certain that these instructions are adhered to; in particular, references must follow our numerical style.
Chapters submitted in LaTeX are discouraged; our typesetters have to convert the LaTeX file to Word for processing, which delays proof preparation. It's important you notify us of any chapters being prepared in this format before submission. Chapters submitted in LaTeX must be accompanied by a PDF version.
You will need to submit to us the following files.
- Preface
- Brief table of contents for the whole book to indicate chapter order and any part/section headings if the chapters are grouped into themes
- Individual folders for each chapter containing the author’s submission
- A short biography (maximum 100 words) and accompanying photograph (4cm wide x 5 cm high at a minimum resolution of 600 dpi) for each contributing author
- Copyright permissions for illustrations where the chapter author is not the copyright holder of the image (see Copyright & permissions for further information)
The final and complete manuscript should be submitted to us using our Large File Transfer system. Please contact us to receive your link to use the system.
The production process
Once we've received your completed manuscript, and we are satisfied that everything has been submitted in accordance with our guidelines, the manuscript will go through the following production processes.
| Process | Weeks |
|---|---|
| Typesetting and proof production | 4 |
| Proof correction by contributors and editor | 1 |
| Revision of proofs | 8 |
| Printing | 5 |
| Total publication time | 18 (approx. four months) |
Proofs
Proofs will be ready typically within one month of submission.
Contributors receive PDF proofs for their chapter directly from us, and have one week in which to return any corrections to us. The SPR editors will receive a complete set of proofs for reference, but you may be requested to review proofs if a contributor is absent at this stage. Please pay particular attention to the front matter as this will not be seen by the contributors.
Please make any corrections on the PDF using the Adobe commenting tools.
Do not change the text within the PDF file or send a revised Word document.
Please note that the proofing stage is to correct typographical errors. We will correct simple errors in the original typescript but we will not accept large insertions or major revision of the text. We may not accept changes that are unnecessary and costly.
On publication
The print and eBook versions of your book will be published simultaneously. At this time we will contact all lead chapter authors to make arrangements for chapter payments.
Complimentary copies will be sent shortly after the print version has been published. One copy of the volume is sent to the lead author of each chapter only. All contributors are entitled to receive a PDF of their chapter on request and will receive a discount on any titles they purchase.
SPR chapter author responsibilities
Sign and return your Licence to publish on time. Without this we cannot publish your contribution.
Keep in touch with your book editor. Inform him or her of any difficulties as soon as you are able.
Adhere to the submission deadlines and chapter length, as agreed in your Licence to publish. If the chapter looks to be far shorter or longer than agreed, or if you are struggling to meet your submission date, please contact your editor as soon as possible.
Seek any necessary permissions for the reuse of third-party materials. You'll need to supply us with evidence that this has been done when the manuscript is submitted.
Prepare your chapter following these guidelines.
Submit the complete and final chapter to your editor, with all requested materials, following instructions provided by us.
Check chapter proofs and return them to us on time.
Progress
SPR volumes are published annually (or biannually), and so it's important that the publication of these books adheres to a strict schedule. Please notify your editor as soon as possible if you're struggling to meet your chapter submission deadline.
Preparing your chapter
Chapters should be submitted in Word format; a template is available for you to use when preparing your chapter. An EndNote style file is available.
You will also need to provide copyright permissions for images where you are not the copyright holder of the file; see Copyright & permissions for further information.
A short biography (maximum 100 words) and accompanying black and white photograph (4cm wide x 5 cm high at a minimum resolution of 600 dpi) should be provided for each contributing author in a separate file.
Chapter length
Please stay within your agreed page extent, as agreed on your Licence to Publish. To help you judge the length of your chapter, one page in the SPR template is approximately equal to one printed page of the final book.
Before submitting
Please check the chapter carefully for consistent spelling, and that the reference list corresponds to the text correctly, as it will not be copy edited later.
Proofs
Proofs will be ready typically within one month of submission of the completed manuscript to us.
You'll receive PDF proofs for your chapter directly from us, and will have one week to check your proofs and return any corrections to us. If you are absent at this stage, please ask your SPR editor to review the chapter proofs on your behalf.
Please make any corrections on the PDF using the Adobe annotations tools or electronic notes function.
Do not change the text within the PDF file or send a revised Word document
Please note that the proofing stage is to correct typographical errors. We'll correct simple errors in the original typescript, but we will not accept large insertions or major revision of the text. We may not accept changes that are unnecessary and costly.
On publication
The eBook version of the volume will be published approximately two weeks in advance of the print edition. At this time you'll be notified and asked for your bank details so that we can make chapter payments.
Complimentary copies will be sent shortly after the print version has been published. One copy only of the volume is sent to the lead author of each chapter. However, chapter teams can request that their page fees are waived in favour of all contributors receiving a free copy of the book. All contributors are entitled to receive a PDF of their chapter on request and will receive a discount on any titles they purchase.
Payments are made to the lead contributor of each chapter, based on the commissioned length, once the volume has been published. A purchase order will be submitted to the contributor who then sends an invoice against this. No payments are made without the invoice and full bank details. Payments are made gross of tax; it is the recipient’s responsibility to pay tax where appropriate. We cannot split the fee between chapter contributors.