Author Guidelines

---

Submit to the journal

Submissions to Soldering & Surface Mount Technology are made using ScholarOne Manuscripts, the online submission and peer review system. Registration and access is available at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/ssmt. For information and guidance on using ScholarOne Manuscripts, go to the ScholarOne help pages: http://mchelp.manuscriptcentral.com/gethelpnow/.

Registering on ScholarOne Manuscripts

If you have not yet registered on ScholarOne Manuscripts, please follow the instructions below:

• Please log on to: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/ssmt
• Click on Create Account
• Follow the on-screen instructions, filling in the requested details before proceeding
• Your username will be your email address and you have to input a password of at least 8 characters in length and containing two or more numbers
• Click Finish and your account has been created.

Submitting an article to Soldering & Surface Mount Technology on ScholarOne Manuscripts

• Please log on to Soldering & Surface Mount Technology at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/ssmt with your username and password. This will take you through to the Welcome page (To consult the Author Guidelines for this journal, click on the Home Page link in the Resources column)
• Click on the Author Centre button
• Click on the submit a manuscript link which will take you through to the Manuscript Submission page
• Complete all fields and browse to upload your article
• When all required sections are completed, preview your .pdf proof
• Submit your manuscript

Review process

Each paper is reviewed by the editor and, if it is judged suitable for this publication, it is then sent to at least one independent referee for double blind peer review.

Copyright

Articles submitted to the journal should not have been published before in their current or substantially similar form, or be under consideration for publication with another journal. Please see Emerald's originality guidelines for details. Use this in conjunction with the points below about references, before submission i.e. always attribute clearly using either indented text or quote marks as well as making use of the preferred Harvard style of formatting. Authors submitting articles for publication warrant that the work is not an infringement of any existing copyright and will indemnify the publisher against any breach of such warranty. For ease of dissemination and to ensure proper policing of use, papers and contributions become the legal copyright of the publisher unless otherwise agreed.

The editor may make use of iThenticate software for checking the originality of submissions received. Please see our press release for further details.

Third party copyright permissions

Prior to article submission, authors should clear permission to use any content that has not been created by them. Failure to do so may lead to lengthy delays in publication. Emerald is unable to publish any article which has permissions pending.  The rights Emerald requires are:

1. Non-exclusive rights to reproduce the material in the article or book chapter.
2. Print and electronic rights.
3. Worldwide English language rights.
4. To use the material for the life of the work (i.e. there should be no time restrictions on the re-use of material e.g. a one-year licence).

When reproducing tables, figures or excerpts (of more than 250 words) from another source, it is expected that:

1. Authors obtain the necessary written permission in advance from any third party owners of copyright for the use in print and electronic formats of any of their text, illustrations, graphics, or other material, in their manuscript.  Permission must also be cleared for any minor adaptations of any work not created by them.
2. If an author adapts significantly any material, the author must inform the copyright holder of the original work.
3. Authors obtain any proof of consent statements
4. Authors must always acknowledge the source in figure captions and refer to the source in the reference list.
5. Authors should not assume that any content which is freely available on the web is free to use.  Authors should check the website for details of the copyright holder to seek permission for re-use.

Emerald is a member of the STM Association and participates in the reciprocal free exchange of material with other STM members.  This may mean that in some cases, authors do not need to clear permission for re-use of content. If so, please highlight this upon submission. For more information and additional help, please follow the Permissions for your Manuscript guide.

Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)

Emerald supports the development of, and practical application of consistent ethical standards throughout the scholarly publishing community. All Emerald’s journals and editors are members of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) which provides advice on all aspects of publication ethics. Emerald follows the Committee’s flowcharts in cases of research and publication misconduct, enabling journals to adhere to the highest ethical standards in publishing. For more information on Emerald’s publication ethics policy, please click here.

Copyright forms

Where possible, Emerald seeks to obtain copyright for the material it publishes, without authors giving up their scholarly rights to reuse the work.

Assigning copyright to Emerald allows us to:

• Act on your behalf in instances such as copyright infringement or unauthorised copying
• Protect your moral rights in cases of plagiarism or unauthorised derivative works
• Offer a premium service for permission requests
• Invest in new platforms and services for the journals or book series you have published in
• Disseminate your work as widely as possible, ensuring your work receives the citations it deserves
• Recoup copyright fees from reproduction rights organisations to reinvest in new initiatives and author/user services, such as the Research Fund Awards and the Outstanding Doctoral Research Awards.

If an article is accepted for publication in an Emerald journal authors will be asked to submit a copyright form through ScholarOne. All authors are sent an email with links to their copyright forms which they must check for accuracy and submit electronically.

If authors can not assign copyright to Emerald, they should discuss this with the journal Content Editor. Each journal has an Editorial Team page which will list the Content Editor for that journal.

Editorial Services

Emerald is pleased to partner with Peerwith to provide editorial support for authors wishing to submit papers to Emerald journals. Peerwith is a platform for author services, connecting academics seeking support for their work with the relevant expert who can help out with language editing and translation, visuals, consulting, or anything else academics need to get their research submission-ready.

Transparency and Openness Promotion (TOP) Guidelines

Emerald is a signatory of the Transparency and Openness Promotion (TOP) Guidelines, a framework that supports the reproducibility of research through the adoption of transparent research practices. Emerald encourages authors to cite and fully reference all data, program code and other methods in their article. References for data sets and program codes should include a persistent identifier, such as a Digital Object Identifier (DOI). Persistent identifiers ensure future access to unique published digital objects, such as a text or data sets. Persistent identifiers are assigned to data sets by digital archives, such as institutional repositories and partners in the Data Preservation Alliance for the Social Sciences (Data-PASS). When citing data we advise authors to follow appropriate international and national procedures with respect to data protection, rights to privacy and other ethical considerations. For further guidance please refer to our publication ethics guidelines. For an example on how to cite data sets, please refer to the References section below.

Final submission

The author must ensure that the manuscript is complete, grammatically correct and without spelling or typographical errors. Before submitting, authors should check their submission completeness using the available Article Submission Checklist. Proofs will be emailed prior to publication.

Open access submissions and information

Emerald currently offers two routes for Open Access in all journal publications, Green Open Access (Green OA) and Gold Open Access (Gold OA). Authors who are mandated to make the branded Publisher PDF (also known as the "Version of Record") freely available immediately upon publication can select the Gold OA route during the submission process. More information on all Open Access options can be found here.

For more information on HEFCE, visit our author rights page.

Manuscript requirements

Please prepare your manuscript before submission, using the following guidelines:

Format	Article files should be provided in Microsoft Word format. LaTex files can be used if an accompanying PDF document is provided. PDF as a sole file type is not accepted, a PDF must be accompanied by the source file. Acceptable figure file types are listed further below.
Article Length	Articles should be between 3000 and 6000 words in length. This includes all text including references and appendices. Please allow 280 words for each figure or table.
Article Title	A title of not more than eight words should be provided.
Author details	All contributing authors’ names should be added to the ScholarOne submission, and their names arranged in the correct order for publication. Correct email addresses should be supplied for each author in their separate author accounts The full name of each author must be present in their author account in the exact format they should appear for publication, including or excluding any middle names or initials as required The affiliation of each contributing author should be correct in their individual author account. The affiliation listed should be where they were based at the time that the research for the paper was conducted
Biographies and acknowledgements	Authors who wish to include these items should save them together in an MS Word file to be uploaded with the submission. If they are to be included, a brief professional biography of not more than 100 words should be supplied for each named author.
Research funding	Authors must declare all sources of external research funding in their article and a statement to this effect should appear in the Acknowledgements section. Authors should describe the role of the funder or financial sponsor in the entire research process, from study design to submission.
Structured Abstract	Authors must supply a structured abstract in their submission, set out under 4-7 sub-headings (see our "How to... write an abstract" guide for practical help and guidance): Purpose (mandatory) Design/methodology/approach (mandatory) Findings (mandatory) Research limitations/implications (if applicable) Practical implications (if applicable) Social implications (if applicable) Originality/value (mandatory) Maximum is 250 words in total (including keywords and article classification, see below). Authors should avoid the use of personal pronouns within the structured abstract and body of the paper (e.g. "this paper investigates..." is correct, "I investigate..." is incorrect).
Keywords	Authors should provide appropriate and short keywords in the ScholarOne submission that encapsulate the principal topics of the paper (see the How to... ensure your article is highly downloaded guide for practical help and guidance on choosing search-engine friendly keywords). The maximum number of keywords is 12. Whilst Emerald will endeavour to use submitted keywords in the published version, all keywords are subject to approval by Emerald’s in house editorial team and may be replaced by a matching term to ensure consistency.
Article Classification	Authors must categorize their paper as part of the ScholarOne submission process. The category which most closely describes their paper should be selected from the list below. Research paper. This category covers papers which report on any type of research undertaken by the author(s). The research may involve the construction or testing of a model or framework, action research, testing of data, market research or surveys, empirical, scientific or clinical research. Viewpoint. Any paper, where content is dependent on the author's opinion and interpretation, should be included in this category; this also includes journalistic pieces. Technical paper. Describes and evaluates technical products, processes or services. Conceptual paper. These papers will not be based on research but will develop hypotheses. The papers are likely to be discursive and will cover philosophical discussions and comparative studies of others' work and thinking. Case study. Case studies describe actual interventions or experiences within organizations. They may well be subjective and will not generally report on research. A description of a legal case or a hypothetical case study used as a teaching exercise would also fit into this category. Literature review. It is expected that all types of paper cite any relevant literature so this category should only be used if the main purpose of the paper is to annotate and/or critique the literature in a particular subject area. It may be a selective bibliography providing advice on information sources or it may be comprehensive in that the paper's aim is to cover the main contributors to the development of a topic and explore their different views. General review. This category covers those papers which provide an overview or historical examination of some concept, technique or phenomenon. The papers are likely to be more descriptive or instructional ("how to" papers) than discursive.
Headings	Headings must be concise, with a clear indication of the distinction between the hierarchy of headings. The preferred format is for first level headings to be presented in bold format and subsequent sub-headings to be presented in medium italics.
Notes/Endnotes	Notes or Endnotes should be used only if absolutely necessary and must be identified in the text by consecutive numbers, enclosed in square brackets and listed at the end of the article.
Figures	All Figures (charts, diagrams, line drawings, web pages/screenshots, and photographic images) should be submitted in electronic form. All Figures should be of high quality, legible and numbered consecutively with arabic numerals. Graphics may be supplied in colour to facilitate their appearance on the online database. Figures created in MS Word, MS PowerPoint, MS Excel, Illustrator should be supplied in their native formats. Electronic figures created in other applications should be copied from the origination software and pasted into a blank MS Word document or saved and imported into an MS Word document or alternatively create a .pdf file from the origination software. Figures which cannot be supplied as above are acceptable in the standard image formats which are: .pdf, .ai, and .eps. If you are unable to supply graphics in these formats then please ensure they are .tif, .jpeg, or .bmp at a resolution of at least 300dpi and at least 10cm wide. To prepare web pages/screenshots simultaneously press the "Alt" and "Print screen" keys on the keyboard, open a blank Microsoft Word document and simultaneously press "Ctrl" and "V" to paste the image. (Capture all the contents/windows on the computer screen to paste into MS Word, by simultaneously pressing "Ctrl" and "Print screen".) Photographic images should be submitted electronically and of high quality. They should be saved as .tif or .jpeg files at a resolution of at least 300dpi and at least 10cm wide. Digital camera settings should be set at the highest resolution/quality possible.
Tables	Tables should be typed and included in a separate file to the main body of the article. The position of each table should be clearly labelled in the body text of article with corresponding labels being clearly shown in the separate file. Ensure that any superscripts or asterisks are shown next to the relevant items and have corresponding explanations displayed as footnotes to the table, figure or plate.
References	References to other publications must be in Harvard style and carefully checked for completeness, accuracy and consistency. This is very important in an electronic environment because it enables your readers to exploit the Reference Linking facility on the database and link back to the works you have cited through CrossRef. You should cite publications in the text: (Adams, 2006) using the first named author's name or (Adams and Brown, 2006) citing both names of two, or (Adams et al., 2006), when there are three or more authors. At the end of the paper a reference list in alphabetical order should be supplied:
For books	Surname, Initials (year), Title of Book, Publisher, Place of publication. e.g. Harrow, R. (2005), No Place to Hide, Simon & Schuster, New York, NY.
For book chapters	Surname, Initials (year), "Chapter title", Editor's Surname, Initials, Title of Book, Publisher, Place of publication, pages. e.g. Calabrese, F.A. (2005), "The early pathways: theory to practice – a continuum", in Stankosky, M. (Ed.), Creating the Discipline of Knowledge Management, Elsevier, New York, NY, pp. 15-20.
For journals	Surname, Initials (year), "Title of article", Journal Name, volume issue, pages. e.g. Capizzi, M.T. and Ferguson, R. (2005), "Loyalty trends for the twenty-first century", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 22 No. 2, pp. 72-80.
For published conference proceedings	Surname, Initials (year of publication), "Title of paper", in Surname, Initials (Ed.), Title of published proceeding which may include place and date(s) held, Publisher, Place of publication, Page numbers. e.g. Jakkilinki, R., Georgievski, M. and Sharda, N. (2007), "Connecting destinations with an ontology-based e-tourism planner", in Information and communication technologies in tourism 2007 proceedings of the international conference in Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2007, Springer-Verlag, Vienna, pp. 12-32.
For unpublished conference proceedings	Surname, Initials (year), "Title of paper", paper presented at Name of Conference, date of conference, place of conference, available at: URL if freely available on the internet (accessed date). e.g. Aumueller, D. (2005), "Semantic authoring and retrieval within a wiki", paper presented at the European Semantic Web Conference (ESWC), 29 May-1 June, Heraklion, Crete, available at: http://dbs.uni-leipzig.de/file/aumueller05wiksar.pdf (accessed 20 February 2007).
For working papers	Surname, Initials (year), "Title of article", working paper [number if available], Institution or organization, Place of organization, date. e.g. Moizer, P. (2003), "How published academic research can inform policy decisions: the case of mandatory rotation of audit appointments", working paper, Leeds University Business School, University of Leeds, Leeds, 28 March.
For encyclopedia entries (with no author or editor)	Title of Encyclopedia (year) "Title of entry", volume, edition, Title of Encyclopedia, Publisher, Place of publication, pages. e.g. Encyclopaedia Britannica (1926) "Psychology of culture contact", Vol. 1, 13th ed., Encyclopaedia Britannica, London and New York, NY, pp. 765-71. (For authored entries please refer to book chapter guidelines above)
For newspaper articles (authored)	Surname, Initials (year), "Article title", Newspaper, date, pages. e.g. Smith, A. (2008), "Money for old rope", Daily News, 21 January, pp. 1, 3-4.
For newspaper articles (non-authored)	Newspaper (year), "Article title", date, pages. e.g. Daily News (2008), "Small change", 2 February, p. 7.
For archival or other unpublished sources	Surname, Initials, (year), "Title of document", Unpublished Manuscript, collection name, inventory record, name of archive, location of archive. e.g. Litman, S. (1902), "Mechanism & Technique of Commerce", Unpublished Manuscript, Simon Litman Papers, Record series 9/5/29 Box 3, University of Illinois Archives, Urbana-Champaign, IL.
For electronic sources	If available online, the full URL should be supplied at the end of the reference, as well as a date that the resource was accessed. e.g. Castle, B. (2005), "Introduction to web services for remote portlets", available at: http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/library/ws-wsrp/ (accessed 12 November 2007). Standalone URLs, i.e. without an author or date, should be included either within parentheses within the main text, or preferably set as a note (roman numeral within square brackets within text followed by the full URL address at the end of the paper).
For data	Surname, Initials (year), Title of Data Set, Name of data repository, available at: Persistent URL e.g. Campbell, A. and Kahn, R.L. (1999), American National Election Study, 1948, ICPSR07218-v3, Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (distributor), Ann Arbor, MI, available at: http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR07218.v3

Frequently asked questions

Do you publish open access articles?	For questions about open access, please visit the Open Access section of the website.
Is there a submission fee for the journal?	There are no submission fees for any of Emerald's journals.
What should be included in my paper's word count?	The word count for your paper should include the structured abstract, references, and all text in tables and figures. Each journal has a set word count parameter for papers – this information will be on the journal's homepage.
How can I become a reviewer for a journal?	Please contact the Editor for the journal, with a copy of your CV, to be considered as a reviewer.
Who do I contact if I want to find out which volume and issue my accepted paper will publish in?	Firstly, log in to your author centre on the journal's ScholarOne site, click on 'Manuscripts with Decisions' and check the 'status' column of the table that will appear at the bottom of the page. If the Editor has assigned your paper to an issue, the volume and issue number will be displayed here. If this information is not present, then the Editor has not yet assigned your paper to a volume and issue. In this case you may email the Editor of the journal to ask which volume and issue your paper is most likely to feature in.
Who do I contact if I have a query about ScholarOne?	If you are having a problem on ScholarOne please email the journal's Editor or the Emerald Content Editor for help and advice.
Is my paper suitable for the journal?	If, after reading the journal's aims and scope (available in the 'about the journal' section of the website), you are still unsure whether your paper is suitable for the journal, please email the journal's Editor and include your paper's title and structured abstract. The journal Editor will be able to advise on the suitability of your paper.
How do I ensure anonymity of my manuscript for peer review?	If you need to refer to your own work, please make sure that this is worded in such a way that you as author(s) cannot be identified e.g. "previous research has demonstrated" not "our previous research has demonstrated". Should the paper be accepted, you will need to contact the Editor to revise this ahead of publication If you need to refer to your own work which is currently unpublished, then please do not include this work in the reference list. Should the paper be accepted, you will need to contact the Editor to revise this ahead of publication Any Acknowledgments or Author biographies should be uploaded as separate files and where asked to 'Choose File Designation' choose the File Type, 'Acknowledgment' or 'Author Biographies', as appropriate Please check the manuscript to ensure that the author names do not appear anywhere. This includes on Figures.

* 2017 Journal Citation Reports® (Clarivate Analytics 2018)