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Empirical Software Engineering - incl. option to p...

https://www.springer.com/computer/swe/journal/...

Computer Science - Software Engineering | Empirical Software Engineering - incl. option to publish open access

Empirical Software Engineering
An International Journal
Editor-in-Chief: V.R. Basili; L.C. Briand
ISSN: 1382-3256 (print version)
ISSN: 1573-7616 (electronic version)
Journal no. 10664

Instructions for Authors

Instructions for Authors
MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION

Manuscript Submission
Submission of a manuscript implies: that the work described has not been published before; that
it is not under consideration for publication anywhere else; that its publication has been
approved by all co-authors, if any, as well as by the responsible authorities – tacitly or explicitly
– at the institute where the work has been carried out. The publisher will not be held legally
responsible should there be any claims for compensation.

Permissions
Authors wishing to include figures, tables, or text passages that have already been published
elsewhere are required to obtain permission from the copyright owner(s) for both the print and
online format and to include evidence that such permission has been granted when submitting
their papers. Any material received without such evidence will be assumed to originate from the
authors.

Online Submission
Authors should submit their manuscripts online. Electronic submission substantially reduces the
editorial processing and reviewing times and shortens overall publication times. Please follow
the hyperlink “Submit online” on the right and upload all of your manuscript files following the
instructions given on the screen.

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TITLE PAGE

Title Page
The title page should include:
The name(s) of the author(s)
A concise and informative title
The affiliation(s) and address(es) of the author(s)
The e-mail address, telephone and fax numbers of the corresponding author

Abstract
Please provide an abstract of 150 to 250 words. The abstract should not contain any undefined
abbreviations or unspecified references.

Keywords
Please provide 4 to 6 keywords which can be used for indexing purposes.
TEXT

Text Formatting
Manuscripts should be submitted in Word.
Use a normal, plain font (e.g., 10-point Times Roman) for text.
Use italics for emphasis.
Use the automatic page numbering function to number the pages.
Do not use field functions.
Use tab stops or other commands for indents, not the space bar.
Use the table function, not spreadsheets, to make tables.
Use the equation editor or MathType for equations.
Save your file in docx format (Word 2007 or higher) or doc format (older Word
versions).
Manuscripts with mathematical content can also be submitted in LaTeX.
LaTeX macro package (zip, 182 kB)

Headings
Please use the decimal system of headings with no more than three levels.

Abbreviations
Abbreviations should be defined at first mention and used consistently thereafter.

Footnotes
Footnotes can be used to give additional information, which may include the citation of a
reference included in the reference list. They should not consist solely of a reference citation,
and they should never include the bibliographic details of a reference. They should also not

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contain any figures or tables.
Footnotes to the text are numbered consecutively; those to tables should be indicated by
superscript lower-case letters (or asterisks for significance values and other statistical data).
Footnotes to the title or the authors of the article are not given reference symbols.
Always use footnotes instead of endnotes.

Acknowledgments
Acknowledgments of people, grants, funds, etc. should be placed in a separate section before
the reference list. The names of funding organizations should be written in full.
LATEX AND ONLINE SUBMISSION

All source files you upload in the online submission system will be automatically compiled into a
single PDF file to be approved by you at the end of the submission process. While the compiled
PDF will be used for peer-review purposes, your uploaded source files will be transferred to the
publisher for publication upon acceptance.
Please do not use subfolders for your LaTeX submission, e.g. for figures or bibliographic files.
Further technical information on uploading and compiling your LaTeX submission can be found
under
http://www.editorialmanager.de/pdf/latex/
REFERENCES

Citation
Cite references in the text by name and year in parentheses. Some examples:
Negotiation research spans many disciplines (Thompson 1990).
This result was later contradicted by Becker and Seligman (1996).
This effect has been widely studied (Abbott 1991; Barakat et al. 1995; Kelso and
Smith 1998; Medvec et al. 1999).

Reference list
The list of references should only include works that are cited in the text and that have been
published or accepted for publication. Personal communications and unpublished works should
only be mentioned in the text. Do not use footnotes or endnotes as a substitute for a reference
list.
Reference list entries should be alphabetized by the last names of the first author of each work.
Journal article
Gamelin FX, Baquet G, Berthoin S, Thevenet D, Nourry C, Nottin S, Bosquet L
(2009) Effect of high intensity intermittent training on heart rate variability in
prepubescent children. Eur J Appl Physiol 105:731-738. doi:
10.1007/s00421-008-0955-8
Ideally, the names of all authors should be provided, but the usage of “et al” in long
author lists will also be accepted:
Smith J, Jones M Jr, Houghton L et al (1999) Future of health insurance. N Engl J

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Med 965:325–329
Article by DOI
Slifka MK, Whitton JL (2000) Clinical implications of dysregulated cytokine
production. J Mol Med. doi:10.1007/s001090000086
Book
South J, Blass B (2001) The future of modern genomics. Blackwell, London
Book chapter
Brown B, Aaron M (2001) The politics of nature. In: Smith J (ed) The rise of modern
genomics, 3rd edn. Wiley, New York, pp 230-257
Online document
Cartwright J (2007) Big stars have weather too. IOP Publishing PhysicsWeb.
http://physicsweb.org/articles/news/11/6/16/1. Accessed 26 June 2007
Dissertation
Trent JW (1975) Experimental acute renal failure. Dissertation, University of
California
Always use the standard abbreviation of a journal’s name according to the ISSN List of Title
Word Abbreviations, see
ISSN.org LTWA
For authors using EndNote, Springer provides an output style that supports the formatting of
in-text citations and reference list.
EndNote style (zip, 2 kB)
TABLES

All tables are to be numbered using Arabic numerals.
Tables should always be cited in text in consecutive numerical order.
For each table, please supply a table caption (title) explaining the components of the
table.
Identify any previously published material by giving the original source in the form of
a reference at the end of the table caption.
Footnotes to tables should be indicated by superscript lower-case letters (or
asterisks for significance values and other statistical data) and included beneath the
table body.
ARTWORK AND ILLUSTRATIONS GUIDELINES

For the best quality final product, it is highly recommended that you submit all of your artwork –
photographs, line drawings, etc. – in an electronic format. Your art will then be produced to the
highest standards with the greatest accuracy to detail. The published work will directly reflect the
quality of the artwork provided.

Electronic Figure Submission

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Supply all figures electronically.
Indicate what graphics program was used to create the artwork.
For vector graphics, the preferred format is EPS; for halftones, please use TIFF
format. MSOffice files are also acceptable.
Vector graphics containing fonts must have the fonts embedded in the files.
Name your figure files with "Fig" and the figure number, e.g., Fig1.eps.

Line Art

Definition: Black and white graphic with no shading.
Do not use faint lines and/or lettering and check that all lines and lettering within the
figures are legible at final size.
All lines should be at least 0.1 mm (0.3 pt) wide.
Scanned line drawings and line drawings in bitmap format should have a minimum
resolution of 1200 dpi.
Vector graphics containing fonts must have the fonts embedded in the files.

Halftone Art
Definition: Photographs, drawings, or paintings with fine shading,
etc.
If any magnification is used in the photographs, indicate this by
using scale bars within the figures themselves.
Halftones should have a minimum resolution of 300 dpi.

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Combination Art

Definition: a combination of halftone and line art, e.g., halftones containing line
drawing, extensive lettering, color diagrams, etc.
Combination artwork should have a minimum resolution of 600 dpi.

Color Art
Color art is free of charge for online publication.
If black and white will be shown in the print version, make sure that the main
information will still be visible. Many colors are not distinguishable from one another
when converted to black and white. A simple way to check this is to make a
xerographic copy to see if the necessary distinctions between the different colors are
still apparent.
If the figures will be printed in black and white, do not refer to color in the captions.
Color illustrations should be submitted as RGB (8 bits per channel).

Figure Lettering

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To add lettering, it is best to use Helvetica or Arial (sans serif fonts).
Keep lettering consistently sized throughout your final-sized artwork, usually about
2–3 mm (8–12 pt).
Variance of type size within an illustration should be minimal, e.g., do not use 8-pt
type on an axis and 20-pt type for the axis label.
Avoid effects such as shading, outline letters, etc.
Do not include titles or captions within your illustrations.

Figure Numbering
All figures are to be numbered using Arabic numerals.
Figures should always be cited in text in consecutive numerical order.
Figure parts should be denoted by lowercase letters (a, b, c, etc.).
If an appendix appears in your article and it contains one or more figures, continue
the consecutive numbering of the main text. Do not number the appendix figures,
"A1, A2, A3, etc." Figures in online appendices (Electronic Supplementary Material)
should, however, be numbered separately.

Figure Captions
Each figure should have a concise caption describing accurately what the figure
depicts. Include the captions in the text file of the manuscript, not in the figure file.
Figure captions begin with the term Fig. in bold type, followed by the figure number,
also in bold type.
No punctuation is to be included after the number, nor is any punctuation to be
placed at the end of the caption.
Identify all elements found in the figure in the figure caption; and use boxes, circles,
etc., as coordinate points in graphs.
Identify previously published material by giving the original source in the form of a
reference citation at the end of the figure caption.

Figure Placement and Size
When preparing your figures, size figures to fit in the column width.
For most journals the figures should be 39 mm, 84 mm, 129 mm, or 174 mm wide
and not higher than 234 mm.
For books and book-sized journals, the figures should be 80 mm or 122 mm wide
and not higher than 198 mm.

Permissions
If you include figures that have already been published elsewhere, you must obtain permission
from the copyright owner(s) for both the print and online format. Please be aware that some
publishers do not grant electronic rights for free and that Springer will not be able to refund any
costs that may have occurred to receive these permissions. In such cases, material from other
sources should be used.

Accessibility

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In order to give people of all abilities and disabilities access to the content of your
figures, please make sure that
All figures have descriptive captions (blind users could then use a text-to-speech
software or a text-to-Braille hardware)
Patterns are used instead of or in addition to colors for conveying information
(colorblind users would then be able to distinguish the visual elements)
Any figure lettering has a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1
ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL

Springer accepts electronic multimedia files (animations, movies, audio, etc.) and other
supplementary files to be published online along with an article or a book chapter. This feature
can add dimension to the author's article, as certain information cannot be printed or is more
convenient in electronic form.

Submission
Supply all supplementary material in standard file formats.
Please include in each file the following information: article title, journal name, author
names; affiliation and e-mail address of the corresponding author.
To accommodate user downloads, please keep in mind that larger-sized files may
require very long download times and that some users may experience other
problems during downloading.

Audio, Video, and Animations
Always use MPEG-1 (.mpg) format.

Text and Presentations
Submit your material in PDF format; .doc or .ppt files are not suitable for long-term
viability.
A collection of figures may also be combined in a PDF file.

Spreadsheets
Spreadsheets should be converted to PDF if no interaction with the data is intended.
If the readers should be encouraged to make their own calculations, spreadsheets
should be submitted as .xls files (MS Excel).

Specialized Formats
Specialized format such as .pdb (chemical), .wrl (VRML), .nb (Mathematica
notebook), and .tex can also be supplied.

Collecting Multiple Files
It is possible to collect multiple files in a .zip or .gz file.

Numbering

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If supplying any supplementary material, the text must make specific mention of the
material as a citation, similar to that of figures and tables.
Refer to the supplementary files as “Online Resource”, e.g., "... as shown in the
animation (Online Resource 3)", “... additional data are given in Online Resource 4”.
Name the files consecutively, e.g. “ESM_3.mpg”, “ESM_4.pdf”.

Captions
For each supplementary material, please supply a concise caption describing the
content of the file.

Processing of supplementary files
Electronic supplementary material will be published as received from the author
without any conversion, editing, or reformatting.

Accessibility
In order to give people of all abilities and disabilities access to the content of your
supplementary files, please make sure that
The manuscript contains a descriptive caption for each supplementary material
Video files do not contain anything that flashes more than three times per second (so
that users prone to seizures caused by such effects are not put at risk)
SCIENTIFIC STYLE

Please always use internationally accepted signs and symbols for units (SI units).
Please use the standard mathematical notation for formulae, symbols etc.:
Italic for single letters that denote mathematical constants, variables, and unknown quantities
Roman/upright for numerals, operators, and punctuation, and commonly defined functions or
abbreviations, e.g., cos, det, e or exp, lim, log, max, min, sin, tan, d (for derivative)
Bold for vectors, tensors, and matrices.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST

All benefits in any form from a commercial party related directly or indirectly to the subject of this
manuscript or any of the authors must be acknowledged. For each source of funds, both the
research funder and the grant number should be given. This note should be added in a separate
section before the reference list.
If no conflict exists, authors should state: The authors declare that they have no conflict of
interest.
DOES SPRINGER PROVIDE ENGLISH LANGUAGE SUPPORT?

Manuscripts that are accepted for publication will be checked by our copyeditors for spelling and
formal style. This may not be sufficient if English is not your native language and substantial
editing would be required. In that case, you may want to have your manuscript edited by a
native speaker prior to submission. A clear and concise language will help editors and reviewers
concentrate on the scientific content of your paper and thus smooth the peer review process.

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The following editing service provides language editing for scientific articles in all areas Springer
publishes in:
Edanz English editing for scientists
Use of an editing service is neither a requirement nor a guarantee of acceptance for publication.
Please contact the editing service directly to make arrangements for editing and payment.
Edanz English editing for scientists

For Authors from China
文章在投稿前进行专业的语言润色将对作者的投稿进程有所帮助。作者可自愿选择使用Springer
推荐的编辑服务,使用与否并不作为判断文章是否被录用的依据。提高文章的语言质量将有助于
审稿人理解文章的内容,通过对学术内容的判断来决定文章的取舍,而不会因为语言问题导致直
接退稿。作者需自行联系Springer推荐的编辑服务公司,协商编辑事宜。
理文编辑

For Authors from Japan
ジャーナルに論文を投稿する前に、ネイティブ・スピーカーによる英文校閲を希望されている方には、
Edanz社をご紹介しています。サービス内容、料金および申込方法など、日本語による詳しい説明はエ
ダンズグループジャパン株式会社の下記サイトをご覧ください。
エダンズグループジャパン

For Authors from Korea
영어 논문 투고에 앞서 원어민에게 영문 교정을 받고자 하시는 분들께 Edanz 회사를 소개해 드립니다.
서비스 내용, 가격 및
신청 방법 등에 대한 자세한 사항은 저희 Edanz Editing Global 웹사이트를 참조해 주시면 감사하겠습
니다.
Edanz Editing Global
AFTER ACCEPTANCE

Upon acceptance of your article you will receive a link to the special Author Query Application at
Springer’s web page where you can sign the Copyright Transfer Statement online and indicate
whether you wish to order OpenChoice, offprints, or printing of figures in color.
Once the Author Query Application has been completed, your article will be processed and you
will receive the proofs.

Open Choice
In addition to the normal publication process (whereby an article is submitted to the journal and
access to that article is granted to customers who have purchased a subscription), Springer
provides an alternative publishing option: Springer Open Choice. A Springer Open Choice
article receives all the benefits of a regular subscription-based article, but in addition is made
available publicly through Springer’s online platform SpringerLink.

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Springer Open Choice

Copyright transfer
Authors will be asked to transfer copyright of the article to the Publisher (or grant the Publisher
exclusive publication and dissemination rights). This will ensure the widest possible protection
and dissemination of information under copyright laws.
Open Choice articles do not require transfer of copyright as the copyright remains with the
author. In opting for open access, the author(s) agree to publish the article under the Creative
Commons Attribution License.

Offprints
Offprints can be ordered by the corresponding author.

Color illustrations
Online publication of color illustrations is free of charge. For color in the print version, authors
will be expected to make a contribution towards the extra costs.

Proof reading
The purpose of the proof is to check for typesetting or conversion errors and the completeness
and accuracy of the text, tables and figures. Substantial changes in content, e.g., new results,
corrected values, title and authorship, are not allowed without the approval of the Editor.
After online publication, further changes can only be made in the form of an Erratum, which will
be hyperlinked to the article.

Online First
The article will be published online after receipt of the corrected proofs. This is the official first
publication citable with the DOI. After release of the printed version, the paper can also be cited
by issue and page numbers.

© Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media

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