Information for Contributors

Where to Submit Your Manuscript

Submit manuscripts via Peer X-Press, the journal’s online manuscript submission system, located at http://jpcrd.peerx-press.org.

Author instructions are available through a link after you successfully log into Peer X-Press. After registering and submitting information and files, you may use Peer X-Press to check on the status of your manuscript throughout the peer review process.

Because of the specialized nature of the Journal (critical data evaluations and reference-quality correlations), authors are encouraged to submit an outline or Abstract during the early stages of manuscript preparation, so the Editors can advise whether the proposed paper falls within the scope of the Journal.

Authors are encouraged to suggest appropriate referees for the manuscript, including complete contact information if possible. The Editors may, of course, select referees not on the suggested list.

Agreement to the terms of AIP’s Transfer of Copyright Agreement form is required for publication in this journal. No claim is made to original U.S. Government works. When submitting your original or revised manuscript to the journal's online submission site (http://jpcrd.peerx-press.org), you will be able to provide electronic consent to the Transfer of Copyright Agreement.

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Contact the Editorial Office

The Editorial Office for Journal of Physical and Chemical Reference Data may be contacted (preferably by e-mail) at:

Editor, J. Phys. Chem. Ref. Data

National Institute of Standards and Technology

100 Bureau Drive, Stop 2300

Gaithersburg, MD 20899-2300

USA

Phone: 301-975-3774

E-mail: jpcrd@nist.gov

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Statement of Ethics and Responsibilities of Authors Submitting to AIP Journals

This journal is published as part of the charter of its publisher, the American Institute of Physics (AIP), to advance and diffuse knowledge of the science of physics and its applications to human welfare. To that end, it is essential that all who participate in producing the journal conduct themselves as authors, reviewers, editors, and publishers in accord with the highest level of professional ethics and standards.

A detailed statement of what this journal expects is available here.

By submitting a manuscript to this journal, each author implicitly confirms that it meets the highest ethical standards.

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Accepted Manuscripts

Authors whose manuscripts have been accepted for publication will receive correspondence informing them of the issue for which it is tentatively scheduled. Date of publication may be before the cover date of the issue. Authors may access publication data for their manuscripts online through AIP's AMSIS service (see below).

Proofs and all subsequent correspondence pertaining to papers in the production process should be addressed to:

Editorial Supervisor

Journal of Physical and Chemical Reference Data

American Institute of Physics

Suite 1NO1

2 Huntington Quadrangle

Melville, NY 11747-4502

USA

 

Telephone: +1 516-576-2299

FAX: +1 516-576-2233

E-mail: jpr@aip.org

Reference must be made to the AIP identification number (e.g., 001201JPR), title, author, and scheduled issue date. A limited number of alterations in proof are unavoidable, but the cost of making extensive alterations after the article has been typeset may be charged to the author. Please do not address correspondence about proofs, reprints, artwork, color printing charges, etc., to the Editor. To do so simply delays the appropriate action and response.

Through AIP's Accepted Manuscript Status Inquiry System (AMSIS), authors may access information about significant milestones for their accepted manuscript during the production process at AIP. AMSIS can be used only by authors of accepted manuscripts.

General information regarding reprints, color charges, and similar material may be found on the Journal Masthead of each printed issue.

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How to Prepare Your Manuscript

A sample manuscript is available for download.

English Language Editing Assistance

AIP recommends Edanz for authors who wish to have the language in their manuscripts edited by a native-English-speaking language editor who is also a scientific expert. Edanz is a global editing service with offices in Japan and China. Use of an editing service is neither a requirement nor a guarantee of acceptance for publication. Please contact Edanz directly to make arrangements for editing and to receive a quotation regarding price and time.

For general format and style, consult recent issues of the Journal. However, because of the specialized nature of the Journal, prospective authors are encouraged to contact the Editors if there are any questions.

Acceptable manuscript file types include Word, LaTeX, and PDF. PDF is acceptable for the review process only and a source Word or LaTex file is required for production. For authors who use LaTeX, REVTeX 4.1 is now available and includes style files for AIP journals and associated instructions. REVTeX 4.1 is available here.

Note for TeX users:

Please note that AIP does not compose/typeset pages in TeX. Instead we use the generic markup language XML (Extensible Markup Language). As a result, the format and layout, especially math, may look somewhat different to what was originally created in TeX.

While we appreciate the benefits to authors of preparing manuscripts in TeX, especially for math-intensive manuscripts, it is neither a cost-effective composition tool (for the volume of pages AIP currently produces) nor is it a format that can be used effectively for online publishing.

XML is critical to ensure that online content is discoverable, searchable, and accessible well into the future. It is a W3C standard that has been adopted by many publishers as well as by many software industry market leaders. Information in XML can be processed easily by computers and is both hardware and software independent. Tagged XML data is an ideal archive format as identification and extraction of specific content for reuse is relatively easy. A single XML source file is generated from authors’ TeX or Word files and feeds our entire process. All end-products and deliverables, whether print or electronic, are derived from this single XML file, reducing the chance of errors or inconsistencies.

The manuscript may be prepared (double-spaced) in either Microsoft Word or REVTeX/LaTeX. If REVTeX/LaTeX is used, please supply a PDF file when submitting the manuscript.

Organization of Article: The components of the article and their sequence should be as follows:

• Title

  The title of a paper should be as concise as possible but informative enough to facilitate information retrieval. For series publications of closely related papers, the descriptor “Part I,” or simply “I,” will not be included as part of the title of an article unless Part II has already been submitted for publication in the Journal. Any exceptions must be approved in advance by the Editor. Part III, IV, etc., are likewise unacceptable unless the prior parts have already been accepted or have appeared in this Journal, and are properly identified in the references.

• Author(s)

  Authors's names should preferably be written in a standard form for all publications to facilitate indexing and avoid ambiguities.

  Authors with Chinese, Japanese, or Korean names may choose to have their names published in their own language alongside the English versions of their names in the author list of their publications. For Chinese, authors may use either Simplified or Traditional characters. Chinese, Japanese, or Korean characters must be included within the author list of the manuscript when submitting or resubmitting. The manuscript must be prepared using Microsoft Word or using the CJK LaTeX package. Specific guidelines for each authoring tool are given here. To ensure that we have processed the manuscript files correctly, you must proof the PDF of the manuscript as produced by the Peer X-Press system on first submission. In addition, it is essential that you check carefully any production proofs you receive prior to the publication of your paper.

• Affiliation
• Abstract (about 200 words)
• Key words (maximum 12, in alphabetical order, separated by semicolons)
• Contents
• List of Tables
• List of Figures
• List of Symbols (optional, use if paper contains many symbols whose meaning is not obvious, especially if the paper is relatively long, otherwise define symbols when first used)
• Body of text (with numbered sections; include tables in text where first mentioned, each on a separate page)
• Acknowledgments (financial support should be indicated here)
• Appendices (if any)
• References

Headings and Subheadings: Headings and subheadings in the text should have a maximum of three levels and should be numbered as follows:

• 1. (Main level)
• 1.1. (Second level)
• 1.1.1. (Third level)

The first numbered level is normally "1. Introduction" and the last is "References." Refer to sections in the text as Sec. 1.1., etc., except at the beginning of a sentence where "Section 1.1." should be used.

Mathematical Expressions: Center equations on the page with numbers in parentheses at the right margin. Each equation should be numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals starting with "1." Refer to equations in the text as Eq. (1), etc., except at the beginning of a sentence where "Equation (1)" should be used. If using Microsoft Word, the standard Word Equation Editor is preferred, but MathType is also allowed. The solidus (/) should be used instead of built-up fractions in running text.

References: The preferred style is to indicate literature references in the text by numerical superscripts, e.g., ... as discussed by Smith³ in an earlier paper ... .

References should be numbered sequentially as they appear in the text. Reference citations at the end of the paper should have the following format:

• Journal: ¹C. B. Alcock, M. W. Chase, and V. P. Itkin, J. Phys. Chem. Ref. Data 23, 385 (1994).
• Book: ²A. A. Bondi, Physical Properties of Molecular Crystals, Liquids, and Gases (Wiley, New York, 1968).
• Chapter in Book: ³G. Neumann, in Current Topics in Materials Science, edited by E. Kaldis (North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1981), Vol. 7, Pt. 1, pp. 53–68.
• Proceedings: ⁴J. G. Neumann, J. R. Harris, B. Quinn, and P. G. O'Shea, Proceedings of the 2005 Particle Accelerator Conference, Portland, OR, 12–16 May 2005 (Wiley, New York, 2005).
• Proceedings in a journal: ⁵A. G. Agarwal, Proceedings of the Fifth Low Temperature Conference, Madison, WI, 1999 [Semiconductors 66, 1238 (2001)].
• Thesis: ⁶S. M. Smith, Ph.D. thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2003.
• Report: ⁷W. K. Fields, ECE Report No. XXX, 2005.
• Patent: ⁸P. L. Balk, U.S. Patent No. 6,330,110 (3 February 2004).
• E-print: ⁹Y. M. Zalkins, e-print cond-mat/040426.
• Private communication: ¹⁰O. M. Singh (private communication).
• URL: ¹¹NIST Chemistry Webbook, edited by P. J. Linstrom and W. G. Mallard, http://webbook.nist.gov (accessed July 14, 2004). NIST Standard Reference Database Number 69 (National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD).
• Supplemental material: ¹²See supplementary material at [URL will be inserted by AIP] for [give a brief description of material].

Other reference styles may be allowed in cases where a different style is standard for the field; the Editors should be consulted in advance for approval of any deviation from the standard style.

Footnotes: Footnotes should be used sparingly in the body of the paper. When absolutely necessary, a footnote should be indicated by a letter superscript and typed at the bottom of the manuscript page on which it appears. Footnotes should be lettered consecutively through the entire manuscript, starting with "a."

Tables: Tables should be typed on separate pages and the pages numbered such that the tables appear at approximately the right place in the manuscript: It is usually desirable to place very long tables at the end of the textual material. When using Microsoft Word, tables MUST be created with Word's Insert Table function. Do NOT attempt to make tables by using spaces and tabs in regular text.

Each table should have a concise heading which clearly indicates the contents. Avoid complicated column headings. Tables should be numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals. Footnotes to entries in the tables should be indicated by superscripts, a, b, c,..., and typed at the bottom of the table. All numbered tables must be referenced in the text.

The table headings should be separated from column headings by a double horizontal line. A single horizontal line should be placed between the column headings and the body of the table and also at the end of the table. Vertical lines may be used if necessary to delineate columns clearly. Only the first letter of the first word in both table headings and column headings is capitalized.

Figures: Include figures at the end of the manuscript with a list of figure captions typed (double-spaced) starting on a separate page. Number figures with Arabic numerals, starting with "1" and continue in sequence throughout the text. When referring to numbered figures in the text use the form "... Fig. 1...," except at the beginning of a sentence where "Figure 1..." is the correct form. All figures must be referenced in the text. If a Figure contains different parts, label them as (a), (b), etc., and refer to them in the text as, for example, see Fig. 1(a).

Instructions for formatting graphics files may be found at http://www.aip.org/epub/submitgraph.html. Please note that, while figures may be embedded in the document for review purposes, graphics files submitted for final publication may only be in Portable Document Format (PDF), PostScript (PS), Encapsulated PostScript (EPS), or Tagged Image File (TIF) formats.

Units, Symbols, Terminology, and Chemical Nomenclature: It is the policy of Journal of Physical and Chemical Reference Data to follow the recommendations of recognized international bodies such as ISO, IUPAC, and IUPAP unless there are strong grounds for making an exception. Sources of recommendations on symbols, terminology, and units are:

• Quantities and Units, ISO Standards Handbook, 3rd ed. (International Organization for Standardization, Genève, Switzerland, 1993).
• Quantities, Units and Symbols in Physical Chemistry (the Green Book), 3rd ed. (IUPAC, RSC Publishing, Cambridge, 2007).
• Symbols, Units, and Nomenclature in Physics, IUPAP Document IUPAP 25,1985. [Reproduced in Physica A 146, 1 (1987)].
• A. Thompson and B. N. Taylor, Guide for the Use of the International System of Units (SI), NIST Special. Pub. 811, 2008 edition (NIST, Gaithersburg, MD, 2008), available at http://physics.nist.gov/Pubs/SP811/contents.html.

The International System of Units (SI) should always be employed unless the Editor has granted an exception. The nomenclature practices of Chemical Abstracts, or those based on IUPAC recommendations, should be followed. Authors preparing compound indices for their papers should consult the current CA Index Guide. It is desirable to include CAS Registry Numbers in papers that give data for multiple chemical compounds.

Authors should be aware of conventions for using Roman type and italics. Roman (non-italic) type is always used for chemical formulas, units, numbers, mathematical constants and operators (π, ln), and descriptive terms. Italics are used to denote variables, physical quantities, and functions. Following are some examples of correct usage:

T_min = 273 K (italicize physical quantity temperature, not descriptive "min" or unit "K")

(Don't italicize operator "exp" or subscript "B" for Boltzmann.)

Avoid the ambiguous term "log"; natural logarithms should be written "ln" (preferred) or "log_e" while base-10 logarithms should be written "lg" or "log₁₀". Use a minus sign (−) rather than a hyphen (-) to denote negative numbers or subtraction. When writing symbols in the text with superscripts or subscripts, use the superscript and subscript functions of the word processor rather than raising or lowering the individual characters.

Uncertainties: The objective of Journal of Physical and Chemical Reference Data is to provide critically evaluated physical and chemical property data, fully documented as to the original sources and the criteria used for evaluation. Such data are of little use without a quantitative characterization of uncertainties that includes effects of both random (precision) and systematic (bias) uncertainties, as well as a discussion of sources of errors and the rationale for assigning uncertainty estimates. For a more detailed discussion of uncertainty analysis, we refer authors to:

• U.S. Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement, ANSI/NCSL Z540-2-1997, American National Standard for Expressing Uncertainty (National Conference of Standards Laboratories, Boulder, CO, 1997).
• B. N. Taylor and C. E. Kuyatt, Guidelines for Evaluating and Expressing the Uncertainty of NIST Measurement Results, NIST Technical Note 1297 (NIST, Gaithersburg, MD, 1994), see http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Uncertainty/index.html.

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AUTHOR GUIDELINES FOR MULTIMEDIA SUBMISSIONS

Multimedia files can be included in the online version of published papers. These multimedia files can be viewed by simply clicking on a link in the paper, provided the reader has a video player, such as Windows Media Player^TM, QuickTime Player^TM, or RealOne Player^TM installed.

Please adhere to the following guidelines when preparing multimedia files for submission:

• When incorporating multimedia, note that the paper should be written so that the print version can be understood on its own.
• Submit all multimedia files initially with the manuscript.
• Treat all multimedia files as figures, numbered in sequence as they are referred to in text. (Multimedia files will not have a numbering scheme separate from the figures.)
• All multimedia files must be cited in the text, referred to by their figure number.
• For each multimedia file, provide a figure, which is a static representation of the multimedia file. Also provide an accompanying caption. At the end of the caption, include the phrase, "(enhanced online)."
• Video and other enhanced files should be in a format that the majority of readers can view without too much difficulty. See the multimedia guidelines here for specific submission requirements.

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Supplemental Material

Supplemental files may be of two types:

• Files to aid the reviewer and not for publication.
• Supplementary information for publication alongside the manuscript.

Appropriate items for publication as supplemental material include; multimedia (e.g., movie files, audio files, 3D rendering files), data tables, and text (e.g., appendices) that are too lengthy or of too limited interest for inclusion in the article. Links (URLs) in the online (printed) journal article allow users to navigate directly to the associated files. Note that subdirectories (folders) are not acceptable. Name files appropriately, so that all files can reside at the root directory, allowing successful linking between the published paper and its associated supplemental material.

All supplemental material must be approved by the Journal Editor as part of a manuscript's normal review cycle, and must be listed in the reference section as follows: "See supplementary material at [URL will be inserted by AIP] for [give brief description of material]."

For additional information about depositing or retrieving supplementary material, see the Supplemental Material homepage.

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How to Prepare Your Illustrations

For best results, please adhere to these guidelines when preparing your illustrations for submission.

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Free Color Online

If authors supply usable color graphics files in time for the production process, color will appear in the online journal free of charge. A usable color graphics file must be in one of the following formats: Portable Document Format (PDF), Encapsulated PostScript (EPS), PostScript (PS), and Tagged Image File Format (TIF). No other type of color illustration is acceptable, and only one version of each graphics file will be accepted.

In order to maintain online color as a free service to authors, the journal cannot accept multiple versions of the same graphics file. Authors may not submit two versions of the same illustration (e.g., one for color and one for black & white). When preparing illustrations that will appear in color in the online journal and in black & white in the printed journal, authors must ensure that: (i) colors chosen will reproduce well when printed in black & white and (ii) descriptions of figures in text and captions will be sufficiently clear for both print and online versions. This is the author's responsibility.

If usable color graphics files are received in time for the production process, authors will see color versions of those illustrations when viewing their author proofs. (The Corresponding Author will receive e-mail notification from AIP when the proof, as a PDF file, is available for downloading.)

Although figures will appear in color online, the printed version of the article will contain black-and-white images. Therefore, a descriptive term other than a color is needed in the caption to support the data of discussion. For example, instead of “the red and blue symbols” write “the red circles and blue squares.” By adding the descriptive terms “circles” and “squares” the print reader, seeing the image in black and white, would have a clearer picture as to what is being explained in the figure.

The procedures for obtaining color in the printed journal remain unchanged. Authors or their institutions must bear the cost of any color they wish to use in print. See information about color printing charges at http://jpcrd.aip.org/jpcrd/authors/publication_charges.

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Manuscript Preparation Checklist

A sample manuscript is available for download. Use this checklist to avoid the most common mechanical errors in submitted manuscripts.

1. The manuscript must be double-spaced throughout, including references.
2. Number all pages in single sequence.
3. Type references in the style used by this journal.
4. Number tables, figures, and references starting with 1 in the order they are referred to in the text.
5. Use SI units throughout manuscript.
6. Where possible, provide uncertainties and rationale for assigning uncertainties.
7. Make proper use of italic and roman type (italics for variables and physical quantities, roman for chemical formulas, units, numbers, mathematical constants and operators, and descriptive terms).
8. Follow Chemical Abstracts Service or IUPAC recommendations for nomenclature.
9. Use word processor features for tables and equations.
10. Supply original figures in PDF, PS, EPS, or TIF format.
11. Submit cover letter, manuscript file, illustration files, and any supplemental files via Peer X-Press, the journal’s online submission system, located at http://jpcrd.peerx-press.org.
12. When submitting your original or revised manuscript to the journal’s online submission site (http://jpcrd.peerx-press.org), please provide electronic consent to the Transfer of Copyright Agreement.
13. Obtain permission for reuse of any previously published material and include proper citation information within manuscript. For guidelines and blank form click here.

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