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Instructions To Authors

Journal Policy Committee

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Authors submitting a new manuscript for peer review should follow these instructions. Failure to do so will result in the manuscript being returned to the author.

INTRODUCTION: The American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) seeks to publish in Photogrammetric Engineering & Remote Sensing (PE&RS) theoretical and applied papers that address topics in photogrammetry, remote sensing, geographic information systems (GIS), the Global Positioning System (GPS) and/or other geospatial information technologies. Contributions that deal with technical advancements in instrumentation, novel or improved modes of analysis, or innovative applications of these technologies in natural and cultural resources assessment, environmental modeling, or the Earth sciences (atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, biosphere, or geosphere) are especially encouraged.

REVIEW PROCEDURES: Manuscripts are peer reviewed and refereed by a panel of experts selected by the Editor. A blind review procedure is used. The identities and affiliations of authors are not provided to reviewers, nor are reviewers’ names disclosed to authors. The PE&RS goal is to provide authors with completed reviews within 90 days of receipt of a manuscript by the Editor. Manuscripts accepted for publication will be returned to the author(s) for final editing before being placed in the queue for publication. Manuscripts not accepted will either be (1) rejected or (2) returned to the author(s) for revision and subsequent reconsideration by the review panel. Authors who do not revise and return a “to-be-reconsidered” manuscript within 90 days from receipt of reviews may have their manuscript withdrawn from the review process.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE: Authors whose first language is not English should have their manuscripts reviewed by an English-speaking colleague or editor to refine use of the English language (vocabulary, grammar, syntax). At the discretion of the Editor, manuscripts may be returned for English language issues before they are sent for review.

COVER LETTER: All submissions must also include a separate cover letter with the names, complete mailing addresses, and email addresses of all the authors and any special instructions about the paper. Papers can not be submitted for review until this information is received by the editor. Also, please verify in the cover letter that this paper is original work and is currently not being considered for publication in any other journal.

PREPARING A MANUSCRIPT FOR REVIEW: Authors must submit papers electronically in PDF format. Care must be taken to remove the authors name from the electronic document. Please remove all author identification from the Properties of Microsoft Word before creating the PDF. Verify under Properties in Adobe Reader that your identity has been removed.

FORMAT REQUIREMENTS: Manuscripts submitted for peer review must be prepared as outlined below. Manuscripts that do not conform to the requirements described below will be returned for format revisions before they are sent for review.

1 TYPING: All pages must be numbered at the bottom of the page. In addition, manuscripts must be double-spaced. An 11 or 12-point font such as Times New Roman or Arial is preferred. Authors should use 8.5 by 11-inch or A4 International (210- by 297-mm) paper size, with 30-mm (1.25 inch) margins all around. For review purposes every part of the manuscript must be double-spaced, including title page/abstract, text, footnotes, references, appendices and figure captions. Manuscripts that are single-spaced or have no page numbers will be returned to authors. 2 PAPER LENGTH: Authors are encouraged to be concise. Published papers are generally limited to 7-10 journal pages. A 27-page manuscript (including tables and figures), when typed as indicated above, equals about 7 journal pages. Authors of published papers will be charged $125/page for each page exceeding 7 journal pages. These page charges must be paid before publication.

3 TITLE PAGE/ABSTRACT: Authors should strive for titles no longer than eight to ten words. The title page shall include a short title, a one-sentence description of the paper’s content to accompany the title in the PE&RS Table of Contents, and the abstract. To facilitate the blind review process, authors’ names, affiliations, and addresses must be provided only in a separate cover letter, not on the title page. Authors should indicate both their current affiliation and, if different, their affiliation at the time the research was performed. Following the title and one-sentence and on the same page must be the abstract. All manuscripts submitted for peer review must include an abstract of 150 words or less. The abstract should include information on goals, methods and results of the research reported.

4 FIGURES AND TABLES: All figures and tables must be cited in the text. Authors should note that figures and tables will usually be reduced in size by the printer to optimize use of space, and should be designed accordingly. For purposes of peer review, figures and tables can be embedded in the manuscript. However, it should be noted that papers, once accepted, will require that all figures be included as separate files (see instructions for accepted papers) If the manuscript contains copyrighted imagery, a copyright statement must be included in the caption (e.g. ©SPOT Image, Copyright [year] CNES).

5 COLOR ILLUSTRATIONS: Authors should use black and white illustrations whenever possible. Authors who include color illustrations will be charged for the cost of color reproduction. These costs must be paid before an article is published. Details on color costs can be found at http://www.asprs.org/publications/pers/index.html (see PE&RS Color Order Form).

6 METRIC SYSTEM: The metric system (SI Units) will be employed throughout a manuscript except in cases where the English System has special merit stemming from accepted conventional usage (e.g., 9- by 9-inch photograph, 6-inch focal length). Authors should refer to “Usage of the International System of Units,” Photogrammetric Engineering & Remote Sensing, 1978, 44 (7): 923-938.

7 EQUATIONS: Authors should express equations as simply as possible. They should include only those equations required by an average reader to understand the technical arguments in the manuscript. Manuscripts that appear to have excessive mathematical notation may be returned to the author for revision. Whenever possible, authors are encouraged to use the Insert and Symbol capabilities of Microsoft Word to build simple equations. If that is not possible, the author must indicate in the letter of transmittal which software was used to create the equations. Microsoft Equation, Microsoft Equation Editor, or MathType format should be used only if absolutely necessary. Equations must be numbered, but unlike tables, figures, color plates, and line drawings should be embedded in the text file.

8 ELECTRONIC JOURNAL: The ASPRS Journal Policy Committee discourages lengthy appendices, complex mathematical formulations and software programs. These will ordinarily not be published in the hardcopy version of PE&RS. However, these materials may be made available on the ASPRS web site (http://www.asprs.org/). Authors wishing to have supplemental material posted on the website after their paper is published should submit this material along with their manuscript. All supplemental material must be clearly labeled as supplemental material.

9 REFERENCES: A complete and accurate reference list is essential. Only works cited in the text should be included. Cite references to published literature in the text by authors’ last names and date, as for example, Jones (1979), Jones and Smith (1979) or (Jones, 1979; Jones and Smith 1979), depending on sentence construction. If there are more than two authors, they should be cited as Jones et al. (1979) or (Jones et al., 1979). Personal communications and unpublished data or reports should not be included in the reference list but should be shown parenthetically in the text (Jones, unpublished data, 1979). Format for references will be as follows:

BOOKS:
Falkner, E., 1995. Aerial Mapping: Methods and Applications, Lewis Publishers, Boca Raton, Florida, 322 p.

ARTICLES (OR CHAPTERS) IN A BOOK:
Webb, H., 1991. Creation of digital terrain models using analytical photogrammetry and their use in civil engineering, Terrain Modelling in Surveying and Civil Engineering (G. Petrie and T.J.M. Kennie, editors), McGraw-Hill, Inc., New York, N.Y., pp. 73-84.

JOURNAL ARTICLES:
Meyer, M.P., 1982. Place of small-format aerial photography in resource surveys, Journal of Forestry, 80(1):15-17.

PROCEEDINGS (PRINTED):
Davidson, J.M., D.M. Rizzo, M. Garbelotto, S. Tjosvold, and G.W. Slaughter, 2002. Phytophthora ramorum and sudden oak death in California: II. Transmission and survival, Proceedings of the Fifth Symposium on Oak Woodlands: Oaks in California’s Changing Landscape, 23-25 October 2001, San Diego, California (USDA Forest Service, General Technical Report PSW-GTR-184, Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station, Berkeley, California), pp. 741-749.

PROCEEDINGS (CD-ROM):
Cook, J.D., and L.D. Ferdinand, 2001. Geometric fidelity of Ikonos imagery, Proceedings of the ASPRS 2001 Annual Convention, 23- 27 April, St. Louis, Missouri (American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Bethesda, Maryland), unpaginated CD-ROM.

THESIS AND DISSERTATIONS:
Yang, W., 1997. Effects of Spatial Resolution and Landscape Structure on Land Cover Characterization, Ph.D. dissertation, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska, 336 p.

WEBSITE REFERENCES:
Diaz, H.F., 1997. Precipitation trends and water consumption in the southwestern United States, USGS Web Conference, URL: http://geochange.er.usgs.gov/sw/changes/natural/diaz/, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia (last date accessed: 15 May 2002).

10 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: In keeping with the process of blind reviews, authors are asked not to include acknowledgments in manuscripts submitted for peer review. An acknowledgment may reveal a considerable amount of information for reviewers that is not necessary or desirable for their evaluation of the manuscript. After a manuscript is accepted for publication, the lead author will be encouraged to insert appropriate acknowledgments.

11 INFORMATION ON MANUSCRIPT REVIEW PROCEDURES: Corresponding authors of manuscripts submitted for review will receive an e-mail from the Editor acknowledging receipt of the manuscript. Details on PE&RS Manuscript Review Procedures can be found at http://www.asprs.org/society/committees/jpc/jpc_manu.html

MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION: All peer-reviewed manuscripts should be emailed to:

Dr. Russell G. Congalton
4 Ryan Way
Durham, NH 03824
E-mail:russ.congalton@unh.edu
Tel.: (603) 862-4644

NOTE: Authors should NOT MAIL MANUSCRIPTS TO ASPRS HEADQUARTERS. This will cause the review to be delayed.

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**Instructions last updated May 30, 2008

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