International Forum on

Shipping, Ports and Airports 2008 (IFSPA’08)

25 – 28 May 2008

   INSTRUCTIONS FOR ACADEMIC PAPER SUBMISSIONS
 

Introduction

These instructions are prepared for authors who intend to submit academic papers to IFSPA’08, which will take place at 25-28 May 2008 at the main campus of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong. All papers are refereed to ensure both accuracy and relevance, and amendments to the script may thus be required before final acceptance.

As a prerequisite for the inclusion of the Conference Proceedings in the Ei Index, all accepted papers must follow the same paper format. With such understanding, when preparing their papers for submission, authors are reminded that they must strictly follow these instructions. Papers which do not follow these instructions may result in their papers being excluded from the Conference Proceedings.

These instructions largely follow the paper format of Transport Policy (TP), the official journal of the World Conference on Transportation Research Society (WCTRS).

General

Full papers must be sent via e-mail to the Secretary of IFSPA’08 (ifspa2008.notice@polyu.edu.hk). All correspondence, including notification of the decision of acceptance or not (and the possibility of requests for revisions), will also take place by e-mail. A printed copy of the manuscript is not required at any stage of the process.

Full contact details for the corresponding author(s) (postal, phone, fax and email) must be given when submitting the paper. Author(s) must also clearly state his/her/their current affiliations in the manuscripts.

Authors will be notified of the acceptance of their paper in accordance with the timetable and must intend to register for, and attend, the Conference to present the paper if it is accepted (in case of multiple authors, at least one author must intend to register for, and attend, the Conference). Final acceptance of the paper is conditional upon receipt of the full paper, conference registration and payment of registration fees.

Language

All submitted articles must be written in good English (UK or US). To ensure quality, before submitting the paper, author(s) are strongly advised to undergo a proofreading process, either through manual or electronic means.

Length
Articles should be 4000-6000 words long (excluding figures, tables, footnotes and bibliography), although articles longer than 6000 words can be accepted provided that the topic demands this length of treatment, and decision will be made on an ad hoc basis. Authors are responsible to ensure that all manuscripts are accurately typed before final submission.


Presentation of Manuscripts
Manuscripts must be typed in journal style, double spaced.

Number every sheet. However, do not use headers or footers for any purpose other than numbering the sheets.

Footnotes, abstract and references should be double spaced on one side only.

International Standard Size A4 document, with a left-hand margin of 40 mm, should be used.

 

Arrangement of papers

1. Short title (up to 40 characters including spaces), subtitle (if desired), author's name, affiliations and addresses of co-authors should be clearly indicated;

2. Self-contained abstract of up to 100 words outlining in a single paragraph the aims, scope and conclusions of the paper; acknowledgements (if any); article title, abbreviated appropriately for use as a running headline;

3. Main body text, suitably divided under headings;

4. References;

5. Appendices;

6. Tables (each on a separate page);

7. Footnotes where necessary (numbered consecutively);

8. Captions to illustrations (on a separate page);

9. Illustrations (each on a separate page containing no text).

The text should be organized under appropriate section headings which, ideally, should not be more than 600 words apart. All headings should be placed on the left-hand side of the text, with a double line space above and below.

Authors are urged to write as concisely as possible, but not at the expense of clarity. Descriptive or explanatory passages, necessary as information but which tend to break up the flow of text, should be put into footnotes or appendices. Where possible, however, footnotes should be avoided.

All measurements should be given in metric (SI) units.


Reference and Footnotes

The Harvard system is to be used; author's names (no initials) and dates (and specific pages, only in the case of quotations) are given in the main body of the text, eg. (Thomson, 1988, p. 29). References are listed alphabetically at the end of the paper, double spaced, and conform to current journal style:

For journals:

Button, K. (1992) 'Transport regulation and the environment in low income countries', Utilities Policy, 2(3), pp. 248-257

For books:

Hass-Klau, C. (1990) The Pedestrian and City Traffic, Belhaven Press, London.

For chapters of edited books:

Allsop, R.E. (1974) 'Some possibilities for using traffic control to influence trip distribution and mode choice', in Buckley, D.J. (ed) Transportation and Traffic Theory, A.H. & A.W. Reed, Sydney.

For grey literature:

Lam, W.H.K., Lo, H.P. and Chung, C.M. (1990) 'A unified framework for estimating origin-destination matrices for roadside interviews'. Paper presented at the 3rd International Conference on Survey Methods in Transportation, Washington DC, January 1990

Other publications:

Where there is doubt include all bibliographical details.

Footnotes should be indicated in the text by superior Arabic numerals which run consecutively through the paper. They should be grouped together in a section at the end of the text in numerical order and double spaced.


Tables
Tables should be numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals and given a suitable caption. Notes and references within tables should be included with the tables, separately from the main text. Notes should be referred to by superscript letters. All table columns should have an explanatory heading. Tables should not repeat data available elsewhere in the article, eg. in an illustration.
 

Illustrations
All graphs, diagrams and other illustrations should be referred to as ‘Figures’, which should be numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals. Their position should be indicated in the text. All illustrations must have captions, which should be typed on a separate sheet. Please do not submit colour illustrations.

General points
• Make sure you use uniform lettering and sizing of your original artwork.
• Save text in illustrations as "graphics" or enclose the font.
• Only use the following fonts in your illustrations: Arial, Courier, Helvetica,

   Times, Symbol.
• Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text.
• Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files.
• Provide all illustrations as separate files and as hardcopy printouts on

   separate sheets.
• Provide captions to illustrations separately.
• Produce images near to the desired size of the printed version.

Formats
Regardless of the application used, when your electronic artwork is finalised, please "save as" or convert the images to one of the following formats (Note the resolution requirements for line drawings, halftones, and line/halftone combinations given below.):

EPS: Vector drawings. Embed the font or save the text as "graphics".
TIFF: Colour or greyscale photographs (halftones): always use a minimum of

         300 dpi.
TIFF: Bitmapped line drawings: use a minimum of 1000 dpi.
TIFF: Combinations bitmapped line/half-tone (colour or greyscale): a minimum

         of 500 dpi is required.
DOC, XLS or PPT: If your electronic artwork is created in any of these

                            Microsoft Office applications please supply "as is".

Please do not:
• Supply embedded graphics in your word processor (spreadsheet,

   presentation) document;
• Supply files that are optimised for screen use (like GIF, BMP, PICT, WPG); the

   resolution is too low;
• Supply files that are too low in resolution;
   Submit graphics that are disproportionately large for the content.

All graphs, diagrams and other illustrations should be referred to as ‘Figures’, which should be numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals. Their position should be indicated in the text. All illustrations must have captions, which should be on a separate sheet.


Copyright
All papers are received with the understanding that they comprise of original materials. Thus, the submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis), and that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out.

If excerpts from other copyrighted works are included, the author(s) must obtain written permission from the copyright owners and credit the source(s) in the article.

 

Checklist
� Have you told readers, at the outset, what they might gain by reading your

    paper?
� Have you made the aim of your work clear?
� Have you explained the significance of your contribution?
� Have you set your work in the appropriate context by giving sufficient

    background (including a complete set of relevant references) to your work?
� Have you addressed the question of practicality and usefulness?
� Have you identified future developments that may result from your work?
� Have you structured your paper in a clear and logical fashion?