NEW SUBMISSIONS Submission to this journal proceeds totally online and you will be guided stepwise through the creation and uploading of your files. The system automatically converts your files to a single PDF file, which is used in the peer-review process.As part of the Your Paper Your Way service, you may choose to submit your manuscript as a single file to be used in the refereeing process. This can be a PDF file or a Word document, in any format or lay-out that can be used by referees to evaluate your manuscript. It should contain high enough quality figures for refereeing. If you prefer to do so, you may still provide all or some of the source files at the initial submission. Please note that individual figure files larger than 10 MB must be uploaded separately.Please note that the instructions related to Units still apply to all new submissions.Nomenclature Nomenclature should conform to current scientific usage. Author(s) should use systematic names similar to those used by Chemical Abstracts Service and the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry. Chemical Abstracts (CA) nomenclature rules can be found in Appendix IV of the Chemical Abstracts Index Guide.IUPAC Guidelines for Polymer NomenclatureAuthors are invited to follow IUPAC recommendations for naming and drawing polymers. A two-page guide is available here:http://www.iupac.org/nc/home/projects/project-db/project-details.html?tx_wfqbe_pi1%5Bproject_nr%5D=2008-032-1-400Introduction For full-length manuscripts, a proper introduction is required. The purpose of the introduction is to briefly summarise previous work and recent progress in the field and not to repeat information found in previous publications. The introduction must be kept to a minimum length and only references that pertain to the information in the manuscript should be used. For shorter articles, introductions should be correspondingly brief.The title should be concise, informative and representative of the contents of the manuscript.Abstract An abstract of approximately 100 to 150 words identifying the new and significant results of the study must be provided for all manuscripts, including articles, reviews, and communications. The abstract should comprise a brief and factual account of the contents and conclusions of the paper as well as an indication of any new information presented and its relevance. Abstracts should be self-contained. References to formulae, equations or references that appear in the main text are not permissible.Graphical Abstract In addition to the Abstract, which will appear at the beginning of the text, the author should provide a graphical abstract (TOC). The TOC graphic should capture the reader's attention and, in conjunction with the manuscript title, should give the reader a quick visual impression of the essence of the paper. It should be in the form of a structure, graph, drawing, TEM/SEM/AFM micrograph, or reaction scheme without any added text. Tables or spectra are not acceptable. Color is encouraged. Type size of labels, formulas, or numbers within the graphic must be legible. The graphic should be submitted as a separate file in either TIFF, JPG, Word, or Powerpoint format.Experimental The experimental section should provide sufficient detail of the materials, methods and equipment to allow repetition of the work elsewhere, but should not contain excessive detail of commonly used procedures. Precautions for handling dangerous material or for performing hazardous procedures should be explicitly stated.References There are no strict requirements on reference formatting at submission. References can be in any style or format as long as the style is consistent. Where applicable, author(s) name(s), journal title/book title, chapter title/article title, year of publication, volume number/book chapter and the pagination must be present. Use of DOI is highly encouraged. The reference style used by the journal will be applied to the accepted article by Elsevier at the proof stage. Note that missing data will be highlighted at proof stage for the author to correct.Formatting requirements There are no strict formatting requirements but all manuscripts must contain the essential elements needed to convey your manuscript, for example Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Conclusions, Artwork and Tables with Captions.If your article includes any Videos and/or other Supplementary material, this should be included in your initial submission for peer review purposes.Divide the article into clearly defined sections.Figures and tables embedded in text Please ensure the figures and the tables included in the single file are placed next to the relevant text in the manuscript, rather than at the bottom or the top of the file.REVISED SUBMISSIONSSupplementary data Elsevier accepts electronic supplementary material to support and enhance your scientific research. Supplementary files offer the author additional possibilities to publish supporting applications, high-resolution images, background datasets, sound clips and more. Supplementary files supplied will be published online alongside the electronic version of your article in Elsevier Web products, including ScienceDirect: http://www.sciencedirect.com. In order to ensure that your submitted material is directly usable, please provide the data in one of our recommended file formats. Authors should submit the material in electronic format together with the article and supply a concise and descriptive caption for each file. For more detailed instructions please visit our artwork instruction pages at http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.Authors should be encouraged to submit their supplementary data in PDF format and include a note at the end of the manuscript with a link to the materials free of charge.Subdivision - unnumbered sections Divide your article into clearly defined sections. Each subsection is given a brief heading. Each heading should appear on its own separate line. Subsections should be used as much as possible when cross-referencing text: refer to the subsection by heading as opposed to simply "the text".The main text should include introduction, experimental section, results, discussion and conclusion. All footnotes (except for table footnotes) should be identified with superscript Arabic numbers. Headings and subheadings for different sections of the papers should be used and clearly identified. If each section needs to be numbered, a sequence such as 2., 2.1., 2.1.1., etc should be used. All tables and figures must be mentioned in the text. Trade names should have an initial capital letter.Math formulae Detailed mathematical discussion should be placed in an appendix. Equations and formulae should be typewritten.Conclusions The main conclusions of the study may be presented in a short Conclusions section, which may stand alone or form a subsection of a Discussion or Results and Discussion section. Please note that the conclusions should not repeat the summary.Color artwork Please make sure that artwork files are in an acceptable format (TIFF, EPS or MS Office files) and with the correct resolution. If, together with your accepted article, you submit usable color figures then Elsevier will ensure, at no additional charge, that these figures will appear in color on the Web (e.g., ScienceDirect and other sites) regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in color in the printed version. For color reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Elsevier after receipt of your accepted article. Please indicate your preference for color in print or on the Web only. For further information on the preparation of electronic artwork, please seehttp://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions. Please note: Because of technical complications which can arise by converting color figures to "gray scale" (for the printed version should you not opt for color in print) please submit in addition usable black and white versions of all the color illustrations.At the editors discretion colour may be provided at no cost to the author, if it is deemed essential to the clarity and presentation of the article. Colour illustrations should be scanned at 300 dpi (500 dpi for halftones/line art combinations).Use of word processing software Regardless of the file format of the original submission, at revision you must provide us with an editable file of the entire article. Keep the layout of the text as simple as possible. Most formatting codes will be removed and replaced on processing the article. The electronic text should be prepared in a way very similar to that of conventional manuscripts (see also the Guide to Publishing with Elsevier). See also the section on Electronic artwork. To avoid unnecessary errors you are strongly advised to use the 'spell-check' and 'grammar-check' functions of your word processor.Article structureResults Results should be clear and concise.Discussion This should explore the significance of the results of the work, not repeat them. A combined Results and Discussion section is often appropriate. Avoid extensive citations and discussion of published literature.Essential title page information • Title. Concise and informative. Titles are often used in information-retrieval systems. Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible.• Author names and affiliations. Please clearly indicate the given name(s) and family name(s) of each author and check that all names are accurately spelled. Present the authors' affiliation addresses (where the actual work was done) below the names. Indicate all affiliations with a lower-case superscript letter immediately after the author's name and in front of the appropriate address. Provide the full postal address of each affiliation, including the country name and, if available, the e-mail address of each author.• Corresponding author. Clearly indicate who will handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication. Ensure that the e-mail address is given and that contact details are kept up to date by the corresponding author.• Present/permanent address. If an author has moved since the work described in the article was done, or was visiting at the time, a 'Present address' (or 'Permanent address') may be indicated as a footnote to that author's name. The address at which the author actually did the work must be retained as the main, affiliation address. Superscript Arabic numerals are used for such footnotes.Highlights Highlights are mandatory for this journal. They consist of a short collection of bullet points that convey the core findings of the article and should be submitted in a separate editable file in the online submission system. Please use 'Highlights' in the file name and include 3 to 5 bullet points (maximum 85 characters, including spaces, per bullet point). You can view example Highlights on our information site.Acknowledgements Collate acknowledgements in a separate section at the end of the article before the references and do not, therefore, include them on the title page, as a footnote to the title or otherwise. List here those individuals who provided help during the research (e.g., providing language help, writing assistance or proof reading the article, etc.).Formatting of funding sources List funding sources in this standard way to facilitate compliance to funder's requirements:Funding: This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health [grant numbers xxxx, yyyy]; the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, WA [grant number zzzz]; and the United States Institutes of Peace [grant number aaaa].It is not necessary to include detailed descriptions on the program or type of grants and awards. When funding is from a block grant or other resources available to a university, college, or other research institution, submit the name of the institute or organization that provided the funding.If no funding has been provided for the research, please include the following sentence:This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.Units Follow internationally accepted rules and conventions: use the international system of units (SI). If other units are mentioned, please give their equivalent in SI.Footnotes Footnotes should be used sparingly. Number them consecutively throughout the article. Many word processors build footnotes into the text, and this feature may be used. Should this not be the case, indicate the position of footnotes in the text and present the footnotes themselves separately at the end of the article.ArtworkElectronic artwork General points• Make sure you use uniform lettering and sizing of your original artwork. • Preferred fonts: Arial (or Helvetica), Times New Roman (or Times), Symbol, Courier. • Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text. • Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files. • Indicate per figure if it is a single, 1.5 or 2-column fitting image. • For Word submissions only, you may still provide figures and their captions, and tables within a single file at the revision stage. • Please note that individual figure files larger than 10 MB must be provided in separate source files.A detailed guide on electronic artwork is available.You are urged to visit this site; some excerpts from the detailed information are given here. Formats Regardless of the application used, when your electronic artwork is finalized, 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 (or PDF): Vector drawings. Embed the font or save the text as 'graphics'. TIFF (or JPG): Color or grayscale photographs (halftones): always use a minimum of 300 dpi. TIFF (or JPG): Bitmapped line drawings: use a minimum of 1000 dpi. TIFF (or JPG): Combinations bitmapped line/half-tone (color or grayscale): a minimum of 500 dpi is required. Please do not: • Supply files that are optimized for screen use (e.g., 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.Figure captions Ensure that each illustration has a caption. A caption should comprise a brief title (not on the figure itself) and a description of the illustration. Keep text in the illustrations themselves to a minimum but explain all symbols and abbreviations used.ReferencesCitation in text Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa). Any references cited in the abstract must be given in full. Unpublished results and personal communications are not recommended in the reference list, but may be mentioned in the text. If these references are included in the reference list they should follow the standard reference style of the journal and should include a substitution of the publication date with either 'Unpublished results' or 'Personal communication'. Citation of a reference as 'in press' implies that the item has been accepted for publication.Web references As a minimum, the full URL should be given and the date when the reference was last accessed. Any further information, if known (DOI, author names, dates, reference to a source publication, etc.), should also be given. Web references can be listed separately (e.g., after the reference list) under a different heading if desired, or can be included in the reference list.Reference management software Most Elsevier journals have their reference template available in many of the most popular reference management software products. These include all products that support Citation Style Language styles, such as Mendeley and Zotero, as well as EndNote. Using the word processor plug-ins from these products, authors only need to select the appropriate journal template when preparing their article, after which citations and bibliographies will be automatically formatted in the journal's style. If no template is yet available for this journal, please follow the format of the sample references and citations as shown in this Guide.Users of Mendeley Desktop can easily install the reference style for this journal by clicking the following link:http://open.mendeley.com/use-citation-style/polymerWhen preparing your manuscript, you will then be able to select this style using the Mendeley plug-ins for Microsoft Word or LibreOffice.Reference style Text: Indicate references by number(s) in square brackets in line with the text. The actual authors can be referred to, but the reference number(s) must always be given.Example: '..... as demonstrated [3,6]. Barnaby and Jones [8] obtained a different result ....' List: Number the references (numbers in square brackets) in the list in the order in which they appear in the text. Examples: Reference to a journal publication: [1] J. van der Geer, J.A.J. Hanraads, R.A. Lupton, The art of writing a scientific article, J. Sci. Commun. 163 (2010) 51–59. Reference to a book: [2] W. Strunk Jr., E.B. White, The Elements of Style, fourth ed., Longman, New York, 2000. Reference to a chapter in an edited book: [3] G.R. Mettam, L.B. Adams, How to prepare an electronic version of your article, in: B.S. Jones, R.Z. Smith (Eds.), Introduction to the Electronic Age, E-Publishing Inc., New York, 2009, pp. 281–304.Reference to a website:[4] Cancer Research UK, Cancer statistics reports for the UK. http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/aboutcancer/statistics/cancerstatsreport/, 2003 (accessed 13.03.03).Journal abbreviations source Journal names should be abbreviated according to the List of Title Word Abbreviations.Video Elsevier accepts video material and animation sequences to support and enhance your scientific research. Authors who have video or animation files that they wish to submit with their article are strongly encouraged to include links to these within the body of the article. This can be done in the same way as a figure or table by referring to the video or animation content and noting in the body text where it should be placed. All submitted files should be properly labeled so that they directly relate to the video file's content. In order to ensure that your video or animation material is directly usable, please provide the files in one of our recommended file formats with a preferred maximum size of 150 MB. Video and animation files supplied will be published online in the electronic version of your article in Elsevier Web products, including ScienceDirect. Please supply 'stills' with your files: you can choose any frame from the video or animation or make a separate image. These will be used instead of standard icons and will personalize the link to your video data. For more detailed instructions please visit our video instruction pages. Note: since video and animation cannot be embedded in the print version of the journal, please provide text for both the electronic and the print version for the portions of the article that refer to this content.RESEARCH DATAData in Brief Authors have the option of converting any or all parts of their supplementary or additional raw data into one or multiple Data in Brief articles, a new kind of article that houses and describes their data. Data in Brief articles ensure that your data, which is normally buried in supplementary material, is actively reviewed, curated, formatted, indexed, given a DOI and publicly available to all upon publication. Authors are encouraged to submit their Data in Brief article as an additional item directly alongside the revised version of their manuscript. If your research article is accepted, your Data in Brief article will automatically be transferred over to Data in Brief where it will be editorially reviewed and published in the new, open access journal, Data in Brief. Please note an open access fee is payable for publication inData in Brief. Full details can be found on the Data in Brief website. Please usethis template to write your Data in Brief.Open data This journal supports Open data, enabling authors to submit any raw (unprocessed) research data with their article for open access publication under the CC BY license. More information.Database linking Elsevier encourages authors to connect articles with external databases, giving readers access to relevant databases that help to build a better understanding of the described research. Please refer to relevant database identifiers using the following format in your article: Database: xxxx (e.g., TAIR: AT1G01020; CCDC: 734053; PDB: 1XFN). More information and a full list of supported databases.AudioSlides The journal encourages authors to create an AudioSlides presentation with their published article. AudioSlides are brief, webinar-style presentations that are shown next to the online article on ScienceDirect. This gives authors the opportunity to summarize their research in their own words and to help readers understand what the paper is about. More information and examples are available. Authors of this journal will automatically receive an invitation e-mail to create an AudioSlides presentation after acceptance of their paper.Interactive plots This journal enables you to show an Interactive Plot with your article by simply submitting a data file. Full instructions.Submission checklist The following list will be useful during the final checking of an article prior to sending it to the journal for review. Please consult this Guide for Authors for further details of any item. Ensure that the following items are present: One author has been designated as the corresponding author with contact details: • E-mail address • Full postal address All necessary files have been uploaded, and contain: • Keywords • All figure captions • All tables (including title, description, footnotes) Further considerations • Manuscript has been 'spell-checked' and 'grammar-checked' • All references mentioned in the Reference list are cited in the text, and vice versa • Permission has been obtained for use of copyrighted material from other sources (including the Internet) Printed version of figures (if applicable) in color or black-and-white • Indicate clearly whether or not color or black-and-white in print is required.For any further information please visit our Support Center.