Comptes Rendus

Contents of the manuscript to be submitted

 

Files to be provided for submission

Authors may submit their manuscripts in Word, OpenOffice, or TeX format (TeX is preferred whenever possible). For Comptes Rendus Mathématique, submission in TeX format is mandatory.

All submissions in TeX format must include at least three elements:

  • The full text of the article in TeX format (source file);
  • The full text of the article in PDF format (compiled file);
  • The article's bibliography in BIB format.

All submissions in Word or OpenOffice format must include at least two elements:

  • The full text of the article in Word or OpenOffice format (source file);
  • The full text of the article in PDF format (compiled file).

Any submission that does not include these elements may be rejected without evaluation.

 

In addition to these files, please remember to include:

  • Any additional material (more information here);
  • The image files for your illustrations (more information here);
  • And, in general, all the source files necessary for the proper compilation of your article's text.

If you forgot to include files in your initial submission:

  • If there are many missing files and/or they significantly change the content of the submission, please abandon the initial submission and make a new one;
  • Otherwise, please open a discussion with the editor in OJS, attaching the file(s) and asking the editor to add them.

 

Article templates and general guidelines

LaTeX formats (mandatory for CR Math)

Authors are requested to use the journal's LaTeX class and the associated bibtex style.

To prepare your article, please use TeX, Plain Tex, or LaTeX software, or possibly AMS-Tex or TeXTURE. Macros must be provided with the TEX files (avoid DVI format).

 

Word formats

  • Please provide your text file in the native format of the software used to create it (.docx for recent versions of Word, .doc for older versions).
  • The text must be presented in a single column.
  • Please number the lines of your document before exporting it to PDF.
  • Ensure that the text layout is as simple as possible.
  • Please do not use the equation editor, due to the risk of incompatibility between different platforms or versions.
  • Note that most formatting codes will be removed and replaced during article processing. In particular, do not use word processing options to justify text or separate words with hyphens. However, you may use bold, italics, subscripts, superscripts, etc.
  • Please note that if your article is accepted for publication, you may be asked to provide high-definition source files for illustrations and tables.

 

Language

Contributions may be written in English or French.

  • If your article is written in French, providing a title, an abstract and keywords in French AND in English is mandatory;
  • If your article is written in English:
    • Providing a title, abstract and keywords in English is mandatory
    • We would also be grateful if you could provide us with a French translation of your title, abstract and keywords. If this metadata in French is not provided by the authors, the editorial team will automatically translate the English metadata.

Authors are asked to take particular care in the writing of their article, and will assume full responsibility for the spelling correction of their final text. Any article received in approximate English or French will be rejected immediately. Don't hesitate to use automatic spell-checkers, even free ones (e.g. DeepL Write, Grammarly or Antidote).

If neither English nor French is your mother tongue, please start by writing your article in your own language, then have it translated by a professional, or failing that, by automatic language processing software such as DeepL Translator or Google Translate. In all cases, please have your manuscript proofread by a native speaker or use a professional language editing service.

 

Length

Authors are encouraged to write concisely, regardless of the series concerned:

  • CR Mathématique: the recommended maximum length for a manuscript is approximately 50,000 characters including spaces (with each illustration counting as 1,200 characters on average), or the equivalent of approximately 10 pages;
  • CR Géoscience: the maximum length for a manuscript is approximately 75,000 characters including spaces (with each illustration counting as 1,200 characters on average), equivalent to approximately 15 pages. This length may only be exceeded with the express agreement of the editor-in-chief or guest editor in charge of your submission. If your manuscript exceeds this limit, we may ask you to submit a new, shorter version. The maximum length of comments and responses (Comment & Reply) is limited to 2 pages, including everything.

 

Mandatory elements

Bibliographical information - Metadata

This information is intended to ensure that your article is properly referenced (in databases and in future citations by other texts). It must include :

  • A short but explicit title (please use colons ":" only to separate your title from any subtitle);
  • The names of all the authors: 
    • giving their full first names,
    • including an asterisk after the name of the author to whom correspondence and proofs should be sent;
  • Contact details for all authors:
    • professional e-mail address (it is essential to provide all these addresses in order to validate the submission of your manuscript),
    • affiliation at the time of submission of the manuscript (if necessary, remember to have these affiliations checked by your supervisory institution before your article is sent to our layout department) - please note that only authors affiliated with universities or research organizations (in any country) are authorized to submit articles to Comptes Rendus Physique, and that manuscripts submitted by independent researchers will be rejected without review,
    • full professional postal address for corresponding author only;
  • 3 to 7 keywords describing the subject of your article, so that it can be better indexed in international databases. Please use American spelling in English, and avoid general and plural terms and multiple concepts ("and" or "of", for example, should be avoided);
  • An abstract for your article, no longer than 250 words: please also avoid non-standard or uncommon abbreviations, but if they are essential, define them at the first mention in the abstract;
  • CR Chimie only: a graphical abstract (in addition to the text abstract). A graphical abstract (figure, diagram, infographic...) serves to highlight your article and should allow the reader to capture its essence at a glance. It must consist of a single image file, in the best possible resolution. Graphical abstracts should be:
    • (8 cm width x 4 cm height) OR (5.5 cm width x 5.0 cm height) OR (11.0 cm width x 2.5 cm height),
    • in a resolution of at least 300 dpi in a common image format (such as – but not limited to – .pdf, .svg, .tif, .jpg, .eps, .png, .gif),
    • any text in the image should be legible when the image is displayed at scale 1,
    • authors must ensure that the provided image does not infringe on the copyright of another entity ;
  • CR Mathématique only: the mathematical classification to which the subject of your article relates.

 

Please note that all this information must appear in the files submitted by the author and be entered (for the most part) in the journal's editorial software. In the event of discrepancies between the two sources, only the information entered into the editorial software (which you can modify at any time, particularly following revisions to your manuscript) will be taken into account.

 

Full text of the article

The body text of your article must be :

  • double-spaced ;
  • with numbered lines and pages;
  • organised in clearly defined sections, numbered in Roman numerals and with their own headings:
  • any sub-sections must also be numbered, explaining how they are arranged in the document: 1.1 (then 1.1.1, 1.1.2, etc.), 1.2, 1.3, etc.
  • use this numbering for your internal cross-references (e.g. "see section 1.2.4") ;
  •  including figures, illustrations, graphs and tables where you want them to appear in your article, each accompanied by a caption (see below).

 

Your article must include certain sections:

  • Declaration of interests: if you have no conflict of interest to declare, please include the following statement: "The authors do not work for, advise, own shares in, or receive funds from any organisation that could benefit from this article, and have declared no affiliation other than their research organisations" ; 
  • References: list of all bibliographical references included in your text, excluding any other information (bibliographical or otherwise):

 

Optional elements

More bibliographic information - Metadata

  • Funding: indicate here, for each author concerned, the information relating to the funding specifically responsible for the results obtained (calls for projects and grants in particular), taking care to comply with the requirements of your funding body (e.g.: "This work has been supported by the European Research Council, as part of the Horizon Europe research programme - Grant Agreement n°[yyyy]. If the funding comes from a global grant (other than the funds allocated by the parent organisation in the ordinary course of research), simply indicate the name of the institute or organisation that provided the funding.
  • Note: specify here whether your article is submitted at the invitation of the editorial committee, or if it is the result of a specific event (symposium, prize-giving ceremony, etc.).

 

Special sections in the text

  • Acknowledgements: list here the people who provided you with help during your research (e.g. advice on your work, provision of data, spelling/typing correction, etc.). These acknowledgements should not be included on the title page, as a footnote to the title or otherwise, but collected in a separate section at the end of the article, before the references. They are distinct from specific funding information, which must appear in the bibliographic information;
  • Notes (endnotes or footnotes): present in the form of notes (numbered consecutively throughout the article) any additional information you would like readers to know, in particular to comment on certain references in the body of the text. Bibliographical information and the Declaration of interests, Acknowledgements, Dedication and References sections should not include notes of this type.

 

Additional files and supplementary materials

  • Translated version of the article: it is possible to accompany the text of your article with a translation in any language using Latin characters. This translation will not be peer-reviewed, but it will be put online at the same time as the article, and thus made citable. Remember to specify the names and affiliations (and ORCIDs if available) of all the authors of this translation: if they are not indicated, the translation will have the same authors as the original version. You can also distribute it on a preprint server such as arXiv.
  • Appendices: these will be posted online with the article, without any layout:
    • If you feel that they may be useful to readers in the form of standalone documents, feel free to put them online in an open repository such as HAL, or on a preprint server such as arXiv,
    • If your appendices contain anything other than written text (e.g., data tables, high-definition images, videos, etc.), they will be considered as data associated with the article (see our dedicated page).

 

Bibliographical references

All articles submitted to Comptes Rendus must be supported by reliable scientific sources. Manuscripts that do not include any bibliographical references will be rejected without review.

In the text itself

All sources used in your article must be cited in the body of the text, regardless of:

  • their date of writing or publication;
  • their target audience (general public, amateurs, professionals, scientific community, etc.);
  • their type (web page, journal article, book, conference proceedings, encyclopedia entry, dataset, image, source code, manuscript, archival document, etc.);
  • their publication status (preprint, published article, etc.):
    • if the cited document has not yet been accepted for publication, please cite the publicly available preprint;
    • if the cited document has several versions (e.g., arXiv manuscripts, datasets, etc.), please specify the version you consulted at the time of writing, along with the date of consultation;
  • their language of writing.

Please also mention the exact sources of figures and illustrations (if they are not originals). For any photograph or image reproduction, remember to mention the archive document or original publication, in addition to the source of the image itself.

 

Guidelines for presenting references in the text:

  • For Comptes Rendus Mathématique, Mécanique, Physique or Chimie (numerical style):
    • Indicate the number of your reference in square brackets, listing them sequentially as they appear in the text (auto-text, fields, bookmarks, captions, cross-references, etc.).
    • If you wish to cite several references at the same time, assign each one a number and separate them with a semicolon. E.g.: [25; 26].
    • If necessary, specify the exact page number of the passage/figure to which you are referring, bearing in mind that the overall pagination of the journal article or book chapter cited will appear in the final bibliography. E.g.: [42, p. 283];
  • For Comptes Rendus Géoscience or Biologies (author-date style):
    • Indicate the author(s)' last name(s) in square brackets, followed by the year of publication. If your reference has more than 3 authors, indicate only the first one, followed by et al. E.g.: [de Marsily et al. 2020];
    • If you wish to cite several references at the same time, separate them with a semicolon and list them in alphabetical order by author. E.g.: [Chabaux 2021; de Marsily, 2018];
    • If you cite several references by the same author published in the same year, assign a letter to each reference to distinguish them. E.g.: [de Marsily, 2020a; de Marsily, 2020b];
    • If necessary, specify the exact page number of the passage/figure you are referring to, bearing in mind that the overall pagination of the journal article or book chapter cited will appear in the final bibliography. E.g.: [Chabaux, 2021, p. 283];
  • For all series: if you wish to supplement your reference with a bibliographic comment, present it in the form of a footnote or endnote.

 

Final bibliography

All primary and secondary sources used in your article must be included in a single final bibliography (no sub-sections).

Your bibliography must be limited to the references mentioned in the text: any additional comments may be included in your manuscript in the form of footnotes or endnotes, but not in the bibliography itself.

 

Mathematical Formulas

Please:

  • Present mathematical equations clearly:
    • Number them (if they are explicitly mentioned in the text),
    • And in editable text form (no images);
  • Ensure that a given quantity is always designated by the same symbol in the same font—for example, a length L (written in italics) will not be called L elsewhere;
  • Use the solidus (/) instead of a horizontal line for small fractional terms, for example, X/Y;
  • Carefully place superscripts and subscripts—for example, write x1 and not x1;
  • Avoid ambiguous expressions such as 1/2x—write either 1/(2x) or (1/2)x;
  • Write variables in italics;
  • Indicate powers of e by exp.

 

Figures

General considerations

Please:

  • Include all your illustrations in your PDF files, in the highest possible resolution (when enlarged to 400%, your illustrations should not become blurry or pixelated):
    • LaTeX source file: call all your illustrations in the body of your text, where you want them to be inserted.
    • Word source file: embed all your illustrations directly in the body of the text, where you want them to be inserted.
  • Provide your illustration files in image formats (JPEG, PNG, EPS, Adobe Illustrator, etc. - note that the EPS format is not suitable for images containing text), vectorized if possible.
  • Use consistent units and symbols across all illustrations and with the text.
  • Use uniform lettering and dimensions for all your original illustrations.
  • Embed the fonts used directly in your illustrations if the design software you are using allows it.
  • Preferably use the Helvetica font (or, failing that, Arial, Courier, Times New Roman, Symbol, or similar fonts) for text appearing in figures.
  • Check that your illustrations are suitable for resizing
    • To 160 mm for full-width illustrations (all series),
    • To 75 mm for single-column illustrations (Geoscience, Chemistry, and Biology series only);
  • Ensure that the characters embedded in your illustrations remain legible even after reducing the size of the illustrations by 70%;
  • Check that none of your illustrations exceed A4 format (210 x 297 mm);
  • Ensure that photographs and halftones have good contrast;
  • Label all your illustrations as figures and/or diagrams;
  • Number your illustrations with Arabic numerals in the order in which they appear in the article;
  • Accompany each of your illustrations with a caption;
  • Specify the exact source of your illustrations if they are not original works (citing the original work and secondary works in which you have consulted reproductions, if necessary);
  • Check that all your illustrations are cited in the body of the text.


Please only use royalty-free illustrations in your manuscript. If you reuse an illustration protected by copyright (which may be the case for all images found on the internet using a search engine), please find the copyright holders and obtain their written permission to reuse the image under a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license. 

If you also provide illustrations as separate files, please send them to us in the highest possible resolution and use image formats (JPEG, PNG, EPS, ChemDraw, Adobe Illustrator, etc. - please note that EPS format is not suitable for images containing text). When enlarged to 400%, your illustrations should not become blurred or pixelated.

 

Special illustrations (CR Chimie)

  • Figures and structural formulas: please note that these will not be redrawn. They may be inserted into the text, but must also be provided as separate images at the end of the manuscript. They must be of sufficient quality to allow direct reproduction.
  • Reaction diagrams: Please indicate the main reagents and experimental conditions above an arrow in the diagram, rather than in a legend.
  • Other diagrams: where possible, please prepare them using ChemDraw™ software, using the following preferences: chain angle = 120°, bond spacing 19% of length, fixed bond length = 0.6, text settings = Helvetica 10 size.

 

Tables

Please:

  • Use only one grid for each individual table, not one grid for each row;
  • Align columns using tabs (not spaces) if your table does not have a grid;
  • Number your tables using Roman numerals, in the order in which they appear in the article;
  • Avoid vertical lines within tables;
  • Provide a caption for each table.


Conventions and abbreviations

Any unusual conventions or abbreviations must be defined in parentheses after their first mention in the text.

Please use only internationally accepted units and nomenclature (ISO 31 and ISO 1000).

Standard units of measurement and chemical symbols for elements may be used without definition in the manuscript. However, any unusual symbols must be explained in the text when first mentioned.

 

Special instructions for ancient sources

Any excerpts from ancient texts (prior to the 19th century, manuscripts or printed) reproduced in the article must be edited according to the guidelines (punctuation, capitalization, presentation, etc.) described in Conseils pour l'édition des textes médiévaux, ed. Olivier Guyotjeannin, 3 vols., Paris, 2001-2002, and L'édition des textes anciens, XVIe-XVIIIe siècle, ed. Bernard Barbiche and Monique Chatenet, Paris, 1993 (2nd ed.).

Long quotations of more than approximately three lines should be presented in Roman type without quotation marks, but in a smaller font size than the main text and with a left indent of one centimeter.

References to manuscript sources must be presented in the bibliography in accordance with the guidelines of the Bibliothèque de l'École des chartes.

If you have any questions regarding the presentation of ancient sources, please contact us.

 

Additional resources: