Author Guidelines

Registration and username (login) are required to access the area reserved for authors, in which the online submission process starts and the current status of a submission can be checked. [Online Submission]

All authors must have their names registered in the platform. Thus, during submission, they will complete the requested forms and provide the correct email addresses of the co-authors.

Orbital: The Electronic Journal of Chemistry publishes original contributions (From 2016 on, the journal Orbital will accept only articles written in ENGLISH) which focus on all areas of Chemistry (including Chemistry Education and History) and their interfaces with Pharmacy, Biology, and Physics. Manuscripts should fall under one the following categories:

  1. Full papers. Full papers report the results of original investigations and should be structured in the usual order of presentation, comprising Introduction, Results and Discussion, Experimental section (which may either precede or follow Results and Discussion), Conclusions, Acknowledgments, and References, according to the specificities of each manuscript.
  2. Reviews. This category encompasses reflective articles and analyses of the literature output, outlining the progress and state-of-the-art in particular areas of Chemistry, from the specialist’s perspective.
  3. Tutorial reviews. Destinated especially to graduate and undergraduate students, tutorial reviews explore important topics in chemistry, physics, both or any pertinent area. It should serve as a first reference for anyone who is new to a specific research field. It is destinated to offer the first instruction about this field. Tutorial reviews are normally published after invitation, but Orbital editorial board will study tutorial reviews proposal. Tutorial reviews should contain the seminal papers or at least those at the origins of the theme, its most important references as well as a short description of changes, improvements and consequences for chemistry. It should contain no mora than 100 references and preferably no more than 15000 words. Specialist terms or what one would call “jargon” should be avoided or at least explained very clearly. It should contain a short abstract presenting the main interest of the topic for all the audiences.
  4. Papers on Education. The focus of papers on Education is the teaching of Chemistry with dissemination of innovative experiences at all levels of schooling, from elementary to higher education (undergraduate and graduate programs).
  5. Short communications. Shorter texts (of up to four pages) on scientific investigations under way, reporting preliminary results achieved to date. Their purpose is to speed up communication regarding ongoing lines of investigation that have led to recent breakthroughs in particular areas of Chemistry.
  6. Technical notes. Technical notes are reports on methods, techniques, equipment, or accessories developed at the authors’ laboratory.
  7. Letters to the Editor. These should encourage constructive discussion between readers and authors and may concern any scientific topic relevant to the purposes of the journal, including critical discussion of recently published papers; in this case, Letters submitted by reader will be forwarded to the authors in question inviting responses to the readers’ appraisal or critique. Letters to the Editor will be published at the sole discretion of the Editorial Team and only after a response from the authors has been obtained.
  8. History of Chemistry. This section is destined to publishing articles about History of Chemistry.
  9. Orbital bios. Orbital bios is a space dedicated to honor our great chemists, alive or not, Brazilian or not, for their accomplishments and their contribution to the development of Chemistry in Brazil. Bios should be no longer than 4000 words, and contain pictures preferably. They should present the main achievements of the biographed scientist and how these contributions reverberated in the academy and in society. His/her scientific lineage should be presented too. Orbital will welcome names suggestions, and will contact close people of the nominees to write these biographies.

The journal is a quarterly scientific journal published by the Institute of Chemistry of the Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul, Campo Grande, Brazil. And also publishes a number of special issues (dedicated to symposia, congresses etc. in Chemistry) in addition to the regular ones.

Terms of Submission

Manuscripts must be submitted by one of the authors of the manuscript, and should not be submitted by anyone on their behalf. The principal/corresponding author will be required to submit a Covering Letter along with the manuscript, on behalf of all the co-authors (if any). The author(s) will confirm that the manuscript (or any part of it) has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture, review, or thesis) or is not under consideration for publication elsewhere. The submitting author is responsible for ensuring that the article's publication has been approved by all the other coauthors. Furthermore, any illustration, structure or table that has been published elsewhere must be reported, and copyright permission for reproduction must be obtained. The lead author is responsible for the content of the work as a whole, and ensuring that reasonable care and effort has been taken to determine that all the data are complete, accurate, and reasonably interpreted.

Please read the Orbital Code of Ethics prior to submitting your manuscript.

Orbital uses Crosscheck plagiarism screening service to detect instances of overlapping and similar text in submitted manuscripts.

Preparation of Manuscripts

Authors should write in clear, concise US English or UK English. Language and grammar should be consistent with Fowler's English Usage; spelling and meaning of words should conform to Webster's Dictionary. If English is not your first language, then it may be of benefit to seek help from a native English speaker to review your manuscript before submitting, or to have your manuscript professionally edited before submissions. Below, some freelancers who provide copy-editing in English are listed:

The standard style of Orbital should be followed. Prospective authors should consult any current issue of Orbital for examples of this style. The manuscript shall be prepared in accordance with the template available at: Template (New 2021)

Observation:

REFERENCES

Presently, CrossRef is the official digital object identifier (DOI) registration agency for scholarly and professional publications which allows the connection of references for ease of retrieval. CrossRef operates a cross-publisher citation linking system that allows a researcher to click on a reference citation on one publisher's platform and link directly to the cited content on another publisher's platform. CrossRef citation-linking network covers millions of articles and other content items from several hundred scholarly and professional publishers.
To enhance the retrieval of each article and its references, please add DOI links in references list to each accepted manuscript as follows:

  1. Access the simple query box of CrossRef at: http://www.crossref.org/SimpleTextQuery/
  2. Cut and paste your manuscript's set of references at a time into the query box and click submit. Select the 'tick box' to query all possible DOIs per reference. After a delay of about 30 seconds the list of references is returned with DOI numbers appearing after each reference. For example, by entering the following information: "Constantino, M. G.; Oliveira, K. T.; Beatriz, A.; da Silva, G. V. J. Tetrahedron Lett. 2003, 44, 2641" into the query box returns the following information:

Constantino, M.G.; Oliveira, K.T.; Beatriz, A.; da Silva, G.V.J. Tetrahedron Lett. 2003, 44, 2641
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0040-4039(03)00377-0
The retrieved information has a hyperlink to the designated paper online.

Journals:
Journal names are to be abbreviated according to the Chemical Abstracts Service Source Index (http://cassi.cas.org/search.jsp). If an official abbreviation cannot be found, the journal’s name should be written in full. Only the initial page of the paper need be stated.

[1] Constantino, M. G.; Oliveira, K. T.; Beatriz, A.; da Silva, G. V. J. Tetrahedron Lett. 2003, 44, 2641. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0040-4039(03)00377-0

[2] Maia, G.; Torresi, R. M.; Ticianelli, E. A.; Nart, F. C. J. Phys. Chem. 1996, 100, 15910. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jp9607780

Patents:
[3] Hashiba, I.; Ando, Y.; Kawakami, I.; Sakota, R.; Nagano, K.; Mori, T.; Jpn. Kokai Tokkyo Koho 79 73,771 1979. (CA 91:P193174v).

[4] Kadin, S. B.; US pat. 4,730,004 1988. (CA 110:P23729y).

Books:
[5] Iwasita, T.; Câmara, G. A. In: In-situ spectroscopic studies of adsorption at the electrode and electrocatalysis. Sun S-G.; Christensen, P. A.; Wieckowski, A., eds. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2007, chapter 2.

[6] Cotton, F. A.: Wilkinson, G.; Advanced inorganic chemistry, 5th ed. New York: Wiley, 1988.

Conference material:
[7] Ito, F. M.; Beatriz, A.; Lima, D. P.; Mariano, V. G.; Petroni, J. M.; Marques, M. R.; Pessoa, C.; Moraes, M. O.; Lotufo, L. V. C.; Magalhães, H. I. Abstract of the 3rd Brazilian Symposium on Medicinal Chemistry - Recent Advances in Drug Discovery and Development, São Pedro, Brazil, 2006.

Electronic material:
[8] Available from: http://www.orbital.ufms.br/. Access October, 2007.

Theses and dissertations:
[9] Beatriz, A. Estudos da síntese de heliangolidos pela reação de Diels-Alder. [Doctoral dissertation.] Ribeirão Preto, Brazil: Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, 2001. Link: http://www.orbital.ufms.br/index.php/Chemistry/thesis/view/2

[10] Ito, F. M. I. Síntese, biotransformação e avaliação biológica de substâncias policíclicas cage-like derivadas do aduto de Diels-Alder triciclo [6.2.1.02,7]undeca-4,9-dien-3,6-diona. [Master’s thesis.] Campo Grande, Brazil: Centro de Ciências Exatas e Tecnologia, Departamento de Química da Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, 2007. Link: http://www.orbital.ufms.br/index.php/Chemistry/thesis/view/1

TABLES

Tabulation of experimental results is encouraged whenever it provides greater clarity or more economical use of space. Tables must be oriented portrait style on the page and must fit within the margins of a single page. Larger tables will be published as Supplementary Material. Tables should be numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals and constructed in table format. Do NOT use ChemDraw or Isis Draw to create tables. Tables created in ChemDraw/Isis Draw will be returned to the author for proper formatting. Each Table should be provided with a descriptive heading, which, together with the individual column headings, should make the Table, as far as possible, self-explanatory. Do not use cell borders. Tables should be inserted in the text close to the point where they are discussed. When inserting tables, do not use the float over text option.

FIGURES

Diagrams, graphs, spectra, photographs, and any other illustrations should all be considered Figures. Figures should be labeled sequentially with Arabic numerals as they appear (i.e., Fig. 1, Fig 2 etc.) together with a caption appearing directly below each Figure. Figures should be included within the body of the manuscript at a point soon after the reference to the Figure appears in the text. When inserting figures, do not use the float over text option.

SCHEMES AND EQUATIONS SCHEME

Scheme depicts a series of chemical transformations containing chemical structures. Equation: illustrates a simpler transformation with a single reaction arrow. For preparation of Schemes and Equations CS ChemDraw is the recommended drawing program, but ISISDraw (or ACD/ChemSketch) may also be used. When inserting schemes, do not use the float over text option.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

A graphical abstract is a single, concise, pictorial and visual summary of the main findings of the article. This could either be the concluding figure from the article or a figure that is specially designed for the purpose, which captures the content of the article for readers at a single glance.

The graphical abstract will be displayed in the online contents list and will appear in the article PDF file.

Image size: Please provide an image with a minimum of 664x1328 pixels (hxw) using a minimum resolution of 300 dpi. If you are submitting a larger image then please use the same ratio (200 high x 400 wide).

Font: Please use Roboto, Open sans, Times, Arial, Courier or Symbol font.

File type: preferred file types are TIFF, PNG or MS Office files.
No additional text, outline or synopsis should be included. Any text or label must be part of the image file. Please do not use unnecessary white space or a heading “graphical abstract” within the image file.

The appropriate image can be inserted directly into the manuscript.

The authors should also make use of SciVisual Company Illustration Services (www.scivisual.com) to ensure the optimum representation of their images in compliance with all technical accuracy and high visual impact.