IOSPress

Multiagent and Grid Systems - An International Journal aims to provide a timely and leading forum for researchers and practitioners in the thematic areas of Multiagent Systems, Cloud Computing, Service-Oriented Computing, Pervasive Systems and their intersections. It publishes peer-refereed research and application papers of high technical quality and scientific standard.

The journal features original research papers, comprehensive and sound survey papers about the state-of-the-art, technical papers about implementation issues of general interest, applications and field works. Moreover, from time to time it presents special issues on contemporary problems of profound research challenges in its thematic areas.

SUBMISSION OF MANUSCRIPT

Authors who want to submit manuscripts to MAGS International Journal should go to the online submission system and follow the instructions thereon.

Any query about using the online submission system can be sent to mags@cs.uni-due.de.

Required files of accepted article
The following electronic files are required:
- A word processor file of the text, such as Word, WordPerfect, LateX (If using LaTeX, please use the standard article.sty as a style file and also send a pdf version of the LaTeX file)
- Separate files of all figures (if any); see "Preparation of manuscripts" for the required file formats.
- The text of an accepted article should be plain formatted, e.g., 1.5 line spaced, one column, 12 point font, A4 paper with proper margins in top/bottom and left/right-hand sides.

Colour figures
It is possible to have figures printed in colour, provided the cost of their reproduction is paid for by the author. See Preparation of Manuscripts for the required file formats.

Open Access option
The IOS Press Open Library® offers authors an Open Access (OA) option. By selecting the OA option, the article will be freely available from the moment it is published, also in the pre-press module. In the Open Library® the article processing charges are paid in the form of an Open Access Fee. Authors will receive an Open Access Order Form upon acceptance of their article. Open Access is entirely optional.
See also our website for more information about this option IOS Press Open Library®

PREPARATION OF MANUSCRIPTS

Organization of the paper and style of presentation
Manuscripts must be written in English. Authors whose native language is not English are recommended to seek the advice of a native English speaker, if possible, before submitting their manuscripts.

Manuscripts should be prepared with wide margins and double spacing throughout, including the abstract, footnotes and references. Every page of the manuscript, including the title page, references, tables, etc., should be numbered. However, in the text no reference should be made to page numbers; if necessary, one may refer to sections. Try to avoid the excessive use of italics and bold face.

Manuscripts should be organized in the following order:
- Title page
- Body of text (divided by subheadings)
- Acknowledgements
- References
- Authors short biographical notes (no photos)
- Tables
- Figure captions
- Figures

Headings and subheadings should be numbered and typed on a separate line, without indentation.

SI units should be used, i.e., the units based on the metre, kilogramme, second, etc.

Title page
The title page should provide the following information:
- Title (should be clear, descriptive and not too long)
- Name(s) of author(s); please indicate who is the corresponding author
- Full affiliation(s)
- Present address of author(s), if different from affiliation
- Complete address of corresponding author, including tel. no., fax no. and e-mail address
- Abstract; should be clear, descriptive, self-explanatory and not longer than 200 words, it should also be suitable for publication in abstracting services
- Keywords.

Body of text
- The use of first persons (i.e., "I", "we", their possessives, etc.) should be avoided, which can nicely be expressed by the passive voice or other ways. This also applies to the Abstract.
- A research paper should be structured in terms of four parts, each of which may comprise multiple sections:
-+ Part One is problem description/definition, and a literature review
-+ upon the state of the art; Part Two is methodological formulation and/or theoretical development (fundamentals, principle and/or approach, etc.)
-+ Part Three is prototyping, case study or experiment; and
-+ Part Four is critical evaluation against related works, and the conclusion.
- A survey paper may skip Part Three, but should multiply Part Two and elaborate Parts One and Four.
- An application paper may light touch Part Two but should elaborate Part Three, with Parts One and Four similar to what a research paper would.

In any article it is unnecessary to have an arrangement statement at the beginning (or end) of every (Sub-)Section. Rather, a single overall arrangement statement about the whole paper can be made at the end of the Introduction Section.

Tables
Number as Table 1, Table 2 etc, and refer to all of them in the text.
Each table should be provided on a separate page of the manuscript. Tables should not be included in the text.

Each table should have a brief and self-explanatory title.
Column headings should be brief, but sufficiently explanatory. Standard abbreviations of units of measurement should be added between parentheses.
Vertical lines should not be used to separate columns. Leave some extra space between the columns instead.
Any explanations essential to the understanding of the table should be given in footnotes at the bottom of the table.

Figures

Number figures as Fig. 1, Fig 2, etc and refer to all of them in the text.
Each figure should be provided on a separate sheet. Figures should not be included in the text.
Colour figures can be included, provided the cost of their reproduction is paid for by the author.
For the file formats of the figures please take the following into account:
- line art should be have a minimum resolution of 600 dpi, save as EPS or TIFF
- grayscales (incl photos) should have a minimum resolution of 300 dpi (no lettering), or 500 dpi (when there is lettering); save as tiff
- do not save figures as JPEG, this format may lose information in the process
- do not use figures taken from the Internet, the resolution will be too low for printing
- do not use colour in your figures if they are to be printed in black & white, as this will reduce the print quality (note that in software often the default is colour, you should change the settings)
- for figures that should be printed in colour, please send a CMYK encoded EPS or TIFF
Figures should be designed with the format of the page of the journal in mind. They should be of such a size as to allow a reduction of 50%.
On maps and other figures where a scale is needed, use bar scales rather than numerical ones, i.e., do not use scales of the type 1:10,000. This avoids problems if the figures need to be reduced.

Each figure should have a self-explanatory caption. The captions to all figures should be typed on a separate sheet of the manuscript.
Photographs are only acceptable if they have good contrast and intensity.

REFERENCES

Place citations as numbers in square brackets in the text. All publications cited in the text should be presented in an alphabetical list of references at the end of the manuscript in the following style:

[1] B. Newman and E.T. Liu, Perspective on BRCA1, Breast Disease 10 (1998), 3-10.
[2] D.F. Pilkey, Happy conservation laws, in: Neural Stresses, J. Frost, ed., Controlled Press, Georgia, 1995, pp. 332-391.
[3] E. Wilson, Active vibration analysis of thin-walled beams, Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Virginia, 1991.

 Footnotes
Footnotes should only be used if absolutely essential. In most cases it is possible to incorporate the information in the text.

If used, they should be numbered in the text, indicated by superscript numbers and kept as short as possible.

COPYRIGHT

Copyright of your article
Authors submitting a manuscript do so on the understanding that they have read and agreed to the terms of the IOS Press Author Copyright Agreement.

Quoting from other publications
An author, when quoting from someone else's work or when considering reproducing figures or table from a book or journal article, should make sure that he is not infringing a copyright. Although in general an author may quote from other published works, he should obtain permission from the holder of the copyright if he wishes to make substantial extracts or to reproduce tables, plates or other figures. If the copyright holder is not the author of the quoted or reproduced material, it is recommended that the permission of the author should also be sought. Material in unpublished letters and manuscripts is also protected and must not be published unless permission has been obtained. Submission of a paper will be interpreted as a statement that the author has obtained all the necessary permission. A suitable acknowledgement of any borrowed material must always be made.

PROOFS

The corresponding author will receive a PDF proof and is asked to check this proof carefully (the publisher will execute a cursory check only). Corrections other than printer's errors, however, should be avoided. Costs arising from such corrections will be charged to the authors.

PURCHASES

How to order reprints, a PDF file, journals, or IOS Press books
The corresponding author of a contribution to the journal will receive a complimentary PDF Author’s Copy of the article, unless otherwise stated. This PDF copy is watermarked and for personal use only. A free PDF copy will not be provided for conference proceedings and abstract issues. An order form for a PDF file without watermark, reprints or additional journal copies will be provided along with the PDF proof.

If you wish to order reprints of an earlier published article, please contact the publisher for a quotation. IOS Press, Fax: +31 20 687 0019. Email: editorial@iospress.nl.

An author is entitled to 25 % discount on IOS Press books. See Author's discount (25%) on all IOS Press book publications.