Introduction

Here we provide all the information needed to publish a paper in the Revista Cubana de Física. We suggest reading it in detail. However, we strongly suggest putting special attention in our (very simple) format for figures and references. Following our instructions in those matters will facilitate substantially the publication both at the editor and author levels.

E. Altshuler

O. Almora

E. Ramírez-Miquet

On the Nature and Submission of Papers

RCF publishes papers in English –we hope their proportion will increase in time.
The Revista Cubana de Física (RCF) will receive papers original papers as:

(a) original articles, with a maximum of 4000 words and

(b) original communications, with a maximum of 1500 words

(here we are counting references, but not title, authors list and addresses). Differently from full papers, short papers do not contain abstract or sections –we also recommend to minimize the number of references and figures there.

Sections “Review articles” (Artículos de revisión), “Moments of Cuban Physics” (Momentos de la Física en Cuba) and “For physicists and Non-Physicists” (Para físicos y no-físicos) will receive papers on a different schedule. In those cases, authors will submit proposals to the Editor, containing a brief description of the paper contents: only after approval of the idea, full articles will be submitted, and will enter the standard peer review process. The Editorial board will eventually request articles for those sections to specific authors. Such modus operandi is essential to achieve a balance in the journal. Review papers will contain up to 9000 words, and those submitted to “Moments of Cuban Physics” and “For physicists and non-physicists”, no more than 4000 words. All contributions must contain abstracts in Spanish and English with a maximum extension of 150 words, and a Spanish version of the title (non-Spanish-speaking authors should not panic: the editorial board will be pleased to write the Spanish version of their abstracts and titles!).

Full manuscripts will be sent as *.doc files (if generated using Microsoft Word), and as *.pdf files (if generated using Latex). See templates in all cases. If the manuscript is accepted, authors will be requested to submit the figures as separate *.tif (*.tiff) or *.ps (*.eps) files (as well as the *.tex file, if it Latex has been used).

News and Obituaries

The News section reports scientific events that have taken place in Cuba, PhD thesis defended in Cuba, prizes obtained by Cuban physicists, etc. Organizers of Physics meetings in Cuba, prize winners and PhD successful candidates are invited to send a couple of related paragraphs to the Editor (around 200 words), plus one or two photos, with a resolution of 300 dpi. We also accept 300-words (or less) obituaries of Cuban physicists that have recently passed away, including a 300 dpi photo of the person.

Figures

Poor resolution figures constitute a bottomless source of headaches for editors, and a “boomerang” for authors. We then beg them to take care in producing quality pictures from the very beginning. Figures must be calculated to fit into one RCF column (8 cm wide), or two columns –if strictly necessary. In particular, photos should be produced with a minimum resolution of 300 dpi. Besides them, authors are requested to send the graphs in *.tif (*.tiff) format separate files, making sure that all labels, numbers, arrows, etc., can be clearly identified when the figures are printed in the final size of the journal. Figures in *.eps or *.ps formats are also welcomed.

The figures will be identified in order of appearance with Arabic numbers on the foot (below) of the image following a space, then a colon and then the description of the image, of the form Figure 1:, Figure 2:, (...) Figure n:. They will be referred to in the text equally but without a capital letter nor the colon, e.g. "... in figure 3 it is observed ...". Eventually, the abbreviation "Fig." can be used.

Figures downloaded from the web should not be used unless they are explicitly free, or permission has been granted explicitly from their authors. All information regarding such figures must be sent to RCF.

References

References format problems compete with figure resolution problems in producing headaches to editors. Authors should revise three aspects of their references before submitting to RCF:

(a) All references listed at the end of the paper must have been cited in the text.

(b) The order of the references listed at the end must be the same as the order in which they are cited in the text.

The citations in the manuscript should be done with Arabic numbers in bracket, e.g. [1] for a single citation, [2-5] for consecutive citations, or [2, 4] for non-consecutive citations. There should be only one number for each individual reference. The list of references may follow the subsequent format:

When citing a journal:

[1] T. Cito, A. L. Trozo, and C. A. Cabó, Phys. Rev. Lett. 57, 671 (1986).

In case of a recently accepted article that has not yet been assigned to a Volume/Issue, the DOI code (not another digital identifier) must be used:

[2] T. Cito, and P. Rontito, Phys. Rev. Lett. (2017) DOI: 17.0217/SCF17UH

If there is any doubt regarding the abbreviation of the name of the journal, please take a look at http://cassi.cas.org/search.jsp or http://woodward.library.ubc.ca/research-help/journal-abbreviations/

When citing a book:

[3] R. E. Lajoso and U. N. Vago, Citation techniques for dummies, 4th Ed. (Thomson, Belmont, Buey Arriba, 2004), pp. 100-102.

When citing from the proceedings of a conference (paper from conferences without published proceedings should not be cited):

[4] F. Asteador et al., in X Symposium of physics and fastening, edited by M. Cha-Cao and A. Hardworker (World Scientific, Singapore, 1989).

We prefer to cite the names of all authors. If the list is too long (say, more than 10 authors), the use of “et al.” is allowed.

We suggest avoiding citations of papers and other materials from web pages. If there is no way around, please get inspiration from the following two examples. First, a paper published in arXiv:

[5] J. Macintosh, How to evade peer review by just posting on the web, arXiv:gr-qc/0647788v3 (2004).

(note that each paper posted by arXiv indicates explicitly a code to be cited…in the example, arXiv:gr-qc/0647788v3)

Second, papers published in electronic journals (with no printed versión):

[6] X. Liang, Y. Jin and Y. Wang, The Open Materials Science Journal [ISSN: 1874-088X], 5, 9 (2011) (www.benthamscience.com/open.tomsj/openaccess2.htm).

Citation of a Diploma, Master of PhD thesis:

[7] D. I. Plomante, “On the renormalization of quantum-relativistic eschatology”. Diploma Thesis, Universidad de La Habana, La Habana, 1986.

…or…
[8] P. Echdi, “Fractional quantum numbers in relativistic eschatology”. PhD Thesis, Universidad de Oriente, Santiago de Cuba, 1994.

We suggest avoiding “prívate communications”. However, if there is absolutely no way out, our proposal is:

[9] G. Nius, private communication.

Mathematical Formulae

The equations will be identified with Arabic numbers in parentheses, e.g. (1), (2), ... (n), to the right and according to the order of appearance. To refer to them in the text, the numbers in parentheses will also be used and abbreviations will not be used as ec. (eq.). All symbols must be identified the first time they are mentioned, and whenever necessary, to avoid confusion.

When using Word, formulas must be generated with MathType. Try to place as few mathematical formulas and symbols as possible within the lines - although it is often unavoidable, especially in the case of symbols. It is preferable that the formulas are in separate lines, numbered. In the case of Latex users, there are no specific instructions (at least for the moment). It is also necessary to avoid, as far as possible, very long formulas, in order to prevent having to "split" the format of two columns.

Tables

The tables and their descriptions will be analogous to the case of the figures, except that the description should be abode the table (not at the bottom of it), and that the numbering should be with Roman numerals in capital letters, e.g. Table I, Table II, ... Table N. In the text, the word "table" should always be used, never an abbreviation, e.g. "…the table IV summarizes...". References within tables should follow the same rules that will be described in the references section, except that they should be represented by alphabetic superscripts and placed at the end of the table, in an additional row (independent of the other references in the manuscript).

Keywords

Each paper, should include 3 to 5 keywords in English, taken explicitly from PACS (Physics and Astronomy Classification Scheme). We will not admit any keyword outside PACS: it contains stuff for all tastes, as we illustrate below.

A paper reporting a novel demonstration of the kinematics of a raquetball controlled by a PC would respond to:

01.50.My Demonstration experiments and apparatus

01.50.fh Computers in education

01.50.ht Instructional computer use

If your paper tells the story of Solid State Physics in Cuba from 1960 to nowadays, one could use:

01.65.+g History of science

01.78.+p Science and government (funding, politics, etc.)

07.50.Ek Electrical and electronic instruments and components

The Cover Image of your Paper

Each submitted article must include a cover image to be identified with once posted in the journal website. This concept will highlight visually the content of your paper.

The cover image must be a landscape picture (i.e., wider than taller, see figure 1) and holds the same features of the manuscript’s images.

We suggest to modify one of the images already included in the manuscript, or to elaborate a more communicative image to better transmit the message of your paper. It is preferred that the cover image is not exactly one of the images included in your manuscript.

Supplementary Information

Exceptionally, supplementary information can be sent together with the manuscript. It is understood that supplementary information is the ensemble of images, tables, text and/or equations not included in the body of the manuscript due to the allowed extension or for providing non-essential information that is at the same time a complement to the paper.

All complementary files will be included in a single file that will be labeled with the paper’s title and the name of the authors. This material will be exported to a PDF file and will be accessible online only. Each element included as supplementary material will appear in the same order they are mentioned in the manuscript and should be indicated following the format of the journal but including bold S (S). For example, figures will be numbered as Fig. S1, S2 or S3, (…), Sn. Tables will be numbered as SI, SII, SIII, (…), Sn; Appendices as text or equation will be included as SA, SB, SC…

In addition, the manuscript should include by the end of the paper a small section with a brief description (one sentence) of the supplementary information before the Acknowledgement section and the References.

Cover Letter

Original contribution should be submitted with a Cover Letter to the Editor requesting formally that the paper is considered to enter the editorial process of the journal. It is suggested to include in this letter the following elements:

(a) A brief description of the contribution and its relevance.

(b) A brief paragraph explaining the contribution of each author.

(c) The name and contact email of at least two experts in the subject of the article that might peer-review the manuscript.

(d) The name and contact information of anyone the authors do not want as reviewers of their paper should there be any.

The letter should not exceed a single page.

Details of the Editorial Process for Original Papers

Authors must create an account in the journal website (http://www.revistacubanadefisica.org/index.php/rcf/login). Once logged in the website the submission process can be initiated. Before beginning the submission make sure you have the following:

(a) Letter to the Editor

(b) Manuscript

Once the submission process is completed, a webmaster will acknowledge reception of the manuscript through via email (rcf1@revistacubanadefisica.org) with copy to the Editor. If necessary, this email will indicate any improvement necessary to the submission process (i.e. Abstract of Original Communications, Author’s Affiliations, ORCID codes …) or any other aspect of the journal format. This is the first step of the editorial process and is independent from the peer-review procedure.

The Editor will assign an Associate Editor to handle the manuscript who will contact the authors and will be in charge of any further communication. From that moment on, the authors will be in contact only with the assigned associate editor who will interact with the peer-reviewers and will decide and inform the authors of the outcome of their manuscript based on the reviewers’ reports. The full history will be available from the authors’ profile in the editorial system (Submissions/My Authored) even if several round or review are performed.

As alternative submission procedure, the authors may exceptionally send their manuscripts directly to the Editor via the emails (ealtshuler@fisica.uh.cu and ealtshuler@yahoo.com). The editor will acknowledge receipt of the manuscript and contact an associate editor to handle the editorial process.

It is strongly recommended to the authors to use logic message subjects and provide the article code provided by the editor. For example, “RCF0382011Total.pdf” (for papers submitted with embedded figures), or “RCF0382011AFig1.eps” (for figures submitted independently).

The editorial board estimates a time lag no longer than three months for processing a manuscript.

Contributions to the Cover of the RCF

The cover of the RCF contains an illustration (Photograph, graph..) associated to one of the articles inside. We accept suggestions from the authors, in the form of high resolution versions of photos or graphs (3D, color graphs are especially adequate for the cover). Ideally, proposed images should be 17 cm width by 19 cm height, and would show full detail when color-printed in that size.