ELibM Guidelines for Journals and Proceedings Volumes

The following are guidelines for mathematical journals and proceedings volumes to be included in the Electronic Library of Mathematics (ELibM) which is provided as part of the European Mathematical Information Service (EMIS). This library is a broadly based electronic distribution and archiving repository network for mathematics.

1. Scientific standards

An editorial board must assure that articles accepted for publication are of good scientific quality.

Every article must be refereed and recommended for publication by one or more experts.

The choice of articles must involve no discrimination on the basis of politics, nationality, race, sex, or religion.

2. Editorial and typographic standards

Articles should appear in a polished form similar to that of printed mathematical journals, to the extent this is practicable. In particular, they should have an approximately uniform typography, and each should have a unique identification that is suitable for use in bibliographies of other articles. It is highly recommended that an abstract be included for each article. The dates of receipt of articles and the dates of publication of articles, issues, or volumes should be visible.

3. Logistics

In case a journal or proceedings volume is being offered for sale (in any form), the release of the electronic version to ELibM may be delayed a specified period so as to favor sales. This delay period will be at the discretion of the editors or publisher.

The editors of an electronic journal are responsible for delivery of their journal's articles to ELibM. Appropriate technical facilities for automatic document delivery will be proposed by the manager of the ELibM-Server.

While standards may change in the future, currently a complete PostScript file containing all the font information should be made available for every article in a journal participating in ELibM.

Provision of additional file formats (TeX, DVI, etc.) will be at the discretion of the of the editors of the corresponding journal or proceedings. The contents of all versions should essentially agree, although there is no requirement that they all share any particular style.

The proliferation of file formats has not posed a space problem thus far. However, ELibM reserves the right to limit bulk in case total file size becomes burdensome.

To relieve editors of awkward physical responsibilities, ELibM is willing to hold the master posting (including all versions in all provided formats). This offer will be of particular interest for proceedings volumes; on the other hand, many journals are so well equipped that they prefer to retain their master posting, which ELibM then mirrors to all servers of its network.

4. Costs

Reader access to the electronic journal and proceedings volumes of ELibM will be free of charge. Likewise, to be included in ELibM, these publications must be provided to ELibM free of charge.

As a service to the mathematical community, the costs and maintenance of ELibM are covered by the EMS in cooperation with Fachinformationszentrum Karlsruhe and Zentralblatt für Mathematik.

5. Copyright

Distribution through ELibM servers is authorized by the original copyright holders. It does not imply transfer of any form of copyright to EMIS or any related agency, nor to any person or agency acquiring the data through ELibM. For a journal with a printed version, a person obtaining an article from EMIS has no greater legal right to reproduce it than if he had borrowed the journal from a library.

6. Permanence

Science has important personal and historical dimensions requiring that future generations be quite sure what was published and when. The provisions of the next paragraph help to assure this.

One of the first published versions of each article or volume should be designated as original and archival. (This is a must for journals not also published on paper.) The archival original must be maintained unchanged forever, while alternative versions in other formats may be introduced or deleted. The constancy of the archival version will be continually monitored by ELibM as the library's basic guarantee of document integrity to the mathematical community.

The editors and publishers are free to designate the archival version; failing that, the choice is left to EMIS at the time of posting in ELibM.

7. Distribution agreement

The above guidelines are an amalgam of information, offers of assistance, assured freedoms, advice, and obligations. The obligations are clearly signaled by the word ``must''. EMIS invites editors and publishers to enjoy the freedoms and to request assistance at any time. On the other hand EMIS requests prompt mention of points where the above advice may not be followed. EMIS insists that unaccepted obligations be renegotiated in detail before finalization of a ELibM distribution agreement.

Each ELibM distribution agreement (formal or informal) may be terminated on short notice, either by the copyright holder or by EMIS.