Final preparation of your paper for publication

Note: This is the old page. Please go to our home page and follow the link "information for authors".

• Files to include: The final source file for your article must be in plain TeX or in LaTeX2e (we recommend LaTeX2e). LaTeX2.09 is obsolete and should be avoided (A LaTeX2.09 file is one that begins with "\documentstyle ...", whereas a LaTeX2e file starts with "\documentclass ..."). In place of standard AMSTeX, which should no longer be used, use LaTeX2e together with "\usepackage{amstex}". Finally, the package "amsart" is obsolete and should not be used. Its successor is "amsmath". Your paper will attain maximum portability and permanence if  these practices are observed. The top line of each submitted .tex file should clearly state which kind of TeX is being used and how many pages will be in the document, as for example,

% A LaTeX file for a 14 page document.
Preparation of manuscripts in LaTeX2e and the inclusion of figures, if any, with the packages of the standard distribution of LaTeX2e is strongly encouraged.
The editors must be able to compile the paper using the source files submitted, together with files that are freely available from standard TeX repositories, such as CTAN, on the Internet. Hence, authors who have used their own personal style files, or document classes, or packages, must submit those files, along with all necessary graphics files, with the final version of the paper. Do not submit .ps or .dvi files.
• Running heads: Place running heads across each page but the first. The headline will be in small capitals.
• In plain TeX a running head will use lines like this:

            \font\smcp=cmcsc8
            \headline={\ifnum\pageno>1 {\smcp the electronic journal of combinatorics {\bf 7} (2000), \#Rxx\hfill\folio} \fi}
• In LaTeX, one can use lines like this on the first page of text:

                  \pagestyle{myheadings}
                  \markright{\sc the electronic journal of combinatorics \textbf{7} (2000), \#Rxx\hfill}
                  \thispagestyle{empty}
• At the time of publication, the editors will substitute numbers for xx.
• Top matter: The addresses of the author(s) should appear at the top of the paper, including their email address(es). A good way to enter an e-mail address in a LaTeX file  is as {\small\texttt{smith@math.wwwu.edu}}. Just below these names and addresses there should appear the date of submission of the paper and its date of acceptance, in the format

Submitted: January 4, 1999; Accepted: February 10, 1999.
• Dimensions:Page and font sizes: in general, authors should use the default page and font sizes for this Journal, which are
hsize = 6.2in = 157mm
vsize = 8.5in = 217mm
primary font = 12pt.
Departures from these default sizes may be made if circumstances require.
• A caution: If you intend to send us your source file by e-mail, please note that some e-mail systems insert the character '>' before any line that begins with the five characters "From ", causing TeX to print a Spanish upside-down '?' character. If you send us your TeX file by e-mail, please check that it has no such lines. Perhaps the simplest fix is to change every occurrence of "From " in your source file, to "{}From ". Lower case "from" is o.k.
• The abstract: The paper should contain an abstract of principal results obtained, and Mathematical Reviews Subject Numbers, primary and secondary, on the first page. When your paper is published, we will send out a notice of its publication to our subscribers. Your abstract, reproduced verbatim, will be the main content of that notice, so please take care in making the abstract informative, complete, clear, and as self-contained as possible, in order to interest subscribers in reading your paper. An abstract is primarily a listing of the new results that are obtained in the paper. Phrases like "we investigate .." or "we study ..." should be kept to a minimum in favor of "we prove that ..." or "we show that ...". An ideal abstract consists of a succinct statement of background followed by a listing of the principal new results that are to be found in the paper.
• "Live" Bibliographies: The electronic medium offers the remarkable possibility of having hypertext bibliographies in papers. That means that a reader who is interested in reading one of the papers that you cite, would be able just to click on its title in your bibliography and the cited paper would appear on the screen. We encourage you, as an author, to avail yourself of this opportunity. To do this you will first need to determine which of the papers that you cite in your bibliography are on the Web. For each of the papers that are accessible in this manner, please find the URL of the paper, and send us these URL's. We will do the rest. What we will do is to make available a separate "References" file, in addition to the ordinary text files of your paper. This separate file will be in HTML, and the references for which you have supplied URL's will be clickable hypertext that will enable your readers to follow the thread of the ideas back through the literature almost effortlessly. After publication of your paper in this Journal, if more URL's of items in your bibliography become known to you, send them to us and we will change those references to hypertext.
• Use of Color: Another unique feature of the electronic medium is that figures and diagrams can use color, when that is appropriate, at no extra (monetary) cost. Feel free to do so if it will improve the presentation in your paper.
• How to submit:
• Normally the final version of your paper will be sent to the Editor who managed the paper. This can be done by e-mail if the files are fairly short and not too numerous.
• Otherwise, send the final version of the paper via ftp to the directory pub/e-jc/incoming at the ftp site ftp.cis.upenn.edu. To do this, login in as "anonymous": use your email address as the password. Type cd pub/e-jc/incoming and then put my_paper.tex, etc. You will not be able to verify that the files are there because the protections in this directory do not permit others to read the directory. Please inform the editor who is handling your paper, via e-mail, that you have transmitted the files, giving also the names of the files that you have sent.
• Copyright: First read the full text of our copyright agreement:
• AUTHOR'S AGREEMENT

 1.Author has created a work (the "Work") which will be published in the Electronic Journal of Combinatorics ("Journal") and the author owns the copyright to the Work.
 2.Author hereby grants to Journal a worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, fully-paid up, royalty-free license to publish the Work in the Journal, its electronic archive, its paper archive, or any collection of the Journal's works in any form whatsoever. The Journal shall have the right to include the Work as part of its collection available on interlibrary loan.
 3.Author agrees that s/he shall not publish the Work in any other journal, whether electronic or otherwise, in the same or substantially the same form as the Work, without acknowledging prior publication in this Journal.
 4.Author warrants that s/he has the full power and authority to enter into this Agreement and to grant the rights granted in this Agreement.
Next, highlight and copy the text of the four items above and paste it into this e-mail message to our Managing Editor. Then type "I (we) accept the terms of this agreement" in the same message. Finally, type the title of your paper and the names of all authors in the same message. In the Subject line type "Copyright Agreement", and send the message. Your paper will then be published.


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