TUGboat author information and macros
The TUGboat macros are included in all major
TeX distributions, so most likely you don't have to do anything to
install them. If you need or want the latest, it's available on CTAN: LaTeX
TUGboat package, plain
TeX TUGboat package. The documentation is also available there,
which may be convenient.
Upcoming submission deadlines
- vol.45, no.3 (regular issue): October 4, 2024.
- vol.46, no.1 (regular issue): March 21, 2025.
Article template
This sample article template also
includes a super-summary of some of the most commonly used features of
the TUGboat style.
Quick tips for authors
- Even today, 7-bit ASCII is by far the most reliable encoding for the
source text. TeX control sequences are preferred to UTF-8 or other
encodings. But if your source needs non-ASCII to be readable, that's
fine.
- Please keep source lines to <= 79 characters. For instance, if your
editor likes to do one line per paragraph, please try to configure it
otherwise. We will rebreak the source if needed.
- It's easier for us if the main article text is in one source file
(as opposed to, for example, one file per section). Figures and other
auxiliary material might be better in the main file or a subsidiary
file, at your discretion.
- After you receive your article proof, please send feedback in
regular email or by editing the source, and most especially not by
annotating the pdf. Annotations are hard for us to deal with, and it is
too easy to overlook items.
- We prefer BibTeX (with \bibliographystyle{tugboat} to
BibLaTeX, but it's not an absolute requirement. We can accept BibLaTeX
for a paper if necessary.
- Use \Dash instead of --- or the Unicode em-dash
character. (Also, better to use -- than the Unicode en-dash.)
- Use \acro{WORD} for words in ALL CAPS.
- Use \cs{foo} to output the control sequence \foo.
- The TUGboat style files have many other predefined abbreviations;
please use them where possible. The sample
article template lists some that are commonly used.
- Footnotes after punctuation.
- Even better, avoid footnotes completely. They complicate page
breaking and often disturb reading. References are usually better placed
in a bibliography section; abbreviations are better as a parenthetical
remark. Nevertheless, if you feel your article is better with footnotes,
ok.
- Do not worry much about figure placement, page/column/line breaks,
etc., because they will almost certainly change during editing.
- On the other hand, it is better for us if articles fill up a whole
number of pages, so if the last page is only about half-full, please
consider writing a little more or cutting it down. We can usually handle
a few lines of overflow.
- TUGboat is produced entirely with pdf files, so do not worry about
dvi output, eps format for figures, etc. On the other hand, if dvi
output is required for your paper, that's fine.
- If you need to use OpenType/TrueType fonts with XeTeX/LuaTeX, that's
ok, but please do not use system font lookups; systems differ.
Instead, use filename lookups (see the fontspec documentation, or we
can help as needed). Also, if the fonts are not part of TeX Live,
please say where we can get them.
- Do not use the word “really”. Also avoid
“a lot”.
General advice on content
- Write an abstract. Please use only standard (La)TeX and TUGboat
macros in the abstract; that helps us make the web pages.
- Consider the topic from the point of view of an
interested reader: if you weren't the author, what would you
like to learn from the article?
- The length of an article should depend on the topic.
The article should cover the chosen ground completely, leaving no
major questions unanswered, but it should do so concisely. Shorter
articles are more likely to be read. If in doubt, shoot for five
pages or less.
- Don't worry overmuch about deadlines; there will always be another
issue. It's better to take enough time to do the best job than
to hurry the work.
- If illustrations aid comprehension, include them.
- Illustrations that require color can be printed in color.
However, color pages are significantly more expensive to print. So
when color is not required, please check that your images degrade ok
in black and white. (Color versions can be posted on the web in any case.)
- For code listings, we usually recommend plain verbatim listings.
Almost always, we will print code blocks in simple black. If a more
featureful verbatim package, such as listings or fancyvrb, that's ok. On the
other hand, please avoid, for TUGboat, the minted package if
possible; it is harder to customize and correct at the TeX level,
and the shell escape requirement is troublesome.
- If you have questions, please ask. That's what editors are for.
Contact for submissions, questions, problems, bugs, …
Email TUGboat@tug.org.
When commenting on the proof of an article, please send email with
the comments as regular text, rather than inserting annotations into the
PDF, if at all possible. Thanks.
TUGboat macro packages
Both the plain and LaTeX TUGboat macros are included in TeX Live and MiKTeX, among other distributions, so you
almost certainly have them installed already if you have TeX at all. But
in case you want to check the latest versions (updates have been minor,
so usually any version will do), or just peruse, they are on CTAN:
LaTeX TUGboat package,
plain TeX TUGboat package.
Also, a ConTeXt style for TUGboat is available from the
source repository
(s-tugboat.mkiv). We use the context-minimals
distribution for processing ConTeXt papers.
Hyphenation exception list
TUGboat regularly publishes a hyphenation exception list for
U.S. English. The full list is on CTAN in machine-readable
form, along with accompanying information.
$Date: 2024/08/29 22:29:30 $;
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webmaster;
facebook;
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mastodon.