J.UCS Style Guide for Authors

1 Introduction

J.UCS - the Journal for Universal Computer Science - is an electronic hypermedia journal. In the following, you'll find a guide for authors who want to submit articles to J.UCS.

Authors are encouraged to submit high-quality, original articles that have not been submitted to or published in any other publications in a similar form.

Since J.UCS has to be able to deal with articles of many different wordprocessing systems we accept PostScript as primary format, but further interfaces for RTF, Word, LaTeX and DVI are provided. A special style sheet for J.UCS authors was designed to ensure a uniform layout of articles published in J.UCS.

1.1 How to submit the papers

1. Use the submission form at http://www.jucs.org/jucs_info/submit/submitform.html to submit your paper.
2. The submitted paper must be an original contribution and may not be submitted to or already published in another journal. Furthermore, the article has to be a self-contained entity, i.e. the paper can be understood without knowledge of any previous articles published in J.UCS or elsewhere. The maximal length of a paper is 20 - 25 pages.
3. Authors of submitted papers give an explicit permission to plagiarism check of their submitted (and accepted) articles.
4. If the submitted article is an extended version of a paper originally presented at a conference or a workshop, the submission must contain about 50% new material and the title of the extended version must clearly and unmistakably differ from the title of the article presented at the conference.
5. The paper must be formatted according to the J.UCS guide lines (see below).
6. The submitted paper must be written in flawless English. Since J.UCS is an open access, no-cost journal, no copy-editing can be done by the J.UCS staff.

7. Attention:

   By submitting the article the submitting author confirms (on behalf of all co-authors) that the submission fulfills all requirements stated in the publishing agreement (http://www.jucs.org/ujs/jucs/info/submissions/publishing_agreement.html).

   If the article is accepted for publication, the author(s) must sign and submit the publishing agreement. A publication of the article is only possible if the signed publishing agreement is provided together with the camera ready version of the paper.

8. An author can only submit one article at a time. Multiple submissions are not accepted.
9. Duration of review process:

   The duration of the evaluation process depends entirely on the quality of the submission. From past experience, excellent and innovative papers written in flawless English in an area that is mainstream can pass the evaluation process in less than 4 months. However, if the reviewers demand a revision and hence the authors have to send an improved version followed by a second round of reviews, the evaluation time may be easily twice as much.

10. There are no submission or publication charges.

A very wide variety of wordprocessing systems can be used for writing articles since our preferred file format is PostScript and nearly every wordprocessor has at least a PostScript printer driver. Other accepted formats are RTF/Word, LaTeX and DVI. However, since J.UCS contributions cannot only be viewed and printed on a variety of platforms, but are also published in printed annual editions (see http://www.jucs.org/jucs_info/print/print.html), it is essential that certain conventions are strictly followed as set out in the style sheet below. Note that contributions in J.UCS can be annotated.

2 Style Sheet

The style sheet for J.UCS described below has to be used as template for articles published in J.UCS. Following the rules proposed here enables us to have a uniform layout for J.UCS and to automate the steps necessary to convert a submitted article to a finished hypermedia document. Please note that this article itself is written following our style guidelines.

A Word sample paper and a LaTeX sample paper of a correctly formatted article can be downloaded from http://www.jucs.org/jucs_info/submissions.

2.1 Page Layout

Use a printing area of 12.2 x 19.3 cm (4.8 x 7.6 in). The margins must be as follows: left margin 4.6 cm and right margin 4.2 cm. The top margin must be 3.7 cm and the bottom margin 6.6 cm. All measurements apply to European A4 size paper (210 mm x 297 mm).

Use only a one-column layout. Place pictures, figures and tables centered between the margins without any text flowing around them.

No form of running heads is allowed. Footnotes may be used only if it is absolutely unavoidable.

Pagination: the submitted article must contain pagination to ease the work of the reviewers. However, in the final manuscript, no pagination is allowed, page numbers are assigned by the editor.

2.2 Structure

2.2.1 Title

The title part of a paper consists of the title itself, capitalized (i.e. all words except for short connectives should have a capital initial), unnumbered and centered between the margins. Use a serif typeface (e.g. Times), 14 point, bold as font for the title. Leave 2 blank lines after the title. Next come the authors, capitalized and centered between the margins, in the form First Name Second Name. Multiple authors should be delimited by a single blank line. Use a serif typeface (e.g. Times), 10 point. Every author is followed by his/her affiliation (organization, name of city and state), optional ORCID number and email address, centered between the margins. Use a serif typeface (e.g. Times), 9 point. Leave three blank lines after the last author. Please do not put any acknowledgements or thanks here, but place them in the optional "Acknowledgement" section (see 2.2.5 Acknowledgements).

Example:

2.2.2 Abstract

Start the abstract with the sequence "Abstract:" (without the quotes) in 9 point bold-face without a line break after "Abstract:". The abstract is obligatory and should be a carefully worded description of the problem, key ideas and results presented in the article.

2.2.3 Key Words and Categories

The abstract must be followed by key words and ACM categories (in this order). "Key Words:" is followed by the sequence "Category:" in 9 point bold-face. The category must be one of the categories used in ACM Computing Reviews. To find appropriate categories consult: http://www.jucs.org/jucs_info/acm_categories

2.2.4 Text

The text part of an article contains structured text, divided into numbered sections (chapters), starting usually with "1 Introduction", that may be subdivided. Expressive section names should be used.

2.2.5 Acknowledgements

This is an optional section. Put every form of thanks and acknowledgements here. Start the acknowledgements section with the sequence "Acknowledgements" in 10 point bold-face, left justified, followed by a single blank line. Section "Acknowledgements" must be placed before section "References".

2.2.6 Literature References

Start the literature references with the unnumbered first level header "References" (without the quotes). See section 2.4.1 for a detailed description of the markups to literature references.

2.3 Typeface and Size

2.3.1 Headings

Use a typeface with serifs for all levels of headings. It is recommended to use Times or a similar typeface. Leave sufficient place for the title to stand out clearly. Leave 2 lines blank above and 1 line below the headings. If a heading is directly followed by a lower level heading the 2 blank lines before the lower level heading should be omitted. All headings should be capitalized (i.e. all words except for short connectives should have a capital initial). The title should be centered between the margins, all lower level headings should be left-justified.

Font sizes, numbering and styles for the different types of headings: (please note that the examples given below depend on the settings of the hypertext viewer you are using. For correctly formatted examples please have a look at the PostScript version of this guide).

Title

unnumbered, centered, 14 point, bold
Example: Computer Theory

1st-level heading

single numbered, left-justified, 12 point, bold
Example:
1 Introduction

2nd-level heading

double numbered, left-justified, 10 point, bold
Example:
2.2 Flow Charts

3rd-level heading

triple numbered, left-justified, 10 point, bold
Example:
2.2.1 Nodes

4th-level heading

quadruple numbered, left-justified, 10 point, italic
Example:
2.2.1.2 Input Nodes

2.3.2 Running Text

Use a typeface with serifs for running text. It is recommended to use Times or a similar typeface.

Use 10-point type size and one line spacing for normal text and 9-point type size for small text (abstract, literature references and acknowledgements). Use italic print to emphasize words. Note: bold type and underlining should be avoided. The text should always be justified to occupy the full line width, so that the right margin is not ragged.

2.3.3 Computer programs

For computer programs both sans-serif and serif typefaces are allowed. Use 10-point type size and one line spacing.

2.4 Special Formats

2.4.1 Markups

Insert the sequence "[<see> Name <(>year<x><)>]" (without the quotes) into the running text for a markup to a literature reference. Name is the second name of the author and year is the year of printing. A markup to several authors is also allowed. In this case the single authors must be delimited either by commas or the word "and". The phrase "et al." is also valid. The year can either be written in short form or in long form (i.e. 92 and 1992 are both valid entries) <x> is a possible lower case literal, if you refer to more than one article of an author of the same year. The word "see" and the brackets around the year are optional.

Example:

• ...this special form [see Wonko and Tsio 1999b] is very...
• ...as described in [Wonko (99a)]...
• ...and this algorithm [Tsio et al. 1999c] is used...

Insert the sequence "[<see> Fig. n]" (without the quotes) into the running text for a markup to a Figure contained in the current document.

Insert the sequence "[<see> Tab. n]" (without the quotes) into the running text for a markup to a table contained in the current document.

When placing a markup to a chapter of the actual document use either the form [<see> Chapter n] or [<see> Section n] or refer to the section name by using the special sequence [<see><Section> n SectionName] or [<see><Chapter> n SectionName].

Example:

• ...we will discuss this later in [Chapter 4].
• ...see [Section 4] for further details on...
• ...see [Chapter 4 Publishing] for further details on...
• ...chapter [4 Publishing] provides more information...

For a markup to a footnote use the form [<see> n], where n is the unique number of the footnote [see 2.4.5 Footnotes]. Please note that footnotes should only be used when unavoidable.

Please use exactly the format given here to allow us to insert Hypertext links automatically by searching for these special sequences. (Note: everything enclosed in '<' and '>' is optional.)

2.4.2 Literature References

Every reference must start with the sequence "[Name <(>year<x><)>]" (without the quotes). Name and year must match the markup in the running text [see 2.4.1 Markups] to be able to automatically detect the matching markup-reference pairs. The single information fields of a reference (Author1, Author2, Title...) should be divided by commas or semicolons. The brackets around the year are optional. Four examples for the different main types of documents should serve as a template:

- referencing Books:
[Goll (99)] Goll, J.: "The Guide to Hyper-G"; Springer, Heidelberg / New York (1999)

- referencing Journals:
[Wonko and Tsio 99b] Wonko, A. C., Tsio, F.: "Extended Use of Hyperlinks"; J.UCS (Journal for Universal Computer Science), 5, 3 (1999), 225-327. The form 5, 3 (1999) indicates volume number 5, issue number 3 1999. 225-327 indicate the page numbering.

- referencing Proceedings:
[Tsio 99a] Tsio, F.: "Hypermedia Systems in the Future"; Proc. Ed-MEDIA'99, AACE Publishing, Vancouver (1999), 115-123.

- referencing Reports:
[Mollester, Goll 99c] Mollester, K., Goll, J.: "Information Landscapes and their Advantages in Large Hypermedia Systems"; IIG Report 998, Graz, Austria (1999), also appeared as electronic version, anonymous FTP autnet.org, in publications/June-99-online.

2.4.3 Figures

Center the figures between the margins with one blank line above. Insert the text "Figure n: description" (without the quotes) after each Figure (n is a unique number that identifies the figure; description is a short description about the contents of Figure n. Please use an expressive description for your figures to allow finding them in a keyword search). Use a 10 point italic font for this text.

2.4.4 Tables

Center the tables between the margins with one blank line above. Insert the text "Table n: description" (without the quotes) after the table (n is a unique number that identifies the table; description is a short description about the contents of Table n. Please use an expressive description for your figures to allow finding them in a keyword search). Use a 10 point italic font for this text.

2.4.5 Footnotes

Footnotes should be used only of it is absolutely unavoidable. The footnotes must be separated from the preceding main text by a line from the left to the center of the page. Start the footnote with the sequence "[n]", where n is the unique number of that footnote (unique means, that this number can only appear once on a page, not throughout the whole document). Use a 9 point font for footnote text.

Example:
_________________________________

[1] as we mentioned earlier this is how to write footnotes

3 Accepted File Formats

PostScript is the main publishing format. However, submissions in RTF, Word, LaTeX or DVI format are also accepted.

3.1 PostScript

Only PostScript files in level 1 or level 2 are accepted. Make sure that only type 1 fonts are embedded in the PostScript file. The printing resolution of the PostScript file must be 600 dpi.

All font information must be included in the PostScript output file upon submission to make sure that all the fonts are available for the conversion of the document. Depending on the program you use for generating the PostScript file there is either a commandline switch for this purpose, or in the case you generate the file with a printer device driver there should be an option not to use built in printer fonts, but download all fonts instead.

3.2 RTF/Word

Please use common fonts found on most computers. Please do not use decorative typefaces.

3.3 LaTeX

If a special LaTeX style file is used, please submit it together with your article. We recommend to use our prepared J.UCS style sheets. For the use with LaTeX 2.09, you can download a style sheet from: http://www.jucs.org/jucs_submit/jucs.sty. For the use with LaTeX2e, the modified version of the style sheet can be downloaded from: http://www.jucs.org/jucs_info/submit/jucs2e.sty

LaTeX users should use the command "dvips -Pwww -o paper.ps paper.dvi" to generate the PostScript file.

We acknowledge the kind permission of ACM to use their classification system.

References

[ACM 1998] "The ACM Computing Classification System (1998)", http://www.acm.org/class/1998/ccs98.html