INFORMATION FOR INTENDING CONTRIBUTORS TO ELECTRONICS AUSTRALIA

Electronics Australia is the country's largest selling technical electronics
magazine, reaching almost everyone in Australia with an interest in
electronics -- from hobbyists and college students right through to
engineers, scientists and academics. It's also one of the longest running
electronics magazines in the world, having been established in August 1922. 

We welcome submissions of contributed articles, to augment those written by
our staff writers and editors and help produce a magazine with the widest
possible appeal. The following notes are to assist those wishing to submit
articles for the Editor's con sideration, so that they can ensure their
articles have the greatest chance of being accepted and published. 

1. CONTENT

Electronics Australia is a general-interest technical electronics magazine,
and we try to cover as many different subject areas as possible rather than a
small number of subject areas in great depth. This means that the kind of
article we're most likely to accept is one which deals with a subject in a
broad sense -- so that it is of potential interest to, and understandable by,
as many of our readers as possible. 

We're NOT a 'learned journal', able to publish highly technical and
mathematical papers which delve deeply into a specific area, and are only
capable of being understood and appreciated by a handfull of scientists and
engineers working in that area. 

But with the above in mind, we're able to publish articles on most main areas
of electronics -- semiconductor devices, audio and hifi, television and
video, RF,  computers, circuit theory, testing and measurement, recording,
and so on. So we're always in terested in general-interest articles in any of
these subject areas, dealing with aspects such as new developments,
understanding interesting theory concepts and historical reviews. 

Of course we're also very interested in articles describing build-it-yourself
construction projects for the technician and hobbyist. Our readers have a
voracious appetite for novel and ingenious designs, but especially those
which are inexpensive and not too complex -- so that as many people as
possible can both afford to build them, and be confident that they can get
them working without requiring a lot of fancy test equipment. 

How much is 'too expensive', and how complex is 'too complex'? Well, the
price of parts used in a project is generally a good guide. Currently the
most popular projects are those where the parts cost less than $100. 

2. PHYSICAL FORMAT

(A) TEXT: Articles submitted to us for consideration should always have at
least a typed or printed "hard copy", preferably with double line spacing to
allow rapid reading and addition of comments if necessary. Handwritten
manuscripts will be considered, but are m uch less likely to be accepted due
to the difficulty of reading by both editor and keyboarding operator. 

Note that if your file is prepared on a word processor (and we hope this is
the case!), please RESIST the temptation to "dress it up" with fancy fonts
for headings, bolding, italics, multiple column layout and so on. If the
article is accepted, we will o nly have to REMOVE all of your formatting,
before adding our own when we prepare it for publishing. An absolutely plain
text file format (like this document itself) is what we prefer, as this will
require the least amount of preparation time and effort. 

Preferably, the manuscript should be accompanied by a 3.5" or 5.25" floppy
disk, with a text file copy of the article as prepared by a word processor.
Our in-house word processing systems use Wordstar Version 4 Professional,
running under MSDOS Version 6 .2. Files which are directly compatible with
these are preferred, but if you are using a word processor whose files are
not directly compatible with Wordstar (or you're not sure), the best approach
is to convert the file into a `plain text ASCII' file on an MSDOS/PCDOS disk.
Many word processors are capable of producing a version of your master file
in this format, either directly (i.e., Save As 'TXT for DOS') or by allowing
you to 'print to disk' rather than to the printer. 

We can also cope with plain text ASCII files on HIGH DENSITY Apple Macintosh
disks. 

But when you send us a file on floppy disk, PLEASE make sure to advise the
computer make, model, operating system and word processor used to produce it
-- so we know what we're trying to read... 

NOTE: Never send us your original word processor file or disk -- only a COPY,
in case it should get lost in the mail, etc. The same applies to original
illustrations, pictures, negatives and so on. Always keep your originals for
safety. 

We are also able to accept files sent by e-mail, as attachments. Our e-mail
address is:

        electaus@magna.com.au

Note again that all uploaded files should be in plain text ASCII format. 

(B) ILLUSTRATIONS: Circuits and other diagrams may be either of reproduction
quality, as produced by a CAD system printer/plotter or drafting pens, or
copies of your CAD files, or at least clearly drawn in pen or pencil, in a
form which will allow our draftsperson to re-dr aw in the magazine's normal
style. 

Photographs should be supplied as either normal glossy black and white prints
(say 150 x 200mm), or normal colour transparencies (50mm square or 35mm
slides). 

DO NOT SUPPLY SCREENED HALFTONES. Our production system produces these, using
a special scanning/screening process designed to produce optimum results with
the printing presses and paper used in producing the magazine. However colour
transparencies in pa rticular should be of good contrast, so that they will
reproduce well in black and white. Please ensure that all photographs
submitted are in sharp focus. 

Reproduction from printed illustrations is generally not satisfactory because
of 'Moire pattern' interference between the original printing screen and that
used for the magazine. There may also be a copyright problem, of course. 

For construction projects involving a PCB (printed circuit board), you should
provide an actual size or scaled-up printout of the PCB pattern, as viewed
from the copper side. If possible, and assuming your PCB pattern has been
produced using a CAD packag e such as Protel's Autotrax or Easytrax, please
also provide a printout of the top overlay layer, so that we can use this to
publish an "overlay wiring diagram" for your PCB. This should be printed at
say 150% of actual size -- and if you can provide a " flipped" image of the
copper layer as well, to the same scale, this will also help us to produce
the PCB "overlay" diagram. 

Note that if you don't have a laser printer or other high-quality printer to
produce the above diagrams, you can alternatively send us a copy of the
Autotrax/Easytrax PCB file itself -- so we can produce them ourselves. This
file can be on the same disk as your article's text file, or sent as an
additional attachment to your e-mail. 

If your article needs drawings, diagrams or schematic circuits, and you are
able to draw these using a CAD package such as CorelDraw! (V3,4,5), Protel
Schematic for Windows or Autotrax/Easytrax, by all means do so. However in
addition to sending us a pri ntout of these diagrams/schematics, please ALSO
send a copy of the drawing files. This will allow us to make any minor
changes that may be required to use the diagrams for publication, without
having to completely re-draw them. Again, drawing/schematic f iles can be on
the same disk as your other files. 

All "hard cover" illustrations which accompany your article should be clearly
marked with your name, the article title and any identification that may be
necessary (i.e., 'Fig.3', or 'main circuit'), so we can ensure that these are
properly mated with th e text, captions etc. This ID material should be on
the back of all photographs, but on the front surface of diagrams and
drawings. 

3. CONCEPT & PRESENTATION

In general, your article is most likely to be accepted for publication in
Electronics Australia if it presents its ideas in a friendly, easy to
understand 'conversational' manner. For examples of this we suggest you look
through issues of the magazine it self. 

Avoid heavy use of highly technical terms and specialised acronyms, if
possible. Where it's important to use acronyms, in order to help the reader
become familiar with them, always explain them in words the first time you
use them in the text. For exampl e: '...using a PLCC (plastic leadless chip
carrier) device...'

Use familiar, commonly used words rather than long and unfamiliar ones that
will have the average reader reaching for the dictionary. Also avoid dry
'pedantic' prose written in the third person, passive voice (e.g., 'it is
frequently found that...'). Ins tead try to keep it personal and direct; in
fact you can use the first person if you find this comfortable (e.g., 'I
decided to design this new thingamy because one day my wife said to me...'). 

Broadly speaking, your article should begin with an introduction of about 40-
50 words, explaining what the article is all about and endeavouring to gain
the reader's interest. Think of this 'intro' as a kind of shop window, whose
purpose is to entice the reader to venture inside. No matter how good the
article itself may be, if the intro doesn't attract the reader's interest,
they may never bother to read the rest of it. 

The main body of the article itself should follow a logical format, first
presenting introductory material and then working its way through the details
towards a summary. 

With an article describing a construction project, you'd normally start with
a section describing what the project does, how you came about designing it,
and why you believe others will find it of interest and use. Then you'd
describe how the circuit wor ks, in sufficient detail for understanding by
the kind of reader it's intended to interest. After this you'd explain the
construction used, discussing any areas where special care or techniques are
required. Finally you'd describe the testing, adjustment and calibration (if
required), and possibly also the best way to use the completed project. 

By all means break up your text with BRIEF subheadings, introducing the
various sections. For example 'How it works', and 'Fitting it together'. But
don't over-use these, or go to a system of various numbered levels of
subheading (e.g., '1.15 - Component substitution'). These are not appropriate
in a broad-interest magazine. 

With an article describing a construction project, your text should be
followed by a detailed PARTS LIST of all the components required. For the
general format to be used, see recent copies of the magazine. 

(For the Editor's benefit, you should also give a reasonably accurate
estimate of the total cost of the parts used in the project.)

If your project calls for parts that are difficult or tricky for the average
reader to obtain, this should be discussed in detail in the 'contruction'
section of your text. However wherever possible, avoid using components that
will present this kind of problem. 

Either as part of your article or in your accompanying letter, please give a
suggested "by-line" or credit line, indicating if there are any
qualifications you'd like included. For example: 'by FRED MULVANEY, B.E.,
VK3ZFM'. 

Note that we always prefer to give a first name, rather than merely initials
-- it's more friendly. 

Along with your main article, but separate from the main text, you should
supply a set of suggested CAPTIONS for the various illustrations (pictures,
diagrams, circuit etc.). Wherever possible, we will try to use your captions
if your article is publishe d -- but please keep them BRIEF and concise.
Generally if you provide long wordy captions, these will probably have to be
'pruned' in order to fit... 

4. GENERAL

Your article should be ORIGINAL -- that is, all your own work, and without
material copied from other magazines or books. Your cover letter should
indicate if there are any possible copyright problems involved. 

If you are offering only certain rights to your article - such as 'First
serial rights in Australia and New Zealand', or 'All serial rights in
Australia and New Zealand', this should be clearly specified in your covering
letter. Normally we prefer to buy all rights, and our publication fees are
determined on this basis. But if you wish to offer your material overseas, or
make separate arrangement for publication in book form (e.g., for a series of
articles), we are prepared to buy only limited rights as above --perhaps
negotiating separately for book rights. 

PAYMENT RATES for articles published vary with the amount of preparation we
need to give them in house, to prepare them for publication. Currently we are
able to pay from about $100 to $250 per 1000 words, with the upper figure for
excellent material tha t needs very little work by us. Needless to say we can
generally afford to pay more for material supplied as a disk file or
transmitted by e-mail, compared with material sent purely as 'hard copy',
because this obviates the need for someone having to 'ke yboard' it into our
system. 

Where supplied, PHOTOGRAPHS are paid for additionally at the rate of around
$15 each. We may also be able to pay for drawings, diagrams and schematics,
where supplied as disk files or in high quality hard copy form. But there is
no additional fee payable for diagrams and circuits which we have to have
redrawn by our draftsperson. 

Material published in Electronics Australia is normally paid for 'upon
publication' -- that is, within a week or two of their being published.
However in SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES ONLY we may be able to arrange for payment
'upon acceptance'. Note that we our selves receive no benefit from your work
for many weeks (often months) after publication. 

All material submitted for publication should include a stamped envelope with
your name and return address, to allow us to return it if we are not able to
accept it. The envelope can also be used to return any pictures or other
material you may wish retu rned after publication. 

5. SUMMARY

We hope the foregoing information is of assistance in helping you submit
material to us in a form which we will be able to accept for publication, and
pay you at the highest rate. We look forward to receiving articles from you,
and being able to publish these for the interest of our many readers. 

Further information may be available from the Editor, Jim Rowe, by writing to
him c/- PO Box 199, Alexandria NSW 2015 or phone (02) 9353 0620. Yet again,
you can fax us on (02) 9353 0613, or send us an e-mail message via
electaus@magna.com.au. 

Last updated 9/2/1998