Instructions for Electronic Submission

Manuscript Submission

Authors should submit manuscripts online via the Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific Editorial Manager system at http://asp.edmgr.com. Detailed instructions are available below. Contact pasp-help@press.uchicago.edu if there are any problems with submission.

Statement of Policy

The following are categories of papers published in the Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (PASP). Click on the links for further information regarding each type.
 

Research Paper
Instrumentation and Software
Review Paper
Dissertation Summary
Conference Summary
Addendum

Research Paper

The PASP accepts original research papers in all areas of astronomy covering all wavelengths and distance scales, as well as papers on the latest innovations in astronomical instrumentation, data analysis, and software. Presentation of new data should be accompanied by analysis and/or interpretation.

Instrumentation and Software

Instrumentation papers should present innovative and unique solutions to design problems and also provide a demonstration that they work. Similarly, papers concerned with novel software packages should include an application to an original research problem.

Review Paper

We invite authors who would like to write a review article to send an outline and a date by which they plan to submit their article. We hope this process will prevent an author from preparing a review only to learn that a similar one is already in press. All submitted review articles will be sent to referees in the same way that regular research articles are handled. Page charges for review articles will be generally the same as those for regular papers. We expect that the rapid publication time for which the PASP is known will also apply to all review articles.

The following are some general guidelines for authors of review articles:
 

  • Getting Started: In advance of submitting your review article, please send the Editors a proposed title, a detailed outline, an estimate of the length, and an expected date for submission.
  • Level and Content: Review articles should generally be aimed at a level appropriate for graduate students in astronomy or physics. Each article should critically discuss an area of current astronomical research and cover all relevant developments, not just the author's own research. Each review should contain an abstract, an introduction to the subject, a detailed review, a summary section, and complete literature references. Figures and tables may be included, as appropriate, to illustrate or summarize the main points.
  • Length: The length of the review should be dictated by the nature of the subject. No fixed limits are imposed, but a typical length might be 10–20 printed journal pages.
  • Style and Submission: Authors should prepare their manuscripts in AASTeX and submit electronically.
  • Copyright: Copyright permission should be obtained by the author for each figure or other material reproduced from previously published works. The figure caption should include a statement similar to the following: "From Smith & Jones (2000); copyright Astronomical Society of the Pacific; reproduced with permission."
  • Pre-submission Review: It is strongly recommended that the author circulate his or her manuscript to several expert colleagues in order to ensure that it is free of errors and to seek suggestions that might improve the presentation. The author should describe the pre-review that the article underwent in a cover letter to the Editors when the manuscript is submitted for publication.


The Editors hope this summary will result in high-quality articles on a wide range of topics being submitted. We look forward to receiving your letters of intent!
 

A list of PASP review papers is available in the Review Paper Index.

Dissertation Summary

We welcome submission of summaries of recent Ph.D. dissertations for publication in PASP. Dissertation Summaries provide an excellent means for young astronomers to bring their work to the attention of the astronomical community. We encourage submission of Dissertation Summaries from astronomers who have completed their thesis research at any degree-granting institution in the world within the past year.
 

Dissertation Summaries may be up to two printed pages in length and thus can be substantially longer than a typical abstract. Well-chosen figures can enhance the presentation. The author should keep the page limitation in mind.
 

The Summary should contain the following items:

  1. Title of the dissertation.
  2. Author's name.
  3. Author's current postal address and e-mail address.
  4. Name of the department and institution at which the work was carried out.
  5. Name of the thesis advisor.
  6. Year in which the Ph.D. degree was awarded.
  7. Text of the Dissertation Summary.
  8. References, which may be put at the end of the Dissertation Summary in the same way they are for a regular paper. Alternately, to save space, they may be presented as in-line references within the text.
  9. Camera-ready figures, if any (or the corresponding PostScript files).
     

When a Dissertation Summary is submitted for publication, it should be accompanied by a statement by the author that he or she has completed all requirements for the Ph.D. degree and that specifies the date upon which the Ph.D. degree was formally awarded. As a matter of courtesy, authors should provide copies of Summaries to their thesis advisors when the Summaries are submitted for publication.
 

In general, Dissertation Summaries will not be reviewed by external referees, but the Editors will make suggestions about the presentation and will have the final decision about suitability for publication.
 

The standard page charge will be assessed for Dissertation Summaries. The charge for a single page will be waived for authors who are ASP members or who apply for membership at the time the Summary is submitted for publication. The second (optional) page will be charged to the author at the standard rate.
 

Please submit Dissertation Summaries via the PASP Editorial Manager system at http://asp.edmgr.com using our AASTeX template and PostScript for the figures (if any).

Conference Summary

Conference Summaries are summaries of the new results from recent topical conferences. These are typically a few pages, but the length is left to the discretion of the authors.
 

If you are organizing a conference and would like to have a summary published, please contact the PASP Editors for further information.
 

Conference Summaries should be submitted via the PASP Editorial Manager system using our template and PostScript for any figures. Regular page charges apply.
 

Conference Summaries Index

Addendum

Addenda are brief updates to articles that were previously published in PASP.
 

Formatting Electronic Files

Please adhere to the requirements below when submitting a new or revised manuscript via Editorial Manager. The system relies on automated processing to create a PDF file from your submission. If you do not follow these instructions, your submission cannot be processed and will not be received by the journal office.
 

Acceptable Formats

  • Microsoft Word (.doc)(any recent version)
  • LaTeX (.tex)
  • Rich Text Format (.rtf)


Submitting only a PDF of the manuscript is not acceptable for either review or publication.

File Contents

Word documents should be submitted as a single file. Authors should submit figures as separate files, in PostScript (.ps) or Encapsulated PostScript (.eps) (not GIF [.gif], TIFF [.tif], or JPEG [.jpg]) format.
 

If you submit a LaTeX file, all figures and tables should be external files that are referenced within the main "ms.tex" file by using appropriate commands. LaTeX is especially suited for articles containing extensive math; authors of math-intensive manuscripts can use the AASTeX manuscript package available at http://aastex.aas.org.
 

Please note that authors of accepted manuscripts may be required to submit high-resolution hard copies of all figures during production, as not all digital art files are usable.
 

In addition to the main manuscript file, you may submit a cover letter as a separate file in the same format as your main file. If you used any revision or editorial tracking tools in your word-processing program, be sure the final version of your manuscript does not contain tracked changes.
 

File Compression and Archives

If you have more than two files to upload into the system (e.g., manuscript, figures, and cover letter), we recommend you combine these files into an archive, so you upload only a single file when submitting the manuscript. Applications for Mac OS (such as StuffIt) and Windows (such as WinZip) support the formats listed below.

The following archive formats may be used:

  • Zip (e.g., "archive.zip")
  • Unix tar (e.g., "archive.tar" or compressed with a gzip as "archive.tar.gz" or "archive.tgz")

 

Revised and Final Versions of Manuscripts

If you are submitting a revised manuscript, please include your responses to the reviewers' comments as part of the cover letter file. When submitting a revised manuscript with figures, include all figures, even if they have not changed since the previous version. The final version of your manuscript must be submitted in Word (doc.), Rich Text (.rtf), or LaTeX (.tex) format, because your keystrokes will be used in publication; a PDF does not contain usable character data and is thus not adequate. When submitting Word files, do not embed figures in the manuscript file. For both revised and final versions of manuscripts, please observe the same formatting instructions outlined above.

General Specifications

General Manuscript Requirements

Manuscripts must include a brief abstract that clearly states the principal conclusions of the paper. The parts of the manuscript should be arranged in the following order:
 

Title page (including complete postal and e-mail addresses for each author)
Abstract (followed by one to five keywords)
Text
Appendices (optional)
References
Tables
Figures


Keywords are mandatory; a List of Keywords may be found at this Web site. Keywords are not printed in the journal but are used for indexing purposes.
 

Electronic Manuscripts

LaTeX manuscripts submitted electronically should be formatted using the AASTeX macro package (version 5 or later is preferred). The package is available from the AASTeX homepage. Manuscripts should be formatted with the "Preprint" style in AASTeX, not the "Manuscript" style.
 

MS Word

See Preparing Manuscripts with Microsoft Word.
 

Illustrations

In preparing illustrations, it is useful to keep in mind the dimensions of the printed column, or page, on which they must eventually fit and to proportion them accordingly; whenever possible, the illustrations should be planned for reproduction on one column width. Illustrations should be of a size that will not require reduction to less than 35% of the original size. All lines, characters, and symbols should be large enough to reproduce well after reduction; specifically, lines should be at least one point in weight, preferably heavier. Do not use any "hairline" line settings.
 

Electronic figures are acceptable in PostScript (PS) or Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) format only. Each figure should be submitted as a separate file, with file names following the pattern f1.eps, f2a.ps, etc., and every figure must print on a laser printer. When submitting Word files, do not embed figures in the manuscript file. Do not format several PS or EPS files into one file. Leave page numbers, figure numbers, file information, and so on, out of files. Place letter tags, when they are necessary, inside the box of the figure. No text should appear on the top axis outside the figure box unless it is an independent axis label. Be sure all lines will remain larger than one-half point when reduced up to 35%. Do not use color in files that are not intended to be reproduced as color figures. Use only standard PS fonts and embed all fonts in the file.
 

Figures that are intended for reproduction as four-color figures should be prepared as CMYK (i.e., four-color) files. RGB (i.e., three-color) files are less desirable and will be converted to CMYK files for printing. Optimum resolution for CMYK files is 300 dpi. CMYK EPS files created with PhotoShop seem to produce the best results. Authors may need to submit a hard copy of the figure that represents how the colors should look. Reproduction of color figures in the print edition carries an extra charge of $150; there is no extra charge for color in the electronic edition only.
 

The following operators cannot be used in EPS files. PS files are converted to EPS files for importing to the typesetting system, so these operators should be avoided in PS files:
 


Banddevice

Framedevice

Renderbands

Clear

Grestoreall

Setglobal

Cleardictstack

Initclip

Setpagedevice

Copypage

initgraphics*

initmatrix*

Erasepage

Setshared

Startjob

Exitserver

Quit

 


*These operators are used frequently in the PS and EPS files we receive.
 

If operators cannot be avoided, the file will be converted to bitmapped EPS, which may result in lower-quality reproduction or may be unusable in the typesetting system (especially if the file comes from a TeX or LaTeX file that has been printed to a PS file using dvips), in which case the figure will have to be scanned.
 

Authors unable to submit figures in PS or EPS format should mail in high-resolution laser-printed original figures. Photographs that will require halftone reproduction should be glossy prints in good focus and with the best possible contrast.
 

Any special instructions regarding layout or sizing of art should be included with the original submission in a cover letter or README file.

References

The accuracy of the references is the sole responsibility of the author(s), and care should be taken that each literature citation in the manuscript has its counterpart in the reference list, with the exception of private communications, and vice versa. Reference citations should give the last name of the author(s) and the date of publication. Reference list entries should be ordered alphabetically, starting with the last name of the first author, followed by the first author's initial(s), and similarly for each additional author. Multiple entries for one author or group of authors should be ordered chronologically.
 

Tables

All tables are typeset with horizontal rules only; no vertical rules are used. Tables should have concise titles; every column must have its own heading. Secondary information should be incorporated in a note to the table. Column headings label the entries in the column and should consist of one or two words, with the first letter of each word capitalized. Units of measurement should be placed in parentheses immediately below the column headings, not in the body of the table. In the body of the table numerical values less than unity should always be written with a zero preceding the decimal point. To indicate the omission of an entry, ellipsis dots (i.e., &ldots;) are used. Column heads should have a double rule above and a single rule below, and the table should have a single rule at the bottom of the last page.
 

Tables in the text should be numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals and must be cited in text by number, for example, "see Table 3." Tables in an appendix may be numbered in the same sequence as the tables in text or may begin a new sequence, for example, Table 9 or Table A1.
 

Complete entries for all papers cited in tables should be given in the reference section at the end of the paper, not in a separate list accompanying the table.
 

Proofs

Proofs of the typeset article will be posted on the University of Chicago Press proof server. The author will be notified by e-mail that proofs are available and will be given instructions on how to retrieve them. Authors unable or unwilling to retrieve their proofs via the Internet should inform the editorial office at submission and provide an express courier address to which proofs will be sent. Proofs must be corrected within 48 hours of receipt. Authors may send their corrections by e-mail, fax, or hard copy as directed.
 

Page Charges

Information regarding page charges may be found at this Web site.
 

Online Submission Instructions

Please have the following items readily available before beginning the online submission process:

  • Manuscript in an acceptable format as described above
  • Cover letter (optional) as a separate file
  • Information from title page (to be typed into the peer review database): title, short title, list of authors and affiliations, and contact information for the corresponding author
  • Abstract of the manuscript (to be copied and pasted into a field in Editorial Manager)
     

Go to the Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific Editorial Manager system at http://asp.edmgr.com to submit your manuscript.