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4 January 2002

Two announcements from the Icarus editorial office: (1) Icarus print quality problems Recently a number of authors (and editors!) have reported problems with image quality in galley proofs or final printed versions of Icarus papers. Part of the problem appears to be caused by internal problems at Icarus' publisher, Academic Press, and part appears to be caused by authors submitting electronic files of inadequate resolution or format. To minimize the potential for problems with images in your papers, the Editorial Office and Academic Press recommend that you follow this strategy: When your manuscript is accepted for publication, submit high- quality electronic files to AP following the instructions provided in your acceptance letter, *and also mail them a set of high-quality glossy hardcopy photographic prints* of your figures exactly as you would like to see them appear in print. Also, send AP specific instructions for your figures, especially ones where color, contrast, or detail are especially important or potentially problematic. High quality figures are currently defined by AP as: .tif or .eps files; grayscale mode for halftones, bitmap mode for line art, CMYK mode preferred for color art; resolution of 300 dpi or higher for halftones, 600 dpi or higher for line art (high original resolution, not a high resolution achieved through re-sampling the image). If you cannot accommodate AP's required electronic format/resolution, then they will scan the high quality hardcopies that you send. If you do not send hardcopies and your electronic files are of too low resolution, they will do their best but result will be poor quality images in your paper. Occasionally, even when high resolution files or hardcopies have been sent properly, image quality problems have occurred. Check your galleys carefully! What you see is what you get. (2) Change in electronic submission formats While the response to this first year of Icarus electronic manuscript submission and review has been generally positive, the Editorial Office has encountered much hardship trying to deal with the wide variety of text and image file formats that authors submit via the Web site. Often times manuscripts are submitted as a large collection of disparate file types that Cheryl Hall has to painstakingly assemble by hand into a coherent manuscript. We believe that the responsibility for assembling and submitting a manuscript that conforms to Icarus style guidelines rests with the authors, not the Editorial Office. Therefore, beginning January 12, 2002, our guidelines for submission of electronic manuscripts will be changed to the following: Authors submitting manuscripts to Icarus via the Web will be allowed to upload only two files: (a) A single file of 25 Mbytes or less in PS, PDF, DOC, WPD, or TXT format containing all text, tables, and figures and conforming to the required style for Icarus manuscripts (i.e., double spaced main text, appendixes, acknowledgments, references, tables, figure captions, and figures, in that order); and (b) A single accompanying cover letter in PS, PDF, DOC, WPD, or TXT format. Authors who prefer to use LaTeX or AAS-TeX are asked to convert their files to PostScript or PDF before submission. Authors who are unable to comply with these new guidelines are still free to submit their manuscripts "the old way" by hardcopy and surface mail. The Editorial Office will scan the hardcopy in to the Web-based system. Processing and handling will be slower, but the Office will make its best effort to maximize text and image resolution within the 25 Mbyte file size limit. Additional details on manuscript formats, figures, and other issues, as well as an example template manuscript in PDF format, can be found in the online Icarus Instructions for Authors at: http://icarus.cornell.edu/information/authors.html Jim Bell Icarus Assistant Editor jfb8@cornell.edu (607) 255-5911 __________________________________________________________________