Guidelines for Contributors to Company Publications In General 1. Whether working with a typewriter or a word processor, double-space your manuscript so that the Editor is able to make notations between the lines with clarity. 2. Your research should be as close to the original source as possible. Document all specific statements that are not of a general nature. 3. Manuscripts should be submitted as computer files in either the Windows or Macintosh platforms. It would be helpful if you were to include a text version of your file as well. Label the disk with your last name and a short version of the title. Disks will not be returned, so keep a copy of your work on your own computer. 4. Consult Author's Style Guide for Military Collector & Historian and Military Uniforms in America. Available here 5. Consult Preparing a Journal Article or MUIA Text for Desktop Publishing. Available here 6. The addresses of both Editors are found on the masthead page of every Journal Issue, following the Table of Contents. 7. Ship irreplaceable or valuable materials to the Editors by Certified Mail, return receipt requested. Insurance is optional, but will be at your expense. 8. If feasible, send high-quality color Xeroxes or laser prints of artwork and photos. These may be obtained at a reasonable cost from a full service copy center.More graphics information avaialble here. Military Collector & Historian 1. Submit a rough draft of your article so that the MC&H Editor can review it and advise you of its suitability for publication. 2. When your article has been approved, submit as many photographs and other illustrations as you can. These may be in the form of Xeroxes and laser prints (see above). The Company has no fund to pay for reproduction rights, but many sources will provide pictorial material gratis for a nonprofit organization. Be sure to credit your source as part of the figure caption. 3. Submit the final draft of your article, along with as many original photos or illustrations as may be necessary. These will be returned to you after the publication of your article. Military Uniforms in America Authors 1. Advise the MUIA Editor of your subject: the name of the unit and the era to be illustrated. This will be logged to establish your claim in case another contributor should come up with the same idea. At the same time, identify your artist-collaborator. 2. Your research should be as close to the original source as possible. If at all feasible, send a copy of your material (photostats or Xeroxes of pictures, documents or pertinent book pages, for example) with your initial draft, so that the editorial reviewers might better evaluate your artist's interpretation. These will be filed with your manuscript, or returned to you at your request. 3. Document all specific statements relative to uniforms, arms and equipment. 4. Strive for brevity; try not to use two or three words where one will do. Texts must be short enough to be printed on one page in a type size no smaller than 9 points for the body and 7 points for the footnotes. 5. Review your artist's drawing at each stage, working out any disagreements before it is submitted for approval. Artists 1. Send a pencil drawing of your plate, with color indications, to your author-collaborator for his concurrence. He will forward it to the MUIA Editor with a rough draft of his manuscript. The drawing need not be "finished" at this stage, but it should be comprehensive enough to be reviewed for accuracy and draftsmanship. It is important that it fill a vertical area that will be printed at 8 inches by 10 inches, excluding captions. Keep your working area no larger than 150% of reproduction size, or 12 inches by 15 inches. 2. When the pencil rendering has been reviewed and returned to you with appropriate editorial notations, prepare black and white line art suitable for reproduction. Brush and India ink give the best results, although a pen may be used for detail work. Avoid too much modeling at this stage. Make as many corrections as you wish, using opaque white water color. Entire sections may even be pasted over with white paper and reworked, if you wish. When you and your author are satisfied with it, send the completed drawing to the Editor. Any color indications must go on a tracing-paper overlay only; never apply color to the drawing itself, or the drawing will not be photographically reproducible. 3. If no additional corrections are in order, you will receive two clean copies of your artwork in reproduction size. Color one of these with a transparent medium: water color, colored inks, etc. (The second copy is a backup; if more are needed the Editor will supply them.) You may do as much modeling with color as you think necessary-but restraint here will usually lead to the best results. 4. Before submitting the color art to the Editor, send a color Xerox copy of it to the author for his concurrence. You may also wish to retain a color Xerox copy for your own files. 5. Professional illustrators who wish to work in another medium or technique must advise the Editor when the pencil rough is sent in. Prepared by: Lt. Col. Donald M. Londahl-Smidt, USAF (Ret.) and Eric I. Manders |