Guidelines for Authors

We are very pleased to consider your article for the ISUG Technical Journal. Sharing your expertise makes us all more aware of the important issues facing our organizations, and helps us to become more effective users of Sybase technologies. To assist our authors and ease the production process, the User Group has established a few basic guidelines.

Contact us at if you are interested in writing for us. We'd like to discuss your topic with you to see that it's relevant, that it hasn't been already covered elsewhere in the Journal, and to talk about deadlines. We may ask you to send an abstract for review. If you have a good topic but don't feel that you can write anything very long, don't let that stop you–we may run it as a technical tip.

Note:

• We rarely accept articles that have already been run in other publications.
• We do not accept marketing pieces.
• We do accept articles that discuss management topics, or technical concepts in a very general or theoretical fashion, provided that the content is strategic in nature and is designed to open the readers' minds to technologies and methodologies that they might not be currently considering.
• All articles published become the property of the International Sybase User Group. They can be used freely by the author after initial publication, with inclusion of the language: "First published in the ISUG Technical Journal, International Sybase User Group". ISUG does require notification prior to publication. (Note that this courtesy only applies to the author, and not any third party, including the author's employer, unless prior arrangements have been made.)

After Your Abstract or Article Has Been Accepted

1. As you begin writing your article, please send, via e-mail or fax, a brief summary or abstract of your article. Also, please let us know if you anticipate including graphic images, pictures, etc.
2. Content-wise, we look for solid technical content, giving details of architectures and interesting functions; commands and results– information useful and interesting to a sophisticated client/server audience. Please include code fragments used to deal with specific problems.
3. Please try to meet the word count as established in your conversation with the Managing Editor or ISUG Director. This helps us fit the article into the rest of the Journal's material, and means we won't have to come back to you asking for copy cuts. However, if you find that there is a problem staying within or meeting foobar word count, please let us know as soon as possible, and we will do our best to accommodate you.
   NOTE: Please do NOT change the topic or substitute another article at the last minute! If you are concerned about meeting the deadline as the time draws near, let us know immediately and we'll discuss it from there.
4. Obviously, please do your best to meet the scheduled deadline. Again, the earlier we get your copy, the more flexibility we have to run it without cuts or changes.
5. Your article will be reviewed by our Technical Editorial board. These highly qualified industry experts will respond with suggestions and comments on your article, which will be passed on to you by the Managing Editor.
6. After your final edits, take the time to proofread the copy carefully before you send it to us. You'll have one more chance to see it before it's printed, but accuracy up-front will help prevent typesetting errors. Naturally, we're especially concerned that any included code or commands be exactly right. The column width of the ISUG Technical Journal is 2 1/2", so break up lines of code to be shorter whenever possible.
7. Graphics (screenshots, etc.) should be included inside the document so we know their correct positions, but must also be sent outside of the document, and in uncompressed format. All graphics ideally should be in 1200 dpi resolution.
8. We'd also like to get a photograph – ideally, a professional 5"x7" black-and-white glossy head shot, but a passport-type photo is also fine – and a brief biographical sketch highlighting your professional background and experience with Sybase products and the topic being covered.
9. Please send your final article by e-mail and by fax, or a double-spaced hard copy of the article and bio and a copy on disk (Microsoft Word or WordPerfect are best, but we can translate most files), with photos and graphics, to the Managing Editor.