SMT Magazine is uniquely positioned in the industry to cover technical topics relative to the surface mount process. We publish articles covering the materials, processes, components and equipment used in surface mount. It is our mission to provide a balance of articles on cutting edge topics and everyday manufacturing concerns. Our audience of 46,000 subscribers is predominately design engineers, working in a variety of end markets from military to medical and computer peripherals to contract manufacturing.
What to Submit
We will consider any of the following types of editorial submissions:
- Full length feature articles or case histories*
- Industry news including major business transactions and key personnel changes
- New product announcements
*FEATURE ARTICLE SUBMISSIONS MUST CONTAIN A "COMPLETE PACKAGE." A COMPLETE PACKAGE CONSISTS OF ELECTRONIC TEXT, A LEAD PHOTO AND SUPPORTING PHOTOS OR ILLUSTRATIONS. IF THE STAFF DOES NOT RECEIVE A COMPLETE PACKAGE BY THE EDITORIAL DUE DATE, WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO DECLINE THE SUBMISSION AT THAT POINT.
Formatting your Submission
Electronic Text. Article text must be received electronically either on disk or e-mail. We will not begin the editing process until we receive an electronic copy. Please also send a hard copy of the article.
3.5" Disks. Please save the document on a 3.5" high-density disk (IBM formatted) in either a WordPerfect 6.0, Microsoft Word 6.0 or ASCII formats.
Zip disks are also acceptable.
E-mail. Submissions may be e-mailed as an attachment or in the text of e-mail. Please send text files to: editor@smtmag.com
Body Copy. Text should be double-spaced and contain no codes or embedded graphics. Do not format into columns. Organize any references in the article in the following fashion:
BOOKS. Author (first name first), Title (italic or underlined), City of publication: Publisher, Year published, Page numbers (if appropriate).
MAGAZINE. Author (first name, last name), "Title," Title of Magazine (italic or underlined), Publication date, Page numbers.
PROFESSIONAL JOURNAL. Author (first name, last name), "Title of Article," Journal title, Series No., Vol. No., Issue No., Date, Page numbers.
UNPUBLISHED ARTICLE. Author (first name, last name), "Title of Article," Name of company, Place, Date, Page numbers.
The Review Process
There are two basic ways to have your article reviewed. The first is to submit a detailed outline or abstract and have our editors work with you to develop a completed article. The second is to simply submit the completed article. In that case, our editors will carefully review your original, unpublished manuscript and notify you as soon as possible whether it is accepted. Please keep a copy of all original materials.
In most cases, manuscripts we reject are not related to the highly specific concerns of our subscribers. Other reasons for rejection include similarity to recently published articles, inadequate emphasis on new techniques or developments, non-objectivity that cannot be corrected with editing, or legal/ethical complications resulting from submission of the manuscript to other publishers.
Copyrights
Before we can publish your manuscript, you need to transfer the rights with a Copyright Transfer Agreement. To protect both you and PennWell Corporation, SMT copyrights your article. You and your company retain all proprietary rights other than the copyright, plus the right to use the article in part or in full. These rights are clearly outlined in the agreement.
Scheduling and Editing
Each issue of the magazine has a designated editorial emphasis. If accepted, your article will be scheduled for use in an upcoming issue based on its relevance to the scheduled content of that issue. Publication will be handled in a timely manner, but the article may not necessarily appear immediately following the acceptance of your manuscript.
Our staff of editors will strengthen your work, enhancing the clarity and relevance of the article. We may ask you to expand or modify portions of the manuscript. If sections need to be rearranged or deleted, it will be done with great care. If we have questions during the editing process, we will contact you. There is no guarantee that you will be able to approve your copy after editing.
Length of Submissions
Full-length feature: 1,500 to 3,000 words
Case history: 1,000 to 1,500 words
News item: 100 - 750 words
New product information: 50 - 100 words
IF YOU WISH TO SEND AN ARTICLE FOR COVER STORY CONSIDERATION, IT MUST CONTAIN MORE THAN 1,500 WORDS AND BE ACCOMPANIED BY AT LEAST THREE USABLE PHOTOGRAPHS. THERE ARE NO EXCEPTIONS.
Graphics
Visual supplements are an excellent way to further illustrate your message. Graphics or photos are especially important in technical articles, where difficult concepts sometimes make more sense when seen rather than written.
Digital Files (at this time, we can only take art electronically)
1. Photographic Images:
- 300 ppi minimum resolution
- Color Corrected CMYK
- 4" x 5" physical dimension
- Save as Photoshop EPS files
- CAD/3D files should be rendered and corrected to the above standards
2. Approximate File Size Table for Photographic Images:
| Printed Size (in.) | File Size |
| 2 x 3 | 2.06 Mb |
| 4 x 5 | 6.87 Mb |
| 5 x 7 | 12.00 Mb |
| 8 x 10 | 27.50 Mb |
| 9 x 12 | 37.10 Mb |
3. Scanned Line Art/Logos:
- 1200 ppi
- Bitmap Mode (Photoshop Mode - not a BMP file)
- Photoshop TIFF files with NO LZW compression
4. Screen Captures/Digital Cameras:
- Use a minimum resolution of 1280 x 1024 pixels. This will produce a printed image at a size of 4.27" x 3.41"
- Convert/Color Correct to CMYK
- Save as Photoshop EPS file
5. Illustrations, Schematics, Technical Drawings, Charts and Graphs:
- Adobe Illustrator 6.0 compatible file
- Colors as CMYK
6. Supply file on a ZIP disk, JAZ cartridge or CD-ROM
- StuffIt Deluxe or PKZip compression software may be used
- Do not Email
7. Send a print out of all files
8. What to Avoid:
- Compression schemes such as JPEG or LZW
- BMP, PCX, GIF, PICT or MPEG files
- Word Metafiles
- Corel Draw documents
- PDF files
- Images embedded in PowerPoint documents
- Images embedded in word processor documents
- Native application CAD/3D files
Tables. Set up tables electronically by tabs; do not use your word processing program's table function.
Line Drawings. We prefer to receive these in electronic form in one of the above programs.
Specifications for Magazine Cover
If you wish to make a cover submission for an upcoming issue of our magazine, please follow these criteria:
- Focus on one central subject. Close-ups are dramatic with high impact.
- The background is usually a dark color, while the subject of the shot is brightly lighted and in tight focus.
- An active shot is preferred to a static one, since the eye is attracted to movement.
- The transparency must be vertical in orientation or be capable of being cropped vertically and must be able to bleed off an 8-1/8 x 10-7/8" publication.
- There should be room for the magazine's logo at the top and article callouts at the bottom.
- The shot should be as colorful as possible.
- A professional transparency is preferred.
- A cover photo must not be used in past or future ads for your company.
- The transparency should illustrate the editorial focus of the issue in which it is used.
- Graphics in the transparency should encourage the reader to open the magazine by drawing the eye to the bottom right hand corner in a natural top-to-bottom, left-to-right reading eye movement.
- Captions and photo courtesy lines should be sent along with the submission.
- Several transparencies of the same subject give editors a choice to suit any preference.
Not all covers meet these criteria, yet may be excellent cover material. If more than one transparency is submitted to an editor, the above factors help an editor make his/her final decision. Generally, a good photographer has an artistic "eye" and can provide guidance.
We Would Like to Hear From You
Your contributions are greatly appreciated. Send your manuscript or article outline, news item, new product announcement or photograph for cover consideration to:
Articles:
SMT Managing Editor Michelle Boisvert, MBoisvert@pennwell.com
telephone (603) 891-9310; fax (603) 891-9328
Products & News:
Assistant Editor Lee Mather, leem@pennwell.com
telephone (603) 891-9176, fax (603) 891-9328
PennWell Corp.
98 Spit Brook Road
Nashua, NH 03062
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