Dispatcher's Office Submission Guidelines

Thanks for your interest in submitting an article for inclusion in the Dispatcher's Office publication. We rely on the contributions of our members to make an interesting publication that everyone will enjoy. To make sure the production process goes as smoothly as possible, we ask that you review this document to help us better serve you.

 

Written Materials

The Dispatcher’s Office is created electronically using professional layout/publishing software. All written material must be sent electronically in any common text editor format, including Word, Open Office, or plain text. Photos should be submitted as high resolution JPG, PNG, or TIF files. Do not crop the images – we'll take care of that. PDFs are also acceptable for documents, but be sure that you have written permission to reproduce the documents, if appropriate. 

Every photo, diagram, or other image should have a caption included. If you're referring to images/diagrams within your article, please reference them as “figure 1”, “diagram 2”, etc. and we will do our best to include the image near the text. However, this can't be guaranteed. Please include a separate file with the image/diagram captions in this format:

Filename.jpg: Figure 1 - A picture of the thing at the place. 

This makes it easier to match up the individual files with their corresponding captions. 

If you have the files in a cloud-based location (Dropbox, OneDrive, Box.com, etc.) please send a link to the shared folder. If you don't have one of these, contact the editor and he can set one up for you to upload your files into. This is far more efficient than having to mail one file at a time. 

 

Photo Submission

When taking photos, use the highest resolution possible, preferably at least 12 megapixels. Most modern cell phone cameras and digital SLR cameras will shoot at least this resolution or higher. If you have a small photo, don't try to enlarge it as you can't add image quality by making the photo bigger. If you have questions about a particular photo, please contact the editor for assistance.

 

Schedule

Taking raw material and turning it into a print/electronic magazine takes time, so in conjunction with our publisher, we have established a production schedule. The schedule is based on the number of days prior the official release date of the magazine (Jan 1, Apr 1, Jul 1, Oct 1). Note: the days may fluctuate slightly, this is presented as a rough guideline:

  • 90 days prior: All articles and supporting materials need to be received by the DO editor for proofreading.
  • 80 days prior: All articles and supporting materials have been submitted to the publisher.
  • 66 days prior: First proof is generated and sent to the DO editor.
  • 54 days prior: First proof returned with changes.
  • 47 days prior: Second proof is generated and sent to the DO editor.
  • 45 days prior: Deadline for any changes to advertisements
  • 45 days prior: Print subscription additions/renewals due to OpSIG Membership Committee
  • 40 days prior: Second proof is approved for publication. Mailing lists are provided to publisher.
  • 30 days prior: Digital editions (low and high resolution) will be put on the web site and members notified.
  • 27 days prior: Print edition is shipped.
  • 15 days prior: Print edition should be delivered to members.