Guidelines for Authors
Authors wishing to publish in Plan Canada should consult the following summary to facilitate the editorial and magazine production processes. Observing the guidelines below will ensure that your submission is properly prepared for review by the Plan Canada Editorial Board and for any subsequent use by the production department.
The following guidelines pertain to authors who have been asked to prepare articles for Plan Canada, or whose suggestion for an unsolicited article has been accepted by the Plan Canada Editorial Board. Authors making submissions for publication in Plan Canada must attach a completed Waiver Form for Authors document along with the article. For more information about getting your article accepted for publication please see Getting Published in Plan Canada.
Text
Word Count
Articles accepted for publication in Plan Canada should ideally be no longer than 1,400 words. Under very special circumstances we will consider printing articles of up to 2000 words in length. The magazine format is 8 ½" x 11". A full page of text will contain approximately 800 words, or 4480 characters, including space allowed for titles and graphics.
- One photo on this page will reduce the space available for text to approximately 670 words.
- Two photos will further reduce the space for text to around 540 words.
- Because tables, charts and other types of illustration vary widely in terms of content and presentation, it is more difficult to estimate how many words the page will support.
If you have difficulty estimating the space left for text after inclusion of a particular photo or graphic, please send the details to McCormick & Associates at; garneau@vl.videotron.ca for an evaluation. The projected maximum word count can then be estimated to account for the inclusion of these elements. (Please provide any comments and advice that could assist in this evaluation.)
The above figures only apply to the various textual components of Plan Canada articles (e.g., the articles themselves and their attendant summaries, biographies, bibliographies and references). They do not apply to titles or by-lines, both of which are placed in the space set aside for page headers, and thus are part of the magazine's graphic presentation.
When Sending Text Files
Please ensure that your text is preceded by the required article summary (an approximately 100- word paragraph outlining your main topics and arguments) and a 35 to 50 word biography describing your qualifications and current projects. It is most important to include an e-mail address and/or phone number where readers can contact you regarding your article).
Please send your accepted article, summary, and biography as one file as either a MAC or PC document as the magazine production team can work with both. (Please note: Articles submitted to the Editorial Board for review only should be submitted as MS Word (or compatible) files. See Getting Published in Plan Canada.
Please do not format your submissions. Exclude all formatting including columns, inserts, headers and page numbers, etc.
Images
Authors are encouraged to submit photos and other illustrations to accompany their articles. However, you are responsible for obtaining clearances of copyright involving any photos, graphics or tables, etc., that you wish to use. If an image does not belong to you, you must contact its owner and obtain permission to reproduce it. Without confirmation of such permission, we cannot publish the image because of copyright infringement laws. (Confirmation of clearances and permissions can be e-mailed or faxed to us at the address found at the end of this document.)
Format
Photos can be e-mailed to us as attachments in TIFF, JPEG or EPS formats (minimum resolution required of 200 to 300 DPI for print reproduction). Please send all material to the Managing Editor of Plan Canada, Michelle Garneau, at: garneau@vl.videotron.ca (Note: Please compress your photo files whenever possible. Downloading images can be time-consuming, even with a fast modem). To ensure the best quality reproduction, send hard copies by courier or, time permitting, via Canada Post. Michelle Garneau's mailing address is: McCormick & Associates, 9, 5th Avenue, Chateauguay QC J6K 3L5. All images will be returned after use.
Graphics from web sites
Please do not send illustrations or photos taken from web sites. They usually have a very low resolution of 72 DPI and therefore are not usable for print reproduction and copyright clearances for these images are often impossible to obtain.
When sending images
Please do not embed your photos, tables, etc. in your text. Doing this makes them very heavy to download and difficult to extract. Please send each illustration, photo, table, etc., as a separate file attachment.
Final text and/or images for publication in Plan Canada should be sent to:
Michelle Garneau, Managing Editor
McCormick & Associates
9, 5th Avenue
Chateauguay QC J6K 3L5
Tel:(450) 691-9515 / Fax: (450) 699-8869
E-mail: garneau@vl.videotron.ca