Style guideline to assist authors preparing technical or semi-technical papers for publishing for EE Publishers’ conferences

by Chris Yelland and Peter Adams, EE Publishers, and John Smith, ABC Engineering

The purpose of this document is to provide an easy-to-use template/style sheet to enable authors to prepare technical papers of between 1500 and 3000 words, in a consistent format and style, for consideration for publishing in EE Publishers’ conferences.

This document should be read in conjunction with EE Publishers’ general style sheet. Both these documents are available at the EE Publishers Goldmine Information Centre, and can be obtained on request from EE Publishers. The documents may also be downloaded from the EE Publishers website at by prospective authors.

Margins

The minimum marginsfor papers are:

  • Top margin: 2 cm
  • Bottom margin: 2 cm
  • Left margin: 2 cm
  • Right margin: 2 cm

Font and font size

Unless otherwise stated, all text should be in a standard (not bold or italics), left-justified, 10-point,Times New Roman font.

Title

The title at the top of the first page should be in a bold, 12-point,Times New Roman font, with no more than two lines, as shown above.The title should be followed by one 10-point line space.

Authors(s)

The first name(s), surname(s)and affiliation(s)of the author(s) should be listed, generally as shown above, in a 10-point, italics, Times New Roman font.The list of author(s) should be followed by two10-point line spaces.

Headings

Main (first level) headings

First level headings should not be numbered, bulleted or indented, and should be in a bold, 10-point, Times New Roman font, as shown above. Each first level heading should be followed by one 10-point line space.

Subheadings (second and third level headings)

  • Second level headings

Second level headings should not be numbered, bulleted or indented, and should be in an italics, 10-point, Times New Roman font, as shown above. Second level headings should be followed by one 10-point line space.

  • Third level heading: Third level headings should be bulleted and indented, in an italics, 10-point, Times New Roman font. The text may flow directly after a third level heading if a colon is used after the third level heading. Alternatively third level headings may be followed by one 10-point line space, and then the relevant text, as shown above.

Units

SI (Standard International) units should be used throughout. One character space should be left between the numerical value and its associated unit(s). Care should be taken to ensure that the numerical value and its associated unit(s) appear on the same line (e.g. by the use of a hard character space between the numerical value and its associated units).

Page numbers

Page numbers need not be included, because the numbering of pages is done by the publisher during the lay-out of the magazine.

Paper body

General style

The body of the paper should comply with EE Publishers’ general style sheet, which is available at the EE Publishers Goldmine Information Centre, and may be downloaded from the EE Publishers website at

Content

Technical articles should be between about 750 and 3000 words in length. Preference is given to technical articles that have not been published in Southern Africa before, and/or are given exclusively to EE Publishers for publication.

While it is accepted that proprietary technologies, products and services may be described, technical articles should be generic in nature and should not have an overtly self-serving or commercial content. The use of company names, brand names and trademarks should be kept to an absolute minimum.

Authors should aim to serve technical needs, provide appropriate technical solutions and/or share technical experiences with the reader.

Technical articles are published on merit at the sole discretion of the editor, subject to the availability of space, based on the perceived interest and relevance to the reader, and the need to maintain the necessary editorial balance and a viable editorial/advertising ratio.

Introductory paragraph(s)

The opening introductory paragraph of no more than 6 lines should be in a bold, 10-point, Times New Roman font, and should effectively introduce the paper and lead the reader on.

Subsequent introductory paragraphs should be in a standard, 10-point, Times New Roman font, as shown above.

Paragraphs

Paragraphs within the body of the paper should be separated by a 10-point line space, and the last paragraph under a heading or subheading should also be followed by one 10-point line space.

Equations

Equations should be embedded within the body of the document and prepared using the basic Equation Editor integrated in MS Word using the Insert/ Object/ MS Equation function. Alternatively, a full-featured plug-in equation editor for MS Word (MathType V5.2 by Design Science Inc., USA) is available at

Equations should be sequentially numbered in round brackets at the end of the equation line, and where possible, indented.A single line space should be included above and below the equation for clarity.

For example:

(1)

where:

peak magnitude of current

the per unit slip of harmonic q

the supply frequency in rad/sec

phase angle for harmonic q

and:

(2)

Within the text, reference should be made to the relevant equation number. For example, reference should be made to Eqn.1, Eqn. 2, etc.

Figures

Figures, illustrations and graphs should be embedded within the body of the document as close as possible to the first reference to the figure,illustration or graph.

Figures, illustrations or graphs should be about 10 x 10 cm in size, with a resolution of 300 dpi minimum.

Figures should be sequentially numbered, and a caption should be included under the figure in a 10-point,italics, Times New Roman font, as shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1: Example of a figure embedded in the text

Within the text, reference should be made to the relevant figure number. For example, reference should be made to Fig. 1, Fig. 2, etc.

Because the final position of figures in the published journal may be different to that in the author’s draft, reference to figures should not include words like “as per the diagram above” or “according to the graph on page 3”.

Tables

Tables should be embedded within the body of the document as close as possible to the first reference to the table.

Tables should be sequentially numbered, and a caption should be included under the table in a 10-point,italics, Times New Roman font, as shown in Table 1.

City / Province / Population (million)
Johannesburg / Gauteng / 4,3
Bloemfontein / Free State / 1,2
Durban / KwaZulu Natal / 3,6

Table 1: Example of table embedded in the text

Within the text, reference should be made to the relevant table number. For example, reference should be made to Table 1, Table 2, etc.

Because the final position of tables in the published journal may be different to that in the author’s draft, reference to tables should not include words like “as per the table below” or “according to the table on page 2”.

Acknowledgements

Care should be taken to acknowledge the source or original publisher of a paper, as shown below.

References

In the last main heading of the paper, references should be listed and sequentially numbered in square brackets in the order in which they first appear in the text, as shown below.

When citing references in the text, the corresponding reference number(s) in square brackets should be given e.g. [1] or [2,3] or [3, 4, 5] or [2, 6 – 10]. Only references that are actually cited in the text should be listed. References should be complete, in IEEE style, and in a 10-point, Times New Roman font, as follows:

  • Style for published papers: Author(s) (initials and surnames), title (in inverted commas), periodical (italics), volume and issue number, page numbers (inclusive), month and year (optional) [1], [2].
  • Style for conference papers: Author(s) (initials and surnames), title (in inverted commas), full conference name (italics), location, page numbers (inclusive), month and year [3].
  • Style for books: Author(s) (initials and surnames), title (italics), publisher, location, edition number, chapters and/or page numbers (inclusive), month and year (optional) [4].

Contact details

For further information, contact details comprising first name, surname, affiliation, telephone number and email address should be provided at the end of the paper, as shown below.

Acknowledgement

This paper was presented at the Style Format 2006 Conference in Johannesburg, South Africa, in May 2006, and is republished with permission.

References

[1]G.H. Muller and C.F. Landy: "Detection of broken rotor bars, Part 1 - new theory", SAIEE Transactions, Vol. 95 No. 1, pp. 7-18, March 2003.

[2]L. Finn, R. Mulholland and G.J. Gibbon: "Design and implementation of a prototype computer based rehabilitation device for the lower extremities", SAIEE Transactions, Vol. 95 No. 1, pp. 29-32, March 2003.

[3]P. Vas: "Simulation and monitoring of induction motors with rotor asymmetry", Proceeding of the 6th International Conference on Electrical Machines, Manchester, pp. 435-439, May 1992.

[4]A.V. Oppenheim and R.W. Schafer: Discrete-time signal processing, Prentice-Hall Inc., USA, first edition, chapter 3, pp. 82-112, August 1989.

Contact Chris Yelland, EE Publishers, Tel (011) 659-0504,