This document pertains to the Canadian Undergraduate Physics Journalism Society, hereinafter referred to as “the CUPJS” or “the Society,” and describes the bylaws and operating policies of the Society. Relevant definitions may be found in the Society Constitution.
Article A – Publication Frequency
a) Calls for publication
i) Calls for publication will be issued no later than April 15, and again no later than November 15 for each year.
ii) Calls for publication will be printed in each issue of the CUPJ.
iii)Calls for publication will be made at the annual Canadian Undergraduate Physics Conference, generally held in mid-fall.
iv) Calls for publication may be arbitrarily frequent depending upon contributor response, but will not be less frequent than is allowed by subsections (i), (ii), and (iii) above.
b) Publication
i) At least three (3) issues will be published per year.
ii) Publications will be distributed no later than September 1, January 15 and March 30 of each year.
iii) Publication may be more frequent if contributor response is unexpectedly high.
Article B – Revenues and Budget
a) The editorial board reserves the right to charge a subscription fee and to solicit new subscriptions and subscription renewals to cover the costs of operation, production, printing and distribution of the CUPJ.
b) Advertising rates will be decided at the first editorial board meeting following editorial board appointment and will be based upon circulation numbers and previous advertising demand. Advertising rates will include 7 per cent Goods & Services Tax (GST), and will be available on the CUPJS website, as well as upon request from the editor-in-chief.
c) Revenue through sponsorship will be accepted, unless receipt of sponsorship is contingent upon conditions that the editorial board deems unreasonable.
d) Surplus revenue will go towards the registration costs of sending a delegate from the editorial board to the annual Canadian Undergraduate Physics Conference.
e) The managing editor must produce both past and projected budgets at the first editorial board meeting following editorial board appointment.
f) All debts will be resolved by an editorial board prior to the installation of its successor.
Article C – E-mail Lists
a) An e-mail list of all members will be maintained.
(i) This list will be used to hold general meetings.
(ii) Any correspondence to members of this list must be blind carbon-copied (BCC).
b) An e-mail list of all staff will be maintained.
(i) This list will be used to hold staff meetings.
(ii) Any correspondence to members of this list must be blind carbon-copied (BCC).
c) An e-mail list of all editorial board members will be maintained.
(i) This list may be used to hold editorial board meetings.
d) Editors are entitled to have individual e-mail addresses which explicitly show affiliation with the CUPJ.
e) Content of all correspondence through all e-mail lists must be relevant to the CUPJ, and exceptions may be made only with the permission of the editorial board.
(i) Any individual partaking in activity deemed by the editorial board to be abusive use of the e-mail lists will have his or her membership revoked and his or her name removed from all e-mail lists.
Article D – Circulation
a) All contributors will receive two (2) copies of the issues to which they contributed.
b) All non-contributing members will receive one (1) copy of every issue.
c) The coordinator of undergraduate studies or department chair of Canadian physics departments will receive:
(i) Approximately one hundred and twenty-five (125) copies of each issue if there are greater than 150 undergraduate physics students at the institution.
(ii) Approximately seventy-five (75) copies of each issue if there are between 100 and 150 undergraduate physics students at the institution.
(iii) Approximately twenty-five (25) copies of each issue if there are between 50 and 100 undergraduate physics students at the institution.
(iv) Approximately fifteen (15) copies of each issue if there are between 10 and 50 undergraduate physics students at the institution.
(v) Approximately five (5) copies of each issue if there are fewer than 10 undergraduate physics students at the institution.
d) Receiving the CUPJ at an address outside of Canada carries an additional cost to cover shipping costs.
e) Reprints and back issues carry at least a $6 charge per copy
f) Circulation numbers will be re-evaluated every year at the first editorial board meeting following editorial board appointment, depending upon demand and advertising revenue.
Article E – Editorial Freedom
a) At all times, the CUPJ editorial board reserves the right to refuse to publish any submission for any reason. Publication decisions will be made at editorial board meetings.
Article F – Refereeing Process
a) Refereeing applies only to research articles and feature articles deemed by the editorial board to have heavy scientific content that must be verified.
b) Refereeing will always be double blind. That is, the identity of the author will be unknown to the referee, and the identity of the referee will be unknown to the author.
c) Should the article not be returned to the editorial board by the specified date, the referee’s staff designation will be revoked, and the manuscript will be sent to another referee.
d) Referees are not required or expected to correct style or grammatical errors. This is the duty of the editors.
Article G – Editorial Articles
a) Editorials are written by a member of editorial board, regarding a physics-related or student-related issue.
b) Must be no longer than 750 words.
c) Must be written in accord with the Chicago Manual of Style and the CUPJ Style Guide. Where the two conflict, the latter will be used as the authoritative source.
d) If sent electronically, the text must be sent to the editor-in-chief as a text-only e-mail message.
e) If mailing through regular post, a hard copy must be mailed to the mailing address of the CUPJS.
f) Being a member of the editorial board does not preclude editors from being contributors to other sections of the CUPJ.
Article H – Letters to the Editor
a) English letters will be read and edited to correspond to the Chicago Manual of Style and the CUPJ Style Guide by the English language editor or a delegate. French letters will be read and edited by the French language editor or a delegate.
b) The editor-in-chief will be responsible for verifying the authenticity of any letter submitted by whatever means necessary.
c) If the letter refers to a previously published research article, and if time permits, the author of the research article may be contacted for response, which may be published. Author responses must follow the guidelines of letters to the editor.
d) Responses from authors will not be sought to letters referring to any articles published that are not research articles.
e) Letters to the editor must follow the guidelines:
(i) Must be no longer than 350 words in length.
(ii) Must include the name, institution, mailing address, and phone number of the letter’s author.
(iii) If letters are written in response to an article appearing in a previous issue of the CUPJ, they must cite the issue in which the appeared, either by date or by number.
Article I – News, Reviews, Commentaries and Features
a) Review articles are written reviews of physics related literature, film, websites, lab equipment and other media and tools.
b) News articles describe recent physics- or student-related news, generally with, but not restricted to, a Canadian focus.
c) Commentary articles are written opinions of various physics- or student- related issues.
d) Feature articles are non-fiction prose regarding physics- or student-related issues not fitting the definitions of news articles, reviews or commentaries.
e) If sent electronically, the text must be sent as a text-only e-mail message or attached as a Microsoft Word or LaTeX document, and any photos or figures accompanying the article sent electronically must be in JPEG, TIFF or EPS format.
(i) Photos sent must adhere to the guidelines outlined in Article K.
(ii) All figures and photos should include a brief caption of approximately 50 words describing the significance of the figure. All axes on graphs should be labelled with names and units. Graphs need not bear titles, since the caption will serve well to describe it.
f) If mailing through regular post, a hard copy must be mailed to the mailing address of the CUPJS. Figures accompanying the article must be appended to the end of the article (i.e. not embedded in the text), with one figure per page.
(i) Photos sent must adhere to the guidelines outlined in Article K. If photos are sent by regular mail, the envelope should be marked ‘DO NOT FOLD.’
g) Regardless of whether the submission is sent electronically or mailed, a fully completed Review Cover Sheet must be e-mailed to the editor-in-chief.
(i) A submission without a Cover Sheet will not be considered for publication.
h) Each author of this section is to send a photo of him or herself for a headbox to be published with his or her article.
i) Articles must be no longer than 750 words.
j) Articles must and captions be written in accord with the Chicago Manual of Style and the CUPJ Style Guide. Where the two conflict, the latter will be used as the authoritative source.
k) Articles must be sent to the editor-in-chief before a specified deadline to be considered for publication.
l) Authors should attempt to cite at least two sources of information used for the article that are easily accessible for quick checks for accuracy.
Article J – Research Articles
a) Research articles are written documentation of research performed by undergraduates, either original or reproduced.
b) If sent electronically, the text must be sent as a text-only e-mail message or attached as a Microsoft Word or Tex (e.g. LaTeX, Scientific Word, Scientific Notebook) document, and any figures or equations accompanying the article sent electronically must be in JPEG, Tiff, or EPS format.
(i) Photos sent must adhere to the guidelines outlined in Article K.
(ii) All figures and photos should include a brief caption of approximately 50 words describing the significance of the figure. All axes on graphs should be labelled with names and units. Graphs need not bear titles, since the caption will serve well to describe it.
c) If mailing through regular post, a hard copy must be mailed to the mailing address of the CUPJS. Figures accompanying the article must be appended to the end of the article (i.e. not embedded in the text), with one figure per page. Abstracts must precede the text.
(i) Photos sent must adhere to the guidelines outlined in Article K. If photos are sent by regular mail, the envelope should be marked ‘DO NOT FOLD.’
d) Regardless of whether the submission is sent electronically or mailed, a fully completed Research Article Cover Sheet must be e-mailed to the editor-in-chief.
(i) A submission without a Cover Sheet will not be considered for publication.
e) Articles must be no longer than 2500 words with each equation counting as one word. Abstracts must be no longer than 100 words.
f) Abstracts must give a summary of the relevant aspects of the research done.
g) Articles, captions, references and abstracts must be published in accord with the Chicago Manual of Style and the CUPJ Style Guide. Where the two conflict, the latter will be used as the authoritative source.
h) The submission will initially be reviewed by the editor-in-chief. If it is deemed suitable to be sent to a referee, it will undergo a pre-edit, where the editor-in-chief corrects obvious style, spelling, and content errors and demands clarification from the author where necessary, which is sent back to the author. If the author replies with acceptable corrections by a given deadline, the submission sent to at least one (1) CUPJ referee for review, and reviewed manuscript will be sent back to the author with the referee’s comments. If the editor-in-chief is not convinced that the article is suitable for a referee, it will be sent to the remainder of the editorial board for a review. If a majority of the editorial board deems it suitable for a referee, the submission will undergo a pre-edit and refereeing. If a majority of the editorial board deems it unsuitable for a referee, a list of editor’s comments regarding the article will be compiled and sent to the author.
i) If a referee recommends that a submission be published, the author must make the necessary corrections/changes and return the final manuscript to the editor-in-chief.
j) Articles must be sent (and returned) to the editor-in-chief before specified deadlines to be considered for publication.
Article K – Photos and Graphics
a) An original physics-related photo or graphic will be included on the front cover of each issue of the CUPJ.
b) Photos must be sent to the editor-in-chief.
c) If sent electronically, the photo or graphic must be sent in JPEG, TIFF or EPS format.
d) If mailing through regular post, the photo or graphic must be mailed to the mailing address of the CUPJS.
(i) If photos are sent by regular mail, the envelope should be marked ‘DO NOT FOLD.’
e) Each submitted photo or graphic must include a brief (approximately 50 word-) caption describing the image.
f) Regardless of whether the submission is sent electronically or mailed, a fully completed Photo/Graphic Cover Sheet must be e-mailed to the editor-in-chief.
(i) A submission without a Cover Sheet will not be considered for publication.
g) Captions must be written in accord with the Chicago Manual of Style and the CUPJ Style Guide. Where the two conflict, the latter will be used as the authoritative source.
h) Photos and graphics must be sent to the editor-in-chief before a specified deadline to be considered for publication.
i) Photos and graphics may be used on the back cover of the CUPJ as well.
Article L – Advertising
a) Guidelines for the content, size and colour restrictions, as well as submission format for advertising to appear in CUPJ will be available on the CUPJS website as well as upon request from the editor-in-chief.
b) Fully designed ads or logos sent to the CUPJ electronically must be in TIFF, PDF or EPS format and attached to an e-mail sent to the editor-in-chief. A hard-copy proof sent to the CUPJ mailing address is encouraged.
c) Ads that are to be designed by the editorial board must consist at a minimum of edited copy in a text-only, Microsoft Word or LaTeX file, and images of at least 300 dpi resolution in TIFF, EPS or JPEG format.
d) Ads should be black and white, unless it is an ad to be used on the back cover of the Journal, in which case, it may be coloured. Coloured ads to appear in the interior of the CUPJ will be appropriately greyscaled.
e) Ads should adhere to the following size guidelines:
(i) a ¼-page ad should be no larger than 3.75 inches wide x 5 inches tall
(ii) a ½-page ad should be no larger than 7.5 inches wide x 5 inches tall
(iii) a full-page ad or ad for the back cover should be no larger than 8.5 inches wide x 11 inches tall
(iv) Logos should cover no more than an approximate area of 9 square centimetres.
f) Ads and logos may be modified due to size or colour restrictions. ¼ page and ½ page ads may be re-sized (enlarged or reduced) up to 15 per cent to accommodate page layout.
g) Deadline for receipt of fully designed ads is four weeks prior to the distribution date of a given issue. Deadline for receipt ads to be designed is six weeks prior to the distribution date of a given issue. Payment deadline for both is two weeks prior to the distribution date of a given issue.
Article M – Guidelines for Editors and Contributors
a) A CUPJ Style Guide, with detailed and comprehensive regulations regarding the style of written work appearing in the Canadian Undergraduate Physics Journal, will be maintained by the English language editor and the French language editor, and made available to all editors and proofreaders. All written work will adhere to the Chicago Manual of Style and the CUPJ Style Guide.
b) The CUPJ Style Guide should be updated whenever new editorial style decisions are made, and should be reviewed no less than once every publishing cycle.
c) A comprehensive set of Guidelines for Contributors will be maintained by the editorial board. This will include relevant style guidelines, content, length and format restrictions on submissions, deadlines and timelines of the editorial process, and instructions for submitting to CUPJ.
d) The Guidelines for Contributors will be made available on the CUPJ website and by request submitted to the Editor-in-Chief.
e) At the end of each publishing cycle, each editor will compile a Final Report consisting of procedures and suggested protocols for his or her CUPJS duties. These will be made available to the incoming editorial board.
Article N – Candidate Editorial Board Members
a) A call for candidates for editorial board members of the upcoming publishing cycle will be issued before the release of the second-to-last issue of a publishing cycle on the CUPJS website, in the third-to-last issue of a publishing cycle, or both. A call for candidates will also be issued in the second-to-last issue of a publishing cycle.
b) Prospective candidates must notify the Editor-in-Chief for which editorial position(s) they would like to apply.
c) Prospective candidates for the editorial board positions will be blind-carbon-copied (BCC) on all CUPJ-related correspondence of the editor for whose position each candidate hopes to apply, beginning following the earliest call for candidates in a given publishing cycle. Additionally, candidates for the French and English language editors will be blind-carbon-copied (BCC) on the Editor-in-Chief’s CUPJ-related correspondence.
d) Editors will give candidates for their positions some CUPJ-related responsibilities to fulfill following the second-to-last issue of a publishing cycle.
e) Prospective candidates must submit an application consisting of a cover letter no longer than one (1) letter-sized page, a Curriculum Vitae of no longer than two (2) letter-sized pages, and a portfolio no longer than five (5) letter-sized pages demonstrating their skills in writing, design and editing to the preliminary editorial board appointment committee chair no later than 5 April to be considered as a candidate for the editorial board for the following publishing cycle.
f) The applications of all candidates will be posted on the CUPJ server off the main CUPJ site. CUPJS Members will have access to these applications
Article O – Administration
a) A website of domain name cupj.ca will be registered and maintained at all times, and must be updated after the launch of each issue and the passing of each submission deadline.
b) Every contributor, with the exception of editors writing editorials, must submit the corresponding completed cover sheet with his or her submission.
c) A referee must submit a referee cover sheet with the reviewed manuscript.
d) French and English versions of the constitution, bylaws, cover sheets, guidelines for letters, guidelines for contributors, advertising guidelines, advertising rates and CUPJ archives (i.e. all previously published issues of CUPJ) must be posted on the CUPJS website.
e) Minutes of editorial board and staff meetings will be made available upon request.
f) Electronic copies of the CUPJ will be made available for download off the CUPJS website.
g) Each issue will have two (2) back-up copies burned onto CD.
h) The CUPJS will obtain and retain status as a Charity under the Income Tax Act, which will allow tax-deductible receipts for monetary contributions to the Society.
i) Copyright registration is left to the discretion of the editorial board. If registered, two (2) issues of the CUPJ will be sent to the National Library of Canada within one (1) week of publication.
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