TUGboat styles and information

The TUGboat macros are included in all major TeX distributions, so most likely you don't have to do anything to install them. If you need or want the latest, it's available on CTAN, see below.

Upcoming submission deadlines

• vol.38, no.3 (regular issue): September 1, 2017.
• vol.39, no.1 (regular issue): March 16, 2018.
• vol.39, no.2 (TUG 2018 proceedings): August 4, 2018.
• vol.39, no.3 (regular issue): September 29, 2018.
• vol.40, no.1 (regular issue): March 16, 2019.

Article template

This sample article template also includes a super-summary of some of the most commonly used features of the TUGboat style.

Quick tips for authors

• Please keep source lines to <= 79 characters. For instance, if your editor likes to do one line per paragraph without hard line breaks, please try to configure it otherwise. Failing that, we will rebreak the source on receipt.
• Even today, 7-bit ASCII is by far the most reliable encoding for the source text. TeX control sequences are preferred to Unicode or Latin N characters. But if your source needs non-ASCII to be readable, that's fine.
• The TUGboat style files have many predefined abbreviations; please use them where possible. The sample article template lists some that are commonly used.
• Use \acro{WORD} for other words in ALL CAPS.
• Use \cs{foo} to output the control sequence \foo.
• Use \Dash instead of ---.
• Footnotes after punctuation.
• Even better, avoid footnotes completely. They complicate page breaking and usually disturb reading. References, especially, are better put in a bibliography. Abbreviations are better as a parenthetical remark. (“Don't use footnotes in your books, Don.” —Jill Knuth.) Nevertheless, if you feel you must have footnotes, it's ok.
• Write an abstract. Don't include bibliography references in the abstract.
• Do not worry about figure placement, page breaks, column breaks, etc., because they will almost certainly change during editing. Similarly, don't worry about long urls that don't break nicely; we'll handle them in one way or another.
• TUGboat is produced entirely with pdf files, so do not worry about dvi output, eps format for figures, etc. On the other hand, if dvi output is needed for your paper, that's fine.
• If you need to use OpenType/TrueType fonts with XeTeX/LuaTeX, that's fine, but please do not use system font lookups; systems differ. Instead, use filename lookups (see the fontspec documentation, or we will help as needed). Also, if the fonts are not part of TeX Live, please say where we can get them.
• Do not use the word “really”.

General advice on content

• Consider the topic from the point of view of an interested reader: if you weren't the author, what would you like to learn from the article?
• The length of an article should depend on the topic. The article should cover the chosen ground completely, leaving no major questions unanswered, but it should do so concisely. Shorter articles are more likely to be read. If in doubt, shoot for five pages or less.
• Don't worry overmuch about deadlines; there will always be another issue. It's better to take enough time to do the best job than to hurry the work.
• If illustrations will aid comprehension, include them.
• Illustrations that truly require color can be printed in color. However, color pages are of course much more expensive to print. So when color is not required, please check that your images degrade ok in black and white. (Color versions can be posted on the web.)
• If you have questions, just ask. That's what editors are for.

Contact for submissions, questions, problems, bugs, …

TUGboat macros on CTAN

Both the plain and LaTeX TUGboat macros are included in TeX Live and MiKTeX, among other distributions, so you almost certainly have them installed already if you have TeX at all. But in case you want to check the latest versions, or just peruse …

On CTAN, plain TeX macros and user documentation are located in
/tex-archive/macros/plain/contrib: browse, zip.

LaTeX macros and user documentation are located in
/tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/tugboat: browse, zip.

You must process tugboat.ins with LaTeX. This will unpack the files ltugboat.cls and others for your use. Documentation is contained in the same directory as the macros, in the file ltubguid.ltx (and PDF).

A ConTeXt style for TUGboat is available on request.

Hyphenation exception list

TUGboat regularly publishes a hyphenation exception list for U.S. English. The full list is on CTAN in machine-readable form, along with accompanying information.