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Guidelines for Authors and Presenters

Proceedings Manuscripts

Submittal deadline extended to July 14

If you gave a presentation, whether oral or poster, from SORMA West 2008, you are encouraged to submit a manuscript for review and possible publication in a special conference issue of the IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science (TNS). Here are details about what, when, and how to submit.

Timeframe
Manuscript submissions will be accepted through Monday, July 14. This supersedes earlier statements on the SORMA West 2008 website and in acceptance letters that the deadline would be the end of the conference, and a subsequent extension to June 30; and a statement in an e-mail update that it would be July 12. After the deadline, the SORMA category will disappear and submission for the Proceedings issue will be closed, although you may still submit manuscripts to be considered for standard non-conference issues of TNS.
The conference issue will likely be published in April 2009. It will be widely available in electronic form as well as the printed journal, and a paper-bound copy of the TNS issue containing the conference issue will be distributed to each SORMA West participant.

Length and Format
TNS has an 8 page limit for manuscripts, although exceptions can be made when strongly justified. This supersedes earlier statements on the SORMA West 2008 website and in acceptance letters that the length limit would be 4 pages.
Although color is free in the electronic version, there is a nontrivial charge (see the IEEE Information for Authors kit if you want color in the printed version of their article. All printing will be done in black and white (greyscale) unless the individual author makes arrangements for color (at his or her expense). Please be sure that color illustrations look good and make sense in greyscale. Do not rely solely on color to convey important subtleties, especially in graphs. At many institutions, a technical reports department can offer advice on making graphics that look good in both color and black and white.

Readiness for Publication
Please submit only final manuscripts that have been fully cleared for release under your home institution’s policies and procedures, and which SORMA West 2008 and the IEEE are free to publish. The standard IEEE copyright release (available through IEEE Manuscript Central either as an online form or as a downloadable document) will be required.

The Presentation Imperative
The Proceedings is reserved for papers that were actually presented. If you cannot attend the conference and give the talk or poster, please designate a co-author or other knowledgeable colleague to make the presentation. It is very helpful to inform us as far in advance as possible.
The Program Committee intends to decline manuscripts that had not been presented unless there is a most compelling excuse. You are, of course, welcome to submit such manuscripts directly to TNS, which will consider them for publication in a regular issue.

This Is a Fully Refereed Proceedings
All submitted manuscripts will be peer-reviewed to the standards of the scholarly literature and should be able to stand alongside papers from any regular issue of TNS. Acceptance of a abstract does not guarantee acceptance of the paper for the Proceedings.
The TNS is a premier peer-reviewed journal with a significant distribution within the nuclear science and medical imaging communities. Only those papers that pass the review process will be published. Prospective authors should consult the TNS homepage for a description of the publication.
TNS discourages the submission of progress reports and manuscripts that are more suitable for distribution as an institution's internal document. We expect each manuscript to be cast in the context of the state of the art of its field, including appropriate motivation for the work; to present a complete description of the work performed; and to present a set of conclusions supported by the measured and/or calculated data.

Submittal Instructions

Before Writing...

  1. Go to the IEEE Author Digital Toolbox.
  2. Review the various guidelines and author tools under "Article Preparation and Submission". Many useful tips on writing, graphics, and the practical details of manuscript preparation are available there.
  3. Download the appropriate template (Microsoft Word, Unix LaTex2e, or Macintosh or Windows LaTex2e) under "Template for all Transactions."
  4. Prepare your manuscript using the template.

After Writing...

  1. Go to Manuscript Central and log in (creating a new account if necessary).
  2. Click "Author Center" on the next page.
  3. Under Author Resources on the next page, click where indicated to submit a new manuscript and follow the step-by-step instructions to enter various information and to upload your manuscript file. Be sure to select "SORMA08" in the "Manuscript Type" pull-down menu on the next page. The SORMA08 option under Manuscript Type will be listed from mid-May until June 30.

Thank you again for following up on your SORMA West 2008 presentation with a high-quality contribution to the refereed archival literature. Submittal, refereeing, editing and publication will be coordinated by TNS. Contact information will be added here for any questions you may have about manuscript preparation or status.

Guidelines for Presentations

Oral Presentations

The time limits refer to regular contributed orals in parallel sessions. If you are one of the featured speakers in plenary session on Monday morning, or are giving a summary "rapporteur" talk Thursday afternoon, you will be given special instructions.

Oral presentations should be 12 minutes long, plus a 3 minute allowance for question and answer. The colleagues chairing the sessions will have to keep them running on time, and we thank our speakers in advance for their cooperation.

To avoid losing precious time to computer and projector-interface issues, we will provide a projection computer in each room, and we ask that all slides be loaded onto it before the session begins. You may bring your slides on a USB memory stick or CD. Technical assistance will be available at all reasonable hours, especially during the run-up to each session.

The projection computers will be equipped with PowerPoint and Acrobat Reader.

Poster Presentations

Poster Dimensions
Your poster space will be approximately 3.5 feet (1 m) wide by 4 feet (1.2 m) high. The board will be suitable for pushpins or thumbtacks. Pushpins, and other small office supplies, will be provided.
Simply printing out a Proceedings manuscript does not work very well. A poster is rhetorically and visually different -- more closely akin to a slide presentation than to a journal article. The lettering should be readable from a few to several feet away.
Scheduling for Poster Presentations
All of the Monday, June 2 activities will be held at International House. Posters will be given in two sessions, both of which are in the afternoon, as detailed below. We will provide a place to store your posters in the morning so that you don't have to carry them around all day.
Setup, Presentation, and Teardown
The setup period for all posters is expected to begin at 1:30 pm (the exact time will be announced).
If you have an odd-numbered poster, you (or someone who can speak knowledgeably about your work) should stand near it from 2 to 3:15. Even-numbered posters should be attended from 3:45 to 5.
A reception will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. in the poster area. Posters should remain up during this reception; we hope that it will make for a most convivial period of informal interaction.