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Publications

Author Guidelines

Publication Procedures for Numbered Extension Publications, Audio Visual Materials and Web Publications

 

Forms
Numbered Publication Reviewer Report PDF
Review Committee Report for Numbered Bulletins and Circulars PDF
Review Committee Report for Numbered Special Bulletins and Miscellaneous Publications PDF
Review Committee Report for Numbered Electronic Bulletins PDF

 

The following document provides information on publication procedures for The University of Georgia Cooperative Extension educational materials that are distributed as either a printed "hard copy" or as Web based information. The procedures also address the development and distribution of audiovisual materials. All faculty (County and CAES, FACS or Forestry Extension faculty) writing and distributing information through the Cooperative Extension Publication System should follow these procedures prior to submitting educational materials to the Extension editor.

New numbered extension publications and major revisions of existing numbered extension publications must go through a formal review process to enter the Print on Demand system in the college.* All numbered extension publications will be available as HTML and as PDF documents on the college's Web site as well as being available through the Print on Demand system.

 

Guidelines for Numbered Extension Publications

All numbered Extension publications must undergo a formal review process. Special bulletins and miscellaneous publications should undergo an internal review prior to receiving an Extension publication number. Bulletins, Circulars and Electronic Bulletins go through a more rigorous review process and should be refereed and reviewed by internal as well as outside reviewers prior to receiving a Extension publication number. Categories for Extension publications include:

  1. Bulletins: Extension publications designated as bulletins cover a broad subject area, contain several topics and require multiple pages. Bulletins represent a major writing effort. Bulletins address different individual topics in a particular discipline or a series of individual discipline subjects for a specific commodity with references. (Examples: Lawns in Georgia, Water Quality for Private Water Systems, Commercial Production of Tomatoes, etc.)
  2. Circulars: An Extension circular is a publication that is more narrowly focused than a bulletin. A circular is a treatise of one subject in a limited stand-alone form with references. A series of Circular topics that have a common theme may be compiled to make up a Bulletin or components of a Special Bulletin if reviewed and approved by the reviewers. (Examples: Lady Beetles: Friends or Foe?; many publications formerly designated as leaflets or fact sheets)
  3. Electronic Bulletins: An extension electronic bulletin is any non-paper form of publication. These include computer programs (such as Excel spreadsheets designed for specific calculations); DVDs and CDs of formatted information (could contain computer programs, pictorial collections complete with some sort of searchable index and descriptive key, etc.); PowerPoint presentations (must be stand-alone, which means a full script or voice-over text that is also reviewed); and computer videos such as RealPlayer or QuickTime). Packaging for CDs and DVDs must include Cooperative Extension logo, cooperating and EEO text (found on back covers of paper publications), and Extension Electronic Bulletin number and date. Last slide in a PowerPoint presentation must contain this same information, which can be added by the author or the publications editor. Contact the publications office for these elements.
  4. Special Bulletins: Publications that address a comprehensive issue and the components come from varied disciplines and commodity issues. These publications are generally large handbooks on subjects or issue-related materials. (Examples include: Pest Control Handbook, spray guides, pesticide application training manuals, workbooks, etc.)
  5. Miscellaneous Publications and Works: This category is for topics and works that do not fit into the above categories. This includes short educational material on discipline Internet sites as well as brief material to be used as handouts for educational programs. The department or discipline must internally review these materials. (Examples include: demonstration or applied research reports, county or cluster information sheets or information developed for discipline Web sites.)
  6. For Sale Publications are any materials that are sold to clientele. For sale publications may be bulletins, circulars or special bulletins.
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Process for Submission of Numbered Extension Publications

The procedures listed below must be followed in order for the publication to receive an appropriate publication number/credit for a refereed publication and for inclusion of the publication in the CAES publication database.

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Bulletins, Circulars and Electronic Bulletins

Extension Bulletins, circulars and electronic bulletins can be submitted at any time during the year. Prepare the publication and then follow review steps listed below.

  1. Internal Review Process. The author is responsible for the internal review. All numbered extension publications must go through the internal review process. At least two faculty should review the publication for accuracy and content. Reviewers can be from within the author's home department, discipline, or commodity area. If senior author is county faculty, the internal review must be coordinated through the appropriate department depending on subject matter. It is suggested that at least one reviewer be a research colleague. After the corrections or suggestions have been considered, send the publication to at least two county faculty for review. They will review the publication for readability.
  2. External Review Process. After the internal review is complete, fill out the "Extension Review Committee Report for Circulars and Bulletins," attach the report to your revised publications and submit the package to your department head. The department head or his/her designee is responsible for sending the publication to at least two external peer reviewers.
    External reviewers can include reviewers within the UGA system but external to the originating unit(s) as well as reviewers outside the UGA system; this decision is left to the discretion of the originating department or unit.
  3. Upon completion of the external review and resolution of reviewers' comments in the document, the department head will send the final version to the Office of Communications for formatting for print and for the Internet; send a copy of this transmittal letter to the Associate/Assistant Dean of Extension. The final version of the formatted publication will be sent to the office of the Associate/Assistant Dean of Extension for approval prior to the release of the publication to the general public.
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Special Bulletins and Miscellaneous Publications

Special Bulletin and Miscellaneous Publications can be submitted at any time during the year. Prepare the publication and then follow review steps listed below

  1. Internal Review Process for Extension Specialists. The author is responsible for the internal review. All numbered extension publications must go through a formal internal review process. At least two faculty should review the publication for accuracy and content. Reviewers can be from within the author’s home department, discipline, or commodity area. After the corrections or suggestions have been considered, it is suggested that the publication be reviewed by county faculty for readability. Annually updated publications such as The Pest Control Handbook or pesticide application guides for specific crops should be intensively reviewed section by section at the appropriate departmental level and need not go through additional reviewers.
    In order to maintain continuity in pesticide recommendation information, it is strongly recommended that specific pesticide recommendations be restricted to the Pest Control Handbook or other published spray guides. These publications are reprinted annually, are prepared by authors with expertise in specific areas, and provide the most up to date information on pesticide recommendations.
  2. Internal Review Process for County Faculty. The author is responsible for the internal review. All numbered Extension publications must go through a formal internal review process. At least two faculty from the appropriate department(s) with expertise in the subject matter should review the publication for accuracy and content. After the corrections or suggestions have been considered, it is suggested that the publication be reviewed by county faculty for readability.
  3. Upon completion of the internal review and resolution of reviewers' comments in the document, the department head will send the final version of the publication to ECT for formatting for print and for the Internet. The final version of the formatted publication will be sent to the office of the Associate/Assistant Dean of Extension for approval prior to the release of the publication to the general public.
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Spanish Translations — All Numbered Publications

Spanish versions of publications must meet all guidelines as established for publication procedures for numbered Extension publications. All Spanish versions of Extension publications also should be reviewed by one person fluent in Spanish in addition to the original translator. This will guarantee accuracy of the translation only. The author or the publications coordinator in the author's department will be responsible for finding this additional reviewer. The primary criterion for this additional reviewer is fluency in Spanish and not knowledge of subject matter. To guarantee content accuracy of the translation, however, the department or unit may wish to seek a content reviewer fluent in Spanish. This additional step is encouraged, although not required, to ensure that the message being conveyed is not lost in translation.

Furnish the Spanish version of the publication to the publications office in electronic format.

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Updating Your Publication

As existing publications are revised/updated the publications designation as a bulletin, circular, special bulletin, or miscellaneous publication may be changed to reflect the current publication procedures and content. Once your publication is in the college’s print on demand system, you will be contacted every three years (The system will alert editors of the three-year limit automatically). Publications office staff will contact you and ask if the publication should remain in the system for another three years without revision, with minor changes, or if the publication needs a major revision. If the publication needs a major revision, it will be removed from the system until it is revised and reviewed. When the publication returns to the system, the publication will state on the back cover that it has undergone a major revision. If the publication needs no revision or only minor revisions, it will be returned to the system with the new update/minor revision date on the back cover. Some publications may need updating more often, especially if they contain pesticide recommendations. In these cases, you may update your publication whenever needed. Any publication can be updated more often than every three years if necessary.

These Review Procedures do not pertain to information found on departmental or county Web pages, in newsletters and alerts. The content of these educational materials is the responsibility of the author(s).

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Submission of Publications to Office of Communications

After your manuscript has been reviewed and all recommended changes are made, submit your manuscript to the publication office as either a Word Perfect or a Word file. Include separate files for graphics even if you have placed them within the Word Perfect or Word file. Submit your text and graphics files on a CD or upload them as attachments in an e-mail if they are small enough files.

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Typing the Manuscript

The following directions for typing a manuscript are designed to make formatting as easy as possible for publications office staff. The less formatting you do, the easier it is to set up documents. Many of the guidelines below make creating an HTML document for the web easier. HTML does not recognize tabs or multiple spacing, so tables created with tabs convert into a jumble of words. Any hard return in the document will add a space before the next line, as you'll notice between paragraphs in HTML documents on the web. All publications will be put on the WEB, so color illustrations can be used. All county offices have color printers to facilitate this effort.

Please contact the publications office at 706/542-2157 if you have any questions.

  • Create file in WordPerfect or Word.
  • Include the following author information beneath the document title:
    • Name.
    • Department, including college and Cooperative Extension Service.
  • Create tables in WP table format or as a table in Word, using the following guidelines:
    • Do not use hard returns inside cells; information that must be on a different line will have to be put in another cell or in another row. In WordPerfect, if you hold down the Shift and Ctrl keys and hit the letter "l," you will create a line break; this will move text down to the next line without adding a hard space in an HTML document.
    • Do not use separate tables for each page of a multi-page table.
    • Put the table title in the first row of table.
    • Put comments, sources, footnotes as a last row of the table.
    • Use decimal equivalents instead of fractions where possible.
    • Do not use underlines to separate text; use cells.
    • Do not use hard hyphens.
  • Do not set up your document in columns.
  • Do not double space after periods at the ends of sentences.
  • Set up headings so head levels will be clear to editors, but do not center, underline or use all caps. You may use different sizes of type if you wish.
  • Submit separate files for each graphic you have scanned or created; do not place the graphics within the manuscript.
  • Send photos or slides you want to use as illustrations if do not wish to do the scanning or do not have access to scanners. Indicate where these slides/photos go within the manuscript. (Ex: "Insert Figure 1 here") Be sure to carefully mark the slide or photo with the corresponding figure number.
  • The publications office has a computer with slide and flatbed scanners available for use in the Hoke Smith Building if you do not have access to such equipment. Publications office staff are available to assist you. Please call 706/542-2157 to set up a time to use the equipment.
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Graphics

You can provide graphics as scanned material, or as slides or photographs. You may do the scanning, or you can send your materials to the publications office to be scanned. Slide and flatbed scanners are available in the Hoke Smith Building for you to use. Keep in mind that scanned drawings/photos are very large files when saved as TIFS. Many will not fit on a 3.5-inch diskette, nor will they go through as attachments in an e-mail message.

  • If you do the scanning yourself, please scan at 600 dpi (dots per inch) and save the graphic as a TIF file. This higher-resolution format will allow the publication editors more flexibility in using the graphic as well as making the JPG creation for the HTML document easier.
  • Use the "shades of gray" or "grayscale" setting on your scanner for complicated line drawings. You'll find that this captures more detail than the "line drawing" or "black and white" setting.
  • Try to avoid scanning a photograph – either color or black-and-white – printed in another publication. This causes what's called a moiré pattern. It happens because the printed photo is screened, and then you screen it again when you scan it. Please let the publication office handle the scanning if you must use a printed photo.
  • If you're scanning a small drawing, set the percent larger than 100 percent before you scan. A graphic will retain detail if its size is reduced within a publication, but the graphic will lose detail if it is enlarged.
  • If you want use a drawing from a clip art collection, please send a copy of the original graphic file from the clip art CD. We can use almost any graphic format but, if you aren't sure, check with the publication editors.
  • Many of you use a digital camera in your work, and you can take photos with it too use in your publications. Most of these cameras create JPG (or JPEG) files. JPGs lose definition when they are created. Take your photo at the highest resolution your camera will allow when you take photos to use in a publication. The JPG will work well in the HTML version but may be less sharp in the printed version of your publication.
  • Think about replacing older photographs in existing publications, especially when it's time to revise them. Some of these photos are of dated equipment, etc. Many of the older photographs are not on file in the publications office. They may have been returned to an author after the first printing or may have been sent to a commercial printer who never returned them. Please be patient with the editors when they ask for your help replacing older photographs.
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