TUGboat author information and macros

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: LaTeX TUGboat package, plain TeX TUGboat package. The documentation is also available there, which may be convenient.

Upcoming submission deadlines

• vol.46, no.1 (regular issue): March 21, 2025.
• vol.46, no.2 (TUG'25 proceedings): July 27, 2025.
• vol.46, no.3 (regular issue): October 3, 2025.
• vol.47, no.1 (regular issue): March 20, 2026.

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

• Even today, 7-bit ASCII is by far the most reliable encoding for the source text. TeX control sequences are preferred to UTF-8 or other encodings. But if your source needs non-ASCII to be readable, that's fine.
• Please keep source lines to <= 79 characters. For instance, if your editor likes to do one line per paragraph, please try to configure it otherwise. We will rebreak the source if needed.
• It's easier for us if the main article text is in one source file (as opposed to, for example, one file per section). Figures and other auxiliary material might be better in the main file or a subsidiary file, at your discretion.
• After you receive your article proof, please send feedback in regular email or by editing the source, and most especially not by annotating the pdf. Annotations are hard for us to deal with, and it is too easy to overlook items.
• We prefer BibTeX (with \bibliographystyle{tugboat} to BibLaTeX, but it's not an absolute requirement. We can accept BibLaTeX for a paper if necessary.
• Use \Dash instead of --- or the Unicode em-dash character. (Also, better to use -- than the Unicode en-dash.)
• Use \acro{WORD} for words in ALL CAPS.
• Use \cs{foo} to output the control sequence \foo.
• The TUGboat style files have many other predefined abbreviations; please use them where possible. The sample article template lists some that are commonly used.
• Footnotes after punctuation.
• Even better, avoid footnotes completely. They complicate page breaking and often disturb reading. References are usually better placed in a bibliography section; abbreviations are better as a parenthetical remark. Nevertheless, if you feel your article is better with footnotes, ok.
• Do not worry much about figure placement, page/column/line breaks, etc., because they will almost certainly change during editing.
• On the other hand, it is better for us if articles fill up a whole number of pages, so if the last page is only about half-full, please consider writing a little more or cutting it down. We can usually handle a few lines of overflow.
• 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 required for your paper, that's fine.
• If you need to use OpenType/TrueType fonts with XeTeX/LuaTeX, that's ok, but please do not use system font lookups; systems differ. Instead, use filename lookups (see the fontspec documentation, or we can 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”. Also avoid “a lot”.

General advice on content

• Write an abstract. Please use only standard (La)TeX and TUGboat macros in the abstract; that helps us make the web pages.
• 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 aid comprehension, include them.
• Illustrations that require color can be printed in color. However, color pages are significantly 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 in any case.)
• For code listings, we usually recommend plain verbatim listings. Almost always, we will print code blocks in simple black. If a more featureful verbatim package, such as listings or fancyvrb, that's ok. On the other hand, please avoid, for TUGboat, the minted package if possible; it is harder to customize and correct at the TeX level, and the shell escape requirement is troublesome.
• If you have questions, please ask. That's what editors are for.

Contact for submissions, questions, problems, bugs, …

Email TUGboat@tug.org.

When commenting on the proof of an article, please send email with the comments as regular text, rather than inserting annotations into the PDF, if at all possible. Thanks.

TUGboat macro packages

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 (updates have been minor, so usually any version will do), or just peruse, they are on CTAN: LaTeX TUGboat package, plain TeX TUGboat package.

Also, a ConTeXt style for TUGboat is available from the source repository (s-tugboat.mkiv). We use the context-minimals distribution for processing ConTeXt papers.

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.