Editorial Offices: 929 Ebbetts Ave., Manteca, CA 95337
Phone 209/824-1289 fax 209/824-2799 chipscale@cs.com

Guidelines for Article Contributors Revised January 10, 2001

Chip Scale Review welcomes your interest in contributing an article for a forthcoming issue. We understand that it requires a significant effort to prepare an original article, and we want to help you as much as possible. By following the guidelines below, you will help us expedite the processing of your article through acceptance, production and publishing.

While you may submit a completed article, in most cases you will save time and trouble if you submit an abstract of 100-150 words or a detailed outline. Obviously, your completed article should follow closely along the lines of the approved abstract. If possible, please include a listing of the graphics you propose to include as well as the number.

Many of the articles in each issue are solicited well in advance of the publication date to match our editorial calendar. (You can find Chip Scale Review's editorial calendar at our Website www.ChipScaleReview.com). In addition to those articles, we will accept several additional articles.

In brief, your article should:

  • Be original to Chip Scale Review (Occasionally, we will accept papers that have been presented at small conferences with very limited distribution.)

  • Advance the state of knowledge of chip-scale/chip-size packaging, assembly or test.

  • Be free of commercialism

  • Be well-written and understandable by anyone in the field.

To ensure the highest quality, all contributed articles are reviewed by one or more anonymous members of our peer review board, as well as by the editor. Typically, one out of every four articles is returned to the author for extensive revision. Keep in mind that we work four or more months in advance of publication. For example, an article submitted in early January, is unlikely to be considered for publication earlier than our April issue.

  • Submit your article in Word for Windows, version 6.0 or later, unformatted, not justified and not set in more than one column. After November 10, 2000, we will not accept any articles or graphics by e-mail. You may send your article by UPS, FedEx, U.S.P.S. etc. to the Manteca editorial headquarters. It should be complete with all graphics.

  • Include one printed copy with all illustrations.

  • Your files should be on a PC-compatible diskette, 100 or 250 Mb ZIP disk or CD-ROM.

  • Graphics submitted as EPS or TIFF files are preferred. JPEG files are acceptable; avoid PowerPoint files; they reproduce poorly.

Most articles will run between 2-4 pages. (1,200-2,400 words with two graphics per page). Contact the editor before submitting longer articles.

You will be given a deadline for submission of your article. If you fail to meet that deadline, it is likely that your article will be postponed to a later date, since there is typically a waiting list of papers to be published.

We suggest that you show your article to several colleagues before sending it to us. Their comments will help you ensure that your writing is understandable to its intended audience. We will edit your paper for style, syntax and grammar, but it should be cohesive and well thought out before you send it to us.

Illustrations

  • Photos must be submitted either as prints (glossy or smooth surface or color slides) or as high-quality scans. (Scans should be a minimum of 280 dpi at size, and 360 is preferred.) We do not accept photos printed by mechanical means, such as offset printing, laser printers or inkjet printers.

  • Identify all illustrations on the back. A label is preferred, although you may use a permanent marking pen. Avoid using a sharp pen or pencil, since they may break the emulsion of a photo print.

  • Write an ID on the side of all slide mounts, i.e., "ABC Reflow Furnace."

  • Do not paperclip captions to the photo. The caption may become lost or the paper clip may damage the surface of the illustration.

  • Do not send original illustrations unless you have backups! While we handle all material with care, your illustrations go through many hands and we can't be liable if an accident occurs!

  • If one or more of your illustrations include a legible company name, or brand, we will usually eliminate the brand in Photoshop, with few exceptions.

  • You are encouraged to include a professional color photo of the authors with your paper. We do not use black and white photos in Chip Scale Review, except where b/w represents the actual image, such as a photo from a scanning electron microscope.

Your paper must be complete when received, with all illustrations, references, a 75-100 word biography including current job title, prior job title and company, education and contact information. You may send a vita in lieu of a bio, if you prefer.

Reference all figures and tables in the text, as (See Figure 1), (See Figure 2), etc. If there is only one table or one figure, do not reference it as Figure 1, just as "the figure" or "the table."

After your article has been peer reviewed, and after it has been sent to production for typesetting, you will receive a proof copy, sent as a PDF file, for final review. You are requested to return the article within 48 hours, if possible, and note any changes required by errors that we introduced in production. You should not be making changes to the content at this stage.

Your changes at this point are for correcting errors introduced during our editing or production process. If you make substantial changes to a typeset article, we may have to postpone its use to an indeterminate time. In cases where the editor and/or peer reviewers believe the article it requires substantial work, you will receive the article back for revision, prior to typesetting.

Other production notes:

  • Photos will ordinarily not be returned to you after publication. We must retain them for quality control and for legal reasons.

  • Only ZIP disks and other media of obvious value will be returned after use.

Style Conventions

You do not have to concern yourself with these style matters. We are listing them only so that you will understand why we made changes to certain words or phrases.

  • There is often more than one acceptable way to spell and/or hyphenate a word used by the technical and trade press. We have a style sheet that we adhere to for consistency, i.e., leadframe, instead of lead frame.

  • Like the majority of publications in this field, we have eliminated the use of ™ and ® marks in editorial matter. On first mention of a trademark in an article, you may reference it as "a package developed by the Aardvark Company." Generally, by indicating that a certain brand name is "proprietary," you are informing readers that it is the property of the named company.

Copyright Violation and Plagiarism

  • Beware of plagiarism - the use of another's words or illustrations without proper attribution. Unfortunately, it is a common occurrence, although often accidental. You may even violate someone else's copyright by including an illustration from a book you authored, or by using a figure that you developed that appeared elsewhere, but was reused without permission of the publishing company. We view copyright violations as a very serious matter. In addition to hurting your credibility (and the magazine's), you may subject yourself and Chip Scale Review to civil litigation.

  • You should never submit the same (or a similar) article to more than publication at a time. This is unprofessional and unethical and if both should publish the article at approximately the same time, would subject you and them to great harm.

  • Be cautious in your use of words that you think are generic; For example, Pogo pin, which is in widespread use is not generic; it is a registered trademark of ECT Inc.

Comparisons and Disparagement

  • Your article may employ tables, words or figures that compare one technology against another technology; however, you may not compare a proprietary process, package or piece of equipment that you don't make without permission of the owner. You may, however, compare a generic process or product without permission.

Commercialism

  • It is very important that your article avoid commercial mentions. In most cases, it is a simple matter to refer to a process or type of equipment in a generic way, i.e., die bonder, not ABC die bonder. The use of brand names is only allowed when it is obvious that there is no other way to describe the process or product.

References

  • The format we employ for references is widely used in the industry. Your references must be correct and complete. All references should refer to the specific page the referenced material is on, not just the page the referenced article begins on or the entire article.

  • Journal article with a single author:
    R. Iscoff, "Packaging Foundries: Getting Ready for Chip-Scale Packaging," Chip Scale Review, November-December 1998, p. 18.

  • Second and subsequent mentions, same article:
    Iscoff, p. 20.

  • Journal article, two authors:
    W. Green and E. Brown, "The Search for New Packages," Packaging Sources, March 1999, p. 26.

  • Journal article, more than two authors:
    W. Green, E. Brown et al., "New Challenges in Wirebonding," Contemporary Substrate Technology, January 2000, p. 34.

  • Proceedings:
    T. Rex, "Innovations in Surface Mount Technology," Proc. Of Surface Mount International, San Jose, Calif., September 17, 1996, p. 40.

Acknowledgements

  • You may include a very brief acknowledgement, when appropriate. Generally, do not thank people whose job it is to support you, such as your secretary or your immediate co-workers, unless their contributions were really above and beyond the call of duty.

Contact the Editor at chipscale@cs.com or phone 209/824-1289, fax 209/824-2799. Send completed articles and photos to: Chip Scale Review, 929 Ebbetts Ave., Manteca, CA 95337.




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