Contents

1. What do we publish?
2. What is "relevant" to Magellanic Clouds research?
3. When can I submit my abstract?
4. How do I submit my contribution?
5. How do I know if my contribution was accepted?
6. Disclaimer
7. Publication schedule
8. Publication sequence
9. How can I access MCNews?
10. How can I subscribe to MCNews?
11. Who can subscribe to MCNews?
12. Where can I find popular information about the Magellanic Clouds?
     
    

          The following paragraphs are an attempt to explain the rules that we adopt in running this newsletter. Some of this appeared in editorials of earlier issues of the newsletter.
     
    

    1. What do we publish?

           The Magellanic Clouds Newsletter publishes abstracts from any area in astronomy relevant to Magellanic Clouds research.
           More specifically, we welcome abstracts of refereed articles that were submitted to, or accepted by, astronomical journals and that have not yet appeared in print. Each abstract will be published only once. It is the choice of the submitter whether to submit the abstract of a paper prior to or else after it went through the referee process.
           Abstracts of non-refereed papers that will be published in conference proceedings are welcome as well provided that the paper to be published in the proceedings consists of more than just an abstract. E.g., we do not include AAS abstracts but welcome abstracts of longer conference contributions.
           Abstracts of papers that were published already in a journal or conference proceedings will generally be rejected. Here we rely on the submitter's honesty. The idea behind the newsletter is to provide an overview over the latest results in Magellanic Clouds research rather than to compete with information already readily available through the ADS.
           Thesis abstracts related to Magellanic Clouds are particularly welcome. We encourage students and recent graduates to make their PhD or master thesis work known to a larger community by submitting their abstracts. The LaTeX abstract template is designed to accommodate thesis abstracts as well.
           We also accept announcements relevant to Magellanic Clouds research such as the public availability large databases that include Magellanic Clouds data (e.g., HI surveys, photometric data from microlensing surveys, etc.). Similarly we are happy to publish conference announcements and job ads that we deem of interest for Magellanic Clouds researchers. Obviously these two categories are fairly broad.
    
     
    

    2. What is "relevant" to Magellanic Clouds research?

           To some extent this is a matter of taste or personal judgement. We retain the right to reject abstracts when we feel that they are not directly relevant to the Magellanic Clouds. Obviously a paper on objects in the Magellanic Clouds or on the Magellanic Clouds in general is relevant. On the other hand, a paper on the Magellanic irregular IC XXXX would not be suitable for MCNews, but may be perfect for the dwarf galaxy newsletter "Dwarf Tales". A paper that provides a detailed comparison of the properties of the star cluster systems of the Magellanic Clouds with those of other galaxies would make a nice contribution for MCNews, but a paper that mentions somewhere in the discussion that certain properties of their non-Magellanic targets are similar to those of the same class of objects in the Magellanic Clouds would not be suitable. A review paper on, e.g., the Local Group that covers the Magellanic Clouds as well is relevant. A paper presenting new evolutionary models for metallicities typical for the Magellanic Clouds may be published in MCNews as well.
           Where appropriate abstracts may be submitted to several newsletters. E.g., the publication of an abstract on Magellanic Wolf-Rayet stars in the Hot Stars Newsletter doesn't prevent this abstract from appearing in MCNews as well as long as the submission to MCNews uses the correct template. A paper on Be stars in the Magellanic Clouds may appear in the Be Star Newsletter and in the Hot Star Newsletter, a NIR study of Magellanic AGB stars may be published in both MCNews and the AGB star newsletter, and so forth.
           In rare cases the editors may invite the publication of a paper unrelated to the Magellanic Clouds when we consider it of major interest for Magellanic Cloud researchers. A recent example is Stetson's paper on 15,000 faint standard stars for photometry with large telescopes.
          Submitters are requested to check themselves whether their paper is "relevant" in the above sense. If there is no immediately obvious relevance and they decide to submit regardless we ask to send a brief explanation of why they believe this paper should be published in MCNews.
     
    

    3. When can I submit my abstract?

           Abstracts can be submitted any time provided that the MCNews abstract template is used (more about that below).
           A "Call for abstracts" is sent out approximately one week before the next issue of the newsletter is finalized. This "call" contains the deadline for abstract submissions for that coming issue and the LaTeX abstract template. Inclusion in the next issue of the newsletter can only be ensured if the abstract reaches the editors before the deadline. Abstracts arriving after the deadline will be included in the subsequent issue after they are accepted.
           We encourage our readers to submit their abstracts to MCNews without waiting for our reminder. We will not grab abstracts from other newsletters or the astro-ph preprint server and publish them without consent. Therefore we publish only abstracts submitted to us by one of the authors on the correct MCNews abstract template. MCNews depends on what we receive from our readers - please help us to keep it as comprehensive and complete as possible.
     
    

    4. How do I submit my contribution?

          Submitters are asked to use the MC News Abstract Submission Form. It can be found at http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/projects/mcnews/submission.html. Incorrectly filled-in abstract submissions increase the workload on the editors and may lead to the rejection of the abstract. Please keep in mind that we edit MCNews in our spare time and not as professional editors and do your share to help. Please send conference or job announcements to mcnews@astro.uiuc.edu since we do not currently have a submission form for these.
    
     
    

    5. How do I know if my contribution was accepted?

           We will send out a "confirmation of receipt" for each abstract that we receive and specify when we expect to publish it if it is suitable for MCNews. This message is usually being sent within 1-2 days of receipt. Longer delays in receiving a response may occur when I'm travelling and don't have regular internet access.
     
    

    6. Disclaimer

           We accept abstracts in good faith and do not have the means to check title, author list, whether the paper was indeed submitted or accepted as claimed, etc. We implicitly assume that the submitting author informs his or her co-authors about the submission. We maintain the right to reject abstracts that seem inappropriate. We do not accept responsibility for the correctness of the information provided in the newsletter. The responsibility for the content of a submission rests solely with the submitter. We do not read all of the articles whose abstracts we publish. The publication of a text does not imply that we endorse its content.
           We may edit submissions. We usually ensure that all abstracts and other contributions conform to the MCNews style. We correct LaTeX mistakes if they prevent the text from compiling correctly. All text is run through a spellchecker, and we will correct what we deem spelling mistakes. Apart from that we do not alter the content of abstracts. We may edit announcements such that we highlight certain information, format them differently, or shorten them if needed. In case of major changes we send the text back to the submitter for approval. If you are concerned about possible changes to your submission please contact us prior to the publication deadline or else add a statement when submitting.
     
    

    7. Publication schedule

           Every effort will be made to adhere to the posted deadlines and publishing dates as well as to make everything available on the WWW by those dates. We try to post job ads in the MCNews job pages as soon as we receive them irrespective of the general publication deadlines. Delays are possible if the editors' workload is too high.
           Currently the newsletter is being sent out around the middle of each month. We try to make the on-line version available at the same time and to update the other WWW pages as well (meetings, alphabetical abstract list, etc.). Since several months some of these updates have not been possible due to lack of time.
     
    

    8. Publication sequence

           We usually publish contributions to MCNews in the following sequence: First general announcements (if any), then abstracts of papers submitted to or accepted by refereed journals, followed by abstracts of papers to appear in conference proceedings, then thesis abstracts, afterwards job ads, and finally conference announcements.
           Abstracts of papers are not published in MCNews in the sequence in which we receive them (as we usually do in the dwarf galaxy newsletter). Instead, a rough topical sequence is being used. Abstracts on the interstellar medium come first, followed by stars and stellar populations (here usually from young objects to old objects). Results on dynamics and microlensing tend to come after that.
     
    

    9. How can I access MCNews?

           MCNews is freely available via web download. Issues are available as LaTeX files, gzipped postscript files, and in HTML format.
           In addition, we send MCNews out via e-mail in LaTeX format to our list of subscribers. Subscribers also receive the call for abstracts about a week before the publication of the next issue. Subscription to MCNews is free.
           We do not distribute MCNews in formats other than the ones named above. In particular, we only e-mail out LaTeX files, and we do not send hardcopies.
     
    

    10. How can I subscribe to MCNews?

           Subscription to the Magellanic Clouds Newsletter is free, and we welcome new subscribers. In order to subscribe send a message to mcnews@astro.uiuc.edu with your name, e-mail address, affiliation, and country.
           We rely upon our subscribers to provide us with correct e-mail addresses and to notify us when addresses change. While we attempt to follow up on bounced messages we do not have the resources to research changed e-mail addresses. Mailings may sometimes bounce because of computer problems. We usually make a second attempt to reach the recipient within a week of the receipt of the error message. Addresses that bounce repeatedly will be removed from the mailing list. If you notice that you no longer receive the newsletter but would like to subscribe again please send a short notice.
           Subscription requests will usually be answered within one day. You will receive a confirmation of having been added to the mailing list as well as an automated message from the list server. Our mailing list is not being made public.
           Similarly, requests to be removed from the mailing list are usually answered within a day. Again, just send us e-mail at mcnews@astro.uiuc.edu.
     
    

    11. Who can subscribe to MCNews?

           Anyone can - all it takes to send name, e-mail address, affiliation, and country to mcnews@astro.uiuc.edu. Subscribers do not need to be affiliated with an astronomy department, research institute, or observatory. We request the affiliation and country to maintain our statistics page (country distribution etc.).
          Interested amateurs are welcome as subscribers as well though MCNews is directed at professionals working specifically on the Magellanic Clouds. The newsletter may not contain much of interest for amateurs, and the LaTeX files may be difficult to read for people outside of academic institutions. We will not distribute MCNews by e-mail in formats other than LaTeX for the time being and encourage interested parties who cannot read LaTeX to download MCNews in postscript format (or HTML to the extent available) from the MCNews web pages.
     
    

    12. Where can I find popular information about the Magellanic Clouds?

           We intend to add a public outreach page on the Magellanic Clouds, but neither of us has found time for this so far. We encourage interested amateurs to search themselves for popular web sites on the Magellanic Clouds (we provide one such link on our home page), and to direct questions to web sites devoted to answering questions from the general public (again, see links at our starting page).
    
    

    
    Eva Grebel, June 2000
    Updated: July 2002