This document contains information for prospective authors submitting content to The Python Papers (TPP).
You can! TPP has a highly inclusive approach to its articles. All suitable submissions will be considered and, if possible, included in a future edition. However, TPP understands that it can be daunting submitting an article, especially for the first time. For this reason, we include some pointers for what various people might have to contribute:
Someone who has never used Python – this person might submit a request for information or assistance from the Python community, seeking feedback and response. This will allow external viewpoints to challenge the accepted wisdom, and to show Python experts what issues and hurdles are present for the new adopter.
Someone who has used Python in their workplace – this person might have useful comments on whether their Python projects had been successful, whether there were any interoperability or acceptance issues, or contribute a “lessons learned” article.
An academic researcher – TPP offers a peer-review process and is registered as an academic journal. Research articles may be dual-published in TPP thanks to its non-exclusive license agreement with the author, or find their most natural home in a Python-oriented publication.
A Python 'core' developer – In order to give the community an insight into the development of their favourite language, as well as to understand future directions for Python, one of the many people contributing directly to the Python language may submit an article.
A Python package maintainer – In order to gain wider exposure for their software, an individual or group maintaining a package may choose to submit an article covering their software's function, features and screenshots
A Python User Group (PUG) – to get the message out to readers who may be potential members, and also to participate in a general push by TPP to share the experiences of Python developers anywhere, a PUG may contribute an article covering their main activities along with a photo of their group.
Authors will need to familiarise themselves with the publication cycle in order to ensure that their submissions is included. In brief, authors must register their interest, prepare a draft by the draft deadline, and submit a final version by the final deadline. Missing one or more of these steps may result in their article not being published until they can complete all the steps.
In addition to this, authors should understand what they are agreeing to when they submit an article. Typically, they will be placed on an administrative mailing list and notified of important information. Additionally, they grant TPP the right to publish their article. Usually, this is subject to the standard license agreement (see below, “What rights to I retain over my article once submitted?”). However, individual authors may by request and subject to approval, seek to publish their articles under an alternative redistribution license.
Registering an expression of interest. This will allow the editors to track and assist authors who may be preparing an article. Prospective authors can get email announcements of important dates within the publication cycle, and discuss their efforts with TPP.
Preparing a draft version. Most submitted articles are of
high quality, but all articles go through an editorial process,
where the submission is integrated into the appropriate edition.
This may involve some discussion of particular points where the
editors may feel that either a) the language may be unclear, b) the
meaning of the author needs clarification, c) a point of particular
interest to the Python community may be expanded for general
interest, d) the article may not be suitable for a general audience.
While it is expected that contributions of a suitable quality will
be accepted, TPP reserves
the right to withhold publication of articles at their
discretion.
As such, it is advisable to submit a draft as
early as it is available, to ensure that there is plenty of time to
undertake this process. There is a notional deadline in the
submissions calendar for this, however there is also enough
flexibility to cope with special circumstances.
Once an edition of TPP is published, it is available for reading and also redistribution. Electronic copies are lodged with several journal archives. The PDF is made available first, and an HTML version is prepared and released about a week later subject to workload constraints. The URL http://archive.pythonpapers.org/ contains a permanent archive of past publications.
TPP has a growing readership. We do not have perfect statistics, but the journal is known by many, and the site visit statistics have an average of 30 visits per day or 900 per month in recent times. As the IT infrastructure supporting the site grows, we may be able to give a more representative number for readership.
Your article may be also reproduced (subject to license), quoted or referenced.
Articles in TPP are subject to the following copyright license:
© Copyright 2007 The Python Papers and the individual authors
This work is copyright under the Creative Commons 2.5 license subject to Attribution, Noncommercial and Share Alike conditions. The full legal code may be found at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/byncsa/2.1/au/
The Python Papers was first published in 2006 in Melbourne, Australia.
The author retains all rights to their work, but grants a non-exclusive license to TPP to publish contributions under the above licensing scheme. Authors may re-release their work under alternative, non-conflicting licenses. They may not, however, revoke the license above once granted in order to, for example, grant an exclusive license to another party.
Additionally, authors retain moral rights under the laws of most countries.
Articles may be contributed to TPP in most formats, however for the purposes of publication, submissions will be edited into PDF and HTML. This may result in formatting changes from the original.
TPP recommends submission in one of OpenOffice (.odt), Microsoft Word (.doc), Rich Text Format (.rtf) or plain text. Documents submitted in HTML or indeed a variety of other formats will be accepted, however complex formatting (such as that made possible by LaTeX) may not be well-preserved.
For informal articles, the heading style shown below will be used throughout the journal. Should the author wish to use another style, an OpenOffice file will be required. Since there is no simple transformation to HTML, the editors will use their discretion when formatting the content. The HTML version may use simpler formatting than the PDF version.
Articles should have readability and
accessibility of primary importance. Text should be white-on-black or
other high-contrast match with dark text. Colours used in the
magazine and Python site are:
"Python Yellow" 231,
181, 48
"Python Blue" 49, 106, 148
"Python
Gutter" 241, 244, 214
These colours will be used for
border decoration, title highlighting etc to give a consistent look
and feel across documents.
The Python logo is available from http://www.python.org/community/logos/
Two-column layouts, while visually appealing, are not suited to digital viewing, since they suit aspect ratios not commonly used in monitors. As such, all content will be re-formatted to allow for “top-down” viewing. This will usually be “single column”, although graphics and other items not part of the reading flow may appear with wrapped text.
PDF is fairly consistent across platforms, and is also a good format for producing printed materials. For this reason, the PDF production is considered the authoritative version for matters of referencing, print and reproduction. Web browser inconsistencies make HTML a poor foundation in many ways, despite its many other advantages.