HOME > Editorial Guidelines

Proposal

Before preparing your article, please send a proposal to the editor to insure that it meets our editorial mission. If you are considering writing a feature article, we request that you send us an outline or a one page summary. For short pieces a paragraph will suffice. Please clearly indicate the topic and purpose of the story. While material may come from your research or presentations, we request that the article be original and unpublished.

We will attempt to reply to each proposal within two weeks of submission. We will work with authors whose proposals we select to determine an appropriate issue for publication, set deadlines, etc.

GITC America, Inc., publisher of Earth Observation Magazine, does not guarantee the publication of any submissions.

Length Limits

EOM accepts two types of articles: longer, in-depth features and shorter, more focused opinion or short topic pieces. Features may run 1,500-2,000 words. In exceptional cases, they can run longer. A feature story should include 3-5 images. (See details below.) Short pieces may run 600 to 750 words with one image.

Style

EOM speaks to geospatial professionals who may or may not be familiar with the technology covered in your article. Therefore, we encourage a non-technical style, one that even a casual reader can easily enjoy. Write out all acronyms on first use, except GIS. We discourage the use of footnotes and equations. However, we encourage you to include hyperlinks to relevant on-line resources - preferably those on stable Web sites, likely to be around for at least several months. Please place hyperlinks in square brackets immediately following the word(s) to be hyperlinked.

As a style guide, we use The Chicago Manual of Style, 14th Edition.

Suggested Topics

Feature articles and longer, in-depth pieces may fall into one of the following categories. However, this is not an exclusive list.

1) Applications

These are articles on the use of geotechnologies to solve problems. Be sure to fully explain the problem, how one or more geotechnologies were chosen to address it, and the outcome (it was faster, it was cheaper, it produced better data, etc.).

2) The State of Technology

These articles give an overview of the state of hardware or software in an area related to location technology. This is not a listing of products, but an overview that will help readers make sense of the available choices.

3) New technology

These articles explore in detail a new technology (such as hardware, software, a programming language, or a platform) and what it might mean for end-users.

4) GeoTechnology in TodayÕs World:

These are in depth stories on the use of geotechnology on a topic currently in the news — such as floods, voting, or forest fires.

Shorter Pieces

(600-750 words) might address

1. Business. Trends/changes in the business landscape, acquisitions, etc.
2. SoapBox. A short piece allowing anyone to speak out on a topic of their choice.
3. Applications. A short version of an article on one of the topics above.
4. Columns. We are currently seeking columnists to write (or tap others to write) short monthly pieces on these topics:
   
   1. Technology and Society — concerns and issues at the intersection of location technologies and society. For example: privacy issues, people tracking, phone-based navigation, Barbara Striesand's protestations about aerial imagery of her house, location-based gaming, etc. The underlying question for each column: what does this mean to me as a citizen?
   2. Geo and Government — International, federal (NASA, FGDC, GOS, NGA, INSPIRE, GeoConnections, etc.), state, or local, policy issues and goings on. The goal is to put initiatives and decisions from these bodies in context for the reader.
   3. New Technology — a first look at the "latest thing" coming down the pike in hardware, software, open source, sensors, and databasesÉ This is not a review, so much as a "what is it?", "how's it different from what came before?", and "why should I care?"
   4. Five Questions WithÉ — a short, focused interview with a known or unknown player. We ask five questions, they get 100 words to answer each. These interviews can typically be done via e-mail.

Images

We strongly prefer digital images, saved in EPS, TIFF, GIF, JPEG, or BMP formats, at 72 dpi or better.

Please ask us before sending traditional photographs or slides for us to scan.

Please note:

• Do NOT embed images into the text of your article. Send them as separate files.
• Save any image with text (including logos) as an EPS file.
• Please do not send PowerPoint graphics.
• Please be sure to appropriately name your images and identify each with a caption so that we do not confuse it with another image.
• Please include approximate figure locations in the text, in square brackets, like this: [figure 1 goes here].
• List captions at the end of the article, including sources, like this:
       Figure 1: This image of Crete was take 2000 Jan 5 by Landsat 5. (Image courtesy of USGS.)
       Figure 2: Deep water (in dark blue) swirls along the Greek coast. (Image courtesy of NOAA)

Biography

Please include two or three sentences about yourself at the end of your article. Include any experience or credentials directly related to the topic of your article, your place of employment and title, and any contact information that you would like us to publish - such as the URL(s) for your Web-site(s), your e-mail address(es), your phone and fax numbers, etc.

Submission

Please submit your text and images by e-mail to [email protected] with copy to [email protected]. You may use either plain text or MS Word format. You may submit digital images, zipped, either by e-mail or by FTP (ask us for the FTP address and log-on information). You may also mail your submission on diskette or CD.

We will confirm receipt of all submissions via e-mail or phone.

Editorial Review

The editor and managing editor will work with you after submission to ensure that your article and graphics are the best they can be, meet our style guidelines, etc.

Please let us know if youÕd like to review the layout before material goes on line. We will do our best to accommodate changes, but request your understanding that deadlines may be very tight and some changes may not be possible.

Contact information

For editorial questions:
Matteo Luccio, Editor
Earth Observation Magazine
[email protected]
Tel: +1 (541) 543-0525
100 Tuscanny Drive, Suite B-1
Frederick , MD 21702

Current Issue:
August 2005
Volume 14, Issue 6