Instructions for Authors
"Peremennye Zvezdy" (Variable Stars) is a professional electronic journal, following the traditions of the paper journal founded by Prof. B.V. Kukarkin (1909-1977) in 1928. The language of the electronic journal is English; paper titles and abstracts are published also in Russian. The publication of "Peremennye Zvezdy" is supported by two Moscow astronomical institutions, the Sternberg Astronomical Institute (University of Moscow) and the Institute of Astronomy (Russian Academy of Sciences). The web support is provided by the "Astronet" project.
The journal "Peremennye Zvezdy" is open to papers on the whole variety of variable-star topics. Though it is a professional journal, papers from amateur astronomers are welcome, provided that these papers satisfy the professional scientific standards. Submitted papers will be refereed by experts in the variable-star science. Copy editing (language editing) is undertaken by the editors within reasonable limits. The editors reserve their right to reject papers because of their English being too poor for understanding their meaning and making necessary editor's corrections. There are no "page charges" of any kind in the journal.
The journal consists of two parts, the Main Journal and the Supplement. The Main Journal accepts original scientific papers containing theoretical results as well as results based on detailed analysis of variable-star observations. There are virtually no volume limitations for papers published in the main journal, but the paper volume should be justified by its scientific contents. Papers earlier published elsewhere will not be accepted.
The Supplement publishes results based on observations. We encourage presentations of discoveries of individual variable stars and studies of known variable stars in the form resembling that currently used in the many-author issues closing each volume of the Information Bulletin of Variable Stars (IBVS; http://www.konkoly.hu/IBVS/issues.html), but we also leave possibilities open for Supplement papers of different formats. In our opinion, any new discoveries of variable stars, from new original observations or from data mining, regardless variability type, are important. However, we reserve our right to reject announcement of discoveries based on a couple of deviant data points in observations or solely on deviations among catalogued magnitudes, such announcements only increase the number of poorly studied, "suspected" variables. The authors should try to additionally investigate such stars before announcing them, for example, to determine types and to derive periods for periodic variables. Ideally, a discovery announcement should contain all the information usually given for the stars of the corresponding type in the GCVS (the same applies to studies of known variable stars). Presenting figures with light curves is highly desirable. New variable stars should be announced with accurate coordinates. If a new variable is contained in a major astronomical catalogue, publication of a finding chart is optional.
Because of the quickly increasing flow of variable-star information, we are not able to publish raw observing data, without any analysis and any scientific conclusions. We are not going to publish lists of variable-star extrema based on visual observations. The results of data mining should not simply repeat the information already given in the variable-star catalogues of the corresponding surveys.
The papers to "Peremennye Zvezdy" (main-journal and non-standard-format supplement papers) should be submitted in LaTeX, in the style that can be retrieved from this web site. A short sample paper is also available there. Please refrain from using your additional definitions in the LaTeX preamble of your paper. The manuscript should contain the name of the author (authors) and the author's (authors') affiliations (for amateur astronomers, a contact address should be given instead of the affiliation). The style of references should follow that in the recent IBVS issues.
For the main journal as well as for the supplement, figures should be prepared in the Encapsulated PostScript format or in any frequently used graphical format and have a sufficiently high resolution, all text in the figures should be easily readable. The editors will not attempt to improve unsatisfactory figures, the authors will be asked to make all necessary improvements. All figures and tables should be provided with captions.
The times of observations, for rapid variables, should be heliocentric. It is preferable to avoid using "modified Julian Dates" because of considerable confusion often introduced by such usage.
LaTeX manuscripts should be submitted by e-mail to the address <varstar@sai.msu.ru>. Authors who are able to do it are encouraged to additionally send us Russian-language titles and abstracts of their papers; alternatively, titles and abstracts can be translated into Russian by the editors.
Standard-format papers intended for submission to the Supplement should be submitted through the web forms at http://www.astronet.ru/db/varstars/. When submitting results based on original observations (i.e. those coming not from data mining), it is desirable to submit also files with observations. In the case of data mining, complete references to the data (web addresses) should be indicated. It is important that the data-mining papers should contain complete information on the number of observations and the time interval covered, since the number of observations available at the cited address can change.
Instructions for PZ and PZP Authors
A registered author of the "Peremennye Zvezdy (Variable Stars)" journal (hereafter, PZ) becomes able:
- to submit papers to the PZ Main Journal;
- to prepare notes for the PZ Prilozhenie (Supplement;
hereafter PZP) himself/herself, using special forms;
- to create new PZP notes;
- to continue work on pending PZP notes;
- to submit papers to the Editorial Board;
- to edit personal information.
Each of these options is described in more detail below.
Preparing a Paper for the "Peremennye Zvezdy" Main Journal
Papers should be submitted in LaTeX, in the pz.sty style. This style is very close to the style used in the Information Bulletin on Variable Stars (IBVS). A sample paper can be found in the file sample.tex. In this file, pay notice to the format of the title page, tables, figure captions, references. Please do not use your own macros in the paper.
Figures should be inserted into the text of the paper in the EPS (Encapsulated Postscript) format. In the final web publication, the paper will become a set of HTML files, and thus figures in the formats permitting an HTML publication should be submitted with the paper:
- for graphs and diagrams, in the .gif or .png formats;
- for photographs, in the .jpg format.
The prepared paper, with figures, should be archived (the permitted formats are .zip, .arj, or .tar.gz (.tgz)) and sent, together with a letter to the Editorial Board, to the address varstar@sai.msu.ru.
Preparing a Note for the Journal's Supplement, "Peremennye Zvezdy Prilozhenie"
The Supplement to "Peremennye Zvezdy" will mainly contain discovery announcements and studies of new variable stars as well as results of studies and improved parameters for already known objects. Most notes of this type should be prepared using our standard formalized scheme, authors can create their notes themselves.
Two main types of notes will appear in the PZP: a) studies of a single (individual) variable star and b) studies of a group of three or more variables. Specific features of these two types of notes are considered below; here we present common rules of their preparation.
You can also submit a PZP note in a different format; in such a case, please follow preparation rules for papers written for the "Peremennye Zvezdy" Main Journal (the paper being intended for the PZP rather than for the PZ Main Journal should be clearly stated in the letter to the Editors).
Common Rules for Writing PZP Notes
After authorization (entering your login and password), you will see the item Write Note to Supplement in the author's menu. This item permits you to create PZP notes. You will be suggested to choose the note's format (a study of a single star or a study of 3 or more stars); after that, you will see a page with an empty web form containing fields to fill. The form's appearance depends on the selected type of your note, it will be described in more detail below.
All the required, obligatory fields (their names are marked with red asterisks *) should be filled. After filling the fields, click [Save]. At this time, your paper will be saved at the journal's server. You will be prompted about completion of saving, the process will usually take several seconds.
The paper successfully saved, the [Preview] button will appear in the waiting page (to see it, reload the page). This button permits to view the created note.
If you find an imperfection in the note you have created, edit it using the [Edit] item in the top or bottom parts of the preview page. Introduce the necessary correction, press [Save], and inspect the result again. This process should be repeated until your are satisfied with the result.
After you have saved the note for the first time, you may interrupt your work on the note any time. To continue, choose the item Your Own Documents "In Preparation". The item contains a list of all the author's papers not completely ready.
Having completed editing, the author should submit the paper to the scrutiny of the journal's Editorial Board; to do it, use the [Send to Editorial Board] item in the top or bottom parts of the document preview page.
The note will be reviewed and considered by the Editorial Board, with one of the three decision possible:
- the note is accepted and published,
- the note is returned to the author for revisions,
- the note is rejected.
A Publication on a Single Variable Star
The form for a "Peremennye Zvezdy Prilozhenie" publication on a single variable star contains the following fields.
Title
The note's title, required.
Authors
The authors' first names (or initials) and family names, required. The authors should
be entered one per line, in the order to be used in the paper. If a note has more
than
one author, then, following the author's first and family names, the numbers corresponding
to lines in the next field (Country, City, Institution) that refer to this particular
author should be indicated (in brackets, separated with commas), for example,
Eugene V. Petrov (1,3)or
R.A.P.S. White (4,7,8,9).
Country, City, Institution
Required. In this field, professional astronomers should indicate affiliation (affiliations).
Besides institution, the affiliation should also have the city and country indicated.
For amateur astronomers, an indication of the city and country is sufficient. The
affiliations should be entered one per line. Each line should begin with the symbol
"#" and
the number of the affiliation in the list. For example,
#1. Institute of Astronomy RAS, Moscow, Russia.
#2. IAG-USP, San Paulo, Brazil.
#3. Kazan, Russia.
E-mail
The contact e-mail address of the paper's authors (or one of them). Required.
GCVS or NSV name
The variable star's name in the GCVS or in the NVS catalog. Required for objects
having such designations.
Other Names
Other names of the variable, listed in an arbitrary order, with commas or semi-colons
as separators.
Coordinates
The object's equatorial coordinates for the equinox J2000. The format is
hh mm ss.ss, +/-dd arcm arcs.s. Required.
Variability type
Variability type. Required.
Magn. limits, System
Limits of the object's brightness variations (magnitudes in maximum and minimum light)
and the photometric band of these magnitudes. The positions should be comma-separated.
Required.
Period
The period of the star's variability (in days). Required.
Epoch
The epoch, in Julian Days.
Epoch type (radio buttons)
The type of the epoch: which photometric feature corresponds to the given epoch.
The options are: min (epoch of minimum brightness), max (maximum brightness), and
other (any
other feature; in such a case, the particular feature
should be explained in the Remarks field.
Light Curve
The file containing a figure with the light curve. The permitted formats are GIF,
PNG, or JPG (the first two of them should be preferred).
Light Curve Caption
A short figure caption.
Finding Chart
The file containing an image of the variable's finding chart. The permitted formats
are GIF, PNG, or JPG.
Finding Chart Caption
A short figure caption.
Data Source
The file containing data used to study the star. The data should be presented in
the ASCII format.
Remarks
Required field. It is necessary to indicate the source of data the study is based
on. If the paper is based on the author's (authors') observations, indicate the characteristics
of the telescope and detector.
This field can also contain any notes, remarks, and additions to the paper (in an
arbitrary form).
Insert a blank line between parapraps.
References
References to other publications.
Insert a blank line between publications.
A Publication on Three or More Variables
The form for a "Peremennye Zvezdy Prilozhenie" publication on three or more variable stars contains the following fields.
Title
The note's title, required.
Authors
The authors' first names (or initials) and family names, required. The authors should
be entered one per line, in the order to be used in the paper. If a note has more
than
one author, then, following the author's first and family names, the numbers corresponding
to lines in the next field (Country, City, Institution) that refer to this particular
author should be indicated (in brackets, separated with commas), for example,
Eugene V. Petrov (1,3)or
R.A.P.S. White (4,7,8,9).
Country, City, Institution
Required. In this field, professional astronomers should indicate affiliation (affiliations).
Besides institution, the affiliation should also have the city and country indicated.
For amateur astronomers, an indication of the city and country is sufficient. The
affiliations should be entered one per line. Each line should begin with the symbol
"#" and
the number of the affiliation in the list. For example,
#1. Institute of Astronomy RAS, Moscow, Russia.
#2. IAG-USP, San Paulo, Brazil.
#3. Kazan, Russia.
E-mail
The contact e-mail address of the paper's authors (or one of them). Required.
ASCII Table
The table with information on variable stars, required.
The table should be in the text (ASCII) format. Each star's
parameters occupy one line. Parameters within each line should
be separated with a separating symbol (by default. a vertical bar "|").
The table structure to be used is described here.
Use the "Browse" button to select the table prepared in a file.
Field Separator
The separating symbol used in the ASCII table. Required.
Images
Images mentioned in the text of the paper. These are references
(contained in the ASCII table) to files with
light curves and finding charts and references to other images
(contained in the Comments and Remarks
fields). Required.
When creating a new note, the Images item contains a single upload-field where you can indicate an image file in the GIF, PNG, or JPG format or an archive with any number of image files. The archive formats supported are ZIP, ARJ, and TAR.GZ (TGZ). After saving the note, the image archive will be unpacked, so that, during subsequent stages of editing, the Images item will contain fields of editing the uploaded images (permitting viewing, downloading, changing or deleting any image) as well as a field for uploading additional images (labeled "Add image(s)") where you can indicate an individual image or an image archive.
Comments
Remarks and comments to individual stars, in an arbitrary form.
Insert a blank line between parapraps.
Remarks
Remarks and comments to the paper as a whole. Required field. It is necessary to
indicate the source of data the study is based on. If the paper is based on the author's
(authors')
observations, indicate the characteristics of the telescope and detector.
Insert a blank line between parapraps.
References
References to other publications.
Insert a blank line between publications.
The Structure of the Uploaded ASCII-Table (3 or More Stars)
Name
The name of the variable in the GCVS or in the NSV catalog.
Other
Other names (separated with commas).
Coord
The star's equatorial coordinates for the equinox J2000. To be entered in the format
hh mm ss.ss, +/-dd arcm arcs.s.
Type
The object's variability type.
Max
The object's magnitude in maximum brightness.
Min
The object's magnitude in minimum brightness.
System
The photometric band of the magnitudes (pg, U, B, V, Rc, Rj, Ic, Ij... Enter an asterisk
* for CCD magnitudes without a filter.
Period
The variability period (in days).
Epoch
Epoch, in Julian Days.
Epoch type
The character of the presented epoch. The possibilities are: time of minimum ("min"
in this field), time of maximum ("max" in this field) or time of another event (any
other
contents of this field). In the latter case, the type of the photometric event given
for the star should be explained in the field Comment.
Spectum
The star's spectral type.
Light Curve
The file containing the light curve graph. The field should contain the name of the
corresponding image file, uploaded in the Images item
of the
web page.
Finding Chart
The file containing the finding chart. The field should contain the name of the corresponding
image file, uploaded in the Images item of the web
page.
Data Source
The file containing original data used to study (or to discover) the star's variability.
The field should contain the name of the corresponding data file use to study (or
discover) the star's variability. The field should contain the name of the corresponding
data file, uploaded in the Data Source item of the web page. Only the ASCII
format is supported for the data files.