INFORMATION FOR AUTHORS

We invite submissions to Logical Methods in Computer Science of original research and survey papers of the highest quality in all theoretical and practical aspects of computer science related to logic in a broad sense. The aim of Logical Methods in Computer Science is to combine a thorough refereeing process with a quick turnaround time: the great majority of papers are published within nine months of submission; and every accepted paper is published within one week of receipt in final form.

Logical Methods in Computer Science is a free, open-access electronic journal published under the auspices of the International Federation for Computational Logic IFCoLog. It is a overlay journal of the Computing Research Repository, CoRR, itself part of the arXiv e-print archive. Logical Methods in Computer Science is, therefore, widely, easily and dependably available via the 25 world-wide arXiv mirror sites. The arXiv e-print archive was founded in 1992 and is now widely used, with about 100,000 hits per day. The computer science part of this archive opened in 1998 in cooperation with the ACM.

Submission

Papers must be submitted to Logical Methods in Computer Science via the homepage using the online submission . This includes the choice of a handling editor from the Editorial Board displayed on the website; editors ' specialties and pointers to their homepages are provided to enable authors to choose an appropriate editor. The Executive Editor then assigns a handling editor, making every effort to respect the authors' choice. Authors receive an automatic immediate acknowledgement and will be contacted within two weeks by the handling editor who will oversee the review process.

Papers submitted to Logical Methods in Computer Science must be written in English, must be related, in a wide sense, to the topics of the journal, and should not exceed 5O pages. If authors feel substantially more pages are needed, they should explain why in the additional comments field. The submission is required to contain an ACM subject classification (which is used e.g. for readers' notification), other subject optional, and can be provided in a footnote.

Every submission should start with an introductory section. For long submissions the authors may consider providing a table of contents (if they and the handling editor agree that this is required for readability); it is always placed at the end of the introductory section and follows the Journal's style.

The abstract should provide a concise and understandable presentation of the main result(s). In general, the length of the abstract should not exceed 20 lines (in the provided style of the journal). The abstract should avoid mathematical symbols whenever possible. In case they cannot be avoided, the authors are requested to provide an html version of their abstract.

Refereeing

Each submission will generally be refereed by two or three referees. Based on the referee reports, the handling editor will choose between three options:

a. The paper is accepted for publication, possibly subject to minor revision. Authors are requested to prepare a final version accompanied by a detailed response to the referees ' comments.

b. A resubmission of the paper is recommended. This is the case where the editor concludes from the referee reports that the paper deserves publication, but requires the referees to review the new version. Only one resubmission is permitted; it is handled by the same editor; and it should be accompanied by a detailed response to the referees' comments.

c. The paper is not accepted for publication.

Prepublication

Logical Methods in Computer Science publishes only original papers which have not been published previously, nor submitted for publication elsewhere. Nevertheless, papers previously published in conference proceedings are usually eligible for publication, provided that the authors have permission to publish. In such cases the authors are requested to give a precise reference to the prepublication on the front page of their submissions, and to explain in "Comments to the Editor" to what extent the submission differs from their prepublication.

Publication

When a paper is accepted, authors should prepare their final version in the Logical Methods in Computer Science style and post it on the Computing Research Repository, CoRR. They inform Logical Methods in Computer Science of their paper identification and password they obtained from CoRR via their author webpage. Authors are expected, as a part of the Logical Methods in Computer Science quick turnaround time policy, to prepare their final version within one to two months after acceptance.

Publication of Revised Versions

In exceptional cases, for example if an error is discovered in a paper published by Logical Methods in Computer Science, authors may publish a revised version accompanied by a statement explaining the changes that have been made. Both versions will be available on the Logical Methods in Computer Science web site.

Executive Editor Rights

The Executive Editor retains the right to require changes to papers after their acceptance by the handling editor. Such changes normally concern matters of style or format.