Writing for ;login:

;login: Enters a New Phase of Its Evolution

For over 20 years, ;login: has been a print magazine with a digital version; in the two decades previous, it was USENIX’s newsletter, UNIX News. Since its inception 45 years ago, it has served as a medium through which the USENIX community learns about useful tools, research, and events from one another. Beginning in 2021, ;login: will no longer be the formally published print magazine as we’ve known it most recently, but rather reimagined as a digital publication with increased opportunities for interactivity among authors and readers.

Since USENIX became an open access publisher of papers in 2008, ;login: has remained our only content behind a membership paywall. In keeping with our commitment to open access, all ;login: content will be open to everyone when we make this change. However, only USENIX members at the sustainer level or higher, as well as student members, will have exclusive access to the interactivity options. Rik Farrow, the current editor of the magazine, will continue to provide leadership for the overall content offered in ;login:, which will be released via our website on a regular basis throughout the year.

As we plan to launch this new format, we are forming an editorial committee of volunteers from throughout the USENIX community to curate content, meaning that this will be a formally peer-reviewed publication. This new model will increase opportunities for the community to contribute to ;login: and engage with its content. In addition to written articles, we are open to other ideas of what you might want to experience.

So you want to write for ;login:.

Writing is not easy for most of us. Having your writing rejected, for any reason, is no fun at all. The way to get your articles published in ;login:, with the least effort on your part and on the part of the staff of ;login:, is to submit a proposal first.

Proposals

In the world of publishing, writing a proposal is nothing new. If you plan on writing a book, you need to write one chapter, a proposed table of contents, and the proposal itself and send the package to a book publisher. Writing the entire book first is asking for rejection, unless you are a well-known, popular writer.

;login: proposals are not like paper submission abstracts. We are not asking you to write a draft of the article as the proposal, but instead to describe the article you wish to write. There are some elements that you will want to include in any proposal:

  • What's the topic of the article?
  • What type of article will you be writing: case study, paper-as-article, opinion, tutorial?
  • Tell us who is the intended audience? System administrators/SREs, systems researchers, programmers, security specialists, etc.
  • Tell us why your topic is important right now.
  • What, if any, non-text elements (illustrations, code, diagrams, etc.) will be included?
  • Tell us how long you think your article will be. Articles work best if they are six pages (3000 words), while opinion pieces need to be under two pages (1200 words).

Start out by answering each of those six questions. In answering the question about length, bear in mind that a page in ;login: is about 600 words. It is unusual for us to publish a one-page article or one over eight pages in length, but it can happen, and it will, if your article deserves it. We suggest, however, that you try to keep your article between two and five pages, as this matches the attention span of many people.

You want to sell us your proposal idea when you tell us why your topicis important right now. Provide us with the motivation, what excites you about your topic. We do not want marketing, but your most eloquent explanation of why this article is important to the readership of ;login:, which is also the membership of USENIX.

Unacceptable Articles

;login: will not publish certain articles. These include, but are not limited to:

  • Previously published articles. A piece that has appeared on your own Web server but not been posted to USENET or slashdot is not considered to have been published.
  • Marketing pieces of any type. We don't accept articles about products. "Marketing" does not include being enthusiastic about a new tool or software that you can download for free, and you are encouraged to write case studies of hardware or software that you helped install and configure, as long as you are not affiliated with or paid by the company you are writing about.
  • Personal attacks

Format

The initial reading of your article will be done by people using UNIX systems. Later phases involve Macs, but please send us text/plain formatted documents for the proposal. Send proposals to login@usenix.org.

The final version can be text/plain, text/html, LaTeX, RTF, or Microsoft Word/Libre Office. Illustrations should be PDF or EPS if possible. Raster formats (TIFF, PNG, or JPG) are also ­acceptable and should be a minimum of 1,200 pixels wide.

Deadlines

For our publishing deadlines, including when you can expect to be asked to read proofs of your article, see the online schedule.

You are encouraged to turn in accepted articles early, so that the editor can work with you on improving your article. This method reduces the amount of last-minute work for everyone involved.

Copyright

You own the copyright to your work and grant USENIX permission to publish it in;login: and on the Web. USENIX owns the copyright on the collection that is each issue of ;login:. You must grant permission for any third party to reprint your text; financial negotiations are a private matter between you and any reprinter. Reprints should include the text "Reprinted from ;login: The Magazine of USENIX, vol. XX, no. YY (Berkeley, CA: USENIX Association, [year of publication]), pp. nn-nn."