Date: Mon, 20 Jun 1994 18:58:37 -0500 (CDT) From: "Tang, Huang" -- Editorial Guideline -- As the readers' contributions increase steadily, we believe that it is time to set up an appropriate guideline for our Editorial Board. To ensure the professionalism of our editorial procedures, our editors are urged to follow the guideline as much as possible when editing each CCF issue. 1) Upon receiving contributions, EM should send an acknowledgement to each author promptly, preferably within 1 day. If a decision has been made to return an article for revision or to reject a contribution, send a letter for revision/rejection in a timely manner. The letters should clearly explain the reasons for returning or rejecting. 2) No contributions should be rejected on the basis of the author' opinions, to ensure the freedom of speech in the Forum. 3) Pay special attention to the copyright matter of previously published materials. The excerpts from copyrighted sources should be within the boundary allowed by law while serving the purpose of demonstration only. Our editors are encouraged to to write reviews, commentaries and analyses on some articles published by other sources. CCF's primary goal is to publish our readers' original contributions, rather than to forward some published, copyrighted articles. 4) EE and AE should each use his/her discernment to determine the quality of incoming contributions. Whenever he/she feels an article/comment is not up to our standard (e.g. too many grammatical errors), EE or AE should return the article back to the author for improvement, before the latter re-submits it as submitting contributions. 5) It is advisable to follow a conservative line when editing contributions, namely, doing minimal editorial corrections to improve the readability of articles. Grammatical corrections are prefered over stylistical modifications. If necessary, return the article to author for revision. 6) When major editorial modifications other than spelling check have been done, notify the authors for opinion/permission and wait within a pre-set time for response. For courtesy to contributors, whenever an author raises his or her objection to editing of his or her articles, the author's choice should be respected. When major modifications are sufficiently justified, it is preferred to be returned to the author for revision, with clearly laid-out suggestions for change. 7) Upon receiving a comment on a previous CCF article, send a copy to the orignal author and, whenever possible, ask him/her whether he/she wants to defend his/her point, especially when it touches on controversies. 8) Do spelling check and format adjustification before sending each draft to ccf-editor. Wait for at least one response from ccf-editor for the final draft. Before finally posting to china-nt, make sure the final draft has been broadcasted on ccf-editor and checked by other editors. 9) Editor' Note or Reply may appear with or following a comment/article when necessary. However, no editor alone should have to bear the responsibility for a particular issue or particular article of CCF, because the Note is supposed to reflect EBCCF's opinion as a group. Specifically, when an Editor's Note or Editor's Reply is published, no editor's name should appear on it, unless absolutely necessary. 10) When an Editorial is drafted to publish, every editor is urged take time to read it carefully and voice his/her opinion regarding what is being expressed, because it is considered a reflection of the collective viewpoint of the Board. 11) Every editors is urged to do proofreading for the CCF drafts promptly. Editorial Board of Chinese Community Forum [ccf-editor@ifcss.org, 6/17/93]