TRANSACTIONS AUTHOR GUIDELINES
Texts
Leonardo seeks to publish texts written by artists about their own work, ideas and process. The journal
does not publish texts written by a critic or researcher looking at the work of a single living artist (or
collective artists’ group).
Transactions texts may fill one or two journal pages. One page equals up to 1,000 words without
illustrations or 650 words with one illustration.
Authors should write in active voice (e.g. use “I checked the settings often” --- NOT “The settings were
checked often”) and should refer to themselves in the first person (e.g. USE “I worked furiously to obtain
the perfect effect” -- NOT “The author worked furiously to obtain the perfect effect.”)
The article title should be suitably descriptive and include key words useful for indexing.
Articles must include an abstract.
Titles of artworks should be italicized, e.g. “Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.”
References should be used as appropriate. See below for more detailed information.
Working with the Templates
Refer to the templates (link on web page www.leonardo.info/transactions.html) for detailed instructions for
laying out your text.
Using the appropriate template (one- or two-page option), lay out your text following the instructions
within the template and the guidelines given here. Texts should be formatted for 8.5 x 11 inch paper. Do
not alter paper size or column widths.
Once you are satisfied with your layout, upload your submission to Dropbox and share the Dropbox link
with Transactions Editor Ernest Edmonds (ernest@ernestedmonds.com). (Dropbox is a file hosting service
that offers up to 2 GB of free space to individuals. See http://www.dropbox.com for info.
All texts MUST be submitted in .doc or .doc-compatible format.
Illustrations
Figures should be referred to by figure number in the text and discussed in numerical order.
Try to size your images so as to fill the page(s) and avoid a big gap at the end of your article (keeping in
mind the need for high-resolution of images - see below).
Captions: Each image caption needs to include the figure number plus basic information about the image,
such as (if an artwork) artist’s name, title of the work, medium, dimensions (if applicable) and date; or (if
not an artwork) other suitable caption information. Each caption must also include copyright attribution
(including copyright symbol © and name of copyright holder).
Placement of captions: Captions should be placed “inside” relative to placement of the image (i.e. image at
bottom of page has caption above; image at top of page has caption below).
Release Forms: A signed Image Release Form must be submitted to the Transactions editor for each
illustration. Credit to the photographer should be included if the photographer is a different person than the
artist. An additional sentence of descriptive information may be included in the figure caption if desired.
High resolution images: Images should be of high resolution suitable for print reproduction. Digital
images should be a minimum of 300 ppi at their final size on the page. Authors should keep the image
resolution in mind when sizing images for layout.
Provide color illustrations when possible. Although the print version of Leonardo publishes images in
black and white, images in the electronic version of the journal will be published in color.
References
Citations should be provided for any source cited in the text, any direct quotes, sources of ideas and
influences, as well as previous related work of note. General sources on the topic may be cited as well.
References and Notes should be integrated into one list at the end of the text. Reference call-outs in the
text should be in the same font and size as the text, in numerical order, within square brackets and placed
prior to ending punctuation, like this [1]. Each reference number should be used only once; subsequent
references to the same source should receive a new reference number in the text and the citation in the
reference list should refer back to the initial reference.
Web URLs should appear within angle brackets and without underlines, like this: <www.leonardo.info>.
Refer to the sample article / article template, which provides examples of styling for most types of citations.
Permissions
Authors must sign a standard Leonardo Publication Agreement Form (link on page
<http://leonardo.info/isast/journal/editorial/edguides.html#right>.
You must provide an Image Release Form (see link above) signed by the copyright holder(s) for each
illustration.
Authors are responsible for obtaining the necessary permissions from third parties, when applicable (e.g.
for photos obtained from a museum, gallery, etc.). Note that often dual permissions will be necessary for
works held in museum collections -- the museum will most likely only be granting rights to reproduce their
photo of a work, while a separate permission will be required from the artist or the artist’s estate to
reproduce an image of the work.
Articles cannot be accepted for publication until all permissions have been received.
(8 October 2013)