Oil & Gas Journal editors are pleased to receive manuscripts from new or experienced authors.

Articles in specific petroleum-industry fields (drilling, petrochemicals, for examples) should be submitted directly to the responsible section editor. Each is listed in the magazine (on the second page of the Table of Contents) and on www.ogjonline.com. But any manuscript may also be sent to the Chief Technology Editor; a submission checklist (following) provides a list of desired items.

A submitted article should include the name, company, mailing address, telephone and telefax numbers, and e-mail address for each author. It should also indicate in a cover e-mail message or letter whether the article is being submitted exclusively to OGJ or has appeared in another forum (publication, conference, or seminar, for examples).

SUBJECT MATTER

OGJ editors evaluate a submitted manuscript based on:

1. Audience. The manuscript should primarily target engineers, engineering managers, scientists, planners, or analysts who are employed in operating oil and gas companies and assumed to be broadly familiar with the petroleum industry.
    
2. Motive. The manuscript should provide engineer, technical specialist readers with useful information or data, analyses, instructions, tools, calculations, comparisons, or solutions for running and maintaining oil and gas operations or for designing processes, plants, and projects.
    
3. Content and context. Manuscripts presenting products or services, including computer programs, simulations, etc., must include the contexts of actual operations with technical specifics and detailed results.
   

Simple descriptions of products and services, new or existing, and their benefits; sales presentations; and features based on interviews or testimonials are not considered technical articles.

There is, however, a place for short technical releases, report or study abstracts, standalone photographs or drawings (with captions), and other material. To be publishable, such items must have elements of Points 1 or 2 or have some other dramatic quality.

LENGTH AND FORMAT

Reviewing the industry-specific sections in previous issues of OGJ provides the best guide for lengths and formats of OGJ articles. Following are the main requirements in this area:

• OGJ does not employ the traditional technical-paper format. The beginning sentence or sentences (“lead”) must give the essence (not detail) of the information to be presented and briefly explain why it is important to the intended reader or technology. In general, such a lead is often found in the conclusions of many traditional technical papers.
   
• For length, OGJ is flexible; short articles are acceptable. An ideal length is 2,000-3,000 words plus 6-8 illustrations (see below). A series of articles is also an option.
  

ILLUSTRATIONS

Figures (graphs, maps, charts, drawings, photographs) and tables must be numbered and mentioned by this number in the text. Each should be presented on a separate page or in separate electronic file. PLEASE DO NOT EMBED figure, table, reference numbers, or hyperlinks in the text of the article.

Tables and figures should have titles or headlines. For charts, the title wording should reflect the reason for presenting the figure and not simply repeat the axes (time vs. temperature, for example). 

Diagrams and illustrations need only be legible and accurate. OGJ artists will redraw most.

A very complicated figure or chart with intricate scaling, however, should be “camera-ready”: reproduced with crisp lines on white background to be used as a photograph, if called for. Also, it’s important to remember that large, detailed illustrations must remain legible when reduced to 7 or 4-1/4 in. in width.

Color photos in electronic format (see below) are preferable. Minimum width for prints is 3-1/2 in. Each picture or slide should be given a figure number and have a caption that explains it.

All lengthy equations should be numbered and presented in a separate equations box along with necessary nomenclature.

ELECTRONIC SUBMISSIONS

If possible, an article and its graphics should be submitted as attachments to one or more e-mail messages (see below for more items). Or, they may be submitted on a compact disk (CD) or memory stick. The latest version of MSWord is OGJ’s preference.

If digital photographs are submitted, please provide them in .tif, .eps, .jpg, or .bmp formats with a scanned resolution of at least 250-300 dpi (color mode). PowerPoint files may also be submitted.

EDITING

Inexperienced writers or those for whom English is a second language are encouraged to submit manuscripts.

OGJ editors edit only when necessary to meet our standards for style and tone. If major changes, deletions, or reorganization seem necessary, the author will be contacted before publication.

Although we have requirements, we are flexible. So, if there is any question about your manuscript meeting any of them, please send it anyway.

In the final analysis, it is content, not format, that is most important.

Chief Technology Editor (warrent@ogjonline.com)
Oil & Gas Journal
1455 West Loop South
Suite 400
Houston, TX 77027-3005
USA
Tel.: 713-621-9720 (main); 713/963-6230 (direct)
Fax : 713-963-6282

Text

• A copy of the text attached to an e-mail message or mailed on a compact disc (CD) or memory stick in MS Word (for PC), preferably, or ASCII text-file format.
   
• PLEASE DO NOT EMBED figure, table, reference numbers, or hyperlinks in the text of the article. Remove all figures and tables to separate files for each.
   

Graphics

• Clear, large copies of all figures (maps, diagrams, photographs, etc.) and tables.
   
• Color photographs are preferred and may be sent electronically, scanned at 250-300 dpi in CMYK color mode and saved as .tif, .gif, .jpg, or .bmp format. (Photographs lifted from internet sites are generally of unsuitable quality.) CDs containing large photographs will be retained by OGJ unless return is requested.
   
• Each photograph should have an individual caption and cite any necessary photo credit and/or copyright. All parts of a computer screen capture should be legible.
   
• Tables should be sent in MSWord document with tabs (tabs delimited) or as ASCII text files, NOT as image files.
   
• Each figure may be saved in MS Word.
   

Authors

• A brief biographical sketch of each author should include current title and company or business affiliation, immediate past titles and companies, education—degrees, dates, and institutions—, and professional affiliations.
   
• A color photograph of each author should be sent electronically. This author photo should NOT be embedded in Word doc file but be a jpg file, at least 500 kb in file size, 300 dpi (not 72 dpi), and at least 2 in. wide by 3 in. tall.