Plastics Technology Editorial Submission Guidelines

FEATURE ARTICLES

Each issue of the magazine has an emphasis topic. Feature articles written by a technical expert from a company should discuss plastics processing technology from that company’s perspective, however, commercialism must be kept to a minimum. What PT delivers to readers, in particular, are how-to, “tips”-type features that are focused on a particular process and offer advice on how to solve problems and improve efficiencies.

These contributed features appear in the publication are in two primary forms: how-to stories we call Tips & Techniques (i.e., “10 Steps Toward Better Compounding”), and Troubleshooting articles, which are very specific problem/solution treatments (i.e., “Getting Better Results From Your Film Gauge”). Feature articles typically run with 3-5 illustrations (photos, graphs, charts, diagrams). All illustrations should be submitted in high-resolution format and require a caption. All contributed articles are accompanied by an “About the Author” box at the end, which is a short bio about the author that includes his or her contact details (phone, email, website).

CASE STUDIES

In each issue, Plastics Technology features “plant visit” stories called On Site. Most often, we are put into contact with these users by suppliers, so what we would need from your company is contact information for a customer willing to talk with us in some detail about their operations, plus any background material about the application that you can provide.

Completed case studies are always sent back to the user for approval before publication. We also produce monthly application-based Processor Strategies articles, which are single-page treatments of something very specific a processor has employed to solve a problem or create a new business opportunity. Again, we rely on technology suppliers to steer us in the direction of such companies.

NEW PRODUCTS

If your company has developed a new product or an improvement of an existing product, we’d like to tell our audience about it. Each issue, PT publishes a new products section called Keeping Up With Technology. New products that we believe require more in-depth treatment can also appear in our Technology Close-Up. Have you recently published a new brochure, catalog or other piece of literature? Our readers want to know—they consistently rate information on new products and technologies as one of the most important types of coverage PT provides.

PLASTICS TECHNOLOGY HANDBOOK & BUYERS’ GUIDE

Published annually in November, this guide is essentially a directory of technology suppliers broken down by the types of products they supply. While the Handbook contains no articles per se, it does have write-ups of suppliers in major equipment categories that describe their product line.

We rely heavily on suppliers to ensure that these write-ups, as well as all other data in the Handbook, are accurate and up to date. As part of our update process, we periodically send out emails to all suppliers asking them to confirm the accuracy of prior years’ data and alert us of any changes. It is crucial to this process that suppliers respond to this email.

PTONLINE.COM

Content that appears in the print publication is also repurposed on our website. Taking advantage of multi-media opportunities, we encourage suppliers to submit videos showing their equipment in action. Contact our editors for format guidelines.

HOW TO WRITE A PRESS RELEASE

EDITING & EXCLUSIVITY

Plastics Technology will edit any editorial submissions for content and to conform to our style guide. Contributed feature articles must be exclusive to PT magazine and must not have been published previously in another publication. Authors may be asked to sign a copyright release or to assign in writing one-time rights to PT magazine.

EDITORIAL FORMAT

Feature articles should be submitted as Microsoft Word (.doc) documents; news and product releases also may be in Adobe PDF format. Tables, graphs, photographs and other illustrations must be separate files, rather than incorporated or embedded within the text document.

IMAGES

Images should be in .jpg or .tif file formats, with a minimum resolution of 300 dpi at a minimum size of 4 × 5 inches. Photographs are also acceptable. All photographic materials must be clear, sharp, in-focus and properly exposed. Captions should be provided for each photograph, and each photograph should be identified.

LARGE FILES

Files larger than 20 MB may be uploaded here.

DEADLINES

Editorial deadlines are two months in advance of the issue date. Contact our editors about six months in advance with story ideas so that we may begin the process of planning the story.