Information for authors
Scope
As explained in the Editorial Charter, ACM Transactions on Graphics publishes papers of significant and lasting value in all areas of computer graphics, including (but not limited to) the following.
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Animation Artistic Rendering Font Rendering & Typography Graphical Data Compression Image-Based Rendering Image Warping & Morphing |
Implicit Curves & Surfaces Interactive Techniques Meshed Geometry Processing Motion Capture & Synthesis Numerical Methods Parametric Curves & Surfaces |
Photorealistic Rendering Physically-Based Modeling Procedural Modeling & Texturing Texture Synthesis Visual Simulation Volumetric Modeling & Rendering |
Submission categories
TOG accepts manuscript submissions in these categories:
- Previously unpublished research paper. These can include material presented as a SIGGRAPH Sketch or in a workshop, symposium or conference so long as it was not published in a journal. (Any such prior presentation must be cited.)
- SIGGRAPH accept with major revision. Some papers submitted to the SIGGRAPH conference are sufficiently compelling to warrant acceptance, but would require more revision than the few weeks the SIGGRAPH conference schedule permits. The SIGGRAPH Papers Committee recommends these papers for acceptance with major revision to appear in an upcoming issue of TOG. These manuscripts once revised are submitted to TOG under this category for verification of the revisions and eventual publication.
- Resubmission of SIGGRAPH paper requesting reviewer continuity. If a paper has previously been rejected from a SIGGRAPH conference, the authors may request that the original SIGGRAPH reviewers examine the revised paper, in order to improve continuity of the review process. The SIGGRAPH organization will forward the reviews and reviewer names to a TOG associate editor, who will coordinate the process and make the acceptance recommendation. This type of submission must be accompanied by an explanation of the changes made since the earlier SIGGRAPH submission. Also, be sure to include the original paper title if it has changed.
Publication policies
The ACM Publications Policies page addresses issues of plagiarism, copyrights, simultaneous submissions, etc.
Format
We prefer manuscripts submitted as PDF files, but can also accept PostScript or Microsoft Word documents.
Documents should follow the formatting of the sample paper in this ZIP file so that we can properly assess page count. Note that the format of ACM TOG differs from that of other ACM Transactions in that it follows the two-column style of the SIGGRAPH Proceedings.
Instructions and style files for formatting a submission using LaTeX are present in the same ZIP file.
Because TOG has page count constraints, authors are encouraged to keep the presentation concise. For instance, figures and tables should be formatted to span only a single column rather than both columns if possible. Also, it may be appropriate to place content in supplementary electronic material that accompanies the submission. Such supplementary material is made available with the paper in the ACM Digital Library after the paper is published.
Process
TOG accepts submissions electronically via Manuscript Central. Authors should go there, create an account and password, login selecting "Transactions on Graphics", and proceed to the Author Center to submit a manuscript.
A submitted paper must overcome several hurdles in its quest for publication in ACM Transactions on Graphics.
- An administrative assistant first checks the submission for completeness and notifies the Editor-in-Chief.
- The Editor-in-Chief then determines if the paper is appropriate for consideration by TOG and, if so, assigns it to an Associate Editor.
- The Associate Editor reads the paper and further determines if it is appropriate for TOG consideration, and if so, selects several referees.
- The referees read the submission and measure its novelty, impact and correctness, and each returns a review to the Associate Editor.
- The Associate Editor collects the reviews and makes a recommendation to the Editor-in-Chief on the acceptability of the submission.
- The Editor-in-Chief, based on the reviews and Associate Editor's recommendation, makes a final, binding recommendation on the acceptability of the submission, and communicates to the author this recommendation along with the Associate Editor's comments and referees reviews.
- For papers on which the Editor-in-Chief has a conflict, the role of Editor-in-Chief is assigned to the Past-Editor-in-Chief.
Our goal is to get your submission out to the graphics community as soon as possible.
- We strive to complete this process from submission to decision in 3 months, and our average time is 2.5 months from submission to decision, though some papers can require longer periods to perform the complete and thorough evaluation required by the top journal in computer graphics.
- If at any time during this process we determine your submission is inappropriate for consideration by TOG, we will return the submission to the author immediately so the problem can be fixed or the submission can be sent to a more appropriate venue. This is in the best interest of the author and the timely publication of the submission as it avoids a lengthy review process that would nevertheless result in rejection.
- Once a paper is accepted, we immediately make the entire paper freely available on the TOG website, until its TOG issue is physically published and it becomes available in the ACM Digital Library.
The journal submission process is unlike that of a conference, workshop or symposium.
- There is no deadline. Submit your manuscript when it is ready.
- There is no page limit. Use the least number of pages necessary to adequately describe your idea.
For assistance, please contact the Assistant to the Editor-In-Chief.
Recommendations
Your submission will be returned with one of the following recommendations:
- Accept as is. The submission will appear in an upcoming issue of ACM Transactions on Graphics.
- Accept with minor revisions. If the author implements the requested revisions, the revised submission will appear in an upcoming issue. The revisions will be verified by the Associate Editor.
- Accept with major revisions. If the author implements the requested revisions, the revised submission will appear in an upcoming issue. The revisions will be verified by the original referees.
- Provisional reject. The author is encouraged to submit a revised version of the manuscript, but there is no guarantee that even if the requested revisions were successfully performed that the submission would be accepted. There may be additional revisions necessary beyond the ones originally requested.
- Reject. The author is encouraged to submit the manuscript elsewhere, or the manuscript does not yet meet the standards of breadth, impact, novelty or correctness required for publication by the number one journal in computer graphics.
An accept with revisions decision is contingent on the timely submission of a revised manuscript, to ensure the novelty of the contribution. We expect authors to submit revised manuscripts within six months of the decision, unless a request for an extension is granted by the Editor-in-Chief.
Questions regarding editorial review process should be directed to the Editor-in-Chief.
Questions regarding the post-acceptance production process should be addressed to the Publisher, Laura A. Lander.
Once Accepted
The acceptance email will contain the most up-to-date instructions.
We are trying to improve the quality of the PDF and print images too. Please help us with that by verifying that the images in the proofs you receive have not been overly compressed.
Questions regarding the formatting of the final version of the paper should be directed to Joanne Pello.
ACM Author-Izer Service
This service extends ACM's support for self-archiving by enabling authors to generate and post links in their own bibliographies that they maintain on either their personal home page or institutional repository. These links will let any visitors to your personal bibliography pages download the definitive version of the articles for free from the ACM DL. These downloads will be recorded as part of the DL usage statistics.
See the summary description and instructions.