Attention, Ask IFAS authors and unit editors! A small but very important change is around the corner.
Two summers ago, we published a blog post to discuss the EDIS Admin site and the EDIS Word template. Starting in August, we will ask all authors to place the text of their manuscripts into the EDIS Word template before submitting the manuscripts through OJS for review, editing, and layout.
Having a manuscript in the EDIS template ahead of time will minimize format-related issues during manuscript preparation, review, and copyediting, and will help to streamline layout and production to produce an elegant and ADA-compliant final document.
Using the EDIS template for manuscripts requires application of certain styles from the Styles pane for titles, author lists/contributors, headings, subheadings, tables, and figures. That said, using the template should make composing in Word much faster and easier.
Please do not anchor images, place images and captions in Word text boxes, or structure the text in two columns; otherwise, the layout team will have to go through and remove this extra formatting to process your manuscript. Everything should be inline with the text.
The layout team will handle the formatting of the final PDF, so simple, single-column manuscript structure at the submission stage is best. You can apply the “Comment-typesetting instructions” style to any specific layout requests in the manuscript.
You may wonder how you can access this essential tool. The EDIS Word template will be available for authors to download from https://edis-admin.ifas.ufl.edu/, from the IFAS Communications Publication Editing page, or from the OJS site (Information for Authors and Submission form). The template may be updated from time to time, so it is best to come back to get a new one from EDIS each time you start a new document.
Need more support or information when it comes to navigating the EDIS Word template? Check out these helpful UF/IFAS Communications webinars on accessible Word best practices and EDIS template dos and don’ts.
Interested in learning more about document design and writing? Remember to Ask IFAS.
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