Page Charges. Historically, page charges for compuscripts have fluctuated. The Council has, at various points over the ten-year history of the program, voted for reduced page charges, the elimination of page charges, and full page charges for compuscripts.
In a current three-year pilot program, publication charges have been suspended for papers accepted after 30 June 1992 for publication in Physical Review C as compuscripts, or accepted after that date for publication in Physical Review D (whether as compuscripts or via conventional production). Publication charges continue to apply to compuscripts in the other journals.
Macros. Some authors use specialized definitions, or macros, in their files. These definitions serve different purposes: some macros save the author from typing a long character string repetitively (Type 1), and some macros act as commands to the TeX program (Type 2).
How macros become problematic. Type-1 macros enable the author to define a frequently occurring string of characters as a shorter string, in order to save typing time. These macros become problematic at production stage when the frequently occurring string needs stylistic or grammatical changes. At that point, the production of the compuscript requires either (1) evaluation by a staff member who is fluent in macro construction, because the macro will need to changed, or (2) additional attention by a staff member who will change every occurrence of the string manually in the file.
Neither one of the two alternatives is in the spirit of the compuscript program: the author of the compuscript will need to proofread the galleys very carefully, and production time/cost has become inflated by processing as a compuscript!
Type-2 macros enable the author to give commands to the TeX program. Authors need to do this when the macro package they are using does not contain a command that they need.
Type-2 macros frequently occur in LaTeX compuscripts. This is because the macros do not provide for certain elements of Physical Review style; for instance, letters in equation numbers. Authors who are using LaTeX to compose their compuscripts would need to develop a command that would number their equations (1a), (1b), etc.
Type-2 macros should not occur in REVTeX compuscripts. The REVTeX macros ideally represent a complete command set, allowing the author to do anything that Physical Review style allows.
Since our first release of REVTeX , some authors have given us feedback on macros that they would like included in the REVTeX package, as well as changes they would like made. Some of these suggestions are feasible (accurate double spacing) and some are not (the ability to draw many horizontal lines within the tabular environment). Relevant suggestions have been incorporated into REVTeX . The APS will review compuscripts containing Type-2 macros when authors feel that they have found a deficiency in REVTeX .
Authors should remove all macros from their compuscripts. Type-1 macros are easy to remove, with the aid of a word processor which is equipped to do global substitutions. Type-2 macros are not easy to remove; authors may not be able to do so and therefore will be ineligible for the compuscript program.
This represents the current policy for compuscript page charges and macro usage, which is subject to change. If you have any questions regarding these issues please contact the authors of this guide.