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Formatting Instructions and Tips
Springer LNCS format - Frequent writing and formatting problems
If you are familiar with the LNCS format and publication process, you can skip this section.
For complete instructions and updated files, see LNCS Authors Instructions. The relevant files on that page are for LaTeX, llncs2e.zip and typeinst.zip; for Word 2007, splnproc1110.zip; for Word 2003, CS Proceedings_Author Tools_Word 2003.
Please read errata and instructions below.
Sample paper. For your convenience we provide a sample paper. This file is not provided by Springer. The file provided by Springer is typeinst.zip.
When describing phenomena of a language other than English or giving screenshots in another language, please make your discussion understandable for people not familiar with this language. For all non-English examples, data, and screenshots, English glosses are obligatory.
Please very carefully follow Springer's format instructions. Papers that do not comply with all format requirements cannot be published in the printed proceedings.
Do not underline email addresses or URLs and do not typeset them in blue color (even if Word insists on it).
All figures, tables, formulas, etc. must be within margins.
Do not include page numbers and running heads. In TeX, use \pagestyle{empty}.
Do not leave unused space on the pages. Move your figures if they cause unused space. Avoid if possible the last page being filled to less than one third.
No section title should be the last line on the page. No figure caption should be the first line of the page (the image being on the previous page). Avoid widow and orphan lines.
All section titles must be First Letter Capitalized.
Figure captions must be below the figure; table captions must be above the table.
Word users: When typesetting math, typeset variable names in italics. Format sub- and super-indices in formulas as such. Digits, commas, and parentheses in formulas must not be in italic. Formulas should be formatted with proper spacing. Use × (if any) and not * for multiplication; use en-dash – and not a hyphen - for minus; use three dots ... and not many dots .......... for ellipsis. Formulas containing anything more complex must be composed in Equation Editor:
| × Incorrect | √ Correct | Problems | ||
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aij=1 |
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aij = 1 |
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italics, sub-indices, spacing |
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f(x,y) = 1 + x*y + spur(A*B) |
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f(x,y) = 1 + xy + spur (A × B) |
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italics on ( ), digits, and comma; use of * |
| P = {a1, a2, ........, an} | P = {a1, a2, ..., an} | italics on {}, digits, dots, and commas; ellipsis with 3 dots | ||
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a - b = -1 |
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a – b = –1 |
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en-dash for minus (In Word, Ctrl-minus on the right-hand keypad) |
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aji = 1 |
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use Equation Editor |
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one thing above another: super- and sub-indices |
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Σi xi = 0 |
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use Equation Editor |
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math operators |
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1/2 (x + y)/(x - y) |
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use Equation Editor |
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one thing above another: fractions or anything more complex |
We recommend an en-dash as bullet character:
| × Incorrect: | • Morphological analysis • Syntactic analysis • Semantic analysis |
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| × Incorrect: | ◊ Morphological analysis ◊ Syntactic analysis ◊ Semantic analysis |
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| √ Correct: | – Morphological
analysis – Syntactic analysis – Semantic analysis |
If the title of your paper does not fit in one line, divide it into logical parts. For this, do not use hard line breaks; instead, use unbreakable spaces. In TeX: A~Method for~Calculating Semantic~Word~Distance. In Word, use Ctrl-Shift-Spacebar to place an unbreakable space: A°Method for°Calculating Semantic°Word°Distance (unbreakable spaces are visible when Show All Characters is enabled):
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× Incorrect: |
A Method for Calculating Semantic Word |
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√ Correct: |
A Method for Calculating |
Avoid colors in figures, or choose colors that print clearly in black and white: remember that the book will be printed in black and white: in print, a blue and a red line will look the same, and a yellow line will not be visible at all. In Excel drawings, remove the outer frame and make the background white (not grey).
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× Incorrect: |
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In the printed book, |
In the printed book, |
In the printed book, |
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√ Correct: |
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Use black-and-white |
Use hatched patterns |
Use solid, dashed, |
Avoid referring to colors in the text:
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× Incorrect: |
The blue line shows the results for k = 0.5 and the red line
shows the results for k = 0.1. (In printed book, both lines will look just grey!) |
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√ Correct: |
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For homogenous look of the book, please format the tables, whenever it does not cause difficulties in understanding the table, with only three thin horizontal lines:
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× Incorrect: |
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Figure captions must be below the figure; table captions must be above the table (especially important for TeX users). Both figures and tables should be centered. We recommend to also center both figure and table captions. You can also align the caption with the left side of the table:
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For Microsoft Word users: Springer LNCS Microsoft Word 2003 template file sv-lncs.dot (we did not check their Word 2007+ version) currently provided by Springer has the following bugs that you should correct in the text of your paper if they affect you:
All centered paragraphs (title, author, address, email, equation, etc.) and some other special paragraphs (table and figure captions) incorrectly have 0.4cm first line indentation. Please set it to 0 (not indented). In Word 2003 this can be done through the menu by changing Format | Paragraph | Indenting | Special to none or (for expert users) by modifying the corresponding style.
Bulleted lists seem to have a problem with the bullet character. You can choose another bullet character through the menu Format | Numbering and lists | Bulleted lists | Personalize or (for expert users) by modifying the corresponding style.
Table caption style has German language, you might want to set it to English through Tools | Language | Define Language.
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