Prior to mid-1967, halftones on glossy paper stock were placed within the papers close to where they were cited. However, that involved the expensive process ...
THE ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL, 499 : 525, 1998 June 1 ( 1998. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Printed in U.S.A.
ANNOUNCEMENT : EMBEDDED HALFTONES Prior to mid-1967, halftones on glossy paper stock were placed within the papers close to where they were cited. However, that involved the expensive process of cutting each 32-page signature and handinserting the halftones. To save that expense, thereafter the halftones were called plates and were bound at the end of each issue. The alternative would have been to print the entire Journal on glossy stock, which would have produced heavier issues and raised paper and postage costs considerably. Of course, placing halftones at the end of the issue was inconvenient for readers. Some halftones were acceptable in quality if printed on text stock, so we o†ered authors the option of having their halftones printed on text stock within the paper or on glossy stock at the end of the issue (H. A. Abt, ApJ, 172, 527 [1972]). Recent improvements have been made in paper stock, as in many other technologies. The Press found a semigloss paper that allows high-resolution halftones without the disadvantages of excessive weight and cost. That stock was tried for T he Astronomical Journal starting with the 1998 January issue and proved to be satisfactory. The paper has the same opacity (92.5%) as the present stock. It has 95% of the weight, so postage costs will not increase. It also has 71% of the thickness, so the Journal will occupy less shelf space and we can postpone the time when we will have to go to weekly publication. Therefore we will start using that stock with the 1998 June 10 issue. Starting with that issue, all halftones in both parts of the Journal and in the Supplement will be called Ðgures but will not be identiÐed as plates and will be placed close to where they are cited. I thank the Press sta† for exploring paper stocks and allowing us to make these improvements. The L etters will continue to be limited to 4.0 journal pages of text, tables, and Ðgures, which henceforth will also include what were previously called ““ plates.ÏÏ HELMUT A. ABT Editor-in-Chief A. DALGARNO L etters Editor
