Yellow Reports - Information for Authors

Andy Wellings & Ian Patrick

The Yellow Report series is the Department's Internal Technical Report series. The current Editor is Andy Wellings and the Administrator is Ian Patrick. All members of staff who are engaged in technical work (BoS, RAs, RSs, EOs, techs) are encouraged to make use of the Yellow Report series in reporting relevant aspects of their work.

What is the Goal of the Yellow Report Series?

"The Yellow Report series is designed for the purpose of informing friends and colleagues of our experiences and views in a manner which strikes a balance between ad hoc memoranda and formally refereed papers. It is intended that appropriate reports should be revised in the light of comments received, and thereafter offered for publication in the technical literature."

What are the Benefits?

• Visibility of the progress of your work to your colleagues.
• A means of referring to a piece of work properly.
• A means of acquiring 'tidy' documents that can be given to colleagues at other institutions.

What Makes a Yellow Report?

Many things might make a Yellow Report, and the Editor can provide particular advice, but the following could all be suitable for publication as a Yellow Report:

• A technical paper, describing work not quite ready for exposure to the full community.
• A position statement describing a view you hold on some technical problem.
• A lengthy literature survey, perhaps a qualifying dissertation.
• A reference manual, or perhaps a method description, too big for normal publication, but nevertheless something to which you would like to be able to refer.
• A user guide, or technical support manual, for an artifact constructed as part of a research project.
• A collection of position papers, or 'state of the nation' description taken by a research group.

Who Receives Copies of the Report?

The following receive copies of individual Yellow Reports:

• The Head of Department, and all Professors in the Department.
• The Departmental Library, the J. B. Morrell Library, and the British Lending Library.
• The lead author of the Yellow Report (10 copies).

In addition, the authors of Yellow Reports may nominate 10 individuals (prior to printing), or institutions to whom a copy of the Yellow Report should be sent. A copy of the Yellow Report (in compressed postscript) is also placed on the Department's FTP site.

How do I Publish a Yellow Report?

The procedure for publishing a Yellow Report is as follows:

• Write the report (the presentation medium does not manner) - numbers are not issued first.
• Request that one of the members of the BoS (who is not one of the authors but is probably a member of the author's research group and may be on a permanent Research Contract) to act as a formal reviewer of the report. The Reviewer should review the document for general technical and grammatical quality, for things that might embarrass the authors or the department, for sufficient citations to related work, etc.
• When he/she is happy with the report, send a paper copy of the document to the Editor (along with the name of the person who has performed the review) requesting its consideration as a Yellow Report. The Editor will then ensure that the review process has been properly performed.
• The document will then be returned to the author with either a request for changes, or agreement that the document can become a Yellow Report.
• Once agreement has been reached, the author should liaise with the Administrator to get the Yellow Report produced, distributed, and placed on the FTP site.

What if I have any Further Questions?

All questions regarding the Yellow Report series should be addressed to the Editor.