INFORMS Style Instructions 2016 02 22

INFORMS-Style-Instructions-2016-02-22

INFORMS-Style-Instructions-2016-02-22

INFORMS-Style-Instructions-2016-02-22

INFORMS-Style-Instructions-2016-02-22

INFORMS-Style-Instructions-2016-02-22

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INFORMS

ANY INFORMS JOURNAL
February 2016, pp. 1–11

http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/educ.1104.0001
c 2016 INFORMS

Formatting Instructions for
INFORMS Author Styles, 2016/02/22
Mirko Janc
INFORMS, 5521 Research Park Drive, Suite 200, Catonsville, Maryland 21228, mirko.janc@informs.org

Second Author
School of Industrial Engineering, Good College, Collegeville, Maine 01234, secauth@goodcoll.edu

Third Author, Fourth Author
Their Common Affiliation {thauth@anywhere.edu, fourauth@anywhere.edu}

T

he abstract is limited to one paragraph and should contain no references and no equations. Following the abstract, please enter the following items (depending on the requirements of the particular
INFORMS journal): (1) key words (KEYWORDS), (2) MSC subject classification identifying primary and secondary codes (see http://www.ams.org/msc) (MSCCLASS), (3) OR/MS classification, also identifying primary
and secondary (see http://or.pubs.informs.org/Media/ORSubject.pdf) (ORMSCCLASS), (4) subject classifications (SUBJECTCLASS), and (5) area of review (AREAOFREVIEW). In later stages of manuscript processing, the
history line (HISTORY) will be added.
Key words : INFORMS journals; LaTeX styles; author templates; instructions to authors

1.

Templates and LaTeX Style

INFORMS currently publishes 11 print journals and three more that are online only (print
on demand available). This document gives a brief description of the LaTeX author style
informs3.cls. A LaTeX template is provided for each of the journals, giving further guidance
on the order and format of entering information, particularly article metadata. For every journal
there is a mandatory option when invoking the style, which consists of the official abbreviation
of the journal. This option will load particular details not necessarily shared by all journals. For
example,
\documentclass[mnsc]{informs3}
Following is a list of all INFORMS journal abbreviations.
deca
ijoc
inte
isre
ited
mnsc
mksc
moor
msom
opre
orsc
serv
stsc
trsc

Decision Analysis
INFORMS Journal on Computing
Interfaces
Information Systems Research
INFORMS Transactions on Education
Management Science
Marketing Science
Mathematics of Operations Research
Manufacturing & Service Operations Management
Operations Research
Organization Science
Service Science
Strategy Science
Transportation Science
1

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Other important options that should be combined with the journal abbreviation are blindrev
and nonblindrev. Options blindrev and nonblindrev are to be used when preparing a LaTeXkeyed mansucript for review. For blind review journals, option blindrev hides authors’ names,
the history line, and acknowledgments (and visibly announces that fact). In both blindrev and
nonblindrev cases, the printout clearly indicates that the manuscript is submitted to “X” journal;
the message is repeated in all running heads to avoid the possibly incorrect impression that the
article is already accepted for publication.
The line spread in the manuscript differs from journal to journal to accommodate various editorial
requirements. Follow the template (do not edit the LaTeX preamble!) and instructions on the
covers of the respective journal. Standard LaTeX penalties that prevent inappropriate page breaks
are also removed. For tables no spread is applied because a larger table, as one solid piece, could
extend past the bottom edge of the page.
Templates are provided one per journal to reflect particular relevant details not shared by all
INFORMS journals. For journals that allow electronic companions (ECs) (Management Science,
Operations Research), additional instructions can be found in the template of respective journals.

2.

LaTeX Packages/Tools Available

The informs3.cls house style will automatically load amsmath, amssymb, ifthen, url, graphicx,
array, and theorem styles/tools. Package dcolumn is also loaded to help align numbers in tables
on decimals. Please refer to respective LaTeX documentation sources for further explanation of
how these packages work. By loading amsmath, the whole range of enhanced math typesetting
commands is available in addition to the standard LaTeX constructions. Art (figures) should be
included by using the syntax of the standard graphicx package.
For reference processing, we use natbib because of its versatility to handle the author-year
system used by all INFORMS journals except moor. Of course, it handles the numeric style used by
moor equally well. For handling internal (and external) links, an option to use the hyperref package
is offered within templates. natbib and hyperref are loaded and configured only in individual
journal templates due to the high sensitivity of the order of their actions (they redefine many
internal LaTeX commands).

3.

Author and Title Information

Please enter author and title information per template. Besides the obvious TITLE, there are
RUNAUTHOR and RUNTITLE—shortened versions to be used in running heads (page headers).
In the general case of multiple authors, the style provides a block ARTICLEAUTHORS, used as
\ARTICLEAUTHORS{%
\AUTHOR{,
\EMAIL{}}
\AUTHOR{,
\EMAIL{},
\EMAIL{},
...}
...}
Enter all authors names. If hyperref is used, the syntax for URLs and e-mail addresses should be
\href{http://www.informs.org}{INFORMS}
\href{mailto:pubtech@informs.org}{pubtech@informs.org}

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3

where the second argument is printable/visible, while the first one indicates the action browser
will perform if pointed to the visible part of the hyperlink. For details, please see the hyperref
manual.

4.

Internal Links

To use the full potential of LaTeX and enable smooth revisions and updates of the article and its
references, all heads and subheads (section, subsection, subsubsection), equations that will
be referenced (not all equations!), theorem-like environments, and especially citations (references)
should be input properly, using symbolic links via \label{}, \ref{}, and \cite{} (and similar
commands). This is important regardless of whether you use hyperref.

5.

Mathematical Formulas

Please see LaTeX documentation. We will only point out some details not regularly available or
often overlooked by LaTeX users.
5.1. Special Characters
To help prevent incorrect coding for calligraphic and openface (blackboard bold) letters, this style
automatically loads amsmath and amssymb, so R and N are available and coded, respectively,
$\mathbb{R}$ and $\mathbb{N}$. Standard calligraphic letters like A, D, U , and X should be
coded as $\mathcal{A}$, $\mathcal{D}$, $\mathcal{U}$, and $\mathcal{X}$. With standard
fonts, only uppercase letters are available in both cases.
5.2. Bold Mathematical Symbols
Following the style guidelines of the American Mathematical Society, INFORMS does not set math
in bold, even if the environment is bold (as for example a section title). However, bold symbols
(roman and greek letters, and occasionally digits) are in wide use for variety of reasons. We added
macros to facilitate their use in regular math without resorting to overarching packages like \bm
or using the clumsy \mbox{\boldmath$$} construction.
This style provides the following sequence of bold symbols: A to Z; a to z; 0, 1, to 9; α to Ω;
A to Z ; as well as symbols ı, , `, ℘, and ∇. This list is keyed as
$\BFA$ to $\BFZ$; $\BFa$ to $\BFz$; $\BFzero$, $\BFone$, to $\BFnine$;
$\BFalpha$ to $\BFOmega$; $\BFcalA$ to $\BFcalZ$; as well as symbols
$\BFimath$, $\BFjmath$, $\BFell$, $\BFwp$, and $\BFnabla$.
5.3. Equation Counter
Whenever possible, equation numbering should be consecutive through the article (1, 2, . . . ). This
setting is achieved by outcommenting the command
\EquationNumbersThrough
in the journal template. If the complexity of the article really requires it, equation numbering can
be done by section. The template line
%\EquationNumbersBySection
should be outcommented in this case. Whichever equation numbering system you choose, please
number only the equations that will be referenced. Supply those equations with labels so that
the referencing can be done by \ref{} in the standard LaTeX process. Should you use eqnarray,
make sure that the last line does not end with \\, because that will set another blank line with an
equation number assigned to a formula that does not exist, and the numbering will go awry.

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4

5.4. Some Other Math Details
We mention a couple of random but useful points.
• For more convenient setting of matrices and matrix-like structures we supplied four environments that fine-tune math spacing around large delimiters. These are Matrix, vMatrix, bMatrix,
and pMatrix. For example, the Vandermonde determinant can be set as
1
x1
..
.

1
x2
..
.

xn−1
1

xn−1
2

...
...
..
.
...

1
xn
..
.
xn−1
n

by using the code
\begin{vMatrix}{cccc}1&1&\hdots&1\\ x_1&x_2&\hdots&x_n\\
\vdots&\vdots&\ddots&\vdots\\ x_1^{n-1}& x_2^{n-1}&\hdots&x_n^{n-1}\end{vMatrix}
The delimiters in the four constructs are, respectively, none, vertical bars, brackets, and parentheses
(no prefix, v, b, and p).
• Besides the usual math operators like \sin, \max, etc., we introduced \argmin and \argmax
to achieve the proper spacing and position of their limits in the display—centered under the whole
operator, not only under “max” or “min.”
• In math display constructions where the ubiquituous array is used, its elements are set in
\textstyle. Most notably, fractions will be set small and lines will appear cramped. Limits that
are supposed to go under operators will appear as subscripts. It is a matter of good mathematical
exposition, rather than of any rigid rules, that the \displaystyle be used when a formula is
considered too small and tight. To save keystrokes in such cases, we supplied \DS, \TS, and \mcr,
for, respectively, \displaystyle, \textstyle, and the code that should end any line instead of \\
to allow more generous spacing. Compare




1
1


1
1
1


1
a2 + b2


a2 + b2
a2 +b2
.

, 
,
and

1
1
1


1
1
1
1
1
1
c2 +d2
a2 +b2 c2 +d2
2
2
2
2
2
2
c +d
a +b c +d
c2 + d2 a2 + b2 c2 + d2
In the middle, the bMatrix end of line is keyed as the standard \\, instead of the enhanced \mcr
that is used in the last matrix.

6.

Lists

INFORMS has a special style for lists to accommodate journal column width. Typically lists are
set as standard paragraphs, starting with the identifier (number, bullet, etc.). To reflect this in an
automated way, we turned the standard settings for LaTeX lists “upside down.”
The style supplies enumerate, itemize, and description lists descr in the above-mentioned
paragraph style, whereas the standard hanging lists, if absolutely necessary, can be entered using
list environments with names that are tentatively preceded by “h” (for “hang”): henumerate,
hitemize, and hdescr. From time to time, our authors use a bulleted list within a numbered list.
To get proper settings for this—itemize within enumerate—we also introduced an enumitemize
list.
Following is a sample of enumerate based on text that appears on the inside cover of Marketing
Science. In the first item there is also an enumitemize sublist to illustrate its use.
1. Although our primary focus is on articles that answer important research questions in marketing using mathematical modeling, we also consider publishing many other different types of
manuscripts. These manuscripts include

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5

• empirical papers reporting significant findings (but without any specific contribution to
modeling),
• papers describing applications (emphasizing implementation issues), and
• scholarly papers reporting developments (in fundamental disciplines) of interest to marketing.
2. Manuscripts should report the results of studies that make significant contributions. Contributions can include significant substantive findings, improvements in modeling methods, meaningful
theoretical developments, important methodological advances, tests of existing theories, comparisons of methods and empirical investigations.
3. Marketing Science promises to provide constructive, fair, and timely reviews with the goal of
identifying the best submissions for ultimate publication in the Journal.

Compare it to henumerate (the bulleted list from the previous example is run into the first
item here):
1. Although our primary focus is on articles that answer important research questions in marketing using mathematical modeling, we also consider publishing many other different types
of manuscripts. These manuscripts include empirical papers reporting significant findings (but
without any specific contribution to modeling), papers describing applications (emphasizing
implementation issues), and scholarly papers reporting developments (in fundamental disciplines) of interest to marketing.
2. Manuscripts should report the results of studies that make significant contributions. Contributions can include significant substantive findings, improvements in modeling methods, meaningful theoretical developments, important methodological advances, tests of existing theories,
comparisons of methods and empirical investigations.
3. Marketing Science promises to provide constructive, fair, and timely reviews with the goal of
identifying the best submissions for ultimate publication in the Journal.
Following is the same text formatted as a bulleted list per INFORMS style.
• Although our primary focus is on articles that answer important research questions in marketing using mathematical modeling, we also consider publishing many other different types of
manuscripts. These manuscripts include empirical papers reporting significant findings (but without
any specific contribution to modeling), papers describing applications (emphasizing implementation issues), and scholarly papers reporting developments (in fundamental disciplines) of interest
to marketing.
• Manuscripts should report the results of studies that make significant contributions. Contributions can include significant substantive findings, improvements in modeling methods, meaningful
theoretical developments, important methodological advances, tests of existing theories, comparisons of methods and empirical investigations.
• Marketing Science promises to provide constructive, fair, and timely reviews with the goal of
identifying the best submissions for ultimate publication in the Journal.
Description list (as in glossaries, for example) will be set per this sample.
Originality: By submitting any manuscript, the author certifies that the manuscript is not
copyrighted and is not currently under review for any journal or conference proceedings. If the
manuscript (or any part of it) has appeared, or will appear, in another publication of any kind, all
details must be provided to the editor in chief at the time of submission. . .
Permissions: Permission to make digital/hard copy of part or all of this work for personal or
classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit
or commercial advantage, the copyright notice, the title of the publication and its date appear,
and notice is given that copying is by permission of the Institute for Operations Research and the
Management Sciences. . .

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Subscription Services: Marketing Science (ISSN 0732-2399) is a quarterly journal published
by the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences at 7240 Parkway Drive,
Suite 310, Hanover, MD 21076.

7.

Theorems and Theorem-Like Environments

Theorems and other theorem-like environments come in two main styles. Theorems, lemmas, propositions, and corollaries are traditionally set in italic type, and environments like examples and
remarks are set in roman.
To achieve automated distinction between these two main theorem styles (and substyles that are,
to some extent, journal dependent), we defined several new theorem styles, most notably TH and
EX. INFORMS house style prefers that all theorems (say) are numbered consecutively throughout.
However, for longer papers with a more complex structure, numbering by section is also provided.
The choice must be made in the template, because various counters defined in this way need to be
declared after hyperref.
The preferred version, \TheoremsNumberedThrough, is shown here
\def\TheoremsNumberedThrough{%
\theoremstyle{TH}%
\newtheorem{theorem}{Theorem}
\newtheorem{lemma}{Lemma}
\newtheorem{proposition}{Proposition}
\newtheorem{corollary}{Corollary}
\newtheorem{claim}{Claim}
\newtheorem{conjecture}{Conjecture}
\newtheorem{hypothesis}{Hypothesis}
\newtheorem{assumption}{Assumption}
\theoremstyle{EX}
\newtheorem{remark}{Remark}
\newtheorem{example}{Example}
\newtheorem{problem}{Problem}
\newtheorem{definition}{Definition}
\newtheorem{question}{Question}
\newtheorem{answer}{Answer}
\newtheorem{exercise}{Exercise}
}
The other, two-tier numbering scheme, is defined via
\def\TheoremsNumberedBySection{%
\theoremstyle{TH}%
\newtheorem{theorem}{Theorem}[section]
\newtheorem{lemma}{Lemma}[section]
\newtheorem{proposition}{Proposition}[section]
\newtheorem{corollary}{Corollary}[section]
\newtheorem{claim}{Claim}[section]
\newtheorem{conjecture}{Conjecture}[section]
\newtheorem{hypothesis}{Hypothesis}[section]
\newtheorem{assumption}{Assumption}[section]
\theoremstyle{EX}
\newtheorem{remark}{Remark}[section]

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\newtheorem{example}{Example}[section]
\newtheorem{problem}{Problem}[section]
\newtheorem{definition}{Definition}[section]
\newtheorem{question}{Question}[section]
\newtheorem{answer}{Answer}[section]
\newtheorem{exercise}{Exercise}[section]
}
Changing these numbering patterns by setting several different enunciations on the same counter
is strongly discouraged. The house style does not allow Theorem 1 to be followed by Lemma 2 and
then by Corollary 3.
For those who require an exception to the rule, there are theorem styles THkey and EXkey. These
follow the general style of TH and EX but if used with an optional argument, allow for keying any
text as a theorem title—numbering and embellishments are taken away in this case. For example,
{\theoremstyle{THkey}\newtheorem{mytheorem}{XXXXX}}
should be used only with the optional argument to get something like
My Dearest Most Important Theorem. a = a.
by keying
\begin{mytheorem}[My Dearest Most Important Theorem.]$a=a$.
\end{mytheorem}
For proofs, there is \proof{} ... \endproof. Here  may be
“Proof.”, or for example, “Proof of Theorem \label{mytheor1}.” In general, the end of proof
should be marked with the open box, aka \Halmos (). The proof can end after a normal sentence or
after displayed math. \Halmos should be entered manually (or not at all for the non-QED-oriented
authors).

8.

Footnotes and Endnotes

Use of footnotes varies among the INFORMS journals. Most journals allow regular footnotes.
However, inte does not allow footnotes, whereas opre and orsc use endnotes instead of footnotes.
Details of how to use endnotes are explained in the comments of the respective journals; template
files. In the opre and orsc cases, package endnotes.sty is invoked to automatically do the job.

9.

Figures and Tables

graphicx package should be used for inclusion of graphic files (it is automatically loaded). Please
see LaTeX documentation for details.
Here we will concentrate on our macros for handling the whole trio: caption, figure (art file),
and figure note, as well as the counterpart trio for tables. To enable proper style, all elements have
to be captured at once, so that the macro can analyze components for presence or absence of the
caption text, for presence or absence of a note, as well as for the tentative size of a figure or a
table, etc.
9.1. Figures
A typical setting for figures is
\begin{figure}
\FIGURE
{\includegraphics{figure-filename.pdf}}

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8
Figure 1

Text of the Figure Caption

Note. Text of the notes.

{Text of the Figure Caption.\label{fig1}}
{Text of the notes.}
\end{figure}
The result may look as shown in Figure 1 (just a rectangle to simplify this document). The typographical style and position of the caption (above or below the figure) will be automatically set
depending on the selected journal option. To summarize, within \FIGURE, the order of entries is
art—caption (with label )—notes. Even if notes are not included, the third argument to \FIGURE
must be present as an empty group {}, otherwise a syntax error will occur.
Regarding the figure itself (“art”), the preferred formats are PDF or EPS, whenever they can
guarantee the vector format (drawing, not image). A common problem is caused by transferring
graphs in MS Office products via the clipboard. In many cases the transfer creates a bitmap/image
instead of the original vector-based graph, which typically degrades the quality of art to an unacceptably low level. Such images are also (almost) ineditable.
If the art is a real image (photograph), JPEG and TIFF file formats are the way to go. JPEG
should be used with best quality in mind, not with the smallest file size. The latter typically
renders it useless for publishing. TIFF is not “lossy,” so it is preferred in such cases. Make sure
the resolution is high enough: For photographs, resolution should be at least 300 dpi in both black
and white and color cases. If there is a need to reproduce a piece of line art from an old source,
where an electronic file is not available and the only option is to scan, resolution should not be
lower than 900 dpi.
9.2. Tables
For inclusion of tables, a typical setting is
\begin{table}
\TABLE
{Text of the Table Caption.\label{tab1}}
{\begin{tabular}{}
entries
\end{tabular}}
{Text of the notes.}
\end{table}
The order of entries in \TABLE is caption (with label )—table body—notes, because the table caption
is always set above the table body. Within the table, INFORMS house style requires only three
rules: above the table column heads, between the table column heads and the table body, and after
the table body. Of course, straddle rules are acceptable if necessary (the “\cline{3--5} stuff”).
In extreme cases, a table may be so complex that it needs to be set as a piece of artwork, in which
case, a properly formatted vector-based figure may be included instead of a keyed table.
To enhance the appearance of tables regarding vertical spacing, macros \up and \down should
be used. \up should be used in rows following a rule (increasing the space below the rule). \down

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9

should be used in rows before a rule (increasing the space before the rule). The following LaTeX
detail shows how to use \up and \down.
\hline
\up\down System & Benchmark\\
\hline
\up First entry...\\
...
\down Last row\\
\hline
9.3. Rotated Figures and Tables
In cases where a figure, or more often a table, is so large that it cannot reasonably fit in the portrait
position, landscape setting is also available. The whole environment (figure or table) should be
surrounded by
\begin{rotate}

\end{rotate}
Before resorting to this extreme measure, please try smaller type size for the table body or even
some reworking/restructuring to make it fit.

10.

About Appendices

There are a variety of ways authors set their appendices. We tried to standardize those options to
make them work well with the internal linking system. Two basic styles are available.
1. Appendix started by a general title “Appendix,” possibly followed by two or more sections.
It should be keyed as
\begin{APPENDIX}{}
...
\end{APPENDIX}
Subsections and subsubsections are also allowed. There are two subtypes of such an appendix.
• If the empty braces after {APPENDIX} are left empty, the title of the whole section will be
“Appendix.”
• If a specific title is entered, say “Proofs of Lemmas and Theorems,” the appendix title will
appear as “Appendix. Proofs of Lemmas and Theorems.”
\begin{APPENDIX}{Proofs of Lemmas and Theorems}
will start that appendix type.
2. When you have two or more appendices that should logically be independent, we provide the
environment APPENDICES:
\begin{APPENDICES}
...
\end{APPENDICES}
This environment has no arguments. It is supposed to have at least two sections. Their titles will
be set as “Appendix A.