Generalized Mark-up

Although papers in the various scientific journals exhibit a great variety in typographical appearance, a common underlying structure can be recognized. The papers can be characterized by: a heading (with the title of the paper, and the author's names and affiliations); an abstract or summary; sections; tables; figures; equations; a list of references; and sometimes appendices. The typographical form of a paper is intended to support this structure. The typography is, in fact, derived from the structure, as becomes evident from the typographical instructions that are scribbled on to the oldfashioned typewriter written manuscripts by a desk editor.

A desk editor recognizes the structural elements of a paper from the typography of the typewriter written manuscript. The author has implicitly structured his manuscript by applying some rudimentary typography. The structure of a manuscript can be formalized, by asking the author to explicitly state what comes next, e.g. like this:

title:       Gnats and Gnus again
author:      A.N. Author
affiliation: The Gnats and Gnus Institute,
             Somewhere Lane 15, Downtown, Inthecountry.
abstract:
 Some people get fed up with examples that are about Gnats and Gnus.
 This paper brings about new information, which shows that Gnats and
 Gnus are a species with such unexpected virtues, that the reader will
 never be agonized again, but, to the contrary, cannot wait to learn
 more about them.
introduction:

$\vdots$
A desk editor could again scribble his remarks in this manuscript, to indicate to a typesetter what typographical form is required for each of the structural elements. The `scribbeling' of the desk editor is, by the way, called `mark-up'. An other desk editor, of a different journal, could also scribble in his remarks, which would make sure that the typesetter applies the typographical rules of this other journal.

So we have not only formalized the mark-up of the paper, we have also made it independent of the typographical form. Mark-up which is independent of the typographical form is said to be generalized mark-up.

The idea of modern (scientific) publishing is that the author supplies a manuscript, which is marked-up employing a `Generalized Mark-up Language'1.

This manuscript can be processed by any publisher into the typographical format of a particular publication. The advantages of the concept are obvious: 1. the author does not have to bother with typographical matters, and 2. the publisher is completely in control of the appearance of a publication, just as he always has been.