Production

A file is not finished because it looks right on a laptop. The printer you will actually use has to confirm the size, the paper, the inks, and the way the file should be delivered.

Ask, in writing, for the trim size, the bleed, the colour (process, spot, or both), the paper stock, and the proof the printer will supply. If a job has folds or a spine, ask how the printer wants those marked. A remembered setting from a previous job is not a specification for this one.

Images should be checked at the size they will print, instead of checking them only at the size they appear on a phone. A photograph that looks sharp at 6 cm may not look sharp at 24 cm. This journal does not quote a single "correct" resolution, because that number depends on the screen or the press and on the viewing distance.

If a print-ready PDF is rejected, read the printer's note before you change everything. The usual problems are missing bleed, a RGB image where the printer expected CMYK, or a typeface that was not outlined or embedded. Fix the thing they named, then send the file again.