1986: In response to author requests and market research, the American Physical Society (APS) launched a new compuscript development effort. The focus was on the TeX typesetting program, and the goal was to expand the capabilities of the Society's electronic submission program to include TeX-prepared compuscripts, using those submissions to produce final pages for Physical Review.
Evaluating the available TeX-based tools, including LaTeX, APS recognized that the TeX physics community did not have all the necessary tools to create a physics manuscript. At that point the APS staff designed the macro package and style guide called REVTeX to help meet these requirements and standardize compuscript submission files.
The idea for a REVTeX macro set was born under the following premises.
1. Ease of reformatting. Files were to be reformatted from preprints to final pages. This reformatting would have to be easily accomplished with minimal modification to the file.
2. Ease of use. If possible, build on the knowledge and documentation already available in the community. Also, the package must provide for any and all acceptable styling situations. In this way authors would be encouraged to follow the rules in manuscript preparation.
3. Built-in allowance for growth. The macro set must easily allow for more journal formats.
4. Electronic submissions. The macro set must contain preprint styles to facilitate original manuscript submissions to editorial offices.
5. Author compliance. Develop procedures to encourage author compliance, thereby minimizing handling of compuscripts, resulting in decreased proofreading for both the author and staff.
``REVTeX ,'' so named for the Physical Review journals, was released in 1988. Version 2 responded to author feedback and also addressed certain in-house production concerns. Version 2 was released in March 1990.
The Optical Society of America (OSA), the American Astronomical Society (AAS), and the American Institute of Physics (AIP) expressed interest in this project and were kept informed of progress. The APS has enjoyed continued success with their compuscript program, and as of July 1996 were receiving 50% of their published pages as compuscripts.