TLT behind the scenes
By Rachel Fowler, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief | TLT Publisher's Pen June 2026
From idea to publication, every TLT article goes through a thoughtful, collaborative process designed to ensure technical accuracy, clarity and value for readers.
TLT is the official award-winning monthly publication of STLE and was created to aid in the technical education and professional development of STLE members and industry colleagues. Have you ever wondered what it takes to create this magazine from start to finish? I’ll try to explain the process here in this column.
TLT has a team of Technical Editors each year who help develop the editorial and technical content. Technical Editors are carefully chosen from a strong group of applicants with diverse backgrounds and areas of expertise. They fill out Idea Submission Forms for Feature, 20 Minute interview and Sounding Board articles. Then the editorial staff and TLT Editor review the forms over the summer for the next calendar year and create the 12-month editorial calendar from the forms. The calendar is used to help set editorial direction of TLT and identify topical areas where editorial technical content needs to be developed by the Technical Editors.
Then, we as the editorial staff assign and create deadlines for all articles in each issue, which include columns, interviews, fundamentals articles, webinar articles, newsmakers and more.
Throughout the year, for each issue, we maintain deadlines, review and edit each article, work with our team of graphic designers on layout and production and work with each writer to finalize their article. The TLT Editor reviews articles and writes a monthly column each month as well. We review each article again during the layout stage. We also help pick out images, create the table of contents, work on cover teasers and organize the pages to fill in ads.
Putting the pages together into a page schedule each month is like solving a puzzling. There needs to be space for advertisements, and the length can be different each month for certain articles. There’s also one thing many don’t realize—most print publication page counts have to be a number divisible by eight because a single large piece of paper, known as a “signature,” contains multiple printed pages on both sides.
Near the end of the process for an issue, the graphic designer makes one master file that we check before sending to our printer. Then we work with our printer on the mailing labels, final checks and the digital TLT, which they set up for us. We need to finalize an issue a little less than a month ahead of time. For example, for the February issue, we usually send it to the printer around January 7. We also set up the TLT Archives near the end of the process.
Once an issue is sent to the printer, I feel a sense of accomplishment. But then the next day, we are onto the next issue! And many times deadlines overlap for TLT issues.
What may appear as a finished article is, in reality, the result of many careful steps and dedicated contributors working behind the scenes. From initial concept to final publication, the TLT editorial process ensures that each piece not only meets high technical standards but also serves the needs of its readers. This collaborative effort between writers, reviewers, the TLT Editor and editorial staff is what allows TLT to consistently deliver trusted, relevant and engaging content to the tribology and lubrication engineering community.
You can reach TLT publisher/editor-in-chief Rachel Fowler at rfowler@stle.org.