Ars Combinatoria
ISSN 0381-7032 (print), 2817-5204 (online)
Ars Combinatoria is the oldest Canadian journal of combinatorics, established in 1976, dedicated to advancing combinatorial mathematics through the publication of high-quality, peer-reviewed research papers. Over the decades, it has built a strong international reputation and continues to serve as a leading platform for significant contributions to the field.
Open Access: The journal follows the Diamond Open Access model—completely free for both authors and readers, with no article processing charges (APCs).
Publication Frequency: From 2024 onward, Ars Combinatoria publishes four issues annually—in March, June, September, and December.
Scope: Publishes research in all areas of combinatorics, including graph theory, design theory, enumeration, algebraic combinatorics, combinatorial optimization and related fields.
Indexing & Abstracting: Indexed in MathSciNet, Zentralblatt MATH, and EBSCO, ensuring wide visibility and scholarly reach.
Rapid Publication: Submissions are processed efficiently, with accepted papers published promptly in the next available issue.
Print & Online Editions: Issues are available in both print and online formats to serve a broad readership.
- Research article
- Full Text
- Ars Combinatoria
- Volume 101
- Pages: 33-44
- Published: 31/07/2011
Gyarfas conjectured that for a given forest \(F\), there exists an integer function \(f(F,w(G))\) such that \(\chi(G) \leq f(F,w(G))\) for any \(F\)-free graph \(G\), where \(\chi(G)\) and \(w(G)\) are respectively, the chromatic number and the clique number of G. Let G be a \(C_5\)-free graph and \(k\) be a positive integer. We show that if \(G\) is \((kP_1, + P_2)\)-free for \(k \geq 2\), then \(\chi(G) \leq 2w^{k-1} \sqrt{w}\); if \(G\) is \((kP_1, + P_3)\)-free for \(k \geq 1\), then \(\chi(G) \leq w^k \sqrt{w}\). A graph \(G\) is \(k\)-divisible if for each induced subgraph \(H\) of \(G\) with at least one edge, there is a partition of the vertex set of \(H\) into \(k\) sets \({V_1,… , V_k}\) such that no \(V_i\); contains a clique of size \(w(G)\). We show that a \((2P_1+P_2)\)-free and \(C_5\)-free graph is \(2\)-divisible.
- Research article
- Full Text
- Ars Combinatoria
- Volume 101
- Pages: 15-26
- Published: 31/07/2011
The concept of the sum graph and integral sum graph were introduced by F. Harary. Let \(\mathbb{N}\) denote the set of all positive integers. The sum graph \(G^+(S)\) of a finite subset \(S \subset {N}\) is the graph \((S, E)\) with \(uv \in E\) if and only if \(u+v \in S\). A simple graph \(G\) is said to be a sum graph if it is isomorphic to a sum graph of some \(S \subset {N}\). The sum number \(\sigma(G)\) of \(G\) is the smallest number of isolated vertices which when added to \(G\) result in a sum graph. Let \(\mathbb{Z}\) denote the set of all integers. The integral sum graph \(G^+(S)\) of a finite subset \(S \subset {Z}\) is the graph \((S, E)\) with \(uv \in E\) if and only if \(u+v \in S\). A simple graph \(G\) is said to be an integral sum graph if it is isomorphic to an integral sum graph of some \(S \subset {Z}\). The integral sum number \(\zeta(G)\) of \(G\) is the smallest number of isolated vertices which when added to \(G\) result in an integral sum graph. In this paper, we investigate and determine the sum number and the integral sum number of the graph \(K_n \setminus E(C_{n-1})\). The results are presented as follows:\(\zeta(K_n \setminus (C_{n-1})) = \begin{cases}
0, & n = 4,5,6,7 \\
2n-7, & n \geq 8
\end{cases}\)
and
\(\sigma(K_n \setminus E(C_{n-1})) = \begin{cases}
1, & n = 4 \\
2, & n = 5\\
5, & n = 5\\
7, & n = 7\\
2n-7, & n \geq 8
\end{cases}\)
- Research article
- Full Text
- Ars Combinatoria
- Volume 101
- Pages: 3-13
- Published: 31/07/2011
The topic is the hat problem, in which each of \(n\) players is randomly fitted with a blue or red hat. Then, everybody can try to guess simultaneously their own hat color by looking at the hat colors of the other players. The team wins if at least one player guesses their hat color correctly, and no one guesses their hat color wrong; otherwise, the team loses. The aim is to maximize the probability of winning. In this version, every player can see everybody excluding themselves. We consider such a problem on a graph, where vertices correspond to players, and a player can see each player to whom they are connected by an edge. The solution of the hat problem on a graph is known for trees and for the cycle \(C_4\). We solve the problem on cycles with at least nine vertices.
- Research article
- Full Text
- Ars Combinatoria
- Volume 101
- Pages: 417-423
- Published: 31/07/2011
Let \(D(G)\) be the Davenport constant of a finite abelian group \(G\), defined as the smallest positive integer \(d\) such that every
sequence of \(d\) elements in \(G\) contains a nonempty subsequence with sum zero the identity of \(G\). In this short note, we use group rings as a tool to characterize the Davenport constant.
- Research article
- Full Text
- Ars Combinatoria
- Volume 101
- Pages: 333-342
- Published: 31/07/2011
It is proved that if \(G\) is a \(K_{2,3}\)-minor-free graph with maximum degree \(\Delta\), then \(\Delta+ 1 \leq \chi(G^2) \leq ch(G^2) \leq \Delta+2\) if \(\Delta \geq 3\), and \(ch(G^2) = \chi(G^2) = \Delta+1\) if \(\Delta \geq 6\). All inequalities here are sharp,even for outerplanar graphs.
- Research article
- Full Text
- Ars Combinatoria
- Volume 101
- Pages: 519-529
- Published: 31/07/2011
Here, we determine all graphs of order less than \(7\) which are not product cordial.Also, we give some families of graphs which are product cordial.
- Research article
- Full Text
- Ars Combinatoria
- Volume 101
- Pages: 513-518
- Published: 31/07/2011
A path in an edge-colored graph \(G\), where adjacent edges may be colored the same, is called a rainbow path if no two edges of the path are colored the same. For a \(k\)-connected graph \(G\) and an integer \(k\) with \(1 \leq k \leq \kappa\), the rainbow \(k\)-connectivity \(rc_k(G)\) of \(G\) is defined as the minimum integer \(j\) for which there exists a \(j\)-edge-coloring of \(G\) such that any two distinct vertices of \(G\) are connected by \(k\) internally disjoint rainbow paths. Denote by \(K_{r,r}\) an \(r\)-regular complete bipartite graph. Chartrand et al. in in “G. Chartrand, G.L. Johns, K.A.McKeon, P. Zhang, The rainbow connectivity of a graph, Networks \(54(2009), 75-81”\) left an open question of determining an integer \(g(k)\) for which the rainbow \(k\)-connectivity of \(K_{r,r}\) is \(3\) for every integer \(r \geq g(k)\). This short note is to solve this question by showing that \(rc_k(K_{r,r}) = 3\) for every integer \(r \geq 2k\lceil\frac{k}{2}\rceil\), where \(k \geq 2\) is a positive integer.
- Research article
- Full Text
- Ars Combinatoria
- Volume 101
- Pages: 503-512
- Published: 31/07/2011
Let \(G\) be a connected graph with edge set \(E(G)\). The Balaban index of \(G\) is defined as \(J(G) = \frac{m}{\mu+1} \sum_{uv \in E(G)} ({D_uD_v})^{-\frac{1}{2}}\) where \(m = |E(G)|\), and \(\mu\) is the cyclomatic number of \(G\), \(D_u\) is the sum of distances between vertex \(u\) and all other vertices of \(G\). We determine \(n\)-vertex trees with the first several largest and smallest Balaban indices.
- Research article
- Full Text
- Ars Combinatoria
- Volume 101
- Pages: 489-501
- Published: 31/07/2011
For a graph \(G = (V, E)\), \(X \subseteq V\) is a global dominating set if \(X\) dominates both \(G\) and the complement graph \(\bar{G}\). A set \(X \subseteq V\) is a packing if its pairwise members are distance at least \(3\) apart. The minimum number of vertices in any global dominating set is \(\gamma_g(G)\), and the maximum number in any packing is \(\rho(G)\). We establish relationships between these and other graphical invariants, and characterize graphs for which \(\rho(G) = \rho(\bar{G})\). Except for the two self-complementary graphs on \(5\) vertices and when \(G\) or \(\bar{G}\) has isolated vertices, we show \(\gamma_g(G) \leq \lfloor n/2 \rfloor\), where \(n = |V|\).
- Research article
- Full Text
- Ars Combinatoria
- Volume 101
- Pages: 481-487
- Published: 31/07/2011
The inverse degree \(r(G)\) of a finite graph \(G = (V, E)\) is defined by \(r(G) = \sum_{v\in V} \frac{1}{deg(v)}\) where \(deg(v)\) is the degree of \(v\) in \(G\). Erdős \(et\) \(al\). proved that, if \(G\) is a connected graph of order \(n\), then the diameter of \(G\) is less than \((6r(G) + \sigma(1))\frac{\log n}{\log \log n}\). Dankelmann et al. improved this bound by a factor of approximately \(2\). We give the sharp upper bounds for trees and unicyclic graphs, which improves the above upper bounds.
Call for papers
- Proceedings of International Conference on Discrete Mathematics (ICDM 2025) – Submissions are closed
- Proceedings of International Conference on Graph Theory and its Applications (ICGTA 2026)
- Special Issue of Ars Combinatoria on Graph Theory and its Applications (ICGTA 2025)
- MWTA 2025 – Proceedings in Ars Combinatoria




