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
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- Ars Combinatoria
- Volume 097-A
- Pages: 421-428
- Published: 31/10/2010
In this paper, we study the global behavior of the nonnegative equilibrium points of the difference equation
\[x_{n+1} = \frac{ax_{n-2l}}{b+c\prod\limits_{i=0}^{k+1}x_{n-2i}}, \quad n=0,1,\ldots,\]
where \(a\), \(b\), and \(c\) are nonnegative parameters, initial conditions are nonnegative real numbers, and \(k\) and \(l\) are nonnegative integers, with \(l \leq k+1\).
- Research article
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- Ars Combinatoria
- Volume 097-A
- Pages: 413-420
- Published: 31/10/2010
The chromatic polynomial of a graph \(\Gamma\), \(C(\Gamma; \lambda)\), is the polynomial in \(\lambda\) which counts the number of distinct proper vertex \(\lambda\)-colorings of \(\Gamma\), given \(\lambda\) colors. By applying the addition-contraction method, chromatic polynomials of some sequences of \(2\)-connected graphs satisfy a number of recursive relations. We will show that by knowing the chromatic polynomial of a few small graphs, the chromatic polynomial of each of these sequences can be computed by utilizing either matrices or generating functions.
- Research article
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- Ars Combinatoria
- Volume 097-A
- Pages: 403-412
- Published: 31/10/2010
An \(f\)-coloring of a graph \(G\) is an edge-coloring of \(G\) such that each color appears at each vertex \(v \in V(G)\) at most \(f(v)\) times. The minimum number of colors needed to \(f\)-color \(G\) is called the \(f\)-chromatic index of \(G\). A simple graph \(G\) is of \(f\)-class 1 if the \(f\)-chromatic index of \(G\) equals \(\Delta_f(G)\), where \(\Delta_f(G) = \max_{v\in V(G)}\{\left\lceil\frac{d(v)}{f(v)}\right\rceil\}\). In this article, we find a new sufficient condition for a simple graph to be of \(f\)-class 1, which is strictly better than a condition presented by Zhang and Liu in 2008 and is sharp. Combining the previous conclusions with this new condition, we improve a result of Zhang and Liu in 2007.
- Research article
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- Ars Combinatoria
- Volume 097-A
- Pages: 383-402
- Published: 31/10/2010
We provide the specifics of how affine planes of orders three, four, and five can be used to partition the full design comprising all triples on \(9, 16\), and \(25\) elements, respectively. Key results of the approach for order five are generalized to reveal when there is potential for using suitable affine planes of order \(n\) to partition the complete sets of \(n^2\) triples into sets of mutually disjoint triples covering either all \(n^2\), or else precisely \(n^2 – 1\), elements.
- Research article
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- Ars Combinatoria
- Volume 097-A
- Pages: 377-388
- Published: 31/10/2010
In this paper, the notion of left-right and right-left \(f\)-derivation of a BCC-algebra is introduced, and some related properties are investigated. Also, we consider regular \(f\)-derivation and \(d\)-invariant on \(f\)-ideals in BCC-algebras.
- Research article
- Full Text
- Ars Combinatoria
- Volume 097-A
- Pages: 367-375
- Published: 31/10/2010
Let \(G\) be a planar graph with maximum degree \(\Delta\). It’s proved that if \(\Delta \geq 5\) and \(G\) does not contain \(5\)-cycles and \(6\)-cycles, then \(la(G) = \lceil\frac{\Delta(G)}{2}\rceil\).
- Research article
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- Ars Combinatoria
- Volume 097-A
- Pages: 351-365
- Published: 31/10/2010
We call the digraph \(D\) an \(m\)-coloured digraph if the arcs of \(D\) are coloured with \(m\) colours. A subdigraph \(H\) of \(D\) is called monochromatic if all of its arcs are coloured alike.
A set \(N \subseteq V(D)\) is said to be a kernel by monochromatic paths if it satisfies the following two conditions:
(i) For every pair of different vertices \(u,v \in N\) there is no monochromatic directed path between them.
(ii) For every vertex \(x \in V(D) – N\), there is a vertex \(y \in N\) such that there is an \(xy\)-monochromatic directed path.
In this paper, it is proved that if \(D\) is an \(m\)-coloured \(k\)-partite tournament such that every directed cycle of length \(3\) and every directed cycle of length \(4\) is monochromatic, then \(D\) has a kernel by monochromatic paths.
Some previous results are generalized.
- Research article
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- Ars Combinatoria
- Volume 097-A
- Pages: 345-350
- Published: 31/10/2010
Let \(\mathcal{S}\) be a finite family of sets in \(\mathbb{R}^d\), each a finite union of polyhedral sets at the origin and each having the origin as an extreme point. Fix \(d\) and \(k\), \(0 \leq k \leq d \leq 3\). If every \(d+1\) (not necessarily distinct) members of \(\mathcal{S}\) intersect in a star-shaped set whose kernel is at least \(k\)-dimensional, then \(\cap\{S_i:S_i\in\mathcal{S}\}\) also is a star-shaped set whose kernel is at least \(k\)-dimensional. For \(k\neq 0\), the number \(d+1\) is best possible.
- Research article
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- Ars Combinatoria
- Volume 097-A
- Pages: 327-343
- Published: 31/10/2010
A graph is said to be cordial if it has a \(0-1\) labeling that satisfies certain properties. The second power of paths \(P_n^2\),is the graph obtained from the path \(P_n\) by adding edges that join all vertices \(u\) and \(v\) with \(d(u,v) = 2\). In this paper, we show that certain combinations of second power of paths, paths, cycles, and stars are cordial. Specifically, we investigate the cordiality of the join and the union of pairs of second power of paths and graphs consisting of one second power of path and one path and one cycle.
- Research article
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- Ars Combinatoria
- Volume 097-A
- Pages: 319-326
- Published: 31/10/2010
We initiate a study of the toughness of infinite graphs by considering a natural generalization of that for finite graphs. After providing general calculation tools, computations are completed for several examples. Avenues for future study are presented, including existence problems for tough-sets and calculations of maximum possible toughness. Several open problems are posed.
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




