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 031
- Pages: 312-316
- Published: 30/06/1991
Suppose \(\Gamma\) is a finite multiplicative group and \(S \subseteq \Gamma\) satisfies \(1 \notin S\) and \(S^{-1} = \{x^{-1} | x \in S\} = S\). The abelian Cayley graph \(G = G(\Gamma, S)\) is the simple graph having vertex set \(V(G) = \Gamma\), an abelian group, and edge set \(E(G) = \{\{x, y\} | x^{-1}y \in S\}\). We prove the following regarding the chromatic index of an abelian Cayley graph \(G = G(\Gamma, S)\): if \(\langle S \rangle\) denotes the subgroup generated by \(S\), then \(\chi'(G) = \Delta(G)\) if and only if \(|\langle S \rangle|\) is even.
- Research article
- Full Text
- Ars Combinatoria
- Volume 031
- Pages: 302-311
- Published: 30/06/1991
Let \(G\) be a graph and let \(D_1(G)\) denote the set of vertices of degree one in \(G\). In [1], Behocine, Clark, Kéhler, and Veldman conjectured that for a connected simple graph \(G\) of \(n\) vertices, if \(G – D_1(G)\) is \(2\)-edge-connected, and if for any edge \(xy \in E(G)\), \(d(x) + d(y) > \frac{2n}{5}-2\), then \(L(G)\) is hamiltonian.
In this note, we shall show that the conjecture above holds for a class of graphs that includes the \(K_{1,3}\)-free graphs, and we shall also characterize the extremal graphs.
- Research article
- Full Text
- Ars Combinatoria
- Volume 031
- Pages: 287-301
- Published: 30/06/1991
A packing design (briefly packing) of order \(v\), block size \(k\), and index \(\lambda\) is a pair \((X,\mathcal{D})\) where \(X\) is a \(v\)-set (of points) and \(\mathcal{D}\) is a collection of \(k\)-subsets of \(X\) (called blocks) with cardinality \(b\) such that every \(2\)-subset of \(X\) is contained in at most \(\lambda\) blocks of \(\mathcal{D}\). We denote it by \(\mathrm{SD}(k,\lambda; v,b)\). If no other such packing has more blocks, the packing is said to be maximum, and the number of blocks in \(\mathcal{D}\) is the packing number \(\mathrm{D}(k,\lambda;v)\). For fixed \(k\),\(\lambda\) and \(v\), the packing problem is to determine the packing number. In this paper, the values of \(\mathrm{D}(5,2; v)\) are determined for all \(v \geq 5\) except \(48\) values of \(v\).
- Research article
- Full Text
- Ars Combinatoria
- Volume 031
- Pages: 277-285
- Published: 30/06/1991
Behzad has conjectured that a simple graph G can always be totally coloured using two more colours than the maximum degree in G. The conjecture has been verified for several special classes of graphs by Behzad, Chartrand and Cooper, Rosenfeld,
and Meyer, and by Vijayaditya for graphs with maximum degree less than or equal to 3.We show algorithmically that the conjecture is true for graphs with maximum degree 4.
- Research article
- Full Text
- Ars Combinatoria
- Volume 031
- Pages: 267-276
- Published: 30/06/1991
The concept of self-complementary (s.c.) graphs is extended to almost self-complementary graphs. We define an \(n\)-vertex graph to be almost self-complementary (a.s.c.) if it is isomorphic to its complement with respect to \(K_n – e\), the complete graph with one edge removed. A.s.c. graphs with \(n\) vertices exist if and only if \(n \equiv 2\) or \(3 \pmod{4}\), i.e., precisely when s.c. graphs do not exist. We investigate various properties of a.s.c. graphs.
- Research article
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- Ars Combinatoria
- Volume 031
- Pages: 259-266
- Published: 30/06/1991
A triangulation of a surface is \(\delta\)-regular if each vertex is contained in exactly \(\delta\) edges. For each \(\delta \geq 7\), \(\delta\)-regular triangulations of arbitrary non-compact surfaces of finite genus are constructed. It is also shown that for \(\delta \leq 6\) there is a \(\delta\)-regular triangulation of a non-compact surface \(\sum\) if and only if \(\delta = 6\) and \(\sum\) is homeomorphic to one of the following surfaces: the Euclidean plane, the two-way-infinite cylinder, or the open Möbius band.
- Research article
- Full Text
- Ars Combinatoria
- Volume 031
- Pages: 255-258
- Published: 30/06/1991
The packing number \(D(2,k,v)\) is defined to be the maximum cardinality of a family of \(k\)-subsets, chosen from a set of \(v\) elements, such that no pair of elements appears in more than one \(k\)-subset. We examine \(D(2,k,v)\) for \(v < k(k-1)\) and determine such numbers for the case \(k=5\), \(v < 20\).
- Research article
- Full Text
- Ars Combinatoria
- Volume 031
- Pages: 249-254
- Published: 30/06/1991
Ho and Shee [5] showed that for a graph \(G\) of order \(n\) \((\geq4)\) and size \(m\) to be cordial, it is necessary that \(m\) must be less than \(\frac{n(n-1)}{2} – \left\lceil\frac{n}{2}\right\rceil + 2\).
In this paper, we prove that there exists a cordial graph of order \(n\) and size \(m\), where
\(n-1\leq m\leq\frac{n(n-1)}{2} – \left\lceil\frac{n}{2}\right\rceil + 1.\)
- Research article
- Full Text
- Ars Combinatoria
- Volume 031
- Pages: 239-248
- Published: 30/06/1991
Let \(B_n = K(1,1,n)\) denote the \(n\)-book. In this paper we (i) calculate \(\lambda(C_5, B_n)\) for all \(n\),
(ii) prove that if \(m\) is an odd integer \(\geq 7\) and \(n \geq 4m – 13\) then \(r(C_m, B_n) = 2n + 3\),and (iii)
prove that if \(m \geq 2n + 2\) then \(r(C_m, B_n) = 2m – 1\).
- Research article
- Full Text
- Ars Combinatoria
- Volume 031
- Pages: 237-238
- Published: 30/06/1991
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




