期刊名称：BULLETIN OF THE AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY
 期刊简介(About the journal)
投稿须知(Instructions to Authors)
编辑部信息(Editorial Board)
About the journal
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Publishes papers on historical and scientific topics that are of general interest to the AMS membership. It also publishes papers in areas of current scientific controversy and debate, as well as review articles |
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Instructions to Authors
Valuing the Reader: Submission Guidelines for BAMS Authors
(posted June 2003)
The American Meteorological Society is a diverse organization of oceanographers and meteorologists and hydrologists, bioscientists and computer scientists, researchers and practitioners, students and teachers, doctors and lawyers, lawmakers and citizens, retirees and teenagers. BAMS must make every effort to reach them all.
Even though full members share a common educational background¡ªand all share an interest in the promotion and dissemination of our sciences¡ªthey cannot follow all aspects of the atmospheric and related sciences and services equally. They all speak different professional dialects within specialties, despite the common scientific language. BAMS aims to give all members access to this Babel of progress in research, teaching, commerce, and service. BAMS also makes your research, services, and products accessible to people outside the Society who influence your innovative work, fund your programs, and benefit from your ideas and opinions.
BAMS thus represents the members of the Society¡ªto one another, as well as to the world. It is a forum about the development of the atmospheric, oceanic, and related sciences in research and education; about the informed and innovative use of these sciences in public service and private enterprise; and about the role of these sciences in making a prosperous, healthy, safe, and sustainable world.
In BAMS, colleagues examine professional and scientific issues, discuss common concerns and interests, exchange ideas and opinions, and analyze trends and achievements relevant to their field. BAMS is an informative common ground for sponsors and providers and customers¡ªfor hydrologists, oceanographers, meteorologists, and other scientists. It is an exchange between hitherto isolated communities of researchers, practitioners, educators, students, entrepreneurs, and broadcasters.
There are many principles that guide this effort, but the first is that BAMS is edited for the readers' sake. BAMS needs to translate the specialist's understanding into general information. Authors must communicate to a sufficiently large portion of our readership of 11,000 plus¡ªfar more readers than for any other journal in this field. The value of this opportunity to address a large, influential audience is huge, but only if the article can persuade readers that it is worth reading; better yet, that it is worth reading right away. Articles thus need to be sufficiently urgent, important, interesting, and/or rewarding for readers.
It's Not Just the Topic¡ªIt's How You Write about It
Though these requirements may seem daunting for authors accustomed to writing for BAMS in the past, in fact, BAMS continues to accept most of the same types of articles it has published for many years. We are still interested in
- descriptions of field programs
- descriptions of research and operational organizations/initiatives
- reviews of scientific research
- new syntheses of research/new theories of particular general interest
- history of science
- discussions of research priorities
- discussions of scientific issues of general interest
- discussions of trends/priorities in forecasting and other operational fields
- educational issues
- meeting/workshop summaries (see special guidelines below)
- commentaries on a wide variety of Issues
With a mission to reach the diverse members of the AMS more effectively, BAMS also emphasizes
- applications of scientific knowledge for public benefit
- innovative commercial ventures
- analyses of emerging markets for sciences and related services
- multidisciplinary research and services
- societal impacts of atmospheric, oceanic, and hydrologic processes
- mitigation and prevention of adverse impacts of those processes
- education¡ªK¨C12 as well continuing education
Furthermore, there is no change in the scientific standard of publication in BAMS. As the AMS Council directs: "Articles should be concise and directed at a broad audience within the community served by the AMS without any sacrifice of scientific or technical rigor." The peer review process remains as rigorous as ever.
The difference, then, is the writing and editing of BAMS. The role of editor in chief, the editorial board, and your reviewers is to help you, the authors, satisfy these requirements and thus engage the readers of BAMS as never before. This process starts before you ever set pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard). We urge you to share ideas about your article with the editor in chief with a proposal (see below) as a way to get your article started in the right direction. Authors who do not send proposals ahead of time frequently find they must make many more complicated changes later, when it is much harder to refine an article. Without a prior proposal, articles are also likely to be delayed significantly in the review process.
Form Follows Function: Article Categories
We encourage you to consider submitting new types of articles. Some ideas are not suited to the old categories of articles that have been published in BAMS. The editors encourage authors to consider the best way to communicate their message. Nonetheless, the basic categories of potential submissions for the formal, peer-reviewed section of the magazine are similar to before:
- Articles. Written to communicate methods, experiments, and programs or to review the state of the science or its history. These submissions will be fully peer-reviewed, as before, but nonetheless should be written for a general AMS readership. They must be less than 7,500 words (not including abstract and references, and with some allowance for additional online supplements) and should average about 4,500 words.
- Essays. Based on some mixture of experience, opinion, and qualitative or quantitative analysis, these articles should appeal to a broad readership. Generally these are thoughtful considerations of science or applications, policy issues, trends, controversies, or history. The format of these articles is dictated by the content; some may in fact be predominantly graphics, photos, or figures, if necessary; others may be pure text. They are reviewed on a different basis than scientific papers, but nonetheless will be written by informed and informative authors. They are designated as "Forum" articles. They should be less than 5,000 words and average about 3,500 words.
- Comments and Replies. Traditional, peer-reviewed forum for responding to technical points about papers published in the magazine. Submit a "Comment" as if you are submitting a new article (see guidelines below). The Comment should be less than 1,500 words and will be sent to the author of the article for a Reply. The Comment and Reply are published together after the Comment author gets one chance to revise based on the initial Reply and the Reply author gets one chance to revise based on the revised Comment.
- Meeting Summary. Reports on recent meetings and workshops should be submitted within four months of the completion of the event. Meetings summaries should refrain from merely listing topics and a few details, in an attempt to include everyone's presentation. Rather, they should include by synthesizing¡ªdrawing connections to help readers navigate the meeting's main focus. Tell readers what was accomplished, not just what was intended. Ultimately, the meeting summary article should be aimed at the readers of BAMS¡ªlike every other article¡ªnot merely be a matter of record for participants. Authors therefore have some latitude to interpret and select as fairly as possible from meeting proceedings. Many meeting summaries read like informal review papers because they summarize the latest activity in a field¡ªthis is often their primary value to BAMS readers. The best meeting summaries read like a letter from a participant to a colleague who couldn't attend. Establishing the context and purpose of the meeting is important, but the focus needs to be not on the goals of the gathering but on its accomplishments. These articles should be less than 4,000 words, and typically 2,500 words. (For faster publication, these articles can circumvent peer review if authors submit the name of at least one meeting participant¡ªnot an author of the summary¡ªwho has reviewed and accepted the contents of the article.)
Nowcast Articles
At the same time, BAMS encourages much shorter contributions. Just as AMS meetings are versatile venues, with long, 30-minute talks, short 15-minute talks, even shorter panel presentations, and poster discussions, so too is BAMS now a versatile place to publish. Don't just think about writing the big articles when a short, informative, newsy piece or opinion essay might do the job even better. In case you haven't looked at our page charges, it's a lot cheaper too.
Nowcast is the magazine within the magazine devoted to keeping members informed about developments in the atmospheric and related sciences and services. This is a perfect section for writing not just one large article about your work, but a series of shorter, focused articles as new developments arise. The key to writing for Nowcast is to promote ideas and good work by informing our readers, giving them a mix of importance, urgency, and interest in a simple format.
Submit Nowcast articles just like other articles: as attachments to editorinchief@ametsoc.org or as uploads to the AMS Web site or by mail. Nowcast is flexible, but basic types of articles are
- Opinion columns. A shorter form for expressing insights, these articles can be anywhere from 600 words on up to about 1,500.
- Q-and-A with interesting people in the field
- Educational programs and ideas, often with ample illustration (usually 500¨C1,500 words)
- Newsworthy trends and research efforts, broadly applicable methods, interesting applications and products, usually between 500 and 2,000 words
- On the Web, for short contributions (generally less than 500 words) about web pages of interest to members
- Maproom, a continuing series that discusses interesting forecast situations (usually 1,000 to 1,500 words)
All of these contributions are subject to peer review where appropriate, but use informal style for references and do not include abstracts. See a recent issue of BAMS for further examples.
Letters to the Editor are also still encouraged. They should be less than 500 words and can be submitted by email to letterstotheeditor@ametsoc.org. Remember to include a city or affiliation with your name.
Nowcast is also a space for you to be creative¡anything that sheds light on our sciences, our professions, our goals, our natural world. These creative submissions are considered for the Nowcast section and are sent to the managing editor. Contact bhanssen@ametsoc.org or dgershman@ametsoc.org for specific guidelines.
For guidelines about contributions to various standing sections of Nowcast, including News and Notes, Chapter Channel, Product Announcements, and About Our Members, contact the BAMS News Editor (Rachel Thomas-Medwid, at rthomas@ametsoc.org).
45 Beacon
For short articles about issues or projects directly related to the Society or membership in the Society, submit to the 45 Beacon section. This section includes articles about the conduct of professional meetings, announcements, various AMS programs such as the Broadcast Seal, journals, government relations, scholarships, and continuing education. Most of the articles in the section are written by AMS staff, or members involved in specific AMS committees and initiatives, but other submissions on AMS-relevant activities are welcome.
Readings
Authors interested in writing essays about books or publishing should contact the BAMS Assistant News Editor/Book Editor (Matt Gillespie at mgillespie@ametsoc.org). The Readings section also publishes reviews (by invitation) and book excerpts.
Less Is More
The simple fact of writing for any audience these days is that they don't have all the time in the world for your article. The most frequent complaint about BAMS at one time was aimed at its gargantuan size. Few people actually read long articles. So write short articles. We offer plenty of techniques to help you meet or better our intended average of 4,500 words for articles:
- Create an appendix for technical methods that aren't fully necessary for all readers to absorb.
- Create an appendix to quantify your work and use the main text to make qualitative arguments where appropriate.
- Use an electronic supplement in the BAMS online archive. The archive is permanent, easy to find through the AMS Web site, prominently advertised with your printed article, and free to the entire world, unlike the printed edition. Supplements are peer reviewed and stored along with the printed articles. They should have strong relevance to the article.
- If necessary, consider a condensed, accessible article in print and a full, technical version of the same on line.
- Consider using an electronic supplement for large tables that summarize details discussed in the article.
- Use footnotes for asides and explanations useful mostly to specialists
Sidebars, Appendices, and Supplements. Specialized content in articles distracts readers from basic, new, surprising, or otherwise memorable content that authors are trying to highlight. Often this specialized material is in the traditional "methods" section of a paper¡ªimportant information that may be excessive for a reader who is only trying to appreciate the results, not duplicate them. Such discussions should be moved to sidebars (insets), appendices that precede the references, or the BAMS permanent archive of electronic supplements where specialists can find them but other readers can skim or skip them. We generally think of anything up to about 500 words as appropriate for a sidebar; most articles should not have more than two sidebars due to layout restrictions.
Use of Captions. There is no need to duplicate information in captions in the main text. For instance, information about how to read a figure should be in captions, not in the main text. Furthermore, we are open to long and detailed captions if they clear unnecessary information out of the main text. And there is no better place to discuss the implications of a graphic than in the caption itself, unless those implications are central to the main point of the article. Many captions will form sidebars about various aspects of your work. Sidebars, supplements, and captions can sometimes help create more space for authors and allow some flexibility in overall article length by controlling length and enhancing readability of the main text.
Use of Equations. Equations are essential and often an elegant way to communicate science. However, it is often sufficient to use a reference¡ªespecially for well-known equations¡ªrather than reprint them in the article. Also, if your paper is highly mathematical, consider running it as a BAMS supplement (electronically on our web archive), and craft a shorter, less detailed version in print.
BAMS goes much further, in recognition of techniques that help engage and retain readers. For instance, we ask for "active voice" sentences wherever possible¡ªpassive voice is wordy and much harder to read. Keep your paragraphs under 150 words when possible. Wherever possible, give a good example and a specific instead of a generality; people retain interesting specifics. When you quantify something, remember that not all readers have a sense of small and large in all types of units and all situations¡ªso make enlightening comparisons to help readers understand.
Ultimately, a good BAMS article should be readily accessible¡ªat least in the main text and captions¡ªby a sophomore level college student majoring in meteorology or oceanography.
Go with the Flow
In all, papers should encourage linear reading¡ªfrom beginning to end without interruption. One common interruption that can kill a reader's interest in completing a paper is a sudden shift to a much higher level of technical expertise or to a deeper level of specifics without proper context.
Make one good point. Achieving a logical, compelling flow is also the reason why we'd rather you trim some detail on some points, in order to focus on just a few essential ideas, and give more space to establishing that logical flow. The best way to make such a flow an inexorable momentum that sweeps readers to your concluding paragraphs is to make one, overarching point early, and organize everything else in the article in such a way that it argues (pro or con) and amplifies that point. Everything else is good material for an appendix, a sidebar, and/or electronic supplement.
Eliminate Redundancy. One of the first signs of illogical flow in an article is redundancy. The standard article format¡ªIntroduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion¡ªencourages repetition. So does a good lecture format, in which you tell students what you're going to tell them, tell them, and then tell them what you told them. This works with a captive audience, but not with readers. If you find yourself referring to a previous section or later section of the article, or if you find yourself summarizing a previous point, you will be dissuading a reader from continuing. They'll jump ahead¡or quit reading. Make sure your conclusions take the next logical step in the article, not repeat what has already been said. Nor should the introductory pages be an abstract or summary of the following pages. In the opening of the article, you should establish a context, and give readers a reason to continue by making you one good point worth explaining in the following paragraphs.
Avoid Lists. We also prefer exposition to bulleted and numbered lists. (Your article shouldn't look like a "how-to" guideline. An article in BAMS is not a recipe, unlike these writers' guidelines). Though lists are brief and to-the-point, they lack context, transition, and relationships, which are necessary in good communication with people who are not expert in your field. Readers are more likely to absorb information in the context of transparent reasoning and logical flow. That's the ultimate goal¡ªthat readers not only read but also remember what you told them.
Subheads. The need for logical flow is also the reason why we disdain multiple levels of subheads¡ªreaders don't need an outline. Subheads become a crutch in place of an agile transition, so limit your subheads to two levels or less, if possible. Also in BAMS, we never start an article with a subhead¡ªafter all, who needs to be told the beginning is an "Introduction"?
Send the Proposal First
Finding the right point to make is not always easy¡ªthat's why articles shouldn't be submitted without first sending a proposal to BAMS. Get off on the right path by discussing your article with the editor in chief early on. It's a good way to test the point you want to make and see just how compelling it is. It is our firm conviction that nearly everything that is happening in this field is far more fascinating or innovative or important than people realize. Our job is to help you figure out how to make other people believe it¡ªpeople far beyond the usual select few who attend seminars and workshops with you.
Before you begin writing your article for BAMS, you should send a proposal to editorinchief@ametsoc.org or by mail to
BAMS Editor in Chief
American Meteorological Society
45 Beacon St.
Boston, MA 02108-3693
A proposal consists of a single abstract of 250 words or less, written in language appropriate for an informed layperson, plus an additional, paragraph of 250 words or less explaining
- the intended purpose of the article
- the factors making the article timely, important, or interesting for a general BAMS readership
- the expected length of the article
- the type and approximate number of illustrations to be included, if they require unusual production considerations
- the anticipated use of electronic supplements in the BAMS online archive.
Formatting Your Manuscript
Manuscripts submitted to BAMS follow the same formatting as manuscripts for the other AMS publications. This includes several sections, each of which begins at the top of a new page:
- Title page with authors listed and affiliations for all authors, plus contact information (mail, phone, email) for the corresponding author
- Abstract of no more than 250 words
- Capsule¡ªa one sentence (less than 35 words) summing up the major point of the article. This isn't meant to be a comprehensive summation of the contents, rather a pointed statement of the thrust of the article and if possible imply its value to the reader.
- Main Text, followed by Acknowledgments (Acknowledgments should be less than 200 words)
- References (see AMS Author's Guide for style instructions)
- Figure Captions
- Table (one per page, with no caption printed on the page)
- Figures (one per page, with no caption printed on the page)
All text must be double-spaced. Hard copies of copyright forms (downloadable from the AMS Web site)¡ªone form signed by each author¡ªmust be received by mail at AMS Headquarters in Boston (c/o Melissa Fernau) in order for the article to proceed to peer review.
Send Your Manuscript Electronically
Authors may submit paper copies or electronic files. Electronic files are strongly encouraged, and even if an article is submitted on paper via mail, authors may be asked to make electronic files available later to expedite print production. This is especially important for BAMS, which offers color figures at no extra expense to the authors.
Electronic submissions should be uploaded to the AMS Web site. See the Web site for specific instructions. We strongly encourage you to also send the text (without figures) in a Microsoft Word or WordPerfect or text-only file as an attachment to email to editorinchief@ametsoc.org. This may also expedite review and production of the manuscript.
For paper submissions, send five copies of the manuscript to:
BAMS Editor in Chief
American Meteorological Society
45 Beacon St.
Boston, MA 02108-3693
Receipt of your manuscript will be acknowledged. Thereafter you will be notified of which editor on the editorial board has taken charge of obtaining peer reviews for the manuscript. Further correspondence about the manuscript should be directed to that editor. Authors can expect an initial decision (accept, accept with revisions, reject) within 12 weeks of sending the article.
Revisions are normally expected from authors within a month of the initial decision. Authors may be granted longer revision periods for complex revisions, or may be granted an extension by the editor in charge of the manuscript in appropriate circumstances.
BAMS production generally requires up to five months from acceptance to printing.
Page Charges
BAMS encourages the use of color by authors and does not levy additional charges for color figures. All sections of BAMS to which authors may contribute, with the exception of "Letters," are subject to page charges and the author's institution is expected to honor these charges. So that all sectors of the Society can participate in publishing in BAMS, a low page charge is assessed for the first four printed pages. The higher page charges assessed for longer articles allow the charges associated with color printing to be spread among all authors so that color can be used generously in the publication. The page charges are:
$90 per page for pages 1¨C4
$250 per page for pages 5¨C8
$375 per page for pages 9 and beyond
- $50 per page for additional electronic supplementary material.
Reprints are available at an additional charge, which is reduced if an author's institution has honored the page charges. All articles published in BAMS become part of the collection on the AMS Journals Online. The BAMS portion of this online collection does not require a subscription and is open to all, providing even broader dissemination of the articles published in BAMS.
Editorial Board
Authors: To propose submission of a manuscript, please email editorinchief@ametsoc.org. For inquiries about specific manuscripts in review or revision only, please email the subject-matter editor assigned to your manuscript.
Publisher Ronald D. McPherson
Editor-in-chief Jeffrey Rosenfeld
Chair Ed Zipser
Air Quality/Chemistry Ed Zipser
Atmospheric Dynamics/ Tropical Meteorology Jenni Evans Chris Landsea
Atmospheric Electricity/ Private Meteorology Walt Lyons
Atmospheric Physics Craig Bohren
Biometeorology Peter Blanken
Climate/Climate Variability Mark Baldwin Linda Mearns Chester F. Ropelewski
Education Rajul Pandya
History James R. Fleming
Hydrology Qingyun Duan
Numerical Analysis/ Mesoscale Modeling James D. Doyle
Observing Systems Walt Dabberdt
Oceanography Mike McPhaden
Operational Forecasting/ Services Tom Fahey Jeff Waldstreicher
Policy Bill Hooke
Bulletin Editor-in-Chief:
Jeff Rosenfeld; telephone: 510-521-2976; e-mail: jrosenfeld@ametsoc.org
Questions about Bulletin of American Meteorological Society: Andrea Schein; telephone: 617-227-2426, ext. 335; e-mail: aschein@ametsoc.org
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