Guide for Authors

Guide for Authors

You can download the Guide for Authors as a PDF document here.

Overview

The success of Geochemical Perspectives lies in the creation of top quality manuscripts in a timely manner by its authors. Manuscripts should also be written so that they are clear to a broad based audience in Geochemistry. We hope that all articles provide an overview and synthesis; we particularly encourage going beyond traditional reviews, by adding suggested new research directions, and by adding clearly stated opinions on the state-of-the-art in the field. We also encourage a large number of figures and photos, to make the text accessible to the readers.

Article length

Each article contains 40,000 to 60,000 words including figures, tables, references and index, which is equivalent to 80-120 pages in an A4 format. It will then be published in a user-friendly A5 format.

Target Audience

Geochemical Perspectives articles are written at a level that is accessible for teaching at first year graduate school level, but sufficiently broad and cutting edge to be of interest to the junior or senior scientists.

Author timeline

To assure the creation of these manuscripts, we request that you adhere, as best as possible to the following timeline (T is the target publication date):

  • Month T – 6: Submission of manuscript with a suggested list of 3-6 reviewers that could help improve scientific content.
  • Month T – 6 to T – 4: Review of manuscript for scientific content.
  • Month T – 4 to T – 3: Revisions by author(s).
  • Month T – 3 to T – 2.5: Copy-editing for improving clarity of language, typos etc.
  • Month T – 2.5 to T – 2: Submission to typesetter.
  • Month T – 2 to T – 1:  Verification/corrections of proofs from typesetter.
  • Month T – 1: Submission to printer.

Manuscripts will be reviewed rapidly for content by at least three Geochemical Perspectives editors and/or external experts.

Formatting

To facilitate creation of camera-ready copy, we request authors to write their articles using MS Word.

Manuscripts (including text, references, acknowledgments, and figure captions) should be typed double-spaced, using 12pt Times New Roman font. See below Guidelines for Submitting Tables and Figures for more information. Please use British English spelling and conventions.

Geochemical Perspectives uses three levels of heading:

– BOLD CAPITALS (which will be formatted in colour by the typesetter)

– Bold normal (which will be formatted in colour by the typesetter)

– Bold italics

  • Leave one empty line above and below any heading.
  • Number headings as 1. then subheadings as 1.1 then sub-subheadings as 1.1.1.
  • Do not indent paragraphs (all paragraphs except for the first will be formatted appropriately by the typesetter). Leave one empty line between paragraphs.
  • Use standard SI units. In combination use units without punctuation but with appropriate spacing (leaving one space before the unit), thus: kJ mol-1, 25 °C.
  • Define terms in mathematical equations. If possible use symbols that correspond with common usage in American Mineralogist, Canadian Mineralogist, Mineralogical Magazine, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, or Clays and Clay Minerals.

We encourage the use of A Manual of Style, 15th edition, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2003, as a style reference in the preparation of manuscripts.

We will follow the recommendations of the International Mineralogical Association as regards mineral nomenclature and the spelling of mineral names. See recommendations

Referencing style

Citations in the text should be in the following style:

Citations may be made directly or parenthetically. Groups of references should be listed first alphabetically, then chronologically.

  • Single author: the author’s name (without initials, unless there is ambiguity) and the year of publication. Example: Smith, 2000. Example for parenthetical citation: (Smith, 2000) or « Smith (2000) suggested that… »
  • Two authors: both authors’ names and the year of publication. Example: Smith and Jones, 2005. Example for parenthetical citation: (Smith and Jones, 2005) or « Smith and Jones (2005) suggested that… »
  • Three or more authors: first author’s name followed by “et al.” and the year of publication. Example: Smith et al., 2000. Example for parenthetical citation: (Smith et al., 2000) or « Smith et al. (2000) suggested that… »
  • Several references following each other should be separated by a semicolon: Bargar et al., 1999; Fitts et al., 1999; Ostergren et al., 2000a,b.

Reference lists should be in the following style:

When submitting the manuscript, references should be listed at the end of each section.
We do not accept references to articles which are not published.

  • Reference to a journal publication:
    Smith, J., Jones, A.J., Williams, R.A. (2003) The chemistry of Sulfur. Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry 43, 55–99.
  • Reference to a book:
    Strunk Jr., W., White, E.B. (1979) The Elements of Style. Third edition, Macmillan, New York.
  • Reference to a chapter in an edited book:
    Jones, G.U., Smith, L.B. (1995) The chemistry of Hydrogen. In: James, B.S., Berlin, R.N. (Eds.) The Elements from A to Z. Smith-Publishing Inc., New York, pp. 21–34.
  • References should be ordered alphabetically by authors name and as follows for a same author:
    - Single author by chronogical order
    - Two authors by chronogical order
    - Three authors or more by chronogical order
    Example:
    Raiswell, R. (1984)
    Raiswell, R. (2011)
    Raiswell, R., Berner, R.A. (1985)
    Raiswell, R., Anderson, T.F. (2005)
    Raiwell, R., Canfield, D.E., Berner, R.A. (1994)

References to figures should be in the following style:

  • In the text, reference to a figure should be in the following format “Figure 1.1 describes…”. If the reference is parenthetical, it should be “(Fig. 1.1)”.
  • In the figure caption, the figure number should be formatted as “Figure section number.figure number” (example: “Figure 1.1″ followed by the caption).

Guidelines for Submitting Tables and Figures

  • Take advantage of the fact that Geochemical Perspectives will be published in colour to use striking figures.
  • For naming your figures and tables, please use the following convention: fig+section number.figure number (fig1.1 or tbl1.1).
  • For printing, we need high resolution photographs (300 dpi at published size) or line drawings (preferably coloured) at 600 dpi.
  • Pictures that you have used on your web site or for a PowerPoint presentation are unlikely to be adequate for printing purposes. .TIF, .JPEG and .EPS files are acceptable. Use embedded fonts. Do not send figures embedded in other software. If you plan to use other software, please contact the Editorial Manager.

Submission of completed manuscript

If possible send your manuscript to the Geochemical Perspectives Office as an MS-Word attachment to an e-mail or upload it on a Dropbox folder and share the folder with office@eag.eu.com. The manuscript must include abstract, acknowledgements, references, figure captions, and keywords, with the pages numbered. Upload native artwork, figures and tables, as separate files. Save colour in RGB or CYMK form.

Supplementary data

We accept electronic supplementary material. Supplementary files supplied will be published online alongside the electronic version of your article on the Geochemical Perspectives website.

Colour photos

Colour photos and graphics are strongly encouraged.