THE SCOPE OF THE JOURNAL

American Mineralogist, the journal of the Mineralogical Society of America (MSA), publishes the results of original scientific research in the general fields of mineralogy, crystallography, geochemistry, and petrology. Specific areas of coverage include, but are not restricted to, igneous and metamorphic petrology, experimental mineralogy and petrology, crystal chemistry and crystal-structure determinations, mineral spectroscopy, mineral physics, isotope geochemistry, major and trace element geochemistry, planetary material science, clay minerals, mineral surface science, geochemistry of mineral-fluid systems, environmental mineralogy, biomineralization, geomicrobiology, new minerals and mineral occurrences, petrography and petrogenesis, ore deposits, and mineralogical apparatus and techniques. Any author who is concerned about the suitability of the subject of their paper should contact one of the Editors for advice. (Martin Kunz is at mkunz@lbl.gov ; Jennifer Thomson is at jthomson@mail.ewu.edu ) 

Manuscripts are judged on the basis of significance, originality, appropriateness of subject matter, and clarity of presentation. The decision regarding acceptance or rejection of a manuscript is the responsibility of the Editors and is based in large part on the recommendations of Associate Editors and reviewers. Membership in MSA is not a prerequisite for publication in American Mineralogist. 

The journal publishes regular scientific articles, letters, review articles, discussions and replies, book reviews, and memorials. 

Most manuscripts are submitted as regular scientific articles . Those articles tend to have an average length of eight to ten journal pages, which corresponds to about than 30 manuscript pages, including references, tables, and figures. But this is just an average. we expect the paper to be formated for 8.5 x 11 inch paper, double-spaced, 12 pt type. So that you are aware, very large papers tend to (1) take longer in peer review, (2) are harder to find reviewers for because of the time it takes to read, (3) cost more in content creation and page printing. Our priority is to publish more papers, not more over-all pages.

TheLetters section exists to provide rapid publication (~4 months) of short manuscripts. Letters, in final published form, have a maximum of four journal pages - this is strictly enforced. At submission time, to be considered as a Letter, manuscripts must be no more than 15 pages in length, counting the title page and each figure and table as a separate page. Reasons for accelerated publication include timeliness, special significance, or to bring attention to something that is of general interest for those outside the specific field of interest that the paper addresses. The principal consideration a prospective author should keep in mind is whether a cohesive story can be told in the four-page limit: it is frequently better to have a longer paper appear as a regular manuscript than a less coherent four-page Letter with several deposited items. A manuscript submitted for consideration as a Letter that is either too long or not appropriate may be either returned to the author or, with the author's approval, converted to a regular manuscript. In order to keep Letters as a viable route for rapid publication, manuscripts will only be accepted if little or no revision is found to be necessary after the reviews are complete; if extensive revision is required, the manuscript will ordinarily be rejected. For this reason, rejection does not imply that the submission is of no worth: papers that would have been given "major revisions" as a regular article will usually be rejected as a Letter. However, a revised manuscript can be resubmitted later for reconsideration as a Letter or regular article. 

Manuscripts may be submitted for publication as an electronic article. Articles especially suitable for electronic publication are those in which extensive use of color, animations, or interactive figures are an integral part of the scientific presentation. Abstracts of electronic articles will appear in the paper version of American Mineralogist, and the complete article will appear online with the text as a pdf file linked to other features in appropriate formats. To see examples of publication enhancements possible in electronic articles, visit gmr.minsocam.org/ExamplesLink.html or look at previously published electronic articles. Authors who areinterested in submitting an electronic article should contact the Managing editor, who will be happy to provide assistance with uploading video or other files. Submit papers via the web at minsocam.allentrack.net -- quicktime video files can be uploaded. If a different type of file is needed that cannot be uploaded contact the managing editor.

NEW RULES for Discussion/Reply -- A BRIEF commentary ("Comment") on previous article with previous author getting a chance to respond ("Reply"). 1 round only allowed. Title your article with the original title and add "--Comment" to the end. Page limit is 5 doublespaced, 12 point pages because absolutely no more than 2 typeset pages will be considered a Discussion or a Reply. Tables and artwork should be absolutely minimal, and the text correspondingly smaller.

Longer works of critical comment on a previous paper are welcome as Regular Articles and will undergo normal peer review, but the orginal author will be one of the reviewers. Entitle these papers "Critical Comment on XXXX" where XXX is the original title or a condensed version of it. The original author will not write a Reply to these types of papers, although they could of course submit "Further work on XXX" and advance their work that way. Ê. 

The journal may publish review papers on subjects of general interest from time to time. Such papers should not merely be a reiteration of previously published data, but should serve to assemble selectively previously published information and to then analyze and reinterpret it in such a way that new insights are gained and science is advanced. Review papers are subject to the same review procedures as technical manuscripts. Authors interested in submitting a review paper should contact the editors first. 

The journal also publishes reviews of books received by the editorial office. The book review editor selects the books and solicits reviews; contact the editorial office if you need more information. American Mineralogist also publishes approved new mineral names and IMA committee reports. Lastly,  as a service to the Society, the journal publishes memorials and award citations. You can always contact the editorial office for more information!