New Mexico Bureau of Geology Bulletins and Memoirs — Guidelines for Contributors
We are a research and service division of:
Overview
Bulletins and Memoirs are longer scientific works that present original research about the geology, hydrology, or energy and mineral resources of New Mexico and surrounding areas, and are written primarily for an audience of geoscientists. Bulletins are our most popular type of technical publication and usually include the results and interpretations of significant new data-rich geoscience research. Common Bulletin themes are discussions of regional hydrology, summaries that accompany map compilations, and anthologies of single-theme articles. Memoirs are comprehensive reports of wide scientific interest and lasting importance. Memoirs reflect a lifetime of geoscience research and achievement on a single topic or geographic area within New Mexico or in neighboring states. Memoirs may be the work of a single author or anthologies of works by many authors. The New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources (NMBGMR) has produced Bulletins since 1915 and Memoirs since 1956. Bulletins and Memoirsare of high technical quality and are thoroughly peer-reviewed and edited, yet the content may be less suited for publication in other venues if research topics are considered “of local interest.” Bulletins and Memoirs are digital products, and thus are readily available to a wide audience. A repository is also available for supplemental data related to these technical publications that can be accessed online. There are no page charges or repository fees. Bulletins and Memoirs are published as part of our mission to disseminate New Mexico geoscience information.
The Submission and Acceptance Process
Manuscripts submitted to the Bulletin seriesshould present new data from original research that will be of interest to a diverse audience. Manuscripts submitted to the Memoir series should present the compilation and detailed interpretation of new and previously published work about research topics or geographic localities of broad interest to geoscientists working in New Mexico. Papers are typically 20–40 double-spaced pages in length, although no rigid length limitations are set.
Submitted papers are examined by the science editor or other NMBGMR professional staff. If the manuscript appears suitable, the paper will be sent to qualified referees (generally two to four, depending on the topics covered in the paper) to judge the scientific merit of the work. Clarity, conciseness, and adherence to a standard scientific presentation style are key. In particular, interpretations must follow from clearly stated observations. Manuscripts are accepted based on the recommendation of the referees and willingness of the author to address reviewer’s comments.
Author Instructions
Manuscript submissions, inquiries and correspondence should be sent to: Dr Shari Kelley.
Text should be attached to an email as a MS Word or RTF file. All text should be double spaced. Captions for figures and tables should be placed at the end of the file, after the reference list. Figure captions should be self-contained and explain all symbols and abbreviations used in the figure. Do not embed figures or tables in the manuscript file (place-marker suggestions marked in red should be be included, but the layout editor may change the final figure placement). Use of the provided Word template will facilitate the review and production process.
Figures should be submitted as close to final size as possible (see figure). Our email-system limit for the total size of attachments is less than 15 Mb per individual message; consider using Google Docs, Dropbox or similar services for larger files. Figures may be submitted as lower-resolution PDF files for initial viewing. High-resolution, editable native files will be required if the manuscript is accepted for publication. Adobe Illustrator files are preferred for artwork; PowerPoint, Canvas, and CorelDraw files should be avoided. Other acceptable formats include MPK (packaged ArcMap files for maps), and editable, high- resolution PDF or EPS files. Photographs may be submitted in TIF or JPEG formats. Line or text overlays on photographs should be editable layers that will allow our graphic artists to improve the clarity of figures if needed.
Tables should be provided as Excel spreadsheets, comma-delimited text files, or as tab- delimited MS Word files. Do not use hard breaks inside an Excel cell; instead please use the “text wrap” option.
References should be formatted using GSA style.
Text, figures, tables, references, captions, and all other kinds of files may be subject to adjustment in order to conform to New Mexico Bureau of Geology style or font sizing. In general we request usage of the International System of Units (metric) in the manuscript text, captions, and illustrations; however, we understand that some end-users prefer English units. We ask you to use your judgement and consistently use the same units throughout the manuscript.
Data files, appendices, or plates are typically placed in a repository that is linked to the manuscript. Short appendices may be included at the end of the paper, depending on editorial preference.
Copyright information
Publications of the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources are protected by the applicable copyright laws of the United States and are not in the public domain. Individual copyrights belong to their respective copyright holders and all rights are reserved.
Note that outside authors and photographers will usually retain copyright to their own material published by the Bureau of Geology.