Author Guidelines

Editorial scope 

The initiation of Space Weather recognizes the fact that the ever-increasing sophistication of technical systems that operate within or under the potential influence of Earth's space environment requires a forum whereby engineers, systems designers, scientists, and managers can obtain the latest information on peer-reviewed research on the subject, read the latest news from government and industry related to space weather issues, and exchange ideas in letters and opinion articles.

Space Weather publishes peer-reviewed technical articles and magazine-style feature, news, and opinion articles related to the effects on technical systems of the solar-terrestrial environment. Authors can submit the following types of contributions:

Peer-reviewed technical articles
These articles are rigorous expositions of the latest engineering and science research in the field. These articles will provide:

• results of the analysis of the response of one or more technical systems to specific or general space weather conditions;
  
  
• results of the analysis of one or more specific space weather events that may possibly provide an opportunity for generalization to the use of the analysis for the design and/or operations of technical systems;
  
  
• results of new modeling efforts of the solar-terrestrial environment that might be applicable for use in system design and/or operations;
  
  
• results of empirical and/or modeling studies of the solar-terrestrial environment that yield new insights into the predictions of detrimental space weather occurrences on technical systems;
  
  
• new research on models of the solar-terrestrial environment that might produce new information on mitigation procedures for technical systems; or
  
  
• results of modeling and analysis of the effects of the natural radiation environment on systems that carry humans in space and in Earth's atmosphere.

These manuscripts will be subject to rigorous peer review. Manuscripts will be expected to be of a length appropriate for the subject addressed, typically 4-12 printed pages including 4-8 figures.

Authors are encouraged to take advantage of the capability to publish with their article electronic auxiliary materials that are made freely available to researchers worldwide. Animations, data tables, and additional figure files can be submitted with a manuscript and, as an equal and integral component of the published article, are subject to peer review.

All technical articles are published in the online publication and selected articles are reprinted in the Space Weather Quarterly magazine edition. The editors of Space Weather and other related AGU journals—JGR-Space Physics and Radio Science—maintain close coordination liaisons for those submitted manuscripts that have content that may overlap one or more of these journals.

Feature articles
These articles are generally invited by the Editor or written by AGU staff. Features (maximum length of 2000 words and 3 figures) contain information that is directed to the broad community of Space Weather readership, including discussions of some of the latest research on the solar-terrestrial environment that is published in other journals, existing and new government agency (U.S. and international) initiatives in space weather-related activities, space weather activities in the commercial sector, and general topics related to the engineering of space weather-susceptible technical systems. Feature articles are published in both the online and magazine editions. Potential authors must contact the Editor prior to submitting a manuscript and, if requested, submit a 1-2 paragraph proposal.

Letters and opinion articles
The exchange of ideas and opinions is encouraged through the solicitation of letters and opinion articles, both of which are published online and in print. Letters are limited to 200 words; opinion articles can be up to 500 words. Opinion articles also include reviews of relevant books as invited by the Editor.

Editorials
Signed editorials, solicited or written by the Editor, reflect and comment on current issues facing space weather engineering and science research and related activities in the U.S. and internationally. Maximum length is 500 words.

News articles
Space Weather accepts manuscripts that present the highlights of recent meetings related to developments in space weather engineering and scientific research. These meeting reports (maximum length of 1000 words and 1 figure) succinctly discuss the major topics of the meeting rather than provide a listing of talks and speakers. To assure timeliness of these news articles, submissions should be made within two months of the meeting; manuscripts received more than three months after the event will be returned to the author.

Space Weather also publishes brief announcements of upcoming meetings, obituaries, and relevant non-commercial resources. These items should be submitted directly to the Editor for consideration.

Manuscript preparation

Manuscripts are submitted as electronic text and graphic files. For Space Weather technical articles, text files can be prepared in MSWord, WordPerfect, or LaTeX. For all other submissions, text files must be prepared in MSWord or WordPerfect.

General instructions for authors on preparing a manuscript for AGU journals are available online.

Submitting a manuscript

All manuscripts submitted to Space Weather and other AGU journals are handled through the online GEMS (Geophysical Electronic Manuscript Submissions) system.

General guidelines on the submission process are available online.

Questions?

If you would like more information about the author guidelines or submitting a manuscript, contact Space Weather editor's assistant Holliday Jones at spaceweather@agu.org.