MATHEMATICAL GEOSCIE NCES
Instructions to Authors for Preparing Manuscripts
General information
Aims and Scope
Mathematical Geosciences publishes original, high-quality, interdisciplinary papers focusing
on quantitative methods and studies of the Earth, its natural resources and the environment.
This international publication is the official journal of the International Association for
Mathematical Geosciences. Mathematical Geosciences is an essential reference for
researchers and practitioners who develop and apply quantitative models to earth science and
geo-engineering problems.
Types of papers
Original Research
Application
Short Note
Teaching Aid
Book Review
Historical Note
SI: ……..
Contact
All news items, letters to the editor, announcements, etc., to be placed in the journal should be
submitted to the Editor-in-Chief:
Roussos Dimitrakopoulos
Department of Mining and Materials Engineering
McGill University
3450 University Street
Montreal, QC H3A 0E8
Canada
E-Mail: [email protected]
Fax: +1 514 398-7099
Should you encounter any difficulties with the web-based submission, contact:
Vithyaa Bathman
JEO Assistant at Springer's Journals Editorial Office
[email protected]
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Manuscript Submission
Submission of a manuscript implies: that the work described has not been published before;
that it is not under consideration for publication anywhere else; that its publication has been
approved by all co-authors, if any, as well as by the responsible authorities – tacitly or
explicitly – at the institute where the work has been carried out. The publisher will not be held
legally responsible should there be any claims for compensation.
Permissions
Authors wishing to include figures, tables, or text passages that have already been published
elsewhere are required to obtain permission from the copyright owner(s) for both the print and
online format and to include evidence that such permission has been granted when submitting
their papers. Any material received without such evidence will be assumed to originate from
the authors.
Please be aware that some publishers do not grant electronic rights for free and that Springer
will not be able to refund any costs that may have occurred to receive these permissions. In
such cases, material from other sources should be used.
A statement transferring copyright from the authors (or their employers, if they hold the
copyright) to the International Association for Mathematical Geosciences will be required
before the manuscript can be accepted for publication. Please fill out the IAMG copyright
form and upload with your revised paper on the journal’s on-line submission system
(Editorial Manager), and send the original signed copy to the Mathematical Geosciences,
Editor-in-Chief (address given above).
Online Submission
Authors must submit their manuscripts online and at:
http://www.editorialmanager.com/matg/
or from the journal’s website:
http://www.springer.com/11004
please follow the hyperlink “Submit online” on the right and upload all of your manuscript
files following the instructions given on the screen.
Common Issues with Submitted Manuscripts to AVOID
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Instructions to authors are not fully followed.
Abstract is too long and/or includes references and/or abbreviations.
Italics are used for words, names or publication titles in the text of the manuscript.
Capitalizing the first letter of terms.
There are sub-divisions in section “Introduction”.
The “Introduction” does not clearly indicate the intended contribution of the paper.
The “Introduction” does not conclude by explaining briefly the content of the sections that
follow.
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References and citations do not follow instructions to authors.
Equations do not use punctuation and use “:” before the equations.
Symbols after Equations are explained in a point form.
Using short paragraphs and point lists instead of proper text.
Figure captions are long (more than 2 lines or so).
Submitting a paper without adopting the manuscript to the journal’s requirements and style.
English language is not up to high technical standards.
• Unless falling at the beginning of a sentence, Section(s), Figure(s) and Equation(s) should
be shortened to Sect(s). Fig(s). , and Eq(s). as appropriate.
• The use of first person (we, ect) is to be avoided.
• The use of quotations is not permitted.
• Phrases such as “for example” or “that is” have been abbreviated in the text. Only within
parentheses should “e.g.” and “i.e.” be used.
• Abbreviations for one-, two- or three-dimension(al) should not be used.
English Language Requirements
Manuscript MUST be written in high English (US) language standards for technical
publications. The journal does not offer English language assistance and authors are expected
to seek professional English language assistance, as it may be needed. Manuscripts not
written up to standards are typically rejected and authors are allowed to resubmit if they
choose to do so, but only after bringing their manuscript up to acceptable standards.
Springer works with Edanz Editing – the link is:
http://www.edanzediting.com/springer_welcome?utm_source=springer&utm_medium=partne
r_link&utm_content=recommendation_page&utm_campaign=springer_general
Title Page
The title page should include:
• The name(s) of the author(s)
• A concise and informative title
• The affiliation(s) and address(es) of the author(s)
• The e-mail address, telephone and fax numbers of the corresponding Author
Title
Please provide a concise and informative title. Following the title should be the date the paper
was originally submitted. Mathematical Geosciences Editors will provide the date of
acceptance. The format will appear as follows:
Received:
/ Accepted:
Leave space for the dates to be inserted.
Author(s)
List all authors’ names (no degrees); each name should be footnoted with the author’s
affiliation. The affiliation should comprise the department, institution (usually university or
company), city, and state (or nation).
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For office purposes, the title page should include the complete mailing address, telephone
number, fax number, and e-mail address of the one corresponding author who is designated to
review proofs.
Abstract
Please provide an abstract of minimum 150 to maximum 250 words. The abstract should
not contain any undefined abbreviations or references.
Since the readership of Mathematical Geosciences consists of a diversity of professionals
including geoscientists, mathematicians, engineers, and others, it is particularly important that
the abstract and introduction sections of a paper clearly explain the objective of the work
described and why it is important to geoscientists and geoengineers. This should be done in a
manner that can be understood by a reader outside the author's own specialist field.
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Theoretical papers should succinctly describe their areas of application(s).
Statistical jargon should be avoided.
Short notes do not require an abstract.
No citations should be included in abstract.
Submissions should not be written in first person.
Introduction
• Be sure to outline the organization of your paper, providing a brief synopsis of each section.
• Do not use subsections in the introduction.
• The introduction should not exceed 20% of the length of the manuscript’s text.
Keywords
Please provide 4 to 6 keywords which can be used for indexing purposes.
Keywords should not duplicate words found in the title of the submission.
Text Formatting
Manuscripts should be submitted in LaTeX. Please use Springer’s LaTeX macro package
and choose the formatting option “smallextended”.
The submission should include the original source (including all style files and figures) and
a PDF version of the compiled output.
LaTeX macro package available at: http://www.springer.com/authors?SGWID=0-111-2791599-0
Word files are also accepted. In this case, please use Springer’s Word template for preparing
your manuscript.
Word template available at: http://www.springer.com/authors?SGWID=0-111-2-791599-0
• Manuscripts should be submitted in U.S English.
• Weights and measures should be expressed in the metric system.
• Manuscripts should be double spaced.
Paragraphs
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Do not use short paragraphs and/or point form lists. If a list is required, enumerate points as
(i), (ii), (iii), etc. To show steps, list as numerals. For example:
1. _____
2. _____
3. _____
Length
• Papers should be approximately 7000 words (20 to 25 pages), not including the abstract and
reference list.
• Papers of less than 1500 words may be considered as Short Notes.
Numbers and dates
• Numbers are not to be transcribed, unless used as an adjective in a sentence:
“The following four methods”
“Eight samples were chosen…”
• Use commas in numbers with more than three digits (e.g., 1,234 vs. 1234).
• Percents appear as 12.34% (not 12.34 percent).
• Decimals are preceded by a zero, as in 0.1234 (not .1234).
• Months and years are written without commas or apostrophes (e.g., 1980s, January 1990).
Other style requirements
• Do not use colons or semicolons before equations. Be sure to integrate equations into the
text of the paper using proper punctuation and language.
• Do not use quotation marks or direct quotes from other publications.
• Do not use italics, except in tertiary headings.
• Do not use bold, except in primary headings.
• Write out symbols in text, if possible:
“This is equal to the sum of...”
“If this value is greater than the value of…”
• Avoid using dashes when showing a range:
“15 to 20 km”
“Figures 4(c) to 4(g)”
Headings
Please use the decimal system of headings with no more than three levels.
• All section headings should be left-aligned and, starting with the Introduction through to
Conclusions, numbered and bolded.
• Secondary headings should not be bolded.
• Ternary headings should be in italics and not bolded.
• Capitalize each section title.
• Appendices should have corresponding letters (even if only one appendix is provided) and
titles:
“Appendix A: Title”
• Sections should be organized as follows:
Abstract
1 Introduction
2 Methods
3 Application
4 Conclusions
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Acknowledgments
References
Appendix A: Title
Appendix B: Title
Abbreviations
Abbreviations should be defined at first mention and used consistently thereafter.
Do not use abbreviations in abstract or any section headings.
Figures
• When you refer to an illustration at the beginning of a sentence, capitalize and spell out the
word "Figure" if not in parentheses:
“Figure 3 shows that the distribution of permeability is skewed, unlike porosity.”
• Otherwise, abbreviate as follows:
“The distribution of permeability is skewed (Fig. 3), unlike porosity.”
“The distribution of permeability is skewed (Figs. 3 to 5), unlike porosity.”
“As Fig. 3 shows, unlike porosity, permeability is skewed.”
“As Figs. 3 to 5 show, unlike porosity, permeability is skewed.”
• Give your results succinctly. Do not include “see” in the parentheses. For example:
“Unlike porosity, permeability is skewed (see Fig. 3).”
Equations
• The word "Equation" should be capitalized and spelled out at the beginning of a sentence:
"Equation (3) shows that…"
• Otherwise, it should be capitalized and abbreviated:
“Following from Eq. (3), the various…”
• Use brackets to indicate an equation in parentheses:
"It follows that ... (Eq. (3)) "
• If you use any other word to refer to an equation, such as “expression” or “relationship,” do
not capitalize.
Other abbreviations
• Any words that act as titles (i.e., Table, Model, Step, Case) should be capitalized and not
abbreviated, even in parentheses.
• Abbreviate and capitalize the word “Section” when it functions as a title:
“The various procedures are outlined in Sect. 2.”
• Do not abbreviate any other words (e.g., “resp.” “vs.”)
Acronyms
• Write out phrases such as “for example” or “that is” in text. In parentheses, use “e.g.” and
“i.e.” followed by a comma:
“…showing areas of similarity (e.g., Pacific Ocean) and dissimilarity (e.g., North
Atlantic Ocean).”
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• When introducing an acronym for the first time, write out in full, followed by the acronym
in parentheses:
“Atmosphere-ocean general circulation models (AOGCMs) are large…”
• Do not capitalize the words abbreviated unless they signify the title of an organization,
program, etc. For example:
“North American Regional Climate Change Assessment Program (NARCCAP)…”
• Acronyms for common programs or algorithms are as follows: snesim, filtersim, hosim
Acknowledgments
Acknowledgments of people, grants, funds, etc. should be placed in a separate section before
the reference list. The names of funding organizations should be written in full.
Citation
Cite references in the text by name and year in parentheses. Some examples:
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Negotiation research spans many disciplines (Thompson 1990).
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This result was later contradicted by Becker and Seligman (1996).
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This effect has been widely studied (Abbott 1991; Barakat et al. 1995; Kelso and
Smith 1998; Medvec et al. 1999).
• Where three or more authors are involved, only the first author's name is given followed by
“et al.” (notice the period):
“This result has been discussed by geoscientists (Emanuel et al. 1990)”
• If citing several articles by the same author(s) with different publication years, list dates
from oldest to most recent:
“This effect has been widely studied (Medvec et al. 1993, 1997, 2000).”
• If referring to several different works regarding the same idea, these should be listed in
alphabetical order by the first author's surname:
“...associated with the volcanic system over time (Capasso et al. 1999, 2001;
Di Liberto Nuccio and Paonita 2002; Martini 1980, 1989, 1996; Montalto
1996; Pawlowsky-Glahn and Buccianti 2002).”
• Do not use “e.g.,” “c.f.,” or “see” in citations.
References
The list of references should only include works that are cited in the text and that have been
published or accepted for publication. Personal communications and unpublished works
should only be mentioned in the text. Do not use footnotes or endnotes as a substitute for a
reference list. Reference list entries should be alphabetized by the last names of the first
author of each work.
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Journal article
Gamelin FX, Baquet G, Berthoin S, Thevenet D, Nourry C, Nottin S, Bosquet L (2009) Effect
of high intensity intermittent training on heart rate variability in prepubescent children. Eur J
Appl Physiol 105:731-738.doi: 10.1007/s00421-008-0955-8
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Ideally, the names of all authors should be provided, but the usage of “et al” in long author
lists will also be accepted:
Smith J, Jones M Jr, Houghton L et al (1999) Future of health insurance. N Engl J Med
965:325–329
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Article by DOI
Slifka MK, Whitton JL (2000) Clinical implications of dysregulated cytokine production. J
Mol Med. doi:10.1007/s001090000086
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Book
South J, Blass B (2001) The future of modern genomics. Blackwell, London
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Book chapter
Brown B, Aaron M (2001) The politics of nature. In: Smith J (ed) The rise of modern
genomics, 3rd edn. Wiley, New York, pp 230-257
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Online document
Cartwright J (2007) Big stars have weather too. IOP Publishing PhysicsWeb.
http://physicsweb.org/articles/news/11/6/16/1. Accessed 26 June 2007
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Dissertation
Trent JW (1975) Experimental acute renal failure. Dissertation, University of California
Always use the standard abbreviation of a journal’s name according to the ISSN List of Title
Word Abbreviations, see http://www.issn.org/2-22661-LTWA-online.php
For authors using EndNote, Springer provides an output style that supports the formatting of
in-text citations and reference list.
• All authors should be indicated in reference list – do not use “et al.“ In reference list (only
in in-text citations).
• If there is an editor (or several), in addition to or instead of authors, list their names in the
same manner as for authors, adding ed. or eds. after the last name:
Lippard SJ, Naess A, Sinding-Larsen R, eds. (1999) Proceedings of IAMG'99
- The fifth annual conference of the International Association for Mathematical
Geology, Vol. I and II. Tapir, Trondheim, 784 p
Tables
All tables are to be numbered using Arabic numerals.
Tables should always be cited in text in consecutive numerical order.
For each table, please supply a table caption (title) explaining the components of the table.
Identify any previously published material by giving the original source in the form of a
reference at the end of the table caption.
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Footnotes to tables should be indicated by superscript lower-case letters (or asterisks for
significance values and other statistical data) and included beneath the table body.
 Do not embed tables (or figures) in the text of your manuscript.
 Provide one table per page.
 List captions on a separate page of the manuscript, after your text. Captions should be
maximum 2 to 3 lines. If this does not suffice, ask the reader to refer to the text for
further details.
The
word "Table" should be capitalized, and not abbreviated, even in parentheses.

 Give your results succinctly: you do not need to tell the reader to “see” a table:
o “Unlike porosity, permeability is skewed (Table 3).”
 As opposed to
o “Unlike porosity, permeability is skewed (see Table 3).”
Artwork
Electronic figure submission
Supply all figures electronically.
Indicate what graphics program was used to create the artwork.
For vector graphics, the preferred format is EPS; for halftones, please use TIFF format. MS
Office files are also acceptable.
Vector graphics containing fonts must have the fonts embedded in the files.
Name your figure files with "Fig" and the figure number, e.g., Fig1.eps.
• Figures may be submitted in EPS, GIF, JPEG, PICT, or TIFF formats.
• Please do not embed figures in the text of your manuscript.
• Provide one figure per page.
• List captions on a separate page of the manuscript. Captions should be maximum 2 to 3
lines. If this does not suffice, ask the reader to refer to the text for further details.
• All figures must have clearly labeled axes, including units.
• Maps must have a scale.
Line Art
Definition: Black and white graphic with no shading.
Do not use faint lines and/or lettering and check that all lines and lettering within the
figures are legible at final size.
All lines should be at least 0.1 mm (0.3 pt) wide.
Scanned line drawings and line drawings in bitmap format should have a minimum
resolution of 1200 dpi.
Vector graphics containing fonts must have the fonts embedded in the
files.
• For vector graphics, the preferred format is EPS.
Halftone Art
Definition: Photographs, drawings, or paintings with fine shading, etc.
If any magnification is used in the photographs, indicate this by using scale bars within the
figures themselves.
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Halftones should have a minimum resolution of 300 dpi.
• For halftones, please use TIFF format
Combination Art
Definition: a combination of halftone and line art, e.g., halftones containing line drawing,
extensive lettering, color diagrams, etc.
Combination artwork should have a minimum resolution of 600 dpi.
Color Art
Color art is free of charge for online publication.
If black and white will be shown in the print version, make sure that the main information
will still be visible. Many colors are not distinguishable from one another when converted to
black and white. A simple way to check this is to make a xerographic copy to see if the
necessary distinctions between the different colors are still apparent.
If the figures will be printed in black and white, do not refer to color in the captions.
Color illustrations should be submitted as RGB (8 bits per channel).
Figure Lettering
To add lettering, it is best to use Helvetica or Arial (sans serif fonts).
Keep lettering consistently sized throughout your final-sized artwork, usually about 2–3
mm (8–12 pt).
Variance of type size within an illustration should be minimal, e.g., do not use 8-pt type on
an axis and 20-pt type for the axis label.
Avoid effects such as shading, outline letters, etc.
Do not include titles or captions into your illustrations.
• Try to avoid embedding text within your figures; if necessary, use the font “Helvetica,”
consistently sized at 12 pt.
Figure Numbering
All figures are to be numbered using Arabic numerals.
Figures should always be cited in the text in consecutive numerical order.
Figure parts should be denoted by lowercase letters (a, b, c, etc.).
If an appendix appears in your article/chapter and it contains one or more figures, continue
the consecutive numbering of the main text. Do not number the appendix figures, "A1, A2,
A3, etc." Figures in online appendices (Electronic supplementary Material) should, however,
be numbered separately.
• If you refer to them in the text, always indicate both the figure number and letter:
Figure 4(a), or (Fig. 4(a)).
• In captions, please follow this example:
Figure 4. Variograms for (a) permeability and (b) porosity.
Figure Captions
Each figure should have a concise caption describing accurately what the figure depicts.
Include the captions in the text file of the manuscript, not in the figure file.
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Figure captions begin with the term Fig. in bold type, followed by the figure number, also
in bold type.
No punctuation is to be included after the number, nor is any punctuation to be placed at
the end of the caption.
Identify all elements found in the figure in the figure caption; and use boxes, circles, etc.,
as coordinate points in graphs.
Identify previously published material by giving the original source in the form of a
reference citation at the end of the figure caption.
Identify all elements found in the figure in the figure caption and use boxes, circles, etc. as
coordinate points in graphs.
Identify previously published material by referencing the original source at the end of the
figure caption.
To explain any information in your figure, do not use any symbols in the captions.
For figure parts, indicate the part in parentheses:
“Fig. 4 Variograms for (a) permeability and (b) porosity”
Figure Placement and Size
When preparing your figures, size figures to fit in the column width.
For most journals the figures should be 39 mm, 84 mm, 129 mm, or 174 mm wide and not
higher than 234 mm.
For books and book-sized journals, the figures should be 80 mm or 122 mm wide and not
higher than 198 mm.
Make sure figures are clearly readable (they will be shrunken to 20% in the printed journal).
Permissions
If you include figures that have already been published elsewhere, you must obtain
permission from the copyright owner(s) for both the print and online format. Please be aware
that some publishers do not grant electronic rights for free and that Springer will not be able
to refund any costs that may have occurred to receive these permissions. In such cases,
material from other sources should be used.
Accessibility
In order to give people of all abilities and disabilities access to the content of your figures,
please make sure that
All figures have descriptive captions (blind users could then use a text-to-speech software
or a text-to-Braille hardware)
Patterns are used instead or in addition to colors for conveying information (color-blind
users would then be able to distinguish the visual elements)
Any figure lettering has a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1.
Electronic Supplementary Material
Electronic supplementary material will be published in the online version only.
It may consist of
Information that cannot be printed: animations, video clips, sound recordings
Information that is more convenient in electronic form: sequences, spectral data, etc.
Large original data, e.g. additional tables, illustrations, etc.
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Submission
Supply all supplementary material in standard file formats.
Please include in each file the following information: article title, journal name, author
names; affiliation and e-mail address of the corresponding author.
To accommodate user downloads, please keep in mind that larger-sized files may require
very long download times and that some users may experience other problems during
downloading.
Audio, Video, and Animations
Always use MPEG-1 (.mpg) format.
Text and Presentations
Submit your material in PDF format; .doc or .ppt files are not suitable for long-term
viability.
A collection of figures may also be combined in a PDF file.
Spreadsheets
Spreadsheets should be converted to PDF if no interaction with the data is intended.
If the readers should be encouraged to make their own calculations, spreadsheets should be
submitted as .xls files (MS Excel).
Specialized Formats
Specialized formats such as .pdb (chemical), .wrl (VRML), .nb (Mathematica notebook),
and .tex can also be supplied.
Collecting Multiple Files
It is possible to collect multiple files in a .zip or .gz file.
Numbering
If supplying any supplementary material, the text must make specific mention of the
material as a citation, similar to that of figures and tables.
Refer to the supplementary files as “Online Resource”, e.g., "... as shown in the animation
(Online Resource 3)", “... additional data are given in Online Resource 4”.
Name the files consecutively, e.g. “ESM_3.mpg”, “ESM_4.pdf”.
Captions
For each supplementary material, please supply a concise caption describing the content of
the file.
Processing of Supplementary Files
Electronic supplementary material will be published as received from the author without
any conversion, editing, or reformatting.
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Accessibility
In order to give people of all abilities and disabilities access to the content of your
supplementary files, please make sure that:
The manuscript contain a descriptive caption for each supplementary material
Video files do not contain anything that flashes more than three times per second (so that
users prone to seizures caused by such effects are not put at risk)
After Acceptance
Upon acceptance of your article you will receive a link to the special Author Query
Application at Springer’s web page where you can sign the Copyright Transfer Statement
online and indicate whether you wish to order OpenChoice and offprints. Once the Author
Query Application has been completed, your article will be processed and you will receive the
proofs.
Open Choice
In addition to the normal publication process (whereby an article is submitted to the journal
and access to that article is granted to customers who have purchased a subscription),
Springer now provides an alternative publishing option: Springer Open Choice. A Springer
Open Choice article receives all the benefits of a regular subscription-based article, but in
addition is made available publicly through Springer’s online platform SpringerLink.
Springer Open Choice [http://springer.com/openchoice]
Offprints
Offprints can be ordered by the corresponding author.
The journal makes no page charges.
Reprints are available to authors and order forms with the current price schedule are sent
with proofs.
Color Illustrations
Publication of color illustrations is free of charge.
Proof Reading
The purpose of the proof is to check for typesetting or conversion errors and the completeness
and accuracy of the text, tables and figures. Substantial changes in content, e.g., new results,
corrected values, title and authorship, are not allowed without the approval of the Editor.
After online publication, further changes can only be made in the form of an Erratum, which
will be hyperlinked to the article.
In order to reduce editorial processing time, it is strongly recommended that authors who
require it seek qualified English language assistance before submitting to the journal. A
recommended editing service is Edanz editing:
http://www.edanzediting.com/home_partners?utm_source=springer&utm_medium=partner_li
nk&utm_content=recommendation_page&utm_campaign=springer_general
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After the publisher has processed your submission, you will be sent proofs as .pdf files by email. You should then download the proofs, correct them, and return them as instructed. For
that reason, please notify us if your e-mail address changes.
Online First
The article will be published online after receipt of the corrected proofs. This is the official
first publication citable with the DOI. After release of the printed version, the paper can also
be cited by issue and page numbers.
Mathematical Geosciences
Editor-in-Chief: R. Dimitrakopoulos
ISSN: 0882-8121 (print version)
ISSN: 1573-8868 (electronic
version) Journal no. 11004
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http://www.springer.com/journal/11004