NWA DIGEST INSTRUCTIONS FOR AUTHORS

The National Weather Association's National Weather Digest is a professional publication for association members and others interested in operational meteorology and related activities to share their experiences, procedures, ideas, research, technical studies, news and announcements. The National Weather Digest contains two types of operationally oriented, technical papers. One, called "Articles", will be fully refereed. The other, called "Technical Notes", will be devoted to subjects not fully investigated, verified or perfected, but which hold promise for the future or for more widespread applications. "Technical Note" submissions will go through an editing and short review process to ensure the premise is sound and the text and figures are suitable for publication. Other types of papers could include book reviews, conference or workshop proceedings, or comments on previously published papers.

Manuscripts may be submitted either via email or on a CD. The submission should consist of the text file, and a file containing all of the figures in sequential order, with captions. Microsoft (MS)-Word is the preferred word processing format and “Times New Roman” (12 pt) is the preferred font type and size. The figures may also be in a MS-Word document, but should be sent as an Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) file if the combined file size is greater than 10Mb (to facilitate email transmission to reviewers and the co-editor). The manuscript should be double-spaced with one-inch margins.

Manuscripts for submitted papers should consist of the following components in order: title page, abstract, text, acknowledgments, author(s) page, references, figure captions, figures, tables, and if necessary, appendices. Every page of the manuscript should be numbered consecutively at the bottom of the page, beginning with the title page.

The Title page should list: the title of the paper (all CAPITAL letters, Times New Roman 14 pt font, BOLD); the author(s) (12 pt font, bold) and professional affiliation(s), including city and state; and the month and year of submission. The corresponding author’s contact information (name, affiliation, mailing and email address) must be included as a footnote at the bottom of the title page. Only persons who contributed significantly to the research and paper preparation should be listed as authors. Other contributors should be mentioned in the Acknowledgments section.

The Abstract should be a short summary of the important information in the article or technical note such as: purpose, methodology, results and conclusions.

The Text should begin on the next page after the abstract, and should be subdivided into logical sections beginning with the Introduction. Each section should be numbered consecutively and have section headings according to the following format:

    1. Introduction
    2. Data Analysis
        a. Surface data available
        1) Automated surface observing systems
        2) Mesonet data
        b. Upper-air data analysis
        1) Sources of data
        2) NWP models used

Acknowledgments, Author(s) page, References and Appendices are section headings that are not numbered:

Acknowledgments recognize contributions by colleagues and agencies in the areas of manuscript preparation and review, research assistance, literature searches, sources of data and financial assistance.

The Author(s) page should provide a brief professional biography of each author, such as: current position, primary responsibilities and interests, experiences, training and education. Educational degrees should include the name of the college or university and year obtained.

References are listed to substantiate the point(s) being made in the article, give credit to other authors for previously published ideas and research, describe the history of the field, learn more about the subject, or possibly even reproduce the results of earlier research. References should be listed in alphabetical order of the last name of the primary author. All entries in the reference list should be cited in the text, and all reference citations in the text should have an appropriate entry in the reference list. (Refer to http://www.nwas.org/digest/ref_instructions.php for detailed reference guidelines.)

Appendices provide supplemental information that is not critical for the body of the paper, but can help support the findings and assist the reader in understanding how they were obtained. Appendices can include raw data in table format, equations, glossaries, illustrations, etc. Multiple appendices in a paper should be labeled in bold as: Appendix A, B, etc.

List of Figure Captions must be in numerical sequence and double-spaced to aid in final printing and layout of the article. Authors should also include captions below the figures (single-spaced) either in a separate file or within the body of the paper to aid reviewers. The caption should briefly describe the figure and draw attention to the key features discussed in the text.

Figures must be cited in the text in numerical sequence using the form 'Fig. #.' Figures should be provided in .tif, .eps, .psd, or in high resolution .pdf or .jpg formats. Figures embedded within Word documents are acceptable during the review process, but must be removed prior to publication and submitted to the Digest publisher as individual files. All characters, labeling and lines (including map backgrounds) must be dark and detailed enough to be legible when reproduced, and possibly reduced in final layout. Captions should not be embedded within the illustration. The source of each figure must be stated if it was not produced by the author(s). If obtained from the Internet, a Web link should be provided. The final layout will typically have figure sizes that conform to either: column width, figure width, page width or full-page size (sideways). If necessary, authors can advise of any preferred figure size and/or layout.

Tables must be cited in the text in numerical sequence using the form Table #. Each table must have at least two columns and two rows of data/information. A title (bold) and explanatory text (double-spaced) must be provided beneath each table.

Additional Guidelines:

Mathematical equations should all be numbered consecutively with the equation number placed in parentheses to the far right of the equation.

Units of Measure used in operational meteorology in the United States are recommended. For examples: wind speed in knots (kt), meters per second (m s-1) or statute miles per hour (mph); pressure in millibars (mb); surface temperature and dew point in degrees Fahrenheit (F); distance in statute miles (mi), nautical miles (n mi) or kilometers (km); precipitation amounts in inches (in.) and upper-air temperatures and dew points in degrees Celsius (C). Papers that concern aviation applications may use English units (e.g., deg F, ft) as they are the standard used in that industry. However, equivalent values in the International System of Units (metric system) must be provided in parentheses when not the primary units of measure used in the paper. For ratios, negative exponents are preferred (e.g., m s-1 rather than m/s).

Date/Time Groups should be referenced as Universal Coordinated Time (UTC) rather than Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) or Zulu (Z). The use of 24-hour local time (such as 1900 LST) is also acceptable. When denoting a complete date/time group, the hour-day-month-year should be in ascending order with the month spelled out, such as 1200 UTC 25 December 1999.

Abbreviations and Acronyms should always be defined when they are first used, except for commonly used units such as UTC, mb, deg, etc. Proper names of people, days of the week, months, cities, counties, provinces, states and countries should always be spelled out fully in the text.

Review Process: Manuscripts submitted for publication will be reviewed by an editor and at least two associate editors to ensure the article is appropriate for the objectives of the National Weather Association and the Digest. Reviewers will also check that statements made and interpretation of data are correct and supported by analysis and/or references, and written in a style that is understandable to most readers. Authors should strive to present a concise, accurate report with a clear, focused discussion of the importance of the results to operational meteorology or related activities. The authors will receive written reviews to use in finalizing their manuscripts. The final draft layout of the Articles or Technical Notes will be sent to each author by the Digest publisher for final review and approval prior to publication.

Publication Charges are financial contributions from authors or their sponsoring agencies. They are designed to help cover the costs of editorial, composition and layout to prepare a manuscript for printing. Authors will be assessed $120 US per Digest page beginning with Volume 34 in 2010. This page charge applies to both black and white and color pages. An estimate for the number of final Digest pages can be obtained by multiplying the number of double-spaced manuscript pages (including tables and captions list) plus the number of figure pages (with 3 figures per page) by 0.40. Authors should strive to limit the number of figures to those most pertinent to the major points of the paper since more figures will increase the total page costs. When an author is sent the final draft layout, an estimate of the final costs is enclosed along with a price list for reprints. Page costs should not prohibit authors from submitting articles. For further information on publication charges or any other questions regarding NWA publications, please contact the NWA Executive Director:

Telephone: (919) 845-1546
Fax: (919) 845-2956
E-mail: exdir@nwas.org

Author indexes are provided in the final issue of each Volume of the National Weather Digest. A complete Author index of Digest Articles and Technical Notes is available on the NWA Web site: www.nwas.org/digest/index.php

Regarding All NWA Publications:
A primary objective of the NWA is to provide members with many opportunities to share research studies, analysis and forecasting techniques, literature reviews, product and service improvements, news items, and correspondence with other NWA members and subscribers through a wide variety of media. Submissions are always welcome for the monthly Newsletter, National Weather Digest, the Electronic Journal of Operational Meteorology on the NWA Web site (http://www.nwas.org/), monographs, presentations at the NWA Annual Meetings or other media as authors may suggest. Each publication has its own editorial review and approval process. Paid advertising is accepted for the National Weather Digest and the Annual Meeting program. The volunteer editors certainly appreciate all submissions.

The Editors and NWA office staff welcome comments from readers expanding on the discussions, results and conclusions of the materials published. They also accept comments regarding the validity of any article or the point of view of every author and can provide a forum for professional counterpoint. Indecorous criticism of authors or organizations for their points of view will not be accepted.

(Current as of March 31, 2010)

Manuscripts
Authors should send completed manuscripts of articles, technical notes and related correspondence to Chief Editor: Gary Ellrod, P.O. Box 240, Granby, CT 06035-0240; e-mail: gary.ellrod@gmail.com. Mr. Ellrod shares editor duties with Dr. Anthony Lupo, Professor – Chair of Department of Soil, Environmental and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Missouri-Columbia.

Advertisements; News and Announcements Entries
Please send these items to:
NWA Publications
228 West Millbrook Road
Raleigh, North Carolina 27609-4304
Telephone: (919) 845-1546
Fax: (919) 845-2956
E-mail: exdir@nwas.org

NWA Electronic Journal of Operational Meteorology
Authors should refer to www.nwas.org/ej/ for instructions for submitting to the Electronic Journal.