Guidelines for authors

The WMO Bulletin is the official journal of the World Meteorological Organization. The Bulletin has been in existence since 1952, and is produced in English, French, Russian and Spanish. The Bulletin is currently issued twice yearly, in print and online. The online version is available at: http://www.wmo.int/pages/publications/bulletin_en/index_en.html and is disseminated via the WMO Facebook and Twitter pages and WMO Web news.

Target audience

The target readership is the WMO scientific community, with extended outreach to the broader informed public. The aim is to inspire readers to improve their own operations and outreach to their user communities, by providing insight, cases and practices related to weather, climate and water.

The target audience is therefore global and interdisciplinary.

Dissemination

The Bulletin is disseminated to National Meteorological and Hydrological Services in the 189 Member countries of WMO, as well as other national, regional and institutional scientific institutions and media. WMO managers use it to support their programmes, projects and events.

Authors are encouraged to write with the reader in mind, and further disseminate the online version to their own networks.

Themes

Each issue is planned around a given theme, developed in consultation with the WMO Bulletin Editorial Board. Together, the articles provide a clear message, by outlining an issue and providing insight and examples to address its various aspects.

Communication techniques are used to maximize the edition as a whole as well as contributions of individual authors. A story line is developed to outline trends, challenges and opportunities and to provide insight and examples that may encourage other managers to adopt similar approaches in their work. Messaging is developed to help managers to communicate and advocate more effectively with their own constituents.

As a result, the shelf life of thematic WMO Bulletin issues spans many years. Those interested in a given topic will consult the overall messaging and trends, as well as specific examples that build capacity in Member institutions.

WMO Bulletin themes are summarized at:
http://www.wmo.int/pages/publications/bulletin_en/themes_en.html

Guidelines for authors

Article submission
The Bulletin addresses a wide range of scientific disciplines as well as the informed public. Highly scientific/technical material is not appropriate. Rather, the article offers the author(s) an opportunity to share a point of view based on research and/or experience.

The story to be communicated in each article is told in a combination of text and images. Authors should keep in mind that the online version has a potentially large and varied audience, and may be read on a computer screen or mobile phone, as well as in print.

The majority of readers consults the English edition, and are not native English speakers. Please keep metaphors and colloquialisms to a minimum. Conclusions and recommendations should be culturally appropriate for a global audience.

Writing guidelines

• Put key messages up front, rather than description. Strive to have a story line running throughout the article.
• Use plain, concise language, and in an accessible, attractive style.
• Write 500 to 3 000 words. (Slightly longer articles may be considered.)
• Avoid acronyms and jargon. Define terms that may be unfamiliar to readers the first time they appear. Avoid footnotes and endnotes; citations should be included where required in the text, with supporting online links.
• Avoid use of passive tense. Use personal experience, motivation and real-life examples that will create connections with readers.
• Provide illustrations that support the story line of the article. Photos, graphs and tables should tell a supporting story. Rather than leaving the reader to infer what should be drawn from them, please propose a title and/or caption summarizing the take-away message for the reader.
• Provide a short biography (name, title, institutional affiliation, city, country) and include an e-mail if you wish readers to contact you directly.

Sources
Articles span all aspects of meteorology, climatology, hydrology, the environment and related fields. Original articles are preferred. They should be in an accessible style and be based on substantive argument, backed by research and/or experience. A good source for articles is presentations; substantive material is often prepared with the aim of communicating a story line to a live audience, who provide useful feedback on what messages need clarification or streamlining, and what examples are most useful to them.

The Bulletin may accept articles that have appeared previously elsewhere, if they are judged to be of particular value and provided the author indicates the earlier publication, volume, date, etc. Alternately, the Bulletin may produce adapted versions of the original article in order to tailor it to its audience. The Bulletin does occasionally publish suitable unsolicited articles, in accordance with editorial policy and plans, if they can be adapted to the thematic issue underway, space permitting.

Language
The Bulletin is prepared initially in English and then translated. Articles submitted in a language other than English are first translated. Articles may be submitted in English, French, Russian or Spanish. Time for translation needs to be taken into account when considering deadlines.

Editing
The text should be submitted in Word by e-mail. All articles are edited to bring them into line with the overall style of the Bulletin. In editing articles, the Bulletin will attempt to maintain the style and point of view of the author(s). Wherever possible, the author(s) will be consulted with respect to major changes. The Bulletin, however,reserves the right to edit all copy as deemed appropriate, especially in terms of house style.

Measurements and numerals
All measurements should be given in the International System of Units. When monetary data are included in the article, a conversion to US dollars should be provided, using the current rate at the time the article is submitted.

Scientific names
Scientific names and words in languages other than that of the text should be in italics.

References

The Bulletin style is as follows:

• Last name of author, initials, initials and name of second author, etc. Date. Book title (in italics). Place of publication, publisher.
• Last name of author, initials; initials and name of second author, etc. Date. Article title (in roman). Journal title (in italics), volume, issue number, page numbers.
  Note: The term et al. is used for references in the text where there are four or more authors to be listed.

Illustrative material

Authors should provide a selection of supporting illustrations (figures, graphs, photos). Illustrations should be submitted as high-resolution (at least 300 dpi) electronic files (jpg, tiff) for printing purposes. The Bulletin reserves the right not to publish illustrative material that is not of sufficiently high quality for printing. It is the author’s responsibility to clear copyright, and credits should be marked clearly.