Authors are encouraged to submit electronically. It is faster, easier, cheaper and the results look better (see Electronic Posting). Authors should first prepare their manuscripts (and cover letters) as electronic files and send them to the editorial office by website upload, e-mail or even (on floppy disks or CD's) by snail-mail.

The editorial office's preferred means of electronic submission is by website upload, and we request authors to use this means when possible. To submit via website, click the Manuscript and Review Submission button in the navigation bar at the top of most pages on this website. This produces a page offering the choice of manuscript submission or review submission. Click the Manuscript Submission link. The following paragraph describes the further steps for website submission; this need not be memorized, since the same guidance is provided during the submission process.

Clicking the Manuscript Submission link produces a page (Step 1 of 3) with textboxes for entry of correspondence author contact information. Enter the appropriate data and click the button labeled Proceed to Step 2. (Note that some data are optional, others are not. If you leave required fields blank the server will not proceed to Step 2, but will instead prompt you to enter the missing information.) Step 2 of 3 consists merely of proofing information entered in Step 1. Click the Back to Step 1 button to go back and edit this information if necessary, otherwise click the Proceed to Step 3 button. In Step 3 you will find several textboxes, each of which allows you to specify one file (and path) to upload. Note that these are files which are resident on your computer. You can enter text directly if you wish, but it is much easier (and much less prone to error) to click the Browse button associated with each textbox, which will open a dialog box that will let you browse through your file system to pick the right file. When you are done, click the button labeled Submit, and that's all there is to it: The GCA server will grab the files from your computer and record the contact information you provided. After you click Submit you will get a page which lists the information you provided, a list of the files uploaded, and also a Tracking Number which uniquely identifies this submission (see Acknowledgment). To exit this page click the HOME link at the bottom of the page, and you're back to the homepage of this website. If you specify a nonexistent path/file, or a file of an an unacceptable type (as indicated by its extension), you will be returned to Step 3 and asked to correct the path/file or simply click Submit to indicate that submission is complete.

At any of the three steps noted above you can abort the submission procedure by clicking the HOME link rather than going to the next step or clicking Submit. If you do this, however, you will lose any information already entered into textboxes and have to start over. You will also abort the submission procedure, whether you intend to or not, if you use your browser's Back or Forward buttons. Also, the submission procedure will be aborted if you do not complete it within a few hours of starting it.

Note that there are restrictions on both the type and size of files which may be uploaded. The size restriction is to guard against miscreants who might otherwise upload enormous files and clog the server's capabilities and storage space. For the same reason, no more than two manuscripts may be uploaded from a given IP address on a given day. If you really have more than two manuscripts you want to submit, and can't wait a day, contact the editorial office by e-mail, phone or fax. File types are restricted to those the editorial office is prepared to deal with. Please do not try to subvert this restriction simply by renaming your files to give them an allowed filename extension: You will fool the server into uploading your file, but it will only cause confusion and consternation when the human beings in the office try to deal with it.

Manuscript (and cover letter) files can also be submitted as e-mail attachments. The e-mail should be sent to office@gca.wustl.edu. If you choose to submit by e-mail please provide contact information as above and adhere to the File Types restrictions. If it is at all possible, please use website upload rather than e-mail if your total file length approaches 1 Mb or more.

For authors who submit electronically, and who have the necessary capablity, our preference is that you submit the entire manuscript as a single pdf file. Besides being relatively easy for us to handle, this has the advantage of giving you closer control over just what the AE and reviewers see, and it may avoid problems having to do with unusual fonts, special symbols, equations, conversions between word processors, and conversions between computer platforms.

If you are going to submit as a pdf file, please consider file length. Even a quite long manuscript with several non-trivial figures can be accomodated in a pdf file no longer than a few or perhaps several hundred kb. If your paper is much longer than that, the liklihood is that you could make your file considerably shorter by attention to the settings in the Acrobat Distiller. Sometimes, however, some figures just can't be squeezed smaller. As a rule of thumb, if you have a file longer than about 1 Mb, and it's a composite of distinct pieces, break it into the pieces.

You should note that the problem with big files isn't that we don't have adequate disk space or that we're stingy about it. The problem is that some AEs and some reviewers will have relatively slow internet connections, and you will start by annoying them unnecessarily if it takes them too long to download.

If you cannot submit everything as one pdf file, or a set of pdf files, submit text (including figure captions) and tables together as a single word-processor file, and submit the figures separately. Format restrictions are described below (and on the website's manuscript upload pages).

Text and tables may be submitted in files generated by Microsoft Word or by Corel WordPerfect. Plain ASCII text files will also be accepted, although format capabilities in plain text files are very limited and authors should consider hardcopy as an alternative. We cannot accept LaTex files; LaTex users are advised to submit either pdf files or hardcopy.

For figures we can accept source files from Microsoft Powerpoint, Microsoft Excel, Corel Draw, Canvas, or figures in jpg, gif, pdf or ps/eps formats.

Note that in website uploading the allowable file types are determined by filename extension. Please do not try to subvert this procedure by artificially giving a different file type one of the allowable extensions. You will indeed fool the server into uploading the files, but it will only cause confusion, and do you no good, when we try to open them.

Hardcopy submissions are also welcome. Submit five copies (plus the cover letter); one copy should be held together with a clip but not stapled or bound, the other four copies should be stapled or bound. Manuscripts should be submitted on standard size paper (A4, or 8.5 by 11.0 inches), with one inch (2.5 cm) margins all around, printed on one side only. For either regular post or courier service, send to

Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences
Washington University
St. Louis MO 63130-4899, USA

For courier service use street address One Brookings Drive and phone number 314-935-7453.

In some circumstances it may be reasonable to mix electronic and hardcopy submission. If you have photomicrographs, for example, and you think that electronic figures do not do them justice and you are concerned that this may be prejudicial to review, you could submit the whole thing (including figures) electronically, and separately send the photomicrographs (five sets) in hardcopy. We will post the electronic version, which should certainly be good enough for a propspective AE or a prospective reviewer to reach a decision about reviewing. When we have an AE who agrees to handle the manuscript, and reviewers who agree to review, we will mail them the hardcopies. If this, or something like this, is what you want to do, please make that clear in your cover letter.

Except for circumstances such as in the paragraph above, submit electronically or in hardcopy, but please not both.

Normally we will not return manuscripts or ancillary material submitted in hardcopy, whether or not the manuscript is accepted for publication. If you wish to submit something that you cannot consider expendable, please contact the editorial office prior to submission.

Every new manuscript, however submitted, must be accompanied by a cover letter addressed to the Executive Editor. This letter should mention the complete title of the manuscript and also the complete list of authors and their institutional affiliations. For multiple-author manuscripts it should also designate one author as the correspondence author, to whom all further correspondence will be sent, and provide contact information (especially e-mail but also postal address and telephone and fax numbers). It should contain a statement that the accompanying manuscript is original work, not published elsewhere or under consideration for publication elsewhere, or, to the extent that this is not entirely the case, it should describe the relevant details (see Scope and Overview: Originality). For multiple-author papers the cover letter should also include a statement that all authors have seen the manuscript and agree to its submission to Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta.

In their cover letters authors are also requested to suggest five prospective reviewers they consider competent to review the accompanying manuscript (e-mail addresses would be greatly appreciated) and two Associate Editors with the most nearly appropriate technical expertise (see the Associate Editors page for the most up-to-date listing plus brief statements of technical expertise).

Absence of the information noted above may result in a request for an appropriate letter, causing delay in manuscript evaluation.

Besides the "required" information (above), the cover letter is also the place to describe any circumstances specific to this manuscript, note potential conflicts of interest, make special requests (e.g. hardcopy distribution of photomicrographs, requests to avoid certain reviewers, etc.).

For authors submitting by upload to the website, the submission pages will provide a textbox in which comments may be entered, and these comments may constitute a cover letter. It is preferable, however, to prepare the cover letter as a separate file, whether word-processor or plain text file, and upload it along with the manuscript. For authors submitting by e-mail, the cover letter may similarly be transmitted by file attachment or as text within the body of the e-mail message.

Authors are advised that cover letters will be converted to pdf files and posted on the website in a location accessible to the Associate Editor handling the manuscript.Normally the cover letter is not made accessible to reviewers. If authors wish to direct remarks to reviewers that should provide a separate document for transmission to the reviewers (or the cover letter itself may note that the entire letter may be disclosed to reviewers).

All manuscripts received will be acknowledged. The acknowledgment will be sent by e-mail if an e-mail address was provided in the contact information, otherwise it will be sent by snail-mail. E-mail acknowledgment will usually be sent the same day as receipt, but in any case within three business days of receipt. If you submitted electronically, whether by website or e-mail, and you do not get an acknowledgment message within three business days, something is wrong and you should contact the editorial office (by e-mail, phone or fax). If you submitted by website, if possible please let us know the Tracking Number generated in your submission. If you submitted by snail-mail, or we have to acknowledge by snail-mail, please allow adequate time for transit.

Besides just acknowledging receipt the acknowledgment message will also give you the username and password information necessary to access your manuscript (and reviews) on our website.

Authors are advised that all manuscripts, however submitted, will be converted (if necessary) to pdf files and posted on our website. We will create a page for each manuscript, and on this page will be links to the various versions of the manuscript, the original version(s) and, as appropriate, further versions revised in response to review. These posted files constitute our primary record of your manuscript. In general, Associate Editors access manuscripts primarily or exclusively as the files posted on the website. Reviewers are also invited to access your manuscript through the posted files. (Some reviewers prefer to receive hardcopy via snail-mail. We supply hardcopy on request, sending one of your copies if you submitted hardcopy, more commonly by printing from the website files.)

You have access to your manuscript's page through the username and password supplied in your Acknowledgment message. Reviewers can also access the main manuscript page, the one containing the links to the manuscript versions, by means of a different username and password supplied in our request for review.

The page for your manuscript also contains a link called Reviews and Calendar; clicking this link leads to another page with links to your calendar (a text file) and, when they become available, to your reviews (pdf files). You can access this directory, and so can your Associate Editor. Reviewers cannot.

Word processors and graphics programs generally have facilities for making pdf files. By and large, the resultant pdf files look good. If you submit by hardcopy (rather than electronic files) we will create the pdf file by scanning your hardcopy. The result, in general, will be satisfactory: The text, tables and line drawings will certainly be legible, but the resolution will not be as good as if electronic source files were used, and scanning is not very good at reproducing grayscale subtlties. This is an additional reason to consider electronic submission: Your paper will simply look better than if we have to scan hardcopy.

Your acknowledgment message will ask you to examine the posted version of your manuscript. It is important that you do so, promptly, and inform the office immediately if there are any problems or mistakes. Remember, this is, in general, what the AE and the reviewers see.

We presently use Adobe Acrobat version 4.0 to produce pdf files. Sometimes these files do not open correctly with Acrobat Reader versions earlier than 4.0. If you see a page which is all black, or all white, or you get an error message involving the term "colorspace", this is likely due to using an earlier version of the Reader. A more recent version of the Reader can be downloaded, for free, from the Adobe website.

The final versions of manuscripts which have been accepted for publication must follow the traditional rules for copyediting: everything double-spaced and the various parts in standard order (main text, references, tables, figure captions, figures). Many authors automatically format/assemble their original submission manuscripts in the same way. This is certainly permitted, but it is not required.

Thus, authors are permitted, and encouraged, to assemble their original submissions in a more natural way, more conducive to reading and more attractive to readers. This might be as simple as merely putting pages bearing tables and figures in text positions near where they are cited or most used, It might also mean putting captions on the same page as the figures, or mixing text, tables and/or figures on the same page. It could also mean single-spacing rather than double-spacing, full proportional spacing, and use of double columns, which, combined with mixed text, tables and figures, would make your manuscript look much like the print versions of published papers. (It's also a nicer way to circulate or post preprints.)

We do require, however, that if you submit a single-spaced manuscript you also submit a double-spaced manuscript. This is because some AEs and some reviewers insist on double-spaced review copies. If you submit two versions, single-spaced and double-spaced, both will be posted on the website and AEs and reviewers can take their pick. Please note that the editorial office will not attempt to convert one to the other; if you want AEs and reviewers to have access to two formats, please submit two formats.

Authors who submit manuscripts electronically, as pdf files, are requested and encouraged to insert bookmarks into the files. As a guideline, the highest order bookmark could be used for the principal sections of the manuscript, such as Abstract, References, Tables, Figure Captions, Figures, etc., and numbered sections of the main text (e.g. 1 Introduction, 2 Samples, etc.), and second-order bookmarks for lower-order text sections, and individual tables and figures, etc. Insertion of bookmarks will significantly facilitate moving between sections for readers who use computer monitors and will thus constitute a courtesy to reviewers and editors, as well as enhance the professional "look" of a submitted manuscript.

Authors occasionally seek a preliminary assessment of the suitability of their manuscript, without actually "formally" submitting it, on the basis of just an abstract (or sometimes just a title) stating that if it is found suitable they will formally submit the whole manuscript. Authors should be discouraged from doing this. Often it is difficult even to judge whether the topic is within the scope of GCA from just the abstract, and in general it is impossible to gauge intrinsic merit. In most cases our response is to request the full paper before making any assessment.

It is usually unclear what authors mean by "formal" submission. When we receive an abstract-only inquiry the abstract is assigned a manuscript number and posted on our website, the same as for a full manuscript, since this is how we make it available to Associate Editors and identify it in correspondence and files. This is the same procedure as for submission of a complete paper. It is possible for authors to request a preliminary assessment on some specific point before a manuscript is sent out for external review, but (assuming that the manuscript exists if the abstract does) there is no evident advantage to sending in just the abstract, without the whole paper.

It is not unknown for authors, shortly after they have submitted a manuscript, to discover that they have made one or more mistakes and want to make changes, especially for electronic submissions. What to do about it depends on the significance of the discovered errors, on when they are discovered, and on whether you submitted electronically or in hardcopy. You should, of course, consult with the editorial office about what to do. In general, however, please do not transmit a list of errors and instructions for changes, expecting that the GCA editorial office will correct your manuscript for you. The editorial office cannot assume the responsibility of fixing your manuscript, it is something you will have to do yourself. If you have submitted electronically, is should be relatively easy and fast to get a corrected version in to the editorial office.

If the mistakes are few and minor, of the caliber of typographical errors, which do not substantially impact the message of your paper, and you discover them promptly, within a few days of submission, then send the corrected version to the editorial office. We will post it in place of the original, and likely no one will be the wiser. If, however, you do not discover the mistakes until later, a few weeks or more after submission, just leave it be and, if a revised version is invited, fix the mistakes in revision.

If the problem(s) is/are more substantial, e.g. a missing or incorrect figure or table, a significant computational error, a missing paragraph in a closely reasoned section, omission of a key description of analytical procedure, and so on, inform the editorial office immediately and you will be advised on what to do next. If the problem is identified very promptly, before an AE or reviewer has made a significant investment in the flawed version, we may be able to just repost the manuscript. Otherwise, we may request that you not only fix the problem but also write a letter to the AE and reviewers explaining what happened, and/or consider that the original submission is withdrawn and the corrected version constitutes a new submission on which we start over from the beginning.

If you submitted hardcopy, and the errors are no worse than typos, and there are but few of them, don't do anything but, if revision is invited, fix the mistakes in revision. If the errors are significant, contact the editorial office by e-mail, describe the problem, and await advice.

After submission a manuscript submitted as an Article will be assigned to an Associate Editor and, in most cases, will be reviewed externally (i.e. by cognizant scientists other than Associate Editors). Policies and logistics for this evaluation are described on a separate page of this website, the Evaluation page. Procedures for other types of submissions are described in other pages accessible from the Information and Guidelines index page.