Guidelines for Authors

(Updated November 2011)

Authors should use the following guidelines when submitting a manuscript to Gems & Gemology, or the paper may be returned unreviewed. If you have any questions about these guidelines, please contact Editor Brendan Laurs by e-mail (blaurs@gia.edu), fax (760-603-4595), or phone (760-603-4503). More detailed suggestions for preparing articles on gem localities, synthetic gem materials, instruments and techniques, and pearls can be found online in the Tips for Publishing in Gems & Gemology page. 

Remember that these are general guidelines only. Your best source for appropriate topics is G&G itself.

APPROPRIATE TOPICS
G&G publishes original articles on gem materials and research in gemology and related fields. Appropriate topics include (but are not limited to) colored stones, diamonds, gemological instruments and identification techniques, gem localities, gem treatments, gem substitutes (simulants and synthetics), gemstones for the collector, jewelry manufacturing arts, jewelry history, legal issues related to gemology, and contemporary trends in the trade.

Manuscripts may be submitted as:

Feature Articles—full-length articles describing previously unpublished studies and laboratory or field research. Such articles should be no longer than 6,000 words plus tables, illustrations, and references.

Review Articles—comprehensive reviews of important topics in the field. Length of text should not exceed 8,000 words.

Notes & New Techniques—brief reports of recent discoveries or developments in gemology and related fields (e.g., new instruments or identification techniques, gem minerals for the collector, and lapidary techniques). Articles for this section should be approximately 1,500–4,000 words.

Rapid Communications (RC)—brief descriptions of notable gem materials, localities, and identification or treatment techniques, as well as related topics such as museum exhibits and historical jewelry. Articles for this section should be approximately 750–1,500 words. Review the Suggested Outline for Rapid Communication for more information.

Gem News International (GNI) entries—very brief reports (less than 600 words and up to a maximum of three figures/tables) on new localities, unusual gem materials, or current events in the field.

Letters to the Editor—Replies to and comments on material published in G&G.

To be considered for publication, all contributions to G&G must be original work not previously published in English. We will consider articles already published in languages other than English only on a case-by-case basis and only if the authors inform us at the time of submittal when and where the article was first published.

G&G also includes these regular sections: Lab Notes—reports from the GIA Gem Laboratory; Book Reviews—reviews of books and other publications; and Gemological Abstracts—summaries of important articles related to gemology (please contact the Editor if you are interested in abstracting articles).

MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION
All text material (including tables, figure legends, and references) must be submitted as electronic files, with an accompanying hard copy (or a PDF version, if e-mailed). Microsoft Word (for Windows or Macintosh) is preferred for text

Identify the authors on the title page only, not in the body of the manuscript or figures, so that author anonymity can be maintained during review (the title page is removed before the manuscript is sent to reviewers). The components of the manuscript should be arranged as follows:

Title Page. Page 1 should include: (a) the article title, (b) the full name of each author, (c) each author’s affiliation, and (d) acknowledgments of persons who provided assistance to the author(s).

Abstract. The abstract (no more than 150 words for a feature or review article, 75 words for a Note or RC) should state the purpose of the article, what was done, and the main conclusions.

Text. Papers should follow a clear outline with appropriate headings. For example, for a research paper, the headings could be: Introduction, Background (e.g., a review of previous studies), Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion. Use other heads and subheads as the subject matter warrants. Please avoid jargon, spell out the first mention of all nonstandard acronyms, and present your material as clearly and concisely as possible.

Important: Papers that describe original research must include a Materials and Methods section that contains, at a minimum, the numbers and descriptions of all samples examined and the techniques and instrumentation used to obtain the data.

References. References should be used for information taken directly from another publication, to document ideas and facts attributed to another writer, and to refer the reader to other sources on a particular subject. References must be cited in the body of the text (in parentheses), with the last name of the author(s) and the year of publication. Add the appropriate page number when citing a direct quote or a specific illustration or set of numbers or data; an example would be: (Koivula et al., 2000, p. 362). List references at the end of the paper in alphabetical order by the last name of the senior author. If there is more than one publication by that author or same group of authors, list those items in chronological order, starting with the oldest publication. List only references actually cited in the text (or tables or figures).

Include the following information, in the order given here, for each reference: (a) all author names (surnames followed by initials); (b) the year of publication, in parentheses; (c) for a journal, the full title of the article or, for a book, the full title of the book cited; (d) for a journal, the full title of the journal plus volume number, issue number, and inclusive page numbers of the article cited; (e) for a book, the publisher of the book and the city/state or country of publication; (f) for Web pages without other publication data, include the date accessed; and (g) the digital object identifier (DOI), if any.

Sample references are:

Balfour I. (2000) Famous Diamonds. Christie, Manson & Woods Ltd., London.

Renfro N., Koivula J.I., Wang W, Roskin G. (2010) Synthetic gem materials in the 2000s: A Decade in review. G&G, Vol. 46, No. 4, pp. 260-273, doi: 10.5741/GEMS.46.4.260.

Levinson A.A. (1998) Diamond sources and their discovery. In G. Harlow, Ed., The Nature of Diamonds. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, pp. 72–104.

Special report on red feldspar, Part 2 (2011) News from Research, www.gia.edu/research-resources/news-from-research/special-issue2-homepage.html, Aug. 1.

BHP Billiton (2010) Sales & marketing. www.bhpbilliton.com/bb/ourBusinesses/diamondsSpecialtyProducts/ekatiDiamondMine/salesMarketing.jsp [date accessed: 9/14/10].

Personal communications (for unpublished information obtained from someone with particular expertise) should be cited in the body of the text only, as follows: (G. Rossman, pers. comm., 2010). Permission must be obtained from the people cited to use their names for this purpose. Such persons must also be listed, with their affiliations, in the Acknowledgments section.

Tables. Number tables in the order in which they are cited in the text. Every table should have a title; every column (including the left-hand column) should have a heading. Terms and figures used in the table must be consistent with those used in the text.

Line Illustrations. We prefer that all line art (graphs, charts, etc.) be sent to us as electronic files (EPS and JPG formats preferred), accompanied by hard copy. If this is not possible, line art should be clearly drafted and the original sent to us (originals will be returned after publication).

Art that is not your original work must be submitted with the appropriate written permission from the copyright holder(s).

We strongly encourage authors to supply electronic files for the G&G Data Depository that correspond to any spectra published in G&G. These files should be included (1) in the format that is output from the instrument’s software, and (2) as an ASCII text file of the x,y data.

Color Photographs. All photos should be previously unpublished and sent in their original form, whether taken on film or with a digital camera. High-resolution digital files (JPG or TIF) are preferred.

Digital files should have a minimum resolution of 300 dpi (pixels per inch) at 4 × 5 inches (10 × 12 cm). Generally, an image that is at least 1200 pixels wide in its original form will be of sufficient resolution when printed. Remember, however, that this needs to be achieved with the proper settings on the camera; it is not possible to increase the actual resolution by digitally enlarging a low-resolution image.

Digital figures must be sent as separate files; please do not send them solely as embedded figures within the text of the manuscript. You may upload large digital files (anything over 10MB) to our FTP site; please contact the Managing Editor for instructions on access.

We reserve the right to reject photos that are not in keeping with our production standards. Any photograph that is not the original work of the author(s) or otherwise owned by them must be submitted with the appropriate written permission from the copyright holder(s). Please contact the Editor if you need help finding appropriate photographers or specimens.

All physical originals will be returned to the authors after publication of the manuscript. Production copies of figures published in G&G are retained by the GIA Visual Resources Library and may be displayed for educational purposes in GIA resident education classes; however, they are not reused or otherwise redistributed without permission from the copyright owner.

“Call Outs.” All figures and tables must be called out at the appropriate place in the text. Figures and tables must be numbered consecutively, starting with the first mention in the text.

Figure Captions. Include figure captions separately from the figures. Each caption should clearly explain, in complete sentences, the significance of the figure and any symbols, arrows, numbers, or abbreviations used therein. Information in captions must be consistent with the text. For photomicrographs, please indicate the field of view (or size of the object being photographed) in the figure caption. It is also acceptable to give the magnification of the image (e.g., magnified 20x).

MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION
Manuscripts can be submitted by either postal or electronic mail to the address below. Your manuscript package should contain: all electronic files (on CD-ROM if sent postal mail); one copy, printed on standard-size white paper (postal mail) or in PDF format (e-mail); any slides, transparencies, or line drawings of figures (slides and transparencies must be sent via postal mail; digital scans are not acceptable); and the signed copyright statement (in PDF format if e-mailed). Manuscripts will not be sent for review until all of these elements have been received. Send all submissions to:

Brendan M. Laurs
blaurs@gia.edu
Editor and Technical Specialist
Gems & Gemology
5345 Armada Drive
Carlsbad, CA 92008 USA

Copyright. GIA acquires worldwide copyright to all submitted material upon publication. All submitted manuscripts (except those intended for GNI) must be accompanied by the G&G copyright transfer, signed by all of the authors (except those who are U.S. Government employees). Papers will not be entered into the review process until the statement has been provided.

It is the general policy of G&G to allow authors to republish their material in other journals or magazines anytime beginning three months after first publication in G&G. Concurrent English-language publication elsewhere is not permitted and will likely cause a manuscript to be rejected. All such reuse that exceeds 250 words must be approved by the Managing Editor in advance and must reference the original publication in G&G.

Reprints. No payment is made to authors for articles or photos published in G&G. However, for each article, note, or RC, the author(s) will receive five copies of that issue. Contributors to the GNI section will receive one free copy. Offprints may be purchased in increments of 100 for an additional fee. Authors will also receive a free PDF version of their article (GNI contributors can request a PDF of the pages their entry appears on if desired). This PDF file may be shared with colleagues but should not be made available on the Internet or placed in a public database for general viewing without prior written permission from the Managing Editor.

REVIEW PROCESS
Manuscripts are examined by the editorial staff and at least three reviewers. Authors will remain anonymous to the reviewers, and (unless specific permission is given) reviewers will remain anonymous to the authors. Decisions of the editors are final and are revealed to the reviewers after the process is complete. All material accepted for publication is subject to copy editing. Authors will receive page proofs for review and are held fully responsible for the content of their articles.