Current Research in Earth Sciences

Each annual issue of Kansas Geological Survey's Current Research in Earth Sciences contains several short articles that highlight current research on an aspect of earth science. Special emphasis is given to articles relating to the midcontinent and Kansas geoscience. Formerly published as Current Research on Kansas Geology, the title has been changed to reflect the broader scope.

As part of the KGS Bulletin series, Current Research in Earth Sciences has national and international circulation. Manuscripts are expected to be of high quality and will be peer-reviewed. Articles submitted to this bulletin will be published online following peer review, revision, acceptance, and editing. KGS Bulletins are archived electronically.

• Submit an electronic copy of the manuscript, including all illustration files and digital photographs, by email to Julie Tollefson at jtollefson@kgs.ku.edu. See Preparation of Illustrations below.
• Submit the names of three objective reviewers, along with addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses.
• Write a cover letter, including current address, address changes for the next several months (e.g., fieldwork address), phone and fax numbers, email address, and any special instructions.
• Accepted manuscripts will be edited and published online.

Submit to:
Julie Tollefson, KGS editor
jtollefson@kgs.ku.edu
Kansas Geological Survey
1930 Constant Avenue
The University of Kansas
Lawrence, KS 66047-3724

Manuscripts should be submitted electronically. The Survey uses Microsoft Word, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe InDesign to prepare documents for publication. Contact jtollefson@kgs.ku.edu for more information about electronic submission of manuscripts.

Manuscripts should be be double-spaced throughout, including tables, figure captions, and references.

Do not justify margins.

Do not italicize common Latin words or phrases (e.g., i.e., et al., in situ, etc.).

Cite each figure and table in the text in numerical order (i.e., don't cite fig. 2 before fig. 1).

Use "Figure" only to start a sentence; otherwise, use "fig." if singular and "figs." if plural (e.g., fig. 2, figs. 2 and 3, figs. 4-7).

Each published reference cited in the text must be listed in the References section, and vice versa. Double-check for spelling and details of publication.

Literature citations in the text are as follows:

One author:

Jones (1990) or (Jones, 1990).

Two authors:

Jones and Smith (1990) or (Jones and Smith, 1990).

Three or more authors:

Jones et al. (1990) or (Jones et al., 1990), but include all authors' names in the References section.

Manuscripts accepted for publication but not yet published:

Jones (1992) or (Jones, 1992) and specify in References section that material is in press. Example: Jones, A., 1992, Kansas rivers: Journal of Geology (in press).

Unpublished materials:

A. Jones (unpublished data, 1991), A. Jones (personal communication, 1991) or (A. Jones, unpublished data, 1991), (A. Jones, personal communication, 1991).

Use a semicolon to separate citations of different authors:

(Jones, 1989, 1991; Smith, 1991).

Manuscripts should include the following: (1) title page, (2) abstract, (3) text, (4) references, (5) tables, (6) figure captions, (7) figures. Figures should be submitted in separate files, not embedded in the Word document.

• The title page includes the title, authors, and affiliations (the complete mailing addresses of authors).
• If authors have different affiliations, each name should be followed by a footnote (superscript number) indicating the author's affiliation. If more than one author is at the same institution, you only need one footnote number and one footnote for that institution.

• The abstract should be concise (not more than 250 words) but include brief statements about the paper's intent, materials and methods, results, and significance of findings.
• Do not use references in the abstract.
• Do not use abbreviations in the abstract.

• Follow General Instructions above.
• First-, second-, and third-level headings will be edited to conform to KGS bulletin style. In the manuscript authors may use any style, but they should be sure that the different levels of headings are distinguished from one another.

• Do not abbreviate journal names.
• Verify all entries against original sources, especially journal titles, diacritical marks, and spelling (especially in languages other than English). Capitalize all nouns in German.
• Cite references in alphabetical order by first author's surname. References by a single author precede works by the same senior author and one co-author, which precede works by the same senior author and two co-authors, etc.
• List references by the same author(s) chronologically, beginning with the earliest date of publication.
• Use a long dash when the author (or authors) is the same as in the immediately preceding citation.
• "In press" citations must have been accepted for publication, not just submitted or in review. The name of the journal or publisher should be included.
• Insert a period and a space after each initial of an author's name.

• The word "Table" should be followed by an Arabic number and a period.
• Capitalize the first word and all proper names in the table title.
• Do not reduce the type size of tables; use the same size as in the text.
• Indicate notes to the table by superscript letters (a, b, c, etc.); do not use asterisks, daggers, etc.
• Place a zero in front of decimal points (0.23, not .23).

The word "Figure" should be followed by an Arabic number and a period.

Type captions in paragraph format the end of the manuscript.

If there is more than one part to a figure, use lowercase letters in parentheses to indicate each one. For example,

Figure 1. Arch (a) before collapse and (b) after collapse.

Try to make the figure legend part of the caption rather than placing the legend in the figure:

Figure 1. Rainfall in Kansas in 1992. Expected values (solid line), observed values (dashed line).

• Digital photographs and figures created using graphics software are preferred. Color is acceptable.
• Figures for Current Research should be saved as high-quality JPEG, PDF, GIF, or TIFF formats.
• In the case of material that you cannot create on a computer, use a scanner to convert the drafts into high-resolution electronic files in JPEG, PDF, GIF, or TIFF format.
• All figure and photograph files should be numbered in the order of their appearance in the article: fig-1.GIF, fig-2.JPG, photo-1.TIF, and so on. Do not include captions as part of the graphics files. Captions should be typed in paragraph form at the end of the manuscript.
• A maximum size of 800 x 600 pixels is recommended for figures and photographs. A size of 300-400 x 200-300 pixels is ideally suited for illustrations in the text. Text fonts such as Times New Roman or Helvetica, with a size of 12 or 14 point, are recommended.
• If several photographs are grouped together in one illustration, make sure they have the same orientation (e.g., the up-direction of strata or photomicrographs should be the same).
• Scale bars should be part of the figure. State the length of the scale bar in the figure caption. Do not use magnifications; your illustration may be reduced.
• If figures have more than one part, each part must have its own lowercase letter and that letter must appear in the figure caption with the explanation.