Bulletin Of The American Meteorological Society

Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (bulletin-of-the-american-meteorological-society)

Journal positioning

The Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (BAMS) is the AMS flagship for broad-interest content addressed to the entire atmospheric, oceanic, and hydrologic-sciences community: major review and synthesis articles, overviews of field campaigns and large research programs, and community pieces such as essays, meeting and workshop summaries, and policy- or education-relevant commentary. It is best understood as a review and community venue, not a home for narrow primary research — much of its substantive content is commissioned or developed in dialogue with editors, and every article must speak across sub-disciplines rather than to one specialist group. A focused original-research result, no matter how solid, generally belongs in a topical AMS research journal instead. This skill is a fit / venue-selection / re-framing tool. It does not replace the journal's current author guidance. Before submitting, re-check the live BAMS author instructions and article-type definitions.

When to trigger

• The author names BAMS and wants a fit/framing check for a review, synthesis, field-campaign, program-overview, or community/essay contribution.
• A piece of primary research must be assessed for whether it should instead be re-cast as a broad synthesis or routed to a topical research journal.
• The author is choosing between BAMS and a specialized AMS journal such as journal-of-climate for a climate-science manuscript.
• The author needs BAMS's broad-audience-significance expectations and its commissioned/community character.

Scope & topic fit

• Major review and synthesis articles that consolidate the state of knowledge on a topic of community-wide interest across the weather, climate, ocean, and water sciences.
• Field-campaign and observing-program overviews: motivation, design, instrumentation, early results, and the data/resources made available to the community.
• Large research-program and infrastructure articles describing goals, organization, and community benefit rather than a single hypothesis test.
• Community content: essays, perspectives, history-of-science pieces, education and workforce topics, and policy- or society-relevant commentary.
• Meeting, workshop, and assessment summaries that inform the broader community.
• Cross-disciplinary contributions that connect atmospheric, oceanic, and hydrologic perspectives in an accessible way.

Method & evidence bar

• The defining bar is broad-audience significance and synthesis quality, not a single novel measurement; the contribution must matter across, not within, a specialty.
• Review and synthesis articles must be comprehensive, balanced, and current, with claims traceable to a thorough and fairly represented literature.
• Field-campaign and program articles must clearly document objectives, design rationale, and what data, models, or capabilities become available to others.
• Any primary results included should be illustrative of the broader argument and properly supported, not the article's sole reason for existing.
• Community, essay, and policy pieces must be evidence-aware and even-handed, distinguishing established findings from opinion.
• Because content is frequently commissioned or scoped with editors, early contact about fit and article type is often appropriate — re-check current practice on the live guide.

Structure & house style

• Article structure follows the AMS BAMS conventions for the chosen type (review, campaign/program overview, essay, summary); re-check current article types and length on the live guide.
• Writing must be accessible to a general professional readership across the sciences — jargon defined, significance foregrounded, and the "so what for the community" made explicit.
• Figures should communicate broadly (schematics, maps, observing-network and campaign diagrams, synthesis figures) rather than serve only specialist analysis.
• A capsule summary / accessible abstract and clear plain-language framing are characteristic of BAMS — re-check current requirements on the live guide.
• Data, software, and campaign-resource availability should be documented so the community can use what the article describes.