Bulletin Of The American Meteorological Society

---
name: bulletin-of-the-american-meteorological-society
description: Use when targeting the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (BAMS) or deciding whether a broad-interest atmospheric/oceanic/hydrologic-sciences contribution fits this venue. Encodes the journal's review-and-community positioning, the broad-audience-significance bar, synthesis and field-campaign expectations, AMS house style, official-submission re-check, and misfit heuristics.
---

# 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.

## Official-submission checklist

- Before giving submission-ready advice, read `../../resources/source-basis.md` and
  `../../resources/official-source-map.md`; start from the AMS anchors, then cite the current
  BAMS page you checked.
- Search the live site for "BAMS author guidelines" / "AMS authors" and follow the current
  AMS version.
- Re-check article types (review, campaign/program overview, essay, meeting summary, etc.),
  the capsule-summary requirement, and length expectations for the chosen type.
- Confirm whether a pre-submission inquiry or editor scoping is expected for commissioned or
  large-synthesis content.
- Confirm AMS data-availability, software, and campaign-resource documentation expectations.
- Re-check competing-interests, funding, author-contribution, and AI-use disclosure, and
  open-access options.
- If the live official instructions conflict with this skill, the official instructions
  win.

## Pre-submission self-check

- [ ] The contribution is a review, synthesis, campaign/program overview, or community piece — not narrow primary research.
- [ ] Significance is framed for the whole atmospheric/oceanic/hydrologic-sciences community, not one specialty.
- [ ] A review's literature coverage is comprehensive, balanced, and current.
- [ ] A campaign/program article documents objectives, design, and community resources made available.
- [ ] Writing is accessible, with jargon defined and the community "so what" explicit.
- [ ] The right article type is chosen and any editor-scoping/pre-inquiry step is addressed.

## Common desk-reject triggers

- A narrow original-research result that belongs in a topical AMS research journal, submitted as if to a general venue.
- A "review" that is selective, outdated, or a thin literature wrapper around the authors' own work.
- A field-campaign article with no clear community resource, data plan, or broad rationale.
- An essay or commentary that is opinion-heavy and not evidence-aware or balanced.
- Specialist framing and undefined jargon that exclude the broad readership.
- Wrong article type or ignored expectation of editor scoping for commissioned content.

## Re-routing decision

- A focused climate-science research result → `journal-of-climate` (topical AMS research venue).
- Primary hydrologic-process research → `journal-of-hydrology` or `water-resources-research`.
- Land–atmosphere flux or micrometeorology research → `agricultural-and-forest-meteorology`.
- Aquatic-sciences primary research (limnology/oceanography) → `limnology-and-oceanography`.
- High-impact cross-disciplinary climate or earth-science framing → `nature-climate-change` or `nature-geoscience`.

## Output format

```text
[Fit] High / Medium / Low (one-line reason)
[Target] Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (BAMS)
[Article type] <review / synthesis / campaign-overview / program / essay / summary>
[Community significance] <why it matters across the whole community, not one specialty>
[Synthesis/breadth] <does coverage + accessibility + community resource clear the BAMS bar?>
[Commissioning note] <is editor scoping or a pre-submission inquiry advisable?>
[Top risk] <the single most likely reason for rejection>
[Official items to re-check] <article type / capsule summary / scoping / data policy / disclosures>
[Re-route suggestion] <if narrow research, a topical research venue>
```