How to prepare a manuscript for final submission to
Terrestrial Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences
J. G. Smithson1 and H. K. West2,*
1. Institute for Historical Geophysics, Houston, Texas 54321, USA
2. School for Military Advances, London, United Kingdom 1A2 3B4
*now at: Dept. of Navigation, University of Playa del Ingles, Gran Canaria, 67890 Spain
Correspondence to: J. G. Smith <jgsmithson@coldmail.com>
Abstract
To date, very little has been written about how to prepare the manuscript for the
Terrestrial Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences. It is noted that no references should be cited in
the abstract and abbreviations should be avoided. The number of words in the abstract should
be limited to 500 or less.
Keywords: land, air, ocean, Taiwan
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Introduction
The journal, Terrestrial Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (TAO), is now included in the
Scientific Citation Index (SCI). The average handling time of papers published in TAO in
2003 is less than 9 months (Fig. 1). If you wish to contribute to TAO, you may submit your
manuscript either in electronic form or in hard copies. If the former, manuscripts should be
prepared in MS Word format or Portable Document Format (PDF) and submitted to the email address <tao@cgu.org.tw>. Alternatively, the files may be stored in CD-ROMs and
mailed to the TAO Office (P.O. Box 23-59, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China). If the latter,
manuscripts must be typewritten, double-spaced with wide margins on one side of white
paper; good quality printouts with a font size of 12 or 10 pt are required; three copies of the
manuscript should be mailed to the TAO Office. In both cases, once a manuscript is accepted,
electronic files of text, tables and figures must be prepared according to the rules stipulated by
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TAO and submitted to the TAO Office. Details regarding the final preparation may be found
on the TAO website http://tao.cgu.org.tw.
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Materials and methods
Each manuscript should be organized in the following order:
(1) Title, author(s), and affiliation.
(2) Abstract: An abstract is required at the beginning of the manuscript. At least three
keywords should be provided.
(3) Text.
(4) Acknowledgements.
(5) References
(6) Appendix
(7) Figure captions
(8) Illustrations (in separate files or hard copies instead of being embedded in the text file).
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Results
Articles, in general, should not exceed 20 printed pages including illustrations. Notes and
correspondence should be limited to 6 printed pages. Only standard terms which have been
generally accepted should be used. Unfamiliar abbreviations must be defined when first used.
All symbols should be clearly defined.
3.1
Cited literature
References should be arranged alphabetically by author's last name without numbering.
The text citation should consist of the author and the year of publication, e.g. "according to
Wang (1980)", or "as shown by earlier studies (Wang, 1980; Liou et al., 1987)". In the list of
references, each reference must be complete and in the following form. For an article:
author(s), year, title of article, title of journal, volume number, pages (Lorenz, E.N.,1984:
Formulation of a low-order model of a moist general circulation. J. Atoms. Sci., 41, 19331945). Abbreviations for journal titles should be in general form. For a book: author(s), year,
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chapter name (if any), title of book, publisher, pages (Lin, C.C.,1955: The theory of
hydordynamic stability, Cambridge Univ. press, 155 pp). See examples in the reference
section.
3.2
Appendix
Lengthy mathematical analysis or data tabulation should normally be put into an
appendix. If the original data set is too large to do so, the author should provide electronic
files, which are to be posted on the TAO web site, and clear instructions on how to access it,
which are to be included in the paper.
3.3
Figures
3.3.1 Figure captions
Each figure must be accompanied by a caption, which is preferably put right below the
figure in the manuscript for review. Photographs, charts and diagrams are all to be referred to
as "Figure(s)" and should be numbered consecutively in the order to which they are referred.
3.3.2 Illustrations
Only computer generated graphics, original drawing or high quality glossy photoprints
are accepted. Lettering must be large enough to remain clearly legible when reduced. For the
final submission, separate rules will be provided for the contributors to follow.
(1) For most graphics with lines and text only, use vector graphics EPS, JPEG or TIFF (600
dpi). All lines must be at least 0.5 point or 0.01 inch thick (no hairline rules), when
reduced.
(2) For photographic images or equivalent, use TIFF or high-resolution JPEG (300 dpi).
(3) For false-color imagery, shading, or texture, use JPEG or TIFF (300 dpi).
(4) For color figures, CMYK is required for the print version of the journal.
(5) Choose fonts carefully and embed all fonts used. Helvetica or Arial is preferred for its
readability. Font size should not be less than 8 point in the final layout size.
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4.1
Discussion
Mathematics
The mathematical description is briefly mentioned here. Equations should be numbered
consecutively. The basic equation is
z
2

x y
2
.
(1)
In addition to Eq. (1), we also have
x  Asin  ,
4.2
(2)
Chemical formulae
An important equation in chemistry is
C8H18 + 12.5 O2  8 CO2 + 9 H2O.
(5)
Moreover, it is necessary to consider isotope species:
H218O + C16O2  H2O + C16O18O
(6)
When Greek letters are used, avoid inserting special symbols but use the font, Symbol, to
produce the symbols needed. For example, sT becomes T, when “s” is designated in the
Symbol font..
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Conclusions
When the review calls for revision, authors should prepare a revised manuscript and re-
submit the revised version within 3 months. A detailed point-by-point response to the
comments should accompany the revised version. If re-submission takes more than three
months, the manuscript may be treated as a new submission.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank their colleagues for continuing support and discussion. The paper benefits
from constructive comments from X. Y. Furore and an anonymous referee.
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References
Article, E.N., 1984: Formulation of a low-order model of a moist general circulation. J.
Atoms. Sci., 41, 1933-1945.
Author1, S., and M. Author2, 1983: Normal monthly wind stress over the world ocean with
error estimates. J. Phys. Oceanogr., 13, 1093-1104.
Book, C.C., 1955: The theory of hydordynamic stability, Cambridge Univ. press, 155 pp.
Book-article, H. J., 2001: Water and sediment discharges (in Chinese). In: Hu, D. X., and Han,
W. Y. (Eds.), Land-ocean interaction in the estuaries of the Changjiang and Pearl Rivers
and the adjoining regions. Ocean Press, Mars, 36-49.
Webpage, S., and T. Boyer, 1994: World ocean atlas 1994 volume 4. NOAA Atlas NESDIS 4,
U. S. Department of Commerce, Washington, D. C., http://ingrid.ldgo.columbia.edu
/SOURCES/.LEVITUS94/.
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Appendix A: Mathematical background
Apart from the following equation there is not very much to say about mathematical
background to this topic.
1  x n  1  nx  n(n  1) x 2  n(n  1)( n  2) x3  
2
3 2
(A1)
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Table 1. The handling time of TAO volume 14 no. 3.
Submission Publishing Handling Days
2003/1/8
2003/9/30 265
2003/3/21 2003/9/30 193
2002/9/12 2003/9/30 383
2003/4/16 2003/9/30 167
2002/8/27 2003/9/30 399
2003/3/28 2003/9/30 186
2003/4/1
2003/9/30 182
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Figure captions
Figure 1. The handling time (days) of papers published in TAO from Volume 13 (3) to
Volume 14 (1). (DO NOT embed graphs in the text file.)
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