All BAMS articles (including In Box, Nowcast, and Map Room) require an author proposal uploaded to BAMS Editorial Manager. Articles submitted without a prior proposal will be returned. No proposal is required when submitting Meeting Summaries, Comments, or Letters to the Editor.

A proposal consists of 1) a single abstract of 250 words or fewer, written in language appropriate for an informed layperson, and 2) a cover letter of 250 words or fewer explaining

• the intended purpose of the article;
• the factors making the article timely, important, or interesting for a general BAMS readership;
• the expected length of the article, with justifications provided for articles longer than 4,500 words;
• the type and approximate number of illustrations to be included, plus any unusual production considerations;
• scientific context (a thorough description of the pressing science questions that motivated the work);
• the anticipated use of electronic supplements in the BAMS online archive; and
• suggestions for content (particularly images, other graphics, audio podcast, video, or interactive programs) related to the article that the author would be interested in developing for the AMS blog, The Front Page, upon acceptance of the article.