General Editorial Policies

The purpose of Journal of Mathematical Physics (JMP) is to publish papers dealing with the application of mathematics to problems in physics or the development of mathematical methods suitable for such applications and for the formulation of physical theories. Occasionally, reviews of mathematical subjects relevant to physics and special issues combining papers on a topic of current interest may be published.

JMP is published by the American Institute of Physics (AIP); content is published online daily, collected into a monthly online and printed issue (12 issues per year). The Editor, aided by the Associate Editors and the Editorial Board, is responsible for the scientific content and other editorial matters pertaining to the Journal. Papers should be submitted in an electronic form that does not require typesetting by the editorial office.

If the editors judge it to fall within the scope of the Journal, the submitted manuscript is sent to an expert referee for evaluation, and if necessary to another reviewer for a second opinion. The identities of such referees remain confidential. On the basis of the report, the Editor makes a decision either to accept the paper for publication, to reject it, or to ask the author for revisions suggested by the referee. Revised versions should be sent to the editorial office in a timely manner, or else the original receipt date may be replaced.

A paper published in JMP should be written in clear and standard English and its mathematics formulated precisely, in a manner understandable to physicists. It should be concise, though not to the point of being incomprehensible; relevant background information should be provided when necessary without dominating the paper. Its content has to be not only mathematically and logically correct, as well as novel, but of interest at least to the appropriate community of specialists rather than to the author(s) alone. Papers the editors deem of insufficient interest to the mathematical-physics community will be rejected without refereeing. (For further details, see Information for Contributors.)

Journal of Mathematical Physics requests a signed copyright-transfer form, assigning the copyright to the American Institute of Physics, to be included with each submission. It is a tradition of long standing that submission to JMP implies that the work has not been submitted, copyrighted, nor accepted for publication elsewhere. Since this form is required before publication, supplying it initially can prevent unnecessary delays.

JMP also publishes Errata and brief Comments on papers previously published by the Journal. (For their proper form, see examples published in earlier issues.) Such Comments should be nonpolemical and impersonal, and the editors will invite the author(s) of the targeted paper to reply in print if they so desire. Both the Comment and the Response, if any, will be refereed and, if accepted, published together in the same issue of the Journal.

Authors who disagree with the Editor's decision to reject their paper may appeal. If the disagreement cannot be resolved after consulting the original referee and, if necessary, another reviewer, the arguments of both sides will be presented to the Editorial Board for their judgment. As a final resort, an author may appeal the decision by making a request to the Editor that the case be reviewed by the Executive Director of AIP. The Executive Director will not make direct decisions whether or not a paper should be accepted for publication, but rather will assess whether procedures were followed properly. Additional rounds of review or adjudication would be called for only if proper procedures were not followed.

Editor
(Revised January 2008)

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