Submissions

Author Guidelines

Contents

1. Before submitting
2. Language
3. Front matter
• Title
• Authors
• Abstract
• Keywords
4. Main text
• Structure
• Formulae
• footnotes
5. Back matter
• Items
• Author declarations
• Tables
• Figures
6. Formatting
• In-line citations
• Reference list
• Reference formats

1. Before submitting

• Please familiarise yourself with NJG's journal policies before submitting your manuscript.
• The submission file should consist of the complete manuscript, with all tables, figures, captions and supplementary material (if any) placed at the end of the manuscript, following the references. Please number pages and lines to facilitate the review process. The Editors reserve the right to return a manuscript to the author for revision prior to peer review if it does not conform to the below guidelines.
• To submit a paper to a special collection, select it under [Categories].
• The cover letter should include the following:
• A statement confirming compliance with the COPE guidelines on research and publication ethics.
• Disclosure of any prior submissions or the existence of any exempted prior publications (see below).
• The names and contact details of two suggested reviewers, noting that the final selection of reviewers is at the editor’s discretion.
• Multiple of concurrent submissions – Submission of a manuscript to NJG implies that:
• The work has not been published previously, except in the form of an abstract, a published lecture, an academic thesis, a technical or consultancy report, or an electronic preprint.
• The article is not under consideration for publication in another journal.
• The work will not be published elsewhere after acceptance by NJG, including in translated form.
• If the manuscript has previously been rejected by another journal, it is expected that it has been revised and improved before submission to NJG.

2. Language

• Manuscripts must be written in English. Authors whose first language is not English are strongly encouraged to have their manuscript checked by a native speaker prior to submission. The use of a spell-checker, as available in most word-processing software, is strongly advised. The journal uses British English spelling. Manuscripts requiring extensive language correction may be rejected or, if accepted, may experience delays in processing.
• Authors should adhere to IUGS terminology. SI units should be used wherever possible. Non-SI units may be used only where this is necessary for practical understanding.

3. Front matter

• The title should be as concise as possible, while leaving no doubt as to the content. The area and age of the material studied should, where appropriate, be mentioned. Abbreviations in the title should be avoided. Names and other terms should include all relevant diacritical marks.
• Name(s) of author(s); Author affiliation(s) and email address(es), in the case of more than one author, please indicate the corresponding author
• The abstract should concisely summarise the methods used, the main results and the conclusions. It must be understandable on its own and should not refer to illustrations or references. It should not exceed 500 words.
• Please provide three to six keywords in alphabetical order. They should not repeat words used in the title and should preferably be selected from the most recent American Geological Institute GeoRef Thesaurus. A single keyword should consist of no more than three words, and preferably of one.

4. Main text

Structure – The main text should be subdivided into sections and subsections as required. Headings should be formatted as follows: section headings in bold (with a blank line underneath), subsection headings in bold italics (with a blank line underneath), and sub-subsection headings in italics (without a blank line underneath). Sections and subsections should not be numbered. Unduly long descriptions should, where possible, be replaced by tables or figures. Manuscripts should generally be organised in the following order:

• Introduction
• Methods and materials
• Analyses and results
• Discussion and conclusions

Formulae should be presented consistently and clearly, with careful attention to the meaning and placement of each symbol. Formulae must be typed throughout. If numerous unusual symbols are used, they should be listed and explained in a separate appendix. Authors are encouraged to keep notation as simple as possible and to avoid ambiguity. Special typefaces should be used only where strictly necessary. Different formulae should be clearly separated in the manuscript, at least by punctuation if not by words. Avoid breaking formulae unless strictly necessary (e.g. when a formula exceeds one typed line), and avoid complex juxtapositions of symbols as well as complicated subscripts and superscripts. Formulae and text should clearly distinguish between similar symbols (e.g. zero (0) and the letter O, one (1) and the letters l and I, and the multiplication symbols · or × and the letter x).

Footnotes should be used only when absolutely essential; in most cases, the information can be incorporated into the main text. If used, footnotes should be numbered consecutively throughout the manuscript using superscript Arabic numerals and kept as short as possible. Extensive footnotes may be replaced by a link to the NJG website.

5. Back matter

The backmatter may include the following items, further detailed below:

• Acknowledgements
• Author declarations
• References
• Table and figure captions
• Tables
• Figures
• Appendices (if any; their use should be kept to a minimum)
• Supplementary material

Author declarations should include:

• A CRediT author statement should describe the contribution of each author using standard CRediT terminology;
• All authors must include a competing interests declaration. This declaration will be subject to editorial review and may be published with the article. Competing interests are circumstances that could be perceived as exerting undue influence on the content or publication of an author’s work, including but not limited to financial, professional, contractual or personal relationships.
• For multi-author manuscripts, the submitting author must provide competing interest declarations relevant to all contributing authors: “Competing interests: Author 1 is employed by organisation A; Author 2 serves on the board of company B and is a member of organisation C; Author 3 has received grants from company D.”
• If no competing interests exist, the declaration should read: “Competing interests: The author(s) declare none.”

Tables should be formatted as follows:

• Tables should not exceed the page size (174 × 246 mm). If this appears impossible, transposing rows and columns will often resolve the problem. Large tables should be avoided and may instead be placed on the NJG website. Tables and their captions should be included in the main manuscript file and placed at the end of the paper, following the references. Tables must be numbered according to their order of citation in the text, and all tables must be referred to in the text. Column headings should be brief but sufficiently explanatory, and units of measurement should be given in parentheses. Authors are advised to consult tables in recent volumes of the journal for guidance on layout.
• Each table must have a concise, self-explanatory caption. Explanatory notes essential for understanding the table should be given as footnotes, indicated by superscript numbers, at the bottom of the table.

Figures should be formatted as follows:

• For peer review: All illustrations must be included in the manuscript PDF and placed at the end of the manuscript, following the references. The design, line widths, lettering (use Helvetica or Arial) and scale bars must allow reproduction at column width (84 mm) or page width (174 mm; maximum height 246 mm) while maintaining a high information density. All illustrations must be numbered consecutively and cited in the text in numerical order.
• Upon acceptance: Photographs, micrographs and similar images must be sharp and show good contrast. Image files (.psd or .tif) must have a resolution of at least 300 dpi at the intended print size (e.g. an image measuring 84 × 100 mm should be at least 992 × 1181 pixels). Scale bars should be included on photographs rather than magnification factors in the caption.
• The use of fine shading or stippling, coloured text, and thin coloured lines (<0.2 mm) should be avoided. Vector graphics (ps, eps, ai) are also acceptable.

6. Formatting

In-line citations should be arranged chronologically, cross-checked against the reference list and vice versa, and formatted as follows:

• References should be cited by author name (without initials) and year of publication, for example: ‘as suggested earlier (Smith, 1999)’ or ‘as suggested by Smith (1999) and Johnson & Petersen (2000)’.
• For publications with more than two authors, only the first author’s name should be given, followed by ‘et al.’ This abbreviation must never be used in the reference list; all authors and co-authors must be listed in full.

The reference list should be arranged alphabetically by author name and chronologically per author. Prefixes are included included in the alpabetisation (De Bruijn sorts under D, and Van der Meulen under V). The first prefix of the surname is capitalised unless it follows initials or a first name. If an author appears both alone and with co-authors, references should be ordered as follows:

• Publications by the single author, arranged by year of publication;
• Publications by the same author with one co-author, arranged alphabetically by co-author and, if necessary, chronologically;
• Publications by the author with more than one co-author, arranged chronologically.

Journal paper reference format: Names and initials of all authors, year. Title of the paper. Journal name (in full), volume number: first–last page numbers. Digital Object Identifyer (DOI). Issue numbers should be given in parentheses after the volume number only if page numbering is not continuous throughout the volume.

Van der Meulen, M.J., Van Gessel, S.F. & Veldkamp, J.G., 2005. Aggregate resources in the Netherlands. Netherlands Journal of Geosciences 84: 379–387. DOI:10.1017/S0016774600021193

Book reference format: Names and initials of all authors, year. Title of the book. Publisher (place of publication): total number of pages. Digital Object Identifyer (DOI). 

Ten Veen, J.H., Vis, G.J., De Jager, J & Wong, Th.E., 2025. Geology of the Netherlands: Second Edition. Amsterdam University Press (Amsterdam): 909 pp. DOI:10.2307/jj.27435714

Edited volume chapter reference format: Names and initials of all authors, year. Title of the chapter. In: Name(s) and initials of editor(s), followed by (ed.) or (eds): title of the volume. Publisher (place of publication): first–last page numbers. Digital Object Identifyer (DOI). 

Trabucho, J.P. & Wong, Th.E., 2025. Rhaetian to Middle Jurassic. In: Ten Veen, J.H., Vis, G.J., De Jager, J & Wong, Th.E. (eds): Geology of the Netherlands: Second Edition. Amsterdam University Press (Amsterdam): 185-209. DOI:10.2307/jj.27435714.10

Language: For publications in languages other than English, the original title should be retained. Titles originally written in non-Latin alphabets should be transliterated, and a note such as ‘(in Russian)’ or ‘(in Japanese, with English abstract)’ should be added at the end of the reference.