Editorial Policy

Australian Geomechanics is published quarterly, in March, June, September and December, by the Institution of Engineers Australia. The magazine is edited and produced by the Australian Geomechanics Society. It provides a journal and news magazine for matters of interest to the Australian geotechnical community. The statements made or opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of the Institution or the AGS.

The Editorial Panel of Australian Geomechanics seeks contributions for future editions. The following comments are offered to assist would-be contributors.

Contributions can include: refereed technical papers; technical papers or notes; or news items and reports.

Technical papers can be refereed to ensure that they are of a standard similar to those published in international geotechnical journals. Authors should aim for a maximum overall length of no more than 3500 words, although shorter papers or technical notes are particularly welcome. Authors should indicate if they want their submission to be refereed, the status of the paper will be indicated on publication.

Refereed technical papers should be original and:

• Papers on geotechnical engineering, engineering geology and environmental geomechanics. Papers should be topical, practically oriented and preferably of national interest. Case studies describing innovative geotechnical work are particularly encouraged.
• Papers on geotechnical or geoscience research undertaken in Australia or of relevance to Australian geomechanics. These should clearly indicate their practical relevance and limitations.
  Authoritative reviews of aspects of geotechnical practice or aspects of geotechnical education.

Technical papers or notes can be:

• Items as above but submitted for rapid publishing. These will not be refereed but will be reviewed. They will be accepted at the discretion of the editorial panel. The intention is to provide a source for rapid dissemination of technical material to the geotechnical community.
• Discussions on papers published in previous editions.

News items and reports can be:

• Items describing significant projects, instructive failures, conferences, courses or other matters of general interest to the Australian geotechnical community.
• Geotechnical book reviews.
• Letters to the Editor.

It is preferable for contributors to submit formatted text, tables and figures in electronic format using Microsoft Word on IBM compatible hardware. Contributions are preferred by email, on 3.5" floppy disk or CD. All contributions should be followed by a hard copy (i.e. laser printed or ink on paper).

Submitted material should be presented in the following format:

• Single column format on A4 paper.
• Left and right margins of 20 mm.
• A top margin of 30 mm and a bottom margin of 25 mm.
• 10 point character size of Times New Roman font with single (normal) line spacing.
• A single blank line between paragraphs, and after headings. Two blank lines before internal headings.
  No indent at the beginning of paragraphs.
• Main headings numbered 1, 2, 3.... etc. in 12 point Times New Roman, bold, upper-case and centred in the column.
• Sub-headings numbered 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 ... etc. in 10 point Times New Roman, bold, upper-case and left justified.
• Items in bulleted or numbered lists should not be separated by a line, but should be indented by 10 mm.
• Formulae typed and numbered (1), (2), (3) ... etc. and centred in the column.
• Captions for figures and tables should be placed beneath the item and numbered Figure 1, Table 1 etc., and referred to in the text as Figure 1, Table 1, etc. Figures and tables should be centered in the column.
• Do NOT use page numbers, these will be added later.
• In text citation according to the Harvard system of author (year) or (author, year) as appropriate. Multiple references should be separated by semicolons (author 1, year 1; author 2, year 2)
  References should be listed at the end of the paper in alphabetical order using the Harvard system: Author (year) title, publication, volume, pages, publisher with a 10 mm hanging indent and no blank line between each.
• Underlining should be avoided and symbols shown in italics.
  

  FIGURES AND TABLES

• Where possible figures and tables should be placed at the correct position in the text. Figures should be scanned. Failing this place them together at the back of the text. These should be sharp black on white and of the correct size for incorporation into the finished document. The width of these must be less than or equal to the width of the text column (165 mm). Do not use colour unless you have discussed it with the editors.
  

• Photographs should preferably be good contrast black and white gloss prints and of the correct size for incorporation directly into the copy. Please ensure that all such items are clearly marked to indicate position in paper.

  EXAMPLE PAPER

  Download an example of a correctly formatted technical paper in Adobe pdf (57 kB) format.

Authors will remain responsible for the integrity of their material and for permission to publish.

Material will be accepted at any time and published in the next available issue.

EDITORIAL CONTACTS

Contributions and other correspondence should be forwarded to:

Patrick MacGregor
Australian Geomechanics
PO Box 7183
MANNERING PARK NSW 2259
Phone: (02) 4359 1023
Fax: (02) 4359 3523
Email: jambomac@bigpond.net.au

The Editor is Patrick MacGregor, and the Editorial Panel consists of the Editor and the Chapter representatives. All members of the AGS National Committee have defined roles in providing papers and reports. Contributors are encouraged to liaise with their State Chapter Representatives. Their contact details are given here.