About the Journal

Focus and Scope

Articles related to the following topics will be considered for publication:

  • Weather Modification Research
  • Weather Modification Operations
  • Instrumentation related to Weather Modification
  • Cloud and Precipitation Microphysics and Chemistry related to Weather Modification
  • Aerosol-cloud Interactions related to Weather Modification
  • Others of general interest to the Weather Modification Community

Peer Review Process

Typically two reviews are requested for each paper; however, for some papers three or more reviews are obtained.  Reviewers are asked to provide their review within 3-4 weeks and to address the following questions:

Is the study an original contribution to the field of weather modification?

Are there errors in inference, interpretation, or mathematical analysis?

Can the material be applied to the field of weather modification?

Is the presentation clear, concise, and organized?

Does the abstract summarize the research in clear terms?

Is the material presented in sufficient detail to allow the research to be reproduced?

The online Open Journal System is used to review all manuscripts submitted to the Journal. Experts are asked by the Editor to provide anonymous review of submitted articles. Articles submitted to the Scientific Papers section are held to a high standard of scientific rigor. Reviewers are asked to assess the quality of the paper and to provide comments that justify their assessment. If the manuscript falls within the scope of the journal and is deemed publishable as is, or after modest modifications, it is sent for review. Reviewer comments are returned to the editor, compiled anonymously and returned to the authors. Authors are asked to revise their papers in light of the reviewers’ comments and to provide a comment-by-comment response to the editor concerning how these comments were addressed and where in the revised paper the responses appear, or why the authors felt the comments were not useful for clarifying and improving their paper. The Editor will then make a final decision to accept or reject the paper for publication.

If the reviewers have significant concerns about a manuscript, and the editor judges that extensive modification will be required to make it suitable for publication, or that the manuscript is so flawed that it cannot be rendered suitable for publication with a reasonable amount of effort, the paper will be rejected and reviewer comments returned to the authors with a summary explanation of the factors leading to the rejection.

Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. 

Currently, each article published in and following the JWM 2021 volume will have a DOI locator.

Upon Manuscript Acceptance

Once the editor has accepted a manuscript, the editorial assistant will work with the author to obtain a final version of the manuscript. The editorial process involves two steps, copy editing and layout editing. During copy editing all grammar/spelling is finalized in the text and all high quality images are submitted for figures. To allow for the creation of high quality manuscripts, authors should submit image files with a resolution of at least 220 dpi as supplemental files online in a standard image file format; for example, eps, png, jpeg, gif, bmp, or tif. During layout editing the text and figures are layout in a final format using the style of the Journal, which is similar to the style of the American Meteorological Society journal style. A digital copy of the final layout style is provided to the corresponding author for approval.

Authors are expected to honor page charges in order to support publication and distribution of the journal, unless the Editorial Board has waved page changes. A charge of $100.00 USD per page for all accepted papaers will be applied to each scientific paper, technical note, correspondence and book review accepted for publication. Papers from sources outside the United States will also be required to pay these charges (U.S. currency). After the final version of an accepted article has been approved by the author, the full amount of the publication charge must be prepaid to Weather Modification Association (WMA) before publication.

Article Access

Manuscripts will be available freely online as soon as the layout version is ready. No hard copies will be printed. Selected authors will be asked to provide image for the cover of the Journal based on their papers. 

Frequently Asked Questions

What are your suggestions to include in a Notes Articles about an operational program?

Notes can be very simple and hence may not require too much work to write. They must be within the scope of the JWM. Their general strcutre is provided below, while adhering to the  Jwm Author submission guidelines; http://journalofweathermodification.org/index.php/JWM/manager/files/downloads/JWxMod_OperationalQuestionnaire.odt

Project Name
Year Started
Season (e.g. November – April)
Location
Seed Type (AgI, hygro, salt water, etc)
Aircraft / UAS Number and Type
Ground Generator Number and Type
Measurements (Radiometer, Radiosonde, Airbonre, etc.)
Ground Generator Number and Type
Random or Non Random Operations
Radar Type and Band
Sponsor
Software Used (Titan and Processing Software)
Project Type (Snow/Rain/Hail/Fog)
Results Published (Y/N Journal Article)
Project Manager and Contract
Web Site Location and Information
Other Information

What can I find on the Journal's website?

Tools to submit, track, and review articles are available on the website. The current issue and all articles dating back to 1979 are also available. All articles are fully searchable via the website and search engines like Google.

How can I download PDF files from the Journal's website?

After searching for the desired article(s), click on the “PDF” link in the right column of the desired article and you will be directed to a PDF viewer within the browser. The PDF can be saved via the “Download” button.

Do I need a membership to view Journal issues or articles?

A library subscription, WMA subscription, or individual membership to the Journal is required to view articles in the most recent issue. After one year, all articles are freely accessible and open to the public.

What types of articles are accepted in the Journal?

Articles related to the following topics will be considered for online publication: weather modification research, weather modification operations, impacts of human activity on weather and climate, cloud a precipitation microphysics, aerosol-cloud interactions, instrumentation for aerosol and cloud physics research and geoengineering as long as they are of interest to the weather modification community.

How do I include figures in the submission of my article?

Include figures within the submitted document. In addition, submit all figures as supplemental material with a resolution of at least 220 dots per inch (dpi) or 1200 pixels per inch (ppi).

What is the figure image resolution requirement?

Figure image files need to have a resolution of at least 220 dots per inch (dpi) and a width of 7.5 inches.  Some programs provide resolution in terms of pixels per inch (ppi).  1200 ppi is similar to 220 dpi.

How do you create a 220 dpi resolution image from MS Excel?

There is no direct method to create 220 dpi images from Excel.  Authors need to directly copy all Excel "charts" into a MS Word or PowerPoint document.  Do not save a "charts" as an image and import the image into Word or PowerPoint document. ALl images need to be at least 300 dpi or higher quality.

Note that the image compression has to be turn off before saving the file the first time.  To turn off image compression do the following:

  1. Click the File tab.

  2. Under Help, click Options, and then click Advanced.

  3. Next to Image Size and Quality, click the file that you want to turn off picture compression for.

  4. Under Image Size and Quality, select the Do not compress images in file check box.

Note   This setting applies only to pictures in the current file or the file selected in the list next to Image Size and Quality.

  Once all the Excel files have be copied to the Word/Powerpoint application, the document has to be saved as a pdf formatted file and uploaded to the Journal's sites as a supplemental file.  When creating the copyeditted version, we will convert the figures within the pdf formatted document to 220 dpi png images using Adobe Acrobat Pro.  PDF is vector based format that can be used to create raster images (i.e. png formatted) of any resolution and size.

How do you determine the resolution (PPI/DPI) of an image?

From Linux command line, "identify -verbose -units PixelsPerInch filename | grep -i Resolution" where filename is the name of the image file.

In Windows7, open image file in the "Paint" program and then from main pull down menu select "Properties".  Resolution is given as DPI (at least in Windows7) but it is really PPI.  Hence, paint needs to give 1200 resolution for your images.

What tools would you recommend to improve writing of papers?

Listening to what you wrote is a great method of improving your writing and catching mistakes that spelling and grammar checkers miss. The Read Text extension LibreOffice provides a Text-to-Speech feature. Text-to-Speed feature is also available in MS Office, see http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/using-the-speak-text-to-speech-feature-HA102066711.aspx for setup information.

What tools would you recommend to manage references?

I would recommend using Zotero, which is an open, cross platform software of management of citations. Download web browser plugins and stand-alone client from the Web.

Journal History

The Journal published its first issue in 1969 and added a peer-reviewed section in 1979.  In 2010, the Journal started its transition to online publishing, which was completed in 2014 with all articles since 1979 available on the Journal's website.  Titles, authors, and abstracts of online articles are fully searchable as part of the Open Journal System (OJS) software used to manage the website.  Presentation on the Journal's History is available in the conference paper entitled, A Switch to Digital: The Transition of the Journal of Weather Modification to Online Publishing.

The digital evolution continued by getting DOIs for our journal papers in 2022/3.