Scientific work requires attention to detail, especially for peer-reviewed publications. When you prepare a paper for publication, go through the following checklist. Different journals may have different additional requirements:

First page: List the title of the manuscript; date of submission; authors' full names with middle initials; affiliation; abstract.

Novelty: Novelty is the key prerequisite for journals to consider papers for publication. Make it easy for the editor and reviewers to ascertain the novelty of the paper by explicitly stating novel aspects at the end of the introduction. Make sure you like the novelties to gaps in the literature.

Formatting:

1. Add page and line numbers to make it easier for reviewers to reference sections of the text.
2. Use proper punctuation after equations. If an equation is at the end of a sentence use a ‘.’; if followed by ‘where’ use a ‘,’ and ‘where’ should be lower case and not indented.
3. Use only SI units. For length use mm, m, or km, not cm. Units are not in italics. Use space between variable, equal sign, number, and each unit. E.g. correct usage is u = 15 m s^-1
4. Avoid excessive significant digits for numbers. Typically no more than 3, i.e. 870 W m-2 instead of 870.332 W m-2. 0.532 m instead of 0.532326 m. But sometimes even 2 is sufficient.

Structure: Use subsections to improve structure.

Cite and number figures and tables sequentially in the text as they appear. Each table or figure must be cited at least once in the text. As you produce figures keep in mind (but not required for first submission) that each figure must eventually be submitted as an individual file, in either TIFF or EPS format with at least 300 dpi. a), b), c) etc subplots must be submitted as one combined figure file.

Figures:

1. Label each axis and include units. If the variable is dimensionless use [-] to avoid ambiguity.
2. Avoid figure titles unless necessary.
3. Unless figures are busy use lines that are 2 points wide.
4. Avoid symbols. Rather distinguish lines by color (colors with difference in darkness preferred such as light green and black) and line style (dashed, dotted, etc.).
5. Figures divided into panels or parts should label each part with a, b, etc. in lower-case bold type.
6. Captions should be detailed enough to understand the figure without consulting the text. Define acronyms used in the figure and tables also in the caption.
7. Use large axis labels that would allow the figure to be reused in a presentation while covering only 1/4 of the screen.

Variables: All variables must be in italics even in figures. Exceptions are acronyms, abbreviations, and english words. For example GHI should not be in italics. For D_sky, D should be in italics, but sky should not be in italics.

References: include total pages (pp.) for all text books and reports. Use appropriate journal abbreviations (for guidance check recent issues), e.g. Boundary-Layer Meteorol; J Fluid Mech; J Atmos Sci; Mon Weather Rev; Q J Roy Meteorol Soc; and be consistent.

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