--- name: journal-of-climate description: Use when targeting Journal of Climate or deciding whether a climate-dynamics or climate-variability manuscript fits this venue. Encodes the journal's fit, the large-scale-climate-science bar, model-evaluation and statistical-rigor expectations, AMS house style, official-submission re-check, and desk-reject heuristics. --- # Journal of Climate (journal-of-climate) ## Journal positioning Journal of Climate is the American Meteorological Society's journal for research on the large-scale climate of the atmosphere, ocean, land, and cryosphere. Its defining expectation is a **contribution to climate science**: an advance in understanding climate dynamics, variability, change, predictability, or diagnostics at regional-to-global scale, supported by rigorous analysis. A local weather case study, a short-range forecast verification, or an impacts paper that applies climate data without contributing to climate understanding is a poor fit, however careful. This skill is a **fit / venue-selection / re-framing** tool. It does not replace the journal's current author guidance. Before submitting, re-check the live Journal of Climate / AMS author instructions. ## When to trigger - The author names Journal of Climate and wants a fit/framing check for a climate-dynamics or climate-variability paper. - A regional analysis or model run must be re-framed into a large-scale climate-science contribution rather than a local case study. - The author is choosing between Journal of Climate, a dynamics-focused AMS sibling, and a broader earth-science venue. - The author needs the journal's model-evaluation and statistical-significance expectations. ## Scope & topic fit - Large-scale atmospheric and oceanic circulation and their role in climate. - Climate variability and modes (ENSO, NAO, monsoons, decadal variability) and their mechanisms and teleconnections. - Climate change detection, attribution, and projection using observations and models. - Climate modeling and model evaluation: process representation, biases, ensembles, and model intercomparison. - Climate diagnostics, reanalyses, and the energy/water/carbon budgets of the climate system. - Land–atmosphere and ocean–atmosphere coupling, cryosphere–climate interactions, and climate predictability on seasonal-to-decadal scales. ## Method & evidence bar - The contribution must advance **climate understanding**, not merely report that a model or region behaved a certain way. - Statistical claims require appropriate significance testing that accounts for autocorrelation, finite ensemble size, and multiplicity; effect sizes and confidence intervals should be reported, not just p-values. - Model-based results must be evaluated against observations or reanalysis, with biases and internal variability explicitly addressed (single realizations are rarely sufficient). - Mechanistic claims need diagnostic evidence linking the proposed dynamics to the observed signal, not correlation alone. - Datasets, reanalyses, and model output should be identified by version and source so the analysis is reproducible; AMS expects clear data-availability statements. - Trend and attribution work must separate forced response from internal variability with a defensible framework. ## Structure & house style - AMS article format; re-check current article types and length expectations on the live guide. - The introduction must state the climate-science question and gap, not just describe a dataset or region. - Figures should be quantitative and diagnostic (maps, time series with significance, composite/regression analyses); they must support the mechanistic argument. - Methods must specify datasets, model configurations, ensemble sizes, and statistical procedures precisely enough to reproduce; AMS requires a data-availability statement. - Terminology and metrics should follow established climate-science conventions so results are comparable across studies. ## Official-submission checklist - Before giving submission-ready advice, read `../../resources/source-basis.md` and `../../resources/official-source-map.md`; start from the AMS anchors, then cite the current Journal of Climate page you checked. - Search the live site for "Journal of Climate author guidelines" and follow the current AMS version. - Re-check article types, abstract/format expectations, and length/figure expectations. - Confirm the AMS data-availability and code/software policy: identify datasets, model output, and reanalyses with sources and persistent identifiers where possible. - Re-check competing-interests, funding, author-contribution, AI-use disclosure, and open-access/page-charge terms. - If the live official instructions conflict with this skill, the official instructions win. ## Pre-submission self-check - [ ] The paper advances climate understanding, not a single local weather or impacts case. - [ ] Statistical significance accounts for autocorrelation, ensemble size, and multiplicity. - [ ] Model results are evaluated against observations/reanalysis with biases and internal variability addressed. - [ ] Mechanistic claims are backed by diagnostic evidence, not correlation alone. - [ ] Forced response is separated from internal variability in any trend/attribution claim. - [ ] Datasets, model configurations, and an AMS data-availability statement are specified. ## Common desk-reject triggers - A local weather event or short-range forecast study with no large-scale climate contribution. - An impacts/applications paper that uses climate data but adds nothing to climate science. - Trends or significance reported without accounting for autocorrelation or multiple testing. - Model results presented without observational evaluation or any treatment of internal variability. - Mechanistic claims resting on correlation with no diagnostic support. - Missing data/model-version provenance or a non-compliant data-availability statement. ## Re-routing decision - Flagship climate-change significance for a broad audience → `nature-climate-change`. - Broad earth/environment open-access framing → `communications-earth-and-environment`. - Short, high-immediacy geophysical result → `geophysical-research-letters`. - Hydrologic-cycle or water-resources focus dominant → `water-resources-research` / `journal-of-hydrology`. - Carbon/nutrient biogeochemical budgets dominant → `global-biogeochemical-cycles`. ## Output format ```text [Fit] High / Medium / Low (one-line reason) [Target] Journal of Climate [Topic tags] <2–3 closest climate-science topics> [Climate-science contribution] [Method/evidence] [Top risk] [Official items to re-check]
[Re-route suggestion] ```