This page contains information on how to submit an article to the Bulletin of the London Mathematical Society.
For information about the peer review process, see the peer review policy; or find out what happens to an article after it is accepted.
Scope
The Bulletin of the London Mathematical Society has been publishing leading research across a broad range of mathematics since 1969.
The Bulletin of the London Mathematical Society focuses on the publication of concise articles reporting a significant advance in mathematical knowledge, or which are deemed to stimulate new interest and research activity.
When evaluating papers, the Editorial Board considers a number of criteria such as novelty, innovation, significance, and advancement of the field of research.
As a journal covering a broad range of mathematics, the Bulletin of the London Mathematical Society expects all papers to have a motivating introduction which sets the work in context and can be understood and appreciated by researchers outside the immediate specialism of the paper. The extent to which the introduction achieves this forms part of the acceptance criteria for the Bulletin of the London Mathematical Society. We fully recognise that the main body of most mathematics papers written today are primarily read by subject specialists.
Article length
Research articles in the Bulletin of the London Mathematical Society have a maximum length of 20 pages. Submissions which exceed the maximum length may be automatically transferred to the Journal of the London Mathematical Society.
Articles should be as long as is necessary to present the mathematical work they contain clearly. We do not encourage authors to artificially shorten their papers; doing so may decrease their chances of acceptance.
Surveys
The Bulletin of the London Mathematical Society has published authoritative survey articles since its launch in 1969.
Survey articles should provide a well-written overview of the state of the subject that balances depth, breadth, and accessibility. It should be of interest to newcomers as well as experts and have the potential to become a standard reference on the subject.
Surveys can be of any length, and may contain full proofs, pieces of original research or unorthodox points-of-view on known results.
For more information see the Surveys section.
LMS Ethical Policy
The London Mathematical Society has adopted an Ethical Policy for its journals, including guidance on the expected behaviour of authors, reviewers, and editors.
By submitting to the Bulletin of the London Mathematical Society, authors are confirming that they accept and will abide by the Ethical Policy.
Preprints or theses
The LMS will consider papers that have been deposited in preprint or manuscript form on servers such as the arXiv (https://arxiv.org/) or included as part of a thesis which has not been formally published.
The author must be able to sign a Licence to Publish grant the LMS the rights to publish the paper (see Articles accepted by the Bulletin).
Submitting a new paper
Online submission system
The Bulletin of the London Mathematical Society uses an online system, EditFlow, to manage submissions and peer review.
Submit your article using our online submission system
Files
Authors should submit their paper electronically as a single PDF file.
Authors must keep the .tex file that precisely corresponds to the PDF version that they submit. If the paper is accepted, we will require that particular version of the .tex file. Please do not send the .tex file at this time.
Code or data
In accordance with the Society's Data Access Policy, any code or data which is necessary to fully evaluate the basis for a paper’s results must either be:
- Deposited in a repository prior to submission
- Submitted with the research article
More information can be found in the Data Access Policy and the LMS policy on Computer Aided Proofs.
Choosing an editor
Once an author has decided to submit their paper to the Bulletin of the London Mathematical Society, they should identify which member of the Editorial Board they would like to handle it.
The Bulletin of the London Mathematical Society shares an Editorial Board with the Journal of the London Mathematical Society. The Editorial Board is organised into seven subject-based sections, each with a number of editors under a subject section editor who has the authority to accept papers for publication.
From the full list of the editors and their field of expertise, please choose the most appropriate subject area and the editor whose mathematical interests are closest to that of the paper.
Please note that the Editorial Board may re-assign submissions to another editor when appropriate, for example where an editor has a conflict of interest.
Cover Letters and Notes to Editor
On the submission form, there are two optional fields: ‘Cover Letter’ and ‘Notes to Editor’.
Cover letters will be visible to both editors and any potential reviewers, and should provide a brief context for the paper, explaining its subject and relevance to the field of mathematics. Any messages or explanatory notes which authors do not wish to be viewed by potential reviewers should be included in the ‘Notes for Editor’ field, which will only be seen by editors.
Authors who wish to include a cover letter or notes to the editor are asked to please be respectful when including any directions or comments regarding peers within the mathematical community, and to explicitly state any relationships which may create a conflict of interest.
ORCID iD
Corresponding Authors are asked to provide their ORCID iD as part of the submission process.
Authors without an ORCID iD can register for one using the ORCID website. Registering for an ORCID iD takes only a few minutes, however we recommend that authors take the time to complete their ORCID record with their publication history.
Completing the online submission form
The Corresponding Author will be asked to provide the following information:
- The PDF file
- Number of authors
- Full names and email addresses of all authors
- Title of the paper
- MSC subject codes
- Chosen Editor to handle the paper
- Confirmation that an abstract is included in the article
- A brief covering letter
Privacy Policy
When submitting a paper, authors must agree to allow the LMS to store their personal data and will have been informed of the LMS’s data protection policy.
Under UK law, the LMS is required to explain how an author’s personal data stored on its system will be subsequently used. This information can be found in the submission portal Privacy Policy.
After submission
The author will receive a confirmation email that includes a link to a manuscript tracking page. This page includes a record of all correspondence, submission files and the paper’s current status. This page can also be used by authors to withdraw the current submission if necessary.
If you do not receive this link, please contact lmsjournal@lms.ac.uk and cite your paper ID.
The submission will be passed to the journal editors for consideration. Read our full peer review policy.
Revised versions
During the peer review process, the editors may ask the author to revise their paper.
The email asking for a revised version will contain a link to submit the revision. Authors should not submit a revision as a new article. If you cannot find the link, then contact lmsjournals@lms.ac.uk.
Once an author submits a paper, they should not upload a new version of the same paper before a decision on the first version is sent, particularly if the changes are minor.
If an author receives a letter that firmly rejects their paper and does not mention that a resubmission would be considered, the journal will not consider any version of the submission further.
Further information on Surveys
The Bulletin of the London Mathematical Society welcomes submissions of Survey articles via the Bulletin EditFlow site selecting "survey" as the article type.
A collection of recent Survey articles (2010 – present) is hosted on Wiley Online Library.
Since January 2020 most Surveys have been published open access subject to the authors' agreement. The London Mathematical Society acknowledges support from a legacy by Frank Gerrish in the publication of expository articles and surveys where institutional funds are not available.
Contact the journal team
If you have any queries about the information in this guide, please contact lmsjournals@lms.ac.uk and cite your paper ID.
Authors should take care to keep a copy of all emails sent to any editors, section editors, managing editors and LMS publications staff for their own records.
