91AV

Procedure for handling unsolicited submissions for AMC

Technical Briefs, Recommendations, Background Papers, Software or Technical Reports

1. AMC Technical Briefs, Recommendations, Background Papers, Software and Technical Reports are usually the result of studies undertaken by the AMC's subcommittees. Unsolicited submissions from other sources are occasionally received and a procedure for handling them is required. 
2. Broadly speaking, unsolicited submissions must meet the same criteria as those applied to material generated internally in the AMC. The submission would have to be adopted by an AMC Subcommittee, and there must be a positive reason to accept it. In particular, the AMC website must not be regarded as an alternative general medium for analytical science papers, or a repository for otherwise unpublishable material. 

To be accepted by the AMC, unsolicited material must therefore: 

1. be compatible with the aims and intentions of the AMC and tend to enhance its reputation
2. deal expertly with a matter of wide technical interest or utility to analytical scientists
3. receive scrutiny and approval from an expert group (usually a subcommittee), and then approval from the whole AMC  

The following procedure will normally be adopted.

1. On receipt of an unsolicited item, the AMC Secretariat will inform the author(s) of the conditions of acceptance, based on the following. In particular, the author(s) must i. demonstrate that there is no danger of copyright infringement and ii. be willing to surrender all rights to the work to the AMC. 
2. The Secretariat will distribute the title and a brief abstract to all members of the AMC. Members of the AMC will promptly consider whether the material is likely to be appropriate.
3. If there is a broad agreement to proceed, the Chairman will allocate the item to a subcommittee or an ad hoc group for expert consideration. The AMC will subsequently act upon the advice so provided.
4. If there is initially only marginal support from AMC members to proceed with the submission, the matter could be reconsidered after further discussion. 
5. The subcommittee or ad hoc group dealing with the item may make substantial changes before acceptance.
6. The subcommittee or ad hoc group will advise the AMC on whether the final version should carry an attribution to the author(s). This will normally happen when the amended submission is still mostly the work of the author. However the consent of the author(s) is required.