Publication Guide
The American Mathematical Society (AMS) is the principal US learned society for mathematics. Founded in 1888 and headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, it has published peer-reviewed mathematics journals since 1891 and today runs a focused portfolio of about 20 journals - research, member, and translation titles - plus major book series (including the monograph-length Memoirs) and MathSciNet, the field's core reviewing database. Unlike the big commercial houses, the AMS publishes in one discipline only: pure and applied mathematics.
This guide covers which AMS journal fits your paper, the open-access routes and what they cost, how AMS peer review works, and how to submit - including the amsart LaTeX class that AMS journals expect.
Which AMS journal fits your paper?
| You're most likely to... | Choose this route |
|---|---|
| Have a landmark result of broad interest to all mathematicians | Journal of the AMS (JAMS) - the Society's most selective flagship, widely regarded as one of the top journals in mathematics. |
| Have a substantial full-length research paper | Transactions of the AMS - longer research articles in all areas of pure and applied mathematics. Transactions Series B is the gold OA counterpart. |
| Have a shorter research note or announcement-length result | Proceedings of the AMS - shorter articles across all of mathematics; Proceedings Series B is the gold OA counterpart. |
| Work in computational mathematics or numerical analysis | Mathematics of Computation - the AMS home for numerical analysis, computational number theory, and mathematical software theory since 1943. |
| Want free-to-publish, free-to-read open access | Communications of the AMS (CAMS) - the Society's diamond OA journal launched in 2021: no APC, no paywall. |
| Have a monograph-length work (80-200+ pages) | Memoirs of the AMS - peer-reviewed research monographs published in journal form. |
| Want to write an expository survey | Bulletin of the AMS - invited surveys and book reviews; freely readable online back to 1891. |
What the AMS publishes
- Primary research journals - JAMS, Transactions, Proceedings, Mathematics of Computation, Memoirs, plus the electronic-only Representation Theory and Conformal Geometry and Dynamics.
- Gold OA Series B journals - Proceedings Series B and Transactions Series B, electronic-only gold OA companions launched in 2014.
- Communications of the AMS - diamond open access across all areas of mathematics (launched 2021).
- Member and expository journals - the Bulletin (surveys) and the Notices (the widely read membership magazine); both are freely readable online.
- Translation journals - St. Petersburg Mathematical Journal, Theory of Probability and Mathematical Statistics, and Sugaku Expositions, translated cover-to-cover into English.
- Book series and databases - Graduate Studies in Mathematics, Mathematical Surveys and Monographs, Contemporary Mathematics, and the MathSciNet/Mathematical Reviews database.
Open access and APCs
AMS research journals fall under three OA models - diamond, gold, and green - while the core titles remain subscription-based.
| Route | What it means | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Diamond OA (CAMS) | No fee to publish, free to read | $0 |
| Gold OA (Proceedings Series B) | APC-funded, immediate OA, CC BY or CC BY-NC | ~$1,500 (large AMS-member discount) |
| Gold OA (Transactions Series B) | APC-funded, immediate OA, CC BY or CC BY-NC | ~$2,750 (large AMS-member discount) |
| Green OA (all research journals) | Self-archiving of the accepted manuscript, e.g. on arXiv or an institutional repository | $0 |
| Subscription (JAMS, Transactions, Proceedings, Math Comp, Memoirs) | Traditional model; no charge to publish | $0 to publish |
APC figures reflect recent DOAJ and AMS listings; member discounts are substantial and prices change, so check the current AMS open-access page before submitting. Read-and-publish (transformative) agreement coverage is limited compared with large commercial publishers - most institutional access is via subscription licensing.
Peer review
AMS journals use single-anonymized peer review managed by working mathematicians on the editorial boards. Mathematics refereeing is unusually thorough - referees are expected to check proofs - so turnaround is slow by the standards of other fields: several months to a year to first decision is normal, and longer for JAMS-level submissions. Plan submission timing accordingly.
How to submit
- Pick the journal. Match the scope and article length using the decision table above.
- Prepare your manuscript in LaTeX. AMS journals expect the amsart document class (or a journal-specific AMS class); templates are available on SciSpace. References follow the AMS numbered citation style, ideally with MathSciNet (MR) numbers.
- Submit a PDF via the AMS Centralized Manuscript Processing portal. Initial submissions are uploaded through a web form individualized for each journal and routed into EditFlow, the AMS peer-review tracking system. Note: authors are limited to three AMS journal submissions in any 12-month period.
- After acceptance, send the final LaTeX source files to the Providence office as instructed in the EditFlow acceptance letter.
Ethics and integrity
The AMS publishes ethical guidelines for mathematical research and publication, and its journals follow standard scholarly-integrity practice on authorship, plagiarism, and corrections. Self-archiving on arXiv is not only permitted but culturally standard in mathematics - most AMS-journal papers appear on arXiv first.
