Forum of Mathematics, Pi and Forum of Mathematics, Sigma information

About Pi and Sigma

Forum of Mathematics, Pi and Forum of Mathematics, Sigma together offer fully open access publication combined with peer-review standards set by an international editorial board of the highest calibre, and all backed by Cambridge University Press and our commitment to quality. Cambridge University Press is the not-for-profit publishing arm of the University of Cambridge, and any surplus generated from our publishing operations is reinvested back into the Press and the University. The Forum of Mathematics was established in order to offer the community an open access journal outlet of the highest quality as a genuine and sustainable alternative to the journals currently owned by the leading commercial publishers. We see this part of our commitment to support the dissemination of scholarly knowledge.

Strong research papers from all parts of pure mathematics and related areas will be welcomed.

All submitted articles will undergo single-blind peer-review and will benefit from the full functionality associated with reputable journal publishing: copyediting, typesetting, reference linking, usage statistics, etc. The decision on whether to accept articles will be made solely by the Editors in complete independence from Cambridge University Press.

What is Pi?

Pi is the open access alternative to the leading generalist mathematics journals and will be of real interest to a broad cross-section of all mathematicians. Papers published will be of the highest quality.

What is Sigma?

Sigma is the open access alternative to the leading specialist mathematics journals. Editorial decisions are made by dedicated clusters of editors concentrated in the following areas:

Algebra
Algebraic and Complex Geometry
Analysis Applied Analysis
Computational Mathematics
Differential Equations
Differential Geometry and Geometric Analysis
Discrete Mathematics
Dynamics
Foundations of Mathematics
Mathematical Physics
Number Theory
Probability
Theoretical Computer Science
Topology

This classification exists to aid the peer review process. Contributions that do not fit neatly within these categories are still welcome.

How do I submit to Pi and Sigma?

Manuscripts should be submitted via the relevant website below:

http://cup.msp.org/submit_new.php?jpath=pi

http://cup.msp.org/submit_new.php?jpath=sigma

If you are unable to submit your paper via the above websites, please submit as an email attachment to fom@cambridge.org

If you experience any problems during the submission process, please contact the editorial office at fom@cambridge.org

Submission of a paper is taken to imply that it has not been previously published and that it is not being considered for publication elsewhere.

If I submit a paper to Pi and it is not accepted, will I be able to submit it to Sigma?

If a paper is rejected from Pi on the grounds that its interest is more specialised, then you will be able to submit it to Sigma.

What is so good about Open Access?

There are many different stakeholders in the publication of research: the researchers, the users and the funders. Different stakeholders have different views but many accept the fact that if you want, for example, validation, proper copyediting, presentation, sustainability, functionality (usability, reference linking, usage information, discoverability, etc.), then all this has to be paid for. Traditionally this payment has been made via subscriptions. In Open Access publishing, the payment is made up-front, via article processing charges (APCs). APCs can be seen as a fairer payment mechanism, provided that the costs on which the charges are based reflect accurately the services offered, and provided that the acceptance process is based on peer review, rather than financial considerations.

Open Access can therefore provide an opportunity to relate costs more directly to the means of publication, and it can provide a mechanism for publication the preserves the best aspects of traditional publishing whilst offering greater ease of use and more liberal copyright and ownership. Moreover, APCs mean that costs are not being met by an ever-decreasing number of libraries that are willing to subscribe, and that the costs of publication are therefore being shared more fairly, while at the same time maximizing dissemination.

Finally, publishing is competitive: authors compete for journal space; publishers compete for papers and for library budgets. Open access and APCs are a viable alternative for those authors who want to bring closer together the decision about where to publish and how to pay, decisions that are divorced in the traditional subscription-based model.

Open Access

Forum of Mathematics, Pi and Forum of Mathematics, Sigma are both Gold Open Access journals. Articles published in the journal are freely and permanently accessible online under Creative Commons licensing that allow anyone to access and redistribute the content and, depending upon the license, re-use and adapt the content with attribution.

How do Pi and Sigma differ from arXiv?

Pi and Sigma are fully peer-reviewed journals. They offer all the functionality associated with modern journal publishing: copyediting, typesetting, reference linking, usage statistics, etc. As with arXiv, articles will be made freely available to all in perpetuity. We openly encourage authors to post their submissions to Pi and Sigma on arXiv, to maximise dissemination and visibility.

Article Processing Charges

Gold Open Access publication is supported by an article processing charge (APC), typically paid by the author's funding body or institution. Cambridge University Press have made a commitment that the APC for the Forum of Mathematics journals will be maintained at a rate justified by real publishing costs. The current rate is listed in the Cambridge Journals APC Price List.

Waivers and discounts are provided to authors from low- and middle-income countries based on the Research4Life country list. Authors from these countries will have APC costs waived (for Group A countries) or reduced by 50% (for Group B countries) during the registration and payment process which is handled by Copyright Clearance Centre (Rightslink) on our behalf. Waivers of APCs may also be available to those whose funding body and institution do not have funds available for APCs. For more information about finding funding for APCs, see here. No author will be expected to pay out of their own pocket.

For more detail about the payment process see the Production FAQ. Any figures provided in colour will be reproduced in colour at no extra cost.

Licensing

Authors can choose to publish under the following Creative Commons licenses:

CC-BY (Attribution)
CC-BY-NC-SA (Attribution - Non-Commercial - Share Alike)
CC-BY-NC-ND (Attribution - Non-Commercial - No Derivatives)

CC-BY is the default license but the others are available on request. For information on what each licence allows, please see this page on Creative Commons Licenses.

(Users can download, extract, store and index content for the purposes of text and data mining - see the Cambridge Core Terms of Use for more details).

Sharing

We recognise that sharing your article with colleagues and the wider community is a vital part of research. When you publish in the Forum of Mathematics journals, you are free to post the final published PDF (the Version of Record) on your own website or elsewhere, in keeping with the Creative Commons license you choose.