Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry

About Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry

Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry — A Complete Profile

Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry, widely shortened to RiMG, is not a conventional issue-by-issue research journal. It is a multi-authored review book series, published jointly by the Mineralogical Society of America (MSA) and the Geochemical Society, in the United States. Each volume is a soft-bound, thematically unified collection of concise, fully developed review chapters on a single topic in mineralogy, crystallography, petrology or geochemistry. That distinction matters for every other part of this profile: authors do not submit unsolicited research papers to RiMG, librarians do not shelve it quite like a weekly journal, and citation metrics behave differently because a single strong volume can be cited as a textbook, a reference work and a research synthesis at the same time. The Journals World record lists the print ISSN as 1529-6466 and the online ISSN as 1943-2666, with the Mineralogical Society of America as publisher — details that match the society's own description of the series.

For a new reader, the most useful mental model is a graduate-level short course captured in print. Many RiMG volumes were produced in conjunction with a short course, typically a two- to four-day intensive meeting held alongside a major conference, where the volume's authors taught the material they had written. Other volumes appear without a linked course. In either case, the editorial intention is the same: gather leading specialists, ask each of them to explain one facet of a fast-moving subject clearly and completely, and publish the result as a coherent volume that a researcher can use for self-study, a lecturer can adopt for an advanced course, and a laboratory can keep as a durable reference when a new technique or a new field site raises unfamiliar questions.

History and Title Change

The series began as Reviews in Mineralogy. According to the Mineralogical Society of America, volumes 1 to 38 appeared under that earlier title, with ISSN 0275-0279, and volumes 1 to 6 had previously circulated as Short Course Notes with no ISSN. Starting with volume 39, the title was expanded to Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry, reflecting the growing weight of geochemistry alongside classical mineralogy and the joint relationship with the Geochemical Society. The current ISSN pair dates from that change. Understanding the title history is essential when searching older literature: a citation to volume 20, for example, will correctly use the shorter title, while a citation to volume 50 and later volumes will use the longer title, even though both belong to one continuous series with continuous volume numbering.

Editorial continuity has been unusually strong. The society records that Paul Ribbe was sole editor for volumes 1 to 41, a span that gave the early series a consistent standard for clarity, figure quality and pedagogical order. He was then joined by Jodi J. Rosso as series editor for volumes 42 to 53, in the part of the programme submitted through the Geochemical Society. After Ribbe's retirement, Rosso became sole editor for volumes 54 to 79. When Rosso moved to become Executive Editor of Elements magazine, Ian Swainson became series editor starting with volume 80, as recorded on the society's About RiMG page revised in January 2017. Readers should check the front matter of the specific volume they are using for its own volume editors, because each volume also has guest volume editors who shape its scientific content, order its chapters, enforce deadlines and write its preface or introductory chapter, working closely with the series editor.

By the early 2020s the society was describing more than eighty volumes published since 1974. That longevity is itself informative. Few review series survive for five decades unless departments, libraries and course instructors continue to find the format useful after the initial novelty has passed. RiMG survived changes in publishing technology, the move from print-only distribution to electronic access through GeoScienceWorld and the MSA's own platforms, and repeated shifts in research fashion — from an emphasis on crystal chemistry and phase equilibria toward environmental mineralogy, biomineralogy, planetary materials, and the mineralogy of energy and waste systems — because the underlying need did not change: researchers entering a new subfield need a trustworthy, citable synthesis that is longer and more teachable than a journal review article, yet more focused than a general textbook.

Scope: What a RiMG Volume Covers

The society defines the series as containing concise reviews of the literature and advances in theoretical and applied mineralogy, crystallography, petrology and geochemistry. In practice, that scope is deliberately broad within the Earth and planetary materials sciences. A volume may be devoted to a mineral group, a geological setting, an analytical method, a thermodynamic framework, or an environmental problem. Past readers will encounter, across the series as a whole, topics such as fluid interactions in the crust and mantle, noble gases, stable isotopes, synchrotron and spectroscopic methods, carbonates, phosphates, molecular environmental science, medical mineralogy, and the behaviour of materials under extreme pressure and temperature. No single volume attempts to cover all of that; the breadth lives at series level, while depth lives at volume level.

This structure has practical consequences for literature searching. If you search only by article title, you may miss the volume context that explains why a chapter was commissioned, which companion chapters qualify its conclusions, and which introductory chapter defines its notation. Good practice is to record both the chapter and the volume: chapter author and title, volume title and editors, volume number, publisher, year, and page range. When you cite a method described in RiMG, check whether a later volume has revisited the same method with newer instrumentation or revised calibrations. Because volumes are thematic, a later treatment is often easy to find by browsing the complete listing of volumes on the MSA website, rather than relying solely on keyword search in a general database.

The audience is equally specific. RiMG is written primarily for graduate students, researchers and practising professionals who already have undergraduate training in Earth sciences, chemistry or materials science. Chapters typically assume familiarity with basic thermodynamics, crystal structures and geological settings, and then build quickly toward research-level discussion. That said, the best chapters are valued precisely because they make difficult material learnable: they define terms, show worked reasoning, reproduce key diagrams in a form suitable for teaching, and provide extensive reference lists that function as a curated entry point to the primary literature. An undergraduate in an advanced elective may benefit from selected chapters with instructor guidance, but the series should not be mistaken for an introductory textbook.

Editorial Model: Invitation, Proposal and Review

RiMG volumes begin with a proposal, not with individual manuscripts. Topics are proposed and must be approved by the MSA Council or the Geochemical Society Board of Directors, following the guidance in the society's Short Course Guide. Prospective organisers therefore need to make a case that a subject is timely, that a coherent group of authors can cover it without major gaps or duplication, and, where relevant, that a short course can be built around it. Once a volume is approved, contributions are by invitation only. That single fact answers the most common author question about this title: there is no open submission portal for unsolicited chapters, and sending a completed manuscript to the series editor without an invitation and an approved volume plan is not a route to publication in RiMG.

Within an approved volume, the volume editors carry substantial responsibility. The society's guidance expects them to finalise the scientific content and chapter order, communicate and enforce deadlines and instructions, edit for scientific quality, clarity and consistency, facilitate review of submissions, give final approval for press-ready documents to pass to the series editor for copy-editing, write a preface or introductory chapter, and find or create appropriate cover imagery. Authors, for their part, are expected to follow the RiMG Guide, format references consistently — an EndNote style is provided — obtain permissions for any reused copyrighted material, bear any charges for figure or table reuse, and submit a signed copyright agreement to the series editor. MSA holds copyright on material published in RiMG, which centralises later permission requests; the society notes that there is no charge for reproducing materials in most cases, and that works prepared by United States government employees in the course of their work are in the public domain.

Peer review in this model should be understood correctly. It is not the double-anonymous review of a research journal applied to a discovery claim; it is expert review of a synthesis, checking accuracy, balance, currency and teachability. Reviewers and editors ask whether a chapter represents the literature fairly, whether competing interpretations are acknowledged, whether data compilations are sourced, and whether a reader who follows the references can verify the statements made. That is the appropriate standard for a review series, and it is why RiMG chapters are often trusted as starting points even by specialists who will go on to read — and sometimes dispute — the primary papers in detail.

Access, Formats and How Libraries Provide It

RiMG is published in both print and electronic formats. The society directs readers who want print copies to its online ordering system, with a discount noted for members of MSA and related societies except on shipping, and directs members and institutions to electronic access through the MSA website and GeoScienceWorld. Single chapters, complete volumes including out-of-print volumes in electronic form, and course packs can be obtained through the society's MinPubs route as described on the About page. For a student, the practical sequence is therefore: first check your university library catalogue under both the series title and the individual volume title; second, check GeoScienceWorld if your institution subscribes; third, ask a librarian about interlibrary access or a course pack if your instructor has assigned a specific chapter. Do not assume that a chapter is freely open access simply because its abstract or a teaching slide quoting it can be found online — access terms are set by the publisher and the subscribing institution, and they are not publicly disclosed as a single universal open licence for the whole series in the sources consulted for this profile.

Article processing charges, in the sense used by open-access research journals, do not apply to invited RiMG chapters in the way a prospective author might expect, because the model is commissioned and society-published rather than author-pays. However, authors remain responsible for permission charges for reused figures and tables, as noted above, and volume organisers should discuss any page, colour or course-related costs directly with the series editor at proposal stage rather than assuming a figure from another series. Where a cost or a policy was not stated on the official pages consulted, this profile states that plainly instead of estimating a number.

Metrics, Indexing and How to Interpret Them

The Journals World record for this title lists an h-index of 153, an SJR value of 2.560 and a Q1 quartile, alongside the ISSN pair already discussed. Secondary listings based on Scopus and SCImago data give somewhat different snapshots depending on the year consulted — for example, an h-index in the high 130s to high 140s and SJR values between roughly 1.5 and 1.8 in other recent listings — which illustrates an important principle rather than a contradiction to be hidden: metrics for a book series move with the database, the citation window and the year of extraction. CiteScore-style figures reported for RiMG have been high for an Earth-science review series, in the mid-teens in one recent secondary listing, reflecting the long citation life of review chapters and textbooks compared with short research articles. Readers should always note the source and year of any metric they quote, and should never compare a book-series h-index directly with the h-index of a weekly research journal without explaining the difference in document types and publication frequency.

Quartile language needs the same care. SCImago places RiMG in Geochemistry and Petrology, where it has been placed in the top quartile in the listings consulted. That placement signals that, within its subject category and in that ranking system, the series is heavily cited relative to peers. It does not mean every volume is equally influential, nor that a chapter is automatically suitable as the sole authority for a contested claim. A volume on a mature topic with a large community will naturally accumulate more citations than a volume opening a small, new specialty, even if the latter is excellent and, for its intended readers, more valuable. Use metrics to discover the series and to justify a library holding; use the chapters themselves, their references and their reception in later primary literature to judge scientific weight.

Indexing and discoverability follow the book-series pattern. Chapters are discoverable through GeoScienceWorld, through library catalogues, through Google Scholar and through Scopus-based listings that treat the series as a serial source. Because the series has changed its title, catalogue records may be split between Reviews in Mineralogy and the longer current title, linked by the publisher and by ISSN history. A thorough search for systematic reviews or for teaching material should therefore use both titles, plus the volume title as a phrase, plus key author names where known. If a database shows a gap in coverage years, treat it as a database coverage note to be verified against the society's complete volume listing, not as proof that no volume appeared in that year.

Reading RiMG Well: A Practical Guide

Start with the volume's preface and introductory chapter. In a well-edited RiMG volume, those opening pages explain why the topic was chosen at that moment, how the chapters divide the subject, what notation and units are used consistently across chapters, and where genuine disagreements among specialists remain. Skipping straight to a single figure in a later chapter risks importing a result without its stated pressure, temperature, composition or analytical limits. Next, read the chapter's own introduction and conclusions together before working through its middle sections; review chapters are long, and knowing the author's destination helps you notice which evidence is load-bearing and which is illustrative.

Keep a reference notebook as you read. RiMG's greatest long-term value is often its bibliography: a curated, expert-ordered map of a field at the date of the volume. Note which primary papers the chapter treats as foundational, which it treats as superseded, and which techniques it flags as emerging. Then check what has appeared since the volume's publication — a review volume is a snapshot, however authoritative, and fields such as synchrotron analysis, isotope geochemistry and planetary sample science can move appreciably within a few years. For coursework, ask your instructor whether a newer volume, a journal review, or a primary paper has updated the assigned chapter; asking that question is good scholarship, not a criticism of the series.

For researchers planning experiments or fieldwork, RiMG is best used at the design stage and at the writing stage, in different ways. At design, use it to choose methods, standards and comparison materials, and to avoid repeating calibrations that the literature has already settled or discredited. At writing, use it to place your results in context, to find the standard terminology your reviewers will expect, and to cite a synthesis for background facts so that your reference list can reserve its primary citations for the claims your paper actually contests or extends. Citing RiMG for a background fact and a primary paper for a disputed measurement is a clean, honest pattern that editors appreciate.

Strengths, Limits and Fit

The strengths of RiMG are coherence, authority and longevity. Coherence, because a volume is planned as a whole rather than assembled from whatever was submitted. Authority, because chapters are invited from specialists and edited at both volume and series level. Longevity, because review chapters that teach a method or organise a field continue to be cited and assigned long after a typical research article's peak. Those strengths explain the high citation indicators for the series and its place in graduate teaching across mineralogy and geochemistry programmes.

The limits follow from the same design. Publication is slower than a journal: a proposed volume must be approved, taught or prepared, written, reviewed and produced, so RiMG cannot be the first place a discovery appears. Coverage is selective: if no volume has been commissioned on your niche, the series will have a gap there, however important the niche is. Access is largely subscription- or purchase-based through libraries, so readers without institutional access may need to plan through a library rather than expecting immediate free full text. And because contributions are invited, early-career researchers cannot use RiMG as a submission target early in a project; they encounter it first as readers, and only later, if their expertise is recognised and a relevant volume is planned, as invited authors — typically after they have built a primary publication record elsewhere.

Fit, therefore, is clear. Choose RiMG when you need to learn a neighbouring subfield quickly and reliably, when you are preparing a graduate lecture or a methods section, when you need the standard synthesis to cite for background, or when you are organising a short course and want a proven model. Look elsewhere — to primary journals such as the society's own American Mineralogist, to geochemistry journals, and to current conference literature — when you need the newest data, when you are testing a contested interpretation, or when you have an original result to publish. Used in that complementary way, RiMG does not compete with the primary literature; it makes that literature navigable.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry a journal or a book series? It is best described as a review book series with serial numbering and ISSNs. SCImago-based listings classify its publication type as a book series, and the publisher describes it as a series of multi-authored volumes. That is why this profile profiles it honestly as a series, not as a conventional journal.

Can I submit a paper to RiMG? Unsolicited individual contributions are not the route in. Volumes are proposed, approved by the MSA Council or the Geochemical Society Board, and contributions to an approved volume are by invitation only, coordinated by the volume editors and the series editor.

What are its ISSNs? Print 1529-6466 and online 1943-2666 for the current title from volume 39 onward. The earlier title, Reviews in Mineralogy, volumes 1 to 38, used ISSN 0275-0279.

Who publishes it, and in which country? Jointly, the Mineralogical Society of America and the Geochemical Society, in the United States. The Journals World record names the Mineralogical Society of America as publisher, which is consistent with the joint description once the Geochemical Society partnership is understood — a nuance worth noting rather than treating as a conflict.

How do I access a chapter? Through a subscribing library, GeoScienceWorld or MSA member and institutional access, by purchasing print or electronic copies or single chapters through the society's stated routes, or through a course pack arranged for teaching. Check your library first under both series title and volume title.

How should I cite a RiMG chapter? Cite the chapter author and title, the volume title, the volume editors, the series title, the volume number, the publisher, the year and the pages. Include the series title so that a reader can locate the volume in a catalogue even if the chapter title alone is ambiguous.

Verification Notes for This Profile

This profile was built from the publisher's own About RiMG page, the Journals World record for post 389154, and SCImago-based secondary listings consulted for metric context. Where secondary sources gave different metric values for different years, the profile explains the variation instead of selecting one figure as timeless. Acceptance rates, author fees beyond the stated figure-permission responsibility, and a universal open-access licence for the series were not published in the official sources consulted, so they are described as not publicly disclosed in that form rather than estimated. No duplicate record for this series was identified from the records checked during this enrichment, and no merge is proposed here.