SPE Journal publishes original articles on all aspects of petroleum engineering that will make a lasting contribution to the technical literature. The recommended paper length is seven pages or less, but there are no fixed page limits or page charges.

Unsolicited Papers. Author instructions available at SPE.org or upon request. Manuscripts and figures should be submitted electronically to peer@speservicecorp.com. Microsoft Word is preferred for the text and figure captions. Submission of a paper constitutes the author(s)' permission to distribute the paper for review purposes only. Author inquiries about the review status of these papers should be directed by e-mail to shughes@spe.org.

Meeting Papers. Papers appearing in the proceedings of SPE-sponsored meetings will be reviewed by SPE Journal at author request. Authors should complete the Review Information Form enclosed in the SPE Author Kit and check the box marked SPEJ.

Review. For both unsolicited and meeting papers, the review process is the same. The Executive Editor selects an Editorial Board member, and SPE sends copies of the paper to him/her. The Editorial Board member sends the paper to three reviewers. Within 30 to 60 days, the reviews should be returned to the Executive Editor with the recommendation of the Editorial Board member. The Executive Editor makes the final decision, and SPE informs the corresponding author. The decision may be to accept, to decline, or to recommend specific changes to the manuscript before publication.

When an unsolicited manuscript is accepted, a permanent transfer of copyright to SPE will be requested. The paper will not be published in SPE Journal until a signed transfer of copyright to SPE is received from each author. Rejected unsolicited papers will be returned to the authors, and SPE will not hold copyright. SPE retains copyright on all meeting papers. Authors of rejected manuscripts may request the return of journal-publication rights from SPE. The anonymous reviewers’ comments on which the Editorial Board’s decision is based will be sent to the authors.

The Executive Editor reserves the right to pass the manuscript for review to another SPE publication. In this case, the authors will be informed.

An author may appeal the Executive Editor’s decision once. The Executive Editor will appoint another member of the Editorial Board to conduct one or two extra reviews of the paper. The Executive Editor will then review the original decision and the new reviews, and SPE will inform the author of his decision, providing him/her copies of the new reviews.

SPE Journal considers only papers that are not currently under review by another journal, including other SPE publications.