Submission Guidelines

The purpose of these guidelines is two-fold: to assist authors in the preparation of papers and to acquaint authors with procedures and rules governing the submission, evaluation, and acceptance of papers.

Who May Submit

Papers are welcomed from anyone regardless of their profession, education, geographic location. Submissions will be evaluated based upon the merits of the paper and not authorship.

Subject Matter

Papers must meet the following standards:

The topic must be relevant to casualty actuarial science.
The subject matter must fit into one or more of the following categories:

Practical—provides synthesis of existing distinct processes, solutions to substantive problems, expositions of actuarial practices, compilation of current techniques, etc.
Research—contains original ideas or new material.
Educational—for actuaries or others involved in the analysis, modeling, or management of risk.

Papers on a wide variety of subjects are welcome. Casualty actuarial science is a broad and dynamic field and casualty actuaries must be knowledgeable about many subjects.

Preparation of Papers

Authors should observe the following guides in preparing papers:

Manuscripts may be submitted in Word or LaTeX format.
A template that is set up in Variance style is provided that authors may use.
The form, clarity, and literary quality of the paper must meet scholarly standards that will reflect credit upon Variance. The paper should show care in preparation, including attention to grammar and spelling.
As a general rule, papers should be fewer than 10,000 words, exclusive of tables and appendices.
Papers should be in English.
Each paper must begin with an abstract of not more than 100 words. This abstract should provide an overview of the paper. This should be followed by a list of keywords.
Major headings should be centered and numbered 1, 2, 3, etc. Subheads should be numbered 1.1, 1.2, etc. (the number before the decimal indicating which major head it falls under).
Appendices: Use letters (A, B, ... ) to distinguish different appendices. Begin each appendix on a new page.
Tables: All charts, exhibits, and tables in a paper should be numbered with Arabic numerals (1, 2,...). In the text of the paper there should be a specific callout to each table and figure ("Table 3 shows the...") instead of general ("the table below"). For papers submitted in Word format, tables must be Word tables rather than embedded objects (for instance, of Excel spreadsheets).
Figures: Figures are graphs, pictures, etc. They should be numbered with Arabic numerals (e.g., "Figure 3"). For papers submitted in Word format, author must provide separate files for all figures in jpg or png format.
Footnotes: Footnotes should be numbered with Arabic numerals. They should be numbered sequentially even through appendices. An asterisk may be used if there is only one footnote in the entire paper. Superscripts indicating footnotes should never be appended to numbers or formulae.
Citation of sources in the paper should be by name and year, for example: (Jones 2000).
Footnotes should not be used when they only consist of a bibliographic reference. In that case, use a parenthetical citation, i.e., (Jones 2000) in the text and provide complete information in a References entry.
For LaTeX papers, authors must include a separate .bibtex file. All works cited in the paper should be included in the References. The References list should not be numbered, but should be in alphabetical order by last name.
Mathematical formulae, variables, and symbols:

Every effort should be made to use mathematical formulae and symbols that are generally accepted in the actuarial profession and, most particularly, to use symbols that have been used previously in papers in Variance.
Formulae: If formulae are to be numbered, numbers must be in the form of S.N., where S is the section number and N is a sequential number for the formula within the section. Avoid complex notation.
Variables: Avoid using the same variable for different references; e.g., i for an index and an interest rate; r for risk load and rate of return; v for variance and discount rate, etc.
Symbols: When life contingency symbols are applicable, the international actuarial notation should be used. This notation is as described in The Theory of Interest and Life Contingencies with Pension Applications: A Problem-Solving Approach, by M.M. Parmenter.

Authors must provide enough information, either in the paper or through citations of references, that peer reviewers and readers can assess the validity of the author's results. Statements that data or derivations cannot be provided because they are proprietary are unacceptable and will lead to rejection of the paper for publication.
Papers are expected to be free of criticism of a personal nature.

Procedures for Submission

Authors must submit their papers via the CAS Publications submission portal on the ScholarOne website. Through the ScholarOne Author Dashboard, authors are guided through the following seven-step process:

Step 1: Type, Title, & Abstract
Step 2: Attributes
Step 3: Authors & Institutions
Step 4: Reviewers
Step 5: Details & Comments
Step 6: File Upload
Step 7: Review & Submit

The Variance Editorial Board wishes to maintain anonymity of the author during the review process. Submissions should not contain any information that might reveal authors’ names or affiliations.

Questions on submissions can be emailed to Donna Royston, CAS Managing Editor at Editor@variancejournal.org.

The CAS Publications submission portal on the ScholarOne website should include responses to the following:

Does the paper contain any material that is copyrighted? This may include factual data, charts, graphs, etc. If so, has the author obtained a copyright waiver from the publisher or copyright holder? This waiver should be uploaded in Step 6 on the ScholarOne website for CAS Publications.
Does the paper contain any material that is proprietary? This may include factual data, charts, graphs, etc. If so, has the author obtained permission from the relevant party to release the proprietary information? This permission sheet should be uploaded in Step 6 on the ScholarOne website for CAS Publications.
Is the author prepared to execute a copyright assignment agreement with the CAS (see copyright form in the “Instructions and Forms” pull-down menu in the upper right of the ScholarOne website for CAS Publications) and appended to the Guides for the Submission of Papers)? If so, this should be stated affirmatively. A paper will not be accepted without a copyright agreement uploaded in Step 6.

Initial Screening of Papers

Upon receipt of the paper, the CAS Managing Editor will determine whether the paper complies with the Procedures for Submission of Papers. If it does not, the paper will be returned to the author with comments as to the deficiencies. If the paper does comply, the paper will be forwarded on to the Editor in Chief and Associate Editor-Peer Review for initial review. If the paper is found to be relevant for publication in Variance the paper will be peer reviewed.

Procedure for Reviewing Papers

The editor to whom a paper is assigned determines the acceptability of the paper by evaluating the votes of the paper's reviewers. The paper will be accepted or rejected based upon a majority decision of the reviewers. The Editorial Board's decision will place the paper in one of the following categories:

Accept. The Editorial Board will accept the paper unconditionally. The author will be notified of this decision through the Editor.
Accept with suggestions for improvement. The Editorial Board will suggest to the author ways in which the paper may be improved. The Editorial Board will communicate to the author its decision and its suggestions and will ask for affirmative action by the author either to revise the paper or to confirm the original submission.
Accept conditionally. The Editorial Board will require conditions that must be met by the author in order to make the paper acceptable. The Editorial Board will communicate to the author its decision, the reasons there for and its conditions, and will ask the author either to revise the paper or to withdraw it from consideration.
Request resubmission. The Editorial Board will not accept the paper but will provide the author with general suggestions on how to reconstruct the paper to make it acceptable. This action contemplates papers with ideas acceptable for the journal but with inadequate presentation. The Editorial Board will communicate to the author its decision and reasons there for along with its suggestions, and invite resubmission.
Reject. The Editorial Board will reject the paper and notify the author of its decision and the reasons there for. An author, in case of rejection, may appeal to the Editor in Chief of Variance, who will conduct such inquiries as he/she deems appropriate and will make a binding decision based on one of the above four categories or rejection.

The following general principles will be observed by the Editorial Board in evaluating papers. Neither disagreement by the Editorial Board with opinions of the author nor unorthodoxy in the views expressed by the author will be a bar to acceptance of an otherwise suitable paper. The Editorial Board welcomes candor and genuine debate subject to the usual expectations of clarity, pertinence, and courtesy. The paper should recognize other viewpoints and explore its subject in sufficient depth to contribute to general enlightenment.

Where the paper is found to be fallacious in logic or misleading in matters of fact, the Editorial Board will reject it.

When a paper includes material that the Editorial Board finds itself not qualified to evaluate, the Editors may seek advice or opinion from recognized experts.

Guidelines for Resubmitting

When an author decides to resubmit a paper in connection with guidelines, all the rules and procedures for original submission will apply. The revised paper should be uploaded on the ScholarOne website for CAS Publications along with a cover letter titled "RESUBMISSION." To expedite the resubmission review, authors are required to indicate in the resubmission cover letter how they have responded to the comments contained in the individual reviews. If an author does not agree with a recommended change, the author will provide a detailed explanation of the disagreement in the letter.

Discussions of Published Papers

As a general rule, discussions of previously published papers are subject to the guides in the same manner as papers, with the following exceptions:

Length. Discussions of papers should generally be fewer than 2,500 words. No abstract is required.
Procedure for submission. All requirements pertaining to anonymity of authors are waived. In general, authors of discussions should adhere to the Guidelines for Preparation of Papers explained above.
General. The author of a discussion should send a copy to the author of the paper being discussed with enough advance notice to allow the author of the paper to analyze and, if he or she wishes, prepare a reply to the discussion.

Authors' Replies

Authors will be given an opportunity to respond to discussions of their papers. Replies are treated in the same manner as discussion of papers.

Publication Process After Acceptance

The author will receive a copyedited manuscript for review.

The author will also have an opportunity to make corrections on the first typeset copy of the paper. Variance will not publish a paper if the author has not approved the page proofs at this stage. Any subsequent editing is normally minor and is not referred to the author.

Copyright

Before papers can be accepted for publication, authors are required to sign and return a CAS Copyright Assignment Agreement form to the CAS Office. This copyright agreement assigns the CAS exclusive right, title, and interest to the paper, including the right of the CAS to edit the paper and publish the author's name in connection with the publication of the paper in Variance. The CAS will grant back to the author certain rights under a limited license.

The Editorial Board of Variance will provide a Copyright Assignment Agreement form before publication.

Objective Bayesian Estimation of the Mean of Severity and Frequency Distributions