Call for Papers

Thank you for your interest in participating in the 14th North American Masonry Conference themed “Masonry: Rediscover the Possibilities”. The conference, which will be held from June 11th through the 14th, 2023, in the heart of historic Old Market in Omaha, NE.

Open Paper Portal

General Guidelines

The conference seeks to provide a forum for sharing the latest advances in masonry knowledge and applications from around the world. Papers are sought on a wide array of masonry topics, such as:

Submissions to the 14th NAMC must be original; submissions cannot have been published or accepted in other journal or conference proceedings nor presented at another conference. Submissions must not be concurrently under consideration for publication or presentation elsewhere.

Submissions may not have a commercial or marketing focus. Those interested in presenting topics that include proprietary products and technology are encouraged to participate in the Innovative Technology session.

For more information or questions, please contact the Organizing Committee at 14NAMC@masonrysociety.org.

For each accepted paper, at least one author must register to the conference and present their findings at the conference for the paper to be included in the conference proceedings and book of abstracts. Authors who cannot attend the conference to present their paper/findings are encouraged to submit their works to TMS Journal for consideration.

The language of the conference and proceedings will be English.

Abstract Submissions

Authors are invited to submit abstracts describing proposed papers no later than July 11, 2022. Each abstract should be given a strong and clear title. Titles should be written in sentence case and should be 25 words or less.

Abstracts should be 100 to 300 words. Each abstract should succinctly describe the purpose of the work, the research approach, major findings, and principal conclusions. Abstracts for accepted papers will be printed separately from the paper in the Book of Abstracts, so they must be able to independently and concisely represent the topic of the papers.

Abstracts will be submitted in rich-text format by pasting the abstract text into the Abstract window on the Abstract submission tab. Each paragraph in the abstract should be separated by two hard returns. Mathematics, symbols, and references should not be included in the abstract. Abbreviations should be avoided if possible, otherwise, they must be defined in the abstract when they are first used.

Keyword Submission

Submitters should submit three to six keywords with each abstract to help readers search for relevant papers in the conference proceedings. Authors should select keywords that are specific and avoid the use of generic terms, such as “masonry,” that will not aid readers in identifying relevant papers from the proceedings. Similarly, abbreviations should not be used since they may have multiple or ambiguous meanings, particularly with other fields. Instead, write out the technical term in full, even if the term has a generally accepted abbreviation within the masonry community.

Abstract Acceptance Criteria

Poster, presentations, and papers will be selected based on the following criteria:

1. Relevance
2. Scientific Merit (advancements to the knowledge or applications of masonry)
3. Quality of Submission (submissions must be well written, clear, and concise)
4. Complete and Timely Submissions – submissions be sent in on time. Incomplete and late submissions will not be reviewed.
5. Abstracts are scored on scientific merit, relevance, quality and implementation.

Acceptance Notification and Future Steps

Abstracts and papers will be peer reviewed using rules consistent with those followed for TMS Journal, which include at least two independent reviews. 

Notifications of abstract approval will be sent out to authors by August 31, 2022. Authors of approved abstracts will be required to submit a full manuscript for review by November 5, 2022. Tentative acceptance of approved final manuscripts will be sent on or before February 15, 2023. Authors of approved manuscripts must confirm which author will present the topic at the conference and that author must register for the conference by February 22, 2023. Final acceptance for publication in the conference proceedings will be sent out April 5, 2023, for approved manuscripts with a confirmed registered presenting author. Otherwise, the manuscript will be rejected.

Due to time and space constraints, not all submissions can be selected for the conference.

Outstanding Paper Awards will be presented at the Conference.