The website for the Commission on Inorganic and Mineral Structures (CIMS) is at www.crystallography.fr/cims/.

 IUCr-CIMS was founded to promote and achieve the following aims:

• To strengthen links and interactions among mineral, inorganic and materials scientists and between these scientists and the crystallographic community.
• To promote the presence at the IUCr meetings of scientists working in 'inorganic-crystallographic' and 'geoscience-crystallographic' institutions.
• To present at the same meetings common aspects of the inorganic structures independently from their natural or synthetic origin.
• To favour the historical influence that mineral structures have played on developing inorganic materials of technological interest.
• To promote and encourage the publication of inorganic and mineralogical papers in the Journals of the Union.
• To promote the development and dissemination of methods, computing programs and databases of interest for the inorganic crystallographic community.
• To promote and organise symposia of interest to the inorganic community on the occasion of the IUCr meetings, also in cooperation with other Commissions.
• To promote and organise workshops and schools of interest to the inorganic community, also in cooperation with other Commissions.

Approved by action of the IUCr General Assembly, 8 August 2002.