Let q be an odd prime power and p be an odd prime with gcdðp; qÞ ¼ 1: Let order of q modulo p be f ; gcdð pÀ1 f ; qÞ ¼ 1 and q f ¼ 1 þ pl: Here expressions for all the primitive idempotents in the ring R p n ¼ GF ðqÞ½x=ðx p n À 1Þ; for any positive integer n; are obtained in terms of cyclotomic numbers, provided p does not divide l if nX2: The dimension, generating polynomials and minimum distances of minimal cyclic codes of length p n over GF ðqÞ are also discussed. r 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.