| Geology Guidelines | |
|---|---|
| 1. |
Submission, Review, and Acceptance |
| 2. | Forum and Data Repository |
| 3. | Editorial Policy, copyright, and costs |
| 4. | Manuscript Sizing |
| 5. | Style |
| 6. | Tables and Figures |
| 7. | Cover Photo |
| 8. | Contact Information |
| 9. | Ethical Guidelines for Publication |
Geology
Submission, Review, and Acceptance
Contributions to Geology should be innovative, provocative (or describe a significant advance in the field), of timely significance, and of broad interest, either within a discipline and/or across disciplines. Submissions in all disciplines of the earth and planetary sciences are welcomed, but papers should not be directed only towards a specialist audience. Content should reflect new discoveries or approaches, and should not overlap with publications presented elsewhere by the authors. Prepublication via Internet or other methods is prohibited.
Articles should not exceed four printed pages including title, authors, affiliations, abstract, text, references, tables, captions, footnotes, and illustrations (at readable size). Manuscripts that are too long will be returned for shortening before being sent to a science editor for further evaluation. One Geology page equals approximately 1250 words, or 7500 characters (with spaces between words). Manuscripts not accompanied by an appropriate cover letter (see link below) will also be returned to the author for correction before the paper is sent to a science editor.
The science editor will examine the manuscript to see if it meets the basic acceptance criteria for Geology as outlined in these instructions. The editor may reject for cause (inappropriate for journal, clearly of poor quality, contents previously published elsewhere, etc.), in which case the manuscript is returned without review.
Most manuscripts are sent out for peer review. The acceptance or rejection of a manuscript is based on the appraisal of the paper by two or more reviewers and the science editor. Critical review determines the suitability and originality of the paper and the adequacy and conciseness of the presentation. Nearly all manuscripts are returned to the author with suggestions for revision, condensation, or final polish. If the revised manuscript and the author's cover letter show that the author has conscientiously considered the reviewers' suggestions, the manuscript may be accepted directly; however, some revised papers may be sent out for additional review. The science editor has sole responsibility for acceptance or rejection of a manuscript, and his or her decision is final.
Cover Photo Submissions
If you have a photo, digital image, or drawing that you think would look great on the cover of Geology, send a print or high-resolution digital image (at least 300 dpi at 8.5 × 11 inches) and caption to Geology, 3300 Penrose Place, Boulder, CO 80301-9140, USA.
[ more info on Cover Photos ]
| General Info | Tips and Suggestions | Review Process | Manuscript Submission | Cover Letter | Manuscript Status | Withdrawing a Manuscript | Getting Started |
Tips and Suggestions
for Using Editorial Manager
We have tried to identify aspects of the Editorial Manager manuscript submission system that may cause frustration or puzzlement. Here is what we have to date.
Scroll: If ever you don’t see what you are looking for, try scrolling down.
Navigation: Avoid using the “back” button. It is safer to use the “previous” buttons or to go to the Main Menu.
Roles: If you are sometimes using the system as an author and other times as a reviewer, use the pull-down menu near the top and center of the screen to choose the role you need to work in.
Authorship: Don’t add yourself as an author. You are automatically listed as an author when you start the submission process. Note: If you designate someone else as the corresponding author, only that person will be able to access the paper once it is submitted.
Must do: Once you have submitted your files, the system builds a PDF, which you MUST approve in order for your paper to proceed to peer review. You will be asked to go to “Submissions Waiting for Author’s Approval.” At this page, you will find a table. Click on the plus sign in the “Action” cell to see your action choices (View, Edit, Approve, Remove, or Send E-mail) if they are not visible.
View: If your PDF is O.K., you may approve it, and it will move on in the system.
Edit: If you need to make any changes, you do not need to go through every page of the submission process. If, for example, you need to add an author, you can click on the box on the left labeled “Add/edit/remove authors.” If you only need to add or change a file, you can click on the box on the left labeled “Attach files.” If you reach a page where you don’t need to make any changes, just click on the “next” button at the bottom of that page.
Upload text and figures as separate files. Also, we need your text file in its original word processing format (Word, Word Perfect, wpd, or rtf; Mac files O.K.).
File types: The system accepts a couple of file types that GSA cannot use. Please do not send LaTex or PowerPoint files.
You may find it helpful to gather the following information before starting your submission:
- Your co-authors’ names as they like them to appear in publications (first, middle names or initials, last) and their e-mail addresses
- Title and Abstract (you can cut and paste these from your manuscript file)
- Keywords (used to help editors choose reviewers)
- Manuscript files in Word, WordPerfect, text, or RTF format. (Please include your abstract and figure captions in the text file.) Do not use the ASCII text option if you have used Greek letters, special characters, superscripts, or subscripts in your paper.
- Table files in Excel or Word (use table function, tab separated format, or comma separated format).
- Figure/Image files in TIFF, GIF, JPEG, EPS, Postscript, PICT, or PDF. They should be in order and clearly labeled. Figures at this stage do not need to be publication quality, but it is a good idea to start with publication-quality figures and then save them in the formats allowed by this system.
[ see guidelines about publication-quality figures ] - Contact information (e-mail address and institution) of suggested peer reviewers (if any).
Note: Files over 20 MB may cause problems for editors and reviewers. If you have files over 20 MB, please contact the managing editor, , before submitting your files.
| General Info | Tips and Suggestions | Review Process | Manuscript Submission | Cover Letter | Manuscript Status | Withdrawing a Manuscript | Getting Started |
Review Process
The manuscript submission and peer review process is broken down into the following steps:
- The author submits a manuscript.
- GSA journal staff determine whether the manuscript meets basic length and figure/table quality requirements.
- If so, the manuscript is sent to one of the science editors.
- The science editor evalutates whether the manuscript meets the basic acceptance criteria for the journal (provocative, innovative, and of broad interest; clear and comprehendible in our short format) and whether the presentation is of a quality to warrant external review.
- If so, the science editor will solicit reviews of the manuscript from two to three qualified external reviewers. If not, the manuscript will be returned to the author without review.
- Manuscripts are typically sent to at least two reviewers, who are expected to treat the manuscript confidentially. Reviewers may choose to be identified to the authors or to remain anonymous.
- The reviewers evaluate the manuscript and submit their reviews.
- On the basis of the external reviews and their own reading, the science editor makes a decision based on the manuscript (accept, revise, reject but encourage resubmission, reject).
- The decision is sent to the author. The science editor's decision to accept or reject a manuscript is final.
Please submit your figures in black and white unless you are willing to be responsible for the cost of publishing in color, should your manuscript be accepted. The cost for color is approximately $800 per figure. If your manuscript is accepted, you will be supplied with an exact cost quote. If you are willing to support this cost, please indicate this clearly in your cover letter or in the Manuscript Comment section.
NOTE: The review process can take anywhere from one to three months, depending on the availability of reviewers and theirtimeliness in returning reviews. Authors will be contacted immediately after a decision has been made.
News stories and other reporting about articles in Geology should not appear any earlier than the posting of the paperonline.
| General Info | Tips and Suggestions | Review Process | Manuscript Submission | Cover Letter | Manuscript Status | Withdrawing a Manuscript | Getting Started |
Manuscript Submission
Submit your manuscript via the online submission and review system, Editorial Manager, at www.editorialmanager.com/geology/. First-time users need to register for an account at this URL using their active e-mail addresses. The same Username and Password are used to log in as an author or as a reviewer. For help using the Editorial Manager system, select “Help” from the menu at the top of the screen at any time. All reviews, revisions, and proofs are handled electronically. If you are unable to access the site, please contact the Geology editorial office, .
If you are resubmitting a manuscript, please note this in both your cover letter and in the "Comments" section during manuscript submission. Please include the original manuscript number if you have it.
When you submit a revised manuscript, please include in your cover letter (or as a separate file) a detailed explanation of changes made in response to the reviews and a rebuttal against any points you disagree with.
Your manuscript will be considered officially submitted only after it has been approved through an initial technical check. If figures are illegible, your manuscript is too long, the merged file size is too large, any required files are missing, or your cover letter is incomplete, your submission will be returned to you so that you can fix these problems.
Please upload your text and figure files separately. We will need your text file (original word processing file in Word, Word Perfect, wpd, or rtf) in order to size your manuscript accurately, to determine if it fits within Geology's size limit. Our system will automatically merge the text file that you upload with the figure and table files, to make one article file PDF. This allows editors and reviewers to view and/or download your manuscript in one step.
Before submitting a manuscript, please gather the following information:
- All authors
- First names, middle names/initials, last names
- Postal addresses
- Work telephone numbers
- E-mail addresses
- Title and running title (you can cut and paste this from your manuscript). Running title: Geology does not publish this anywhere. This is simply a shorter version of the title used in our database for reports, etc.
- Abstract (you can cut and paste this from your manuscript)
- Keywords
- Manuscript files in PDF, Word, WordPerfect, text, or RTF format. (Please include your abstract and figure captions in the text file.) The manuscript should be in 12 pt type, double-spaced, and include line numbers.
- Do not use the ASCII text option if you have used Greek letters, special characters, superscripts, or subscripts in your paper.
- If you are submitting your manuscript as a PDF, please also upload just the text from the original word processing program (Word, WordPerfect, Text, or RTF format). We will need that file to size your manuscript. To do this, upload your PDF as the article file, and your word processing file as a supplementary file.
- Files over 20 MB may cause problems for editors and reviewers. If you have files over 20 MB, please contact the managing editor, Lyne Yohe, [] before submitting your files.
- Table files in Excel, tab separated format, or comma separated format, or at end of text file.
- Figure/Image files in TIFF, GIF, JPG, PDF, Postscript, or EPS format. They should be in order and clearly labeled.
- Figures at this stage do not need to be publication quality, but it is always a good idea to start with publication-quality figures and then save them in the formats allowed by this system. See guidelines about publication-quality figures.
- Contact information (e-mail address and institution) of desired reviewers (if any).
| General Info | Tips and Suggestions | Review Process | Manuscript Submission | Cover Letter | Manuscript Status | Withdrawing a Manuscript | Getting Started |
Cover Letter
All regular article submissions must be accompanied by a cover letter that includes the following information.
- Contributions to Geology should be innovative, provocative (or describe a significant advance in the field), of timely significance, and of broad interest, either within a discipline and/or across disciplines. The cover letter should explicitly explain how the contribution meets these criteria.
- Contributions to Geology are expected to contain original, new results, data, ideas and/or interpretations not previously published or under consideration for publication elsewhere (including electronic media and databases). Authors must confirm that these conditions are met in the cover letter.
- Papers on related topics by any of the authors that have been published within the past year or that are in review or in press must be listed. In cases where the other publications contain content that might be viewed as overlapping with the current submission, the authors are encouraged to explain how the content differs.
- One author must be designated as the corresponding author in the cover letter. For multi-author papers, all authors must have been involved with the work, approved the manuscript and agreed to its submission. When more than five authors are listed, a statement on the respective roles of each author is required.
- The cost for color is approximately $800 per figure (if your manuscript is accepted, you will be supplied with an exact cost quote). Authors must indicate if they are willing to support the cost of any color figures submitted as part of the manuscript.
- Although not required, it is useful to include a list of suggested reviewers with contact information Suggested reviewers should not be in the same institution or recent collaborators with the authors. Brief explanations of why the reviewer is suggested are welcomed.
| General Info | Tips and Suggestions | Review Process | Manuscript Submission | Cover Letter | Manuscript Status | Withdrawing a Manuscript | Getting Started |
Manuscript Status
After you approve your manuscript, you are finished with the submission process. You can access the status of your manuscript by:
- Logging into the system with your password.
- Clicking on the link "Submissions being Processed."
- The status of your paper will be displayed in a tabular view.
This procedure will display detailed tracking information about where your manuscript is in the submission/peer-review process.
| General Info | Tips and Suggestions | Review Process | Manuscript Submission | Cover Letter | Manuscript Status | Withdrawing a Manuscript | Getting Started |
Withdrawing a Manuscript
If at any point you wish to withdraw your manuscript, contact the co-editor handling your manuscript and advise them of the specific manuscript number of the manuscript that you wish to withdraw. You will receive a letter acknowledging the withdrawal.
| General Info | Tips and Suggestions | Review Process | Manuscript Submission | Cover Letter | Manuscript Status | Withdrawing a Manuscript | Getting Started |
Getting Started
The manuscript submission process starts by pressing the "Submit New Manuscript" link on your Editorial Manager "Home" page. Please make sure you have gathered all the required manuscript information and understand GSA's Editorial Policy BEFORE starting the submission process.
[ Please click here to continue. ]
Getting Help
If you need additional help, you can click on the help menu at the top of the screen.