Aquatic Geochemistry - Statement, Article Types, and Special Issue Guidelines
Statement of Editorial and Publication Policies, Article Types, and SI Guidelines-AQUA
Manuscripts submitted to this journal should not have been published, or simultaneously submitted elsewhere.Submitted articles should largely contain previously unreported material. The overlap of contents between related papers should be the minimum, normally confined to the introductory/review sections.Authors should provide information and preprints on any papers closely related to the submitted paper, which are not yet in the public domain (in review, in press). If deemed necessary to the review process, these will be copied to the reviewers.Authors should consult the Journal’s “Authors Instructions” for detailed stylistic guidelines, during preparation of their manuscripts. Editor-in-Chief may return manuscripts that are grossly inconsistent with these guidelines.Where the submitted manuscript is multi-authored, one individual will need to be the corresponding author.
It is required that all authors have been involved in the work, have approved the manuscript, and have agreed to its submission.
The lead author organises the paper, writes the first draft and co-ordinates the contributions of the co-authors, amongst other tasks.
The co-authors are listed in order of importance of their significant professional contributions to the paper and its intellectual content; their specific roles are to be clearly defined in a short paragraph headed “Author Contributions”, and placed at the end of the paper before the Acknowledgements which precede the References.
There should be no plagiarism or other scientific misconduct involved.
Any conflict of interest should be specifically declared.
Recognition of the contributions of colleagues who are not co-authors may be given in the Acknowledgements, where all funding sources and all data sources should also be listed.
It will be assumed that all the authors have approved the manuscript, and agree to its submission.Manuscripts will be sent to at least two reviewers. Reviewers are requested to treat the manuscript confidentially. They may choose to identify themselves, or remain anonymous.The Editor-in-Chief’s judgement is final with regard to suitability for publication.The Publisher carries responsibility for typesetting, page lay-out and figure sizing, for all accepted papers.Authors are responsible for reading and correcting page proofs of their articles. Proof corrections are normally restricted to typesetting and printing errors. Major changes can not be undertaken at the proof stage.
Descriptions of article types
The journal welcomes a variety of article types:
Research Manuscripts
The regular research manuscripts contain new research findings in respective fields. These include presentations on new concepts, the development of innovative methods or the presentation of new case studies.
Regular scripts may comprise a maximum of 20 journal pages, including figures, tables and references. One journal page corresponds to ca. 450 words. For exceptional cases authors are advised to contact the editor prior to submission of the script. All submitted manuscripts will undergo a rigorous peer-review.
Research Letters
Letter type of Research Letter scripts may comprise approximately 3,000 to 4,500 words. It includes figures, which are counted as 200 to 450 words each, depending on the size.
Letters to the Editor and Short Communications
Within this section, brief communications to the editors and to the scientific community will be published. The aim is to circulate new information and topics very quickly. Additionally, any short communication on a previously published research article can be commented. The aim of this section is to enhance the written scientific debate.
Matters arising, brief discussions, research notes, and comments, etc., may be sent for publication as Letters to the Editor which will be given high priority in publication and will ensure fast publication. The letters and short communications should be brief and to the point and should contain no more than 4 journal pages, including tables or figures. There will be no peer-review of the content.
Review Articles
In this section, contributions will be published which contain no original new data, but which summarize existing information and synthesize the current findings. These manuscripts contain critical state-of-the-art reviews with the objectives of critically evaluating existing knowledge and providing background information for future research.
Papers should not only summarize all the relevant results available but also synthesize research on an interesting, important and well defined topic in low temperature geochemistry. Each paper should contain an appropriately full set of references.
Papers should evaluate the current state of knowledge of the topic, and be valuable as background information for carrying out future research. They may also contain new results. No arbitrary restriction is placed on length or on the number of figures included. Novel diagrams are especially welcomed.
Authors who wish to review a particular topic, should consult the Editor-in-Chief prior to submission of the manuscript. It should be noted that review scripts will undergo a similar peer review procedure as regular scripts. Review scripts up to ca. 35 journal pages will be considered.
Technical Notes
Technical notes present (1) original, practical information; (2) preliminary or partial results of research; (3) concisely presented research results; and (4) innovative techniques. Technical notes must have fewer than 5,000 words or word-equivalents.
Special Issues and Special Sections
It is the policy of the Journal to enable, and even to encourage and initiate the publication of a special issue. Each special issue is devoted to a single, well defined topic. The title of the topic as well as the guest editors’ names will appear on both the cover and on the contents page of the issue. For further details on the preparation and publication of special issues, please contact the Editor-in-Chief or publisher.
GUIDELINES FOR SPECIAL ISSUES
Preparation of a Proposal
The Guest Editor(s) for a special issue (SI) is (are) chosen by the Editor-in-Chief. The Guest Editor(s) should submit to the Editor-in-Chief and the publisher for their approval a proposal that contains the following information: title of the SI, a brief outline summarizing the objectives of the special issue, tentative time schedule, and a list of tentative contributions.
In case there are several Guest Editors (GEs), one GE will act as corresponding GE.
Concerning the tentative contributions:
GEs should have preferably none but a maximum of one review paper as author or co-author.
Authors can only have a maximum of two review papers as author or co-author.
In case there are several Guest Editors (GEs), one GE will act as the main, corresponding GE.
Documentation
Guest editors will receive, from the publisher’s Editorial Manager (EM) office, a visual guide for EM, after a special issue contract has been signed with the publisher.
Tasks of Guest Editor
All the GEs should, at the outset, guarantee to the Editor-in-Chief that they will have sufficient time available during the process of assessing the review papers that are submitted in order to:
(i) open the editorial management system at least twice each week,
(ii) identify what tasks have to be performed, e.g.,
a) agree to handle the paper(s) assigned to them, or
b) arrange for suitable referees for these paper(s), or
c) return them to the author who submitted the paper(s) for revision, and
(iii) In a timely fashion, and preferably on the same day, make the necessary decisions and enter these into the editorial management system, so that there are no delays in the process.
First, the GEs will select authors and formally invite them to submit top quality review papers (in terms of scientific content, English and presentation) to the journal’s editorial management system. The main GE will then provide the Editor-in-Chief and the Springer Editorial Manager Assistant with an updated Table of Contents. The GEs will keep in touch with the Editor-in-Chief and the Springer Editorial Manager Assistant on all other matters concerning the special issue and the status of the preparations, asking, if necessary, for clarifications. The main GE should prepare a strict - yet realistic - time schedule and inform the authors and reviewers of it. It is the responsibility of all GEs to ensure a thorough and speedy review process in close collaboration with the Springer Editorial Manager Assistant, as outlined in the paragraph above. Finally, the main GE will draft with the other GEs a Guest Editorial which acts as a Preface or Foreword to the SI, which introduces the subject of the SI and discusses its timeliness, and which also mentions the key points of all the review papers published in the order in which they appear in the SI.
Peer Reviewing Procedure
All articles appearing in the SI should conform to the standard editorial and publication policies as outlined for the journal. Although appearing as part of a SI, all articles should conform to the same quality standard as any journal paper. This implies that each manuscript will be original, not be published elsewhere in a journal and will be peer reviewed by at least two international specialists in the field. In case a major revision is recommended by any of the referees, the revised script should be reviewed again by at least one referee.
Selected papers from Conferences can be invited for a special issue, but the SI should not be regarded as Conference Proceedings.
Final Acceptance by the Editor-in-Chief
In consultation with the Guest Editor, the Editor-in-Chief will make the decision concerning acceptance and will send a letter of final acceptance to the authors.
Documentation
Guest editors will receive from the publisher’s Editorial Manager (EM) office, a visual guide for EM, after a special issue contract has been signed with the publisher.
Time Schedule
Guest Editors should prepare a strict time schedule and also inform the authors and reviewers of this. It is the GE responsibility to ensure a thorough and speedy review procedure.
Guest Editors will keep in touch with the Editor-in-Chief and publisher regarding the status of the special issue on a regular (every 3-4 months) basis.
Size
Each issue will usually contain about 125 pages, but, we can be flexible on the page budget.
Author Instructions
Instructions, also regarding electronic submission of manuscripts can be found at http://www.springer.com/earth+sciences+and+geography/geochemistry/journal/10498 (this opens in a new tab)
Color Images
Please note that black and white and color figures/images are reproduced free of charge in print and electronic form for any script accepted after January 2008.
Checklist
When the peer review of a special issue is close to finalization, the following details should be communicated to the production manager at Springer:
Sequence of papersNames and sequence of guest editorsFinal title of the special issuePreface or Guest editorial
Procedure of Publication
The Guest Editor will receive a full set of proofs (in case of multiple GEs the publisher will supply multiple sets of proofs) for their information. The corresponding authors will receive author’s proofs for corrections.
It is the intention of Springer, subject to the recommendations of the Guest Editor(s) and the Editor, to consider the possibility of also distributing the special issue as a separate (hardcover) book.
Every first author of a paper contributing to a special issue will receive a free PDF of the paper.
The Guest Editor(s) will receive two copies of the special issue. There are no page charges.
For any questions regarding special issues please contact:
The Editor-in-Chief:
Marc F. Benedetti
Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP)
Room 413
1, Rue Jussieu
75238 Paris cedex 05
France
tel: +33-183957695
Email: benedetti@ipgp.fr
The Publisher
Arya Ramachandran Nair
Associate Editor | Publishing Editor
Earth and Environmental Sciences Journals
Springer Nature
Tiergartenstraße 17, 69121 Heidelberg, Germany
Phone: +4962214878497
arya.ramachandran@springernature.com