Arabian Journal of Geosciences - Special Issue Policies

Guest-Edited Special Issues Policies

Announcement of New Policies for Special Issues

The Journal Arabian Journal of Geosciences is committed to upholding the highest standards of quality and integrity in its articles' peer review and publication. The recent incidences of so-called paper mills deliberately manipulating the editorial processes of Guest Edited issues are of grave concern to us as indicated by the Editor-in-Chief in this Editorial (this opens in a new tab). In response, we have put in place several new safeguards to protect the integrity of our peer-review process and publication record from these deliberate and malicious attempts, including:

Closing all ongoing Special issuesReduced the overall number of accepted Guest Edited Issue proposal.Put strict rules  (this opens in a new tab) in place for the acceptance and workflows for unsolicited Guest Edited Issue proposals, incorporating in-depth due diligence on all proposing Guest EditorsFormally communicated the danger of paper mills to all Editorial Board Members to increase understanding of these practices and sensitivity to potentially unethical content.Repeated our commitment to COPE’s guidance  (this opens in a new tab) on identifying systematic manipulation of the publication process.

The Arabian Journal of Geosciences is proud of its record of publishing high-quality and impactful research.  We are dedicated to following the best practice guidance of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and ensuring that we continue to serve our community in the publication of important, ethical content in future.

Thank you for reading.

Anushree Kulkarni

Associate Publisher, Arabian Journal of Geosciences
On behalf of Springer and the APNA Editorial Team