About the Journal
GEOGACETA is an open access scientific journal of the Geological Society of Spain (SGE), which has been publishing short articles in both Spanish and English since 1986. All articles published in GEOGACETA have been previously presented in a biannual Scientific Session, organized by the SGE.
FOCUS AND SCOPE
GEOGACETA is a journal that publishes short, four-page, original and unpublished research papers on any field of the Earth Sciences, particularly Geology. The articles published in GEOGACETA are characterized by showing the latest scientific advances in topics related to the Earth Sciences, presenting original data corresponding to field observations, data elaborated, experimental data (obtained in laboratory and/or field), analogical and mathematical modeling, and all this at different scales of observation.
The articles published in GEOGACETA, in addition to being evaluated by a "peer review", have been presented in one of the two Scientific Sessions organized by the Geological Society of Spain every year to promote, encourage and disseminate research in subjects related to the Earth Sciences. For this reason, the journal is especially designed for researchers who deal with topics related to the Earth Sciences, who are members or who can collaborate with members of the Geological Society of Spain, and who deal with scientific topics in the subjects of the journal, which are of general interest to researchers and professionals, or potential readers interested in Geology or the Earth Sciences.
FREQUENCY OF PUBLICATION
GEOGACETA is published twice a year (two issues per year). The articles are published six months after each Scientific Session where the papers have been presented, that is, one issue is published in June and another in December of each year, in electronic format (ISSN 2173-6545) and in paper (ISSN 0213-683X), which is sent to subscribers.
Submission and publication of articles
The articles sent to GEOGACETA for publication must be previously presented at one of the Scientific Sessions organized by the Geological Society of Spain (SGE). The Scientific Sessions take place, one at the end of May and the other at the end of November each year. The information of each Scientific Session (date, place and program) can be consulted in the SGE website.
- Papers presented at the May Scientific Session are published in December.
- Papers presented at the November Scientific Session are published in June.
Prior to the presentation of the papers in the Scientific Sessions, the manuscripts of these papers must be sent to GEOGACETA to be evaluated according to peer review, through the RECYT platform ("submit an article"), since all the editorial management of the manuscripts is done through the OJS/PKP system.
By agreement of the Advisory Board dated October 25, 2012, the deadlines for receipt of manuscripts will be February 1 and July 1 for the May and November Scientific Sessions, respectively. Once the electronic submission process has been successfully completed, the person identified as "corresponding author" will receive an e-mail message. If the submission process is completed after the respective deadlines, or if more than fifty manuscripts have already been received for the session, the paper in question will be registered for the next Scientific Session.
Important note about authors: Papers must be signed by a member of the Geological Society of Spain and will be presented by one of the persons signing the paper. Each member of the SGE can present a maximum of two papers in each Scientific Session, and those who are not members of the SGE can only present one paper.
PEER REVIEW PROCESS AND ACCEPTANCE OF PAPERS
Preliminary review by the Editorial Committee
The Editors of GEOGACETA will manage the review of the manuscripts received. In a first preliminary round, each article received is reviewed by the Editors, who will check if the work is original and unpublished, if its contents are in accordance with GEOGACETA's editorial line, if the work has a minimum scientific structure, and if it complies with guidelines for manuscript preparation. The work may be rejected if it is not original, if it does not have sufficient scope or scientific novelty or does not have the required format or if the object of study deviates from main scopes matter of the journal. Failure to comply with the journal's guidelines for the preparation of the manuscript will be sufficient reason for its rejection.
Peer review process (Peer review - single anonymized review)
After the editors consider that the paper complies with the preliminary requirements, the manuscript will be sent to two anonymous experts to be reviewed and evaluated in depth, using the system of "peer review, single blind" (Peer review): The reviewer will not know the names of the authors before accepting the review. Once the reviewer has accepted the review, he/she will know the names of the authors. The authors will never know who the reviewers have been, unless the reviewer signs his/her report to identify him/herself. In this way, it will be at the reviewer's discretion to identify himself/herself to the authors, if he/she prefers.
The persons who review the papers will not belong to the Advisory Board, nor will they be attached to the institution to which the persons who sign the paper belong. For the evaluation of the papers, the Editors will rely, above all, on the researchers of the different institutions that, due to their prestige and field of expertise, can act as reviewers of the manuscripts received. In some cases, and when necessary, the Editors may also include members of the Scientific Council of GEOGACETA. Each year, the list of reviewers who have participated in the evaluation of the manuscripts will be published in the issue of the second semester, with their implicit approval to publish their names, as indicated in the instructions for reviewers.
Once the reports of the specialists are available, the Editors will issue a first decision on the manuscript and will send to the authors all the forms and comments that have been made on the manuscript itself, including those of the Editors. The authors will have 15 days to make the appropriate modifications and justify by means of a mandatory report the changes introduced in the manuscript and the possible discrepancies with the opinions expressed by the reviewers. Once these documents have been received, the Editors may request a new revision process of the manuscript, if necessary. The last modified manuscript will be accepted, by means of a "favorable report", or rejected in order to be presented at the Scientific Session according to the recommendations of the reviewers and the editorial team. In any case, the Editors will inform the Advisory Board (composed of members of the Governing Board of the SGE), who will finally decide whether or not the manuscript should be accepted, which will give rise to the "preliminary acceptance" so that it can be presented at the Scientific Session. The manuscript will be definitively accepted once it has been presented at a Scientific Session of the SGE (the date of acceptance of the manuscript will coincide with the date of the Scientific Session).
Presentation of papers at SGE Scientific Sessions
The presentation of the papers in the Scientific Sessions will be carried out by means of a combination of the main text of the manuscript and the projection of the figures that illustrate it. In no case will the presentation time exceed 10 minutes. Once the paper has been presented in a Scientific Session, the article will be accepted for publication in the volume of Geogaceta corresponding to that Scientific Session.
After each presentation, attendees may question and debate with the authors for a limited time of 5 minutes. If the persons intervening in the debate consider that would be appropriate to include the discussion in the publication of GEOGACETA, they will communicate this to the Editor by sending the question or questions discussed in writing through the journal's website. Likewise, the authors will be asked to send their written response for publication in the GEOGACETA-Debate section, together with the articles presented at the Scientific Session.
SECTIONS OF THE JOURNAL
GEOGACETA consists mainly of a single Article section, which includes all the scientific papers presented at the SGE Scientific Sessions. However, the journal has provided a section, when appropriate, to present significant questions and answers carried out in the Scientific Sessions, or comments on articles published in the last volume of GEOGACETA. These questions or comments, on a specific article, will be collected in the GEOGACETA-Debate section, where the question or comment on an article will be proposed, which must always be made by a member of the SGE. The comments should be always properly justified and will have a maximum length of one printed page (6000 characters) and will be followed by a reply from the authors of the article, also with a maximum length of one page. Questions and comments will also be reviewed and evaluated, like any other article, before publication. The procedure for sending comments and replicas will be done through the journal's website.
OPEN ACCESS, SELF-ARCHIVING AND DISTRIBUTION POLICY
The Geological Society of Spain provides on-line open access to the complete contents of all GEOGACETA papers (ISSN 2173-6545), published from 2022 through the electronic edition in OJS (Open Journal Systems 3.2.1.4), available on the GEOGACETA website, in the "Repositorio Español de Ciencia y Tecnología" (RECYT). All the edited volumes of the journal, from the first issue onwards, can also be consulted and downloaded free of charge from the website of the Geological Society of Spain.
Similarly, GEOGACETA allows authors to self-archive their own work in the final versions of their articles once they have been published on the GEOGACETA website. These permissions include self-archiving in Institutional Repositories and Open Access Thematic Repositories (Link to GEOGACETA in DULCINEA), as well as in web pages, with the intention of contributing to the improvement of knowledge transfer, dissemination and exchange.
Subscriptions (print version)
The journal GEOGACETA is also published in print version (ISSN: 0213-683X; Legal Deposit: S.743-2012) and has a wide national and international distribution network. More than 800 copies are distributed among the members of the SGE and among the people and public institutions, national and foreign, subscribed, or by exchange of publications. SGE membership fees can be consulted on the SGE registration website. Copies can also be purchased through the SGE secretariat (sge@usal.es). A printed issue, 18 € for members or 25 € for non-members.
PUBLICATION FEES
The Geological Society of Spain does not charge any fees to the authors for sending the manuscript or for the management of their papers, nor for the publication of their articles in GEOGACETA. Only the publication of the figures in color will be charged, if the authors want them to be in color in the printed version of GEOGACETA (ISSN: 0213-683X), which is 200 € per article (more information in Instructions for authors).
POLICY OF TRANSFER OF RIGHTS AND USE OF THE WORKS
Until the year 2023 the copyright was assigned to the Geological Society of Spain (SGE), but from the year 2024 the author retains the copyright, although transferring some rights to the SGE. When publishing in GEOGACETA, the authors retain the copyright and transfer to the Geological Society of Spain the right of first publication and non-exclusive distribution of the final version of the work in any format (digital or printed). They also transfer non-exclusive commercial rights to the SGE, specifically for the distribution of the printed version of GEOGACETA. This non-exclusive transfer of rights is materialized by accepting a copyright clause when submitting a manuscript through the GEOGACETA website (through the OJS/PKP system).
All articles in GEOGACETA (as of 2023) are subject to the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0), which allows readers to use and reproduce the articles and create derivative works in any medium and format (non-commercial), provided that the authorship (citing) and original publication of the article in GEOGACETA is acknowledged, including in the article registration, when possible, the DOI assigned to the final published version.
With the aim of promoting the dissemination of knowledge, GEOGACETA adheres to the Open Access (OA) journal movement and submits all its content to various indexes, repositories and national and international databases under this protocol; therefore, the submission of a paper for publication in the journal presupposes the explicit acceptance by the author of this distribution method when sending the manuscript.
ETHICS STATEMENT
The GEOGACETA Editorial Board is committed to guaranteeing the ethics and quality of the articles published, protecting and respecting the content of the articles, as well as their integrity. GEOGACETA follows the Code of Conduct and Good Practice for editors of scientific journals defined by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
For any doubt or complaint related to a content or procedure of the journal, authors and readers may contact the Editor-in-Chief of GEOGACETA, who will respond or forward the request to the Editorial Committee or the Scientific Board, as the case may be, for assessment and resolution. The Editorial Committee undertakes to publish corrections, clarifications, retractions and apologies when necessary. The Editorial Committee guarantees at all times the confidentiality of the evaluation process and any possible clarifications, claims or complaints that an author may wish to submit to the journal's committees.
Detection of plagiarism
Plagiarism is not acceptable in submissions to GEOGACETA.
Plagiarism includes copying text, ideas, images or data from another source, including your own publications, without citing the original source. All previous works from which ideas, data, figures, etc. have been obtained and which have been the source for the work being submitted must be explicitly cited.
The editorial team, with the help of the external scientific reviewers, will take care to avoid these supposed cases of plagiarism. If plagiarism is detected during the peer review process, the manuscript may be rejected. If plagiarism is detected after publication, the case will be studied by the Editorial Board and the article will be retracted, if plagiarism is confirmed.
Corrections and retractions
When any significant error is detected in a published article by an author or reader, please inform the Editor-in-Chief of the possible errors in order to proceed to their modification or elimination, as the case may be.
- Significant unintentional errors that do not affect the interpretation of the results or the conclusions will be the subject of a correction (erratum) that will be published in the current issue identifying it with its title and the word "Correction", where the necessary modifications to correct the errors will be included. In the online version the article will be updated, indicating the date of the update.
- In the case of plagiarism, manipulation of data, falsehood, use of other people's material or material already published without authorisation, infringement of copyright, conflict of interest, etc., that will be checked by the Editorial Committee will check, the article will be retracted. The original article will be withdrawn and will appear only with its title and marked as "Article retracted".
For further information see the ethical guidelines for editors, reviewers and authors in the:
