G-Cubed : A snapshot today and a look to the future

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G-Cubed : A snapshot today and a look to the future

Laurent Labeyrie, Vincent Salters, John Tarduno, Peter van Keken

To cite this version:

Laurent Labeyrie, Vincent Salters, John Tarduno, Peter van Keken. G-Cubed : A snapshot today and a look to the future. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, AGU and the Geochemical Society, 2006, 7 (3), pp.n/a-n/a. �10.1029/2006GC001252�. �hal-02959118�

G-Cubed: A snapshot today and a look to the future

Laurent Labeyrie, Vincent Salters, John Tarduno, and Peter van Keken

Components: 1181 words. Keywords: editorial.

Index Terms: 9815 General or Miscellaneous: Notices and announcements. Received 18 January 2006; Published 10 March 2006.

Labeyrie L., V. Salters, J. A. Tarduno, and P. van Keken (2006), G-Cubed: A snapshot today and a look to the future, Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst., 7, Q03005, doi:10.1029/2006GC001252.

[1] Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems

(G-Cubed) is AGU’s largest electronic-only journal. The new board of editors (Laurent Labeyrie, Vin-cent Salters, John Tarduno, Peter van Keken) would like to update the community on the current state of the journal, highlight opportunities for authors, and outline a few goals for the future. [2] G-Cubed now ranks in the top 10% of

geosci-ence journals, with an impact factor of 2.62. G-Cubed publishes research in geochemistry and geophysics that crosses traditional disciplinary boundaries and strives to forge and synthesize interdisciplinary research. The journal appeals to the entire geoscience community by fostering and defining new research areas at the intersections of traditional fields. Approximately 150 manuscripts are published each year (http://www.agu.org/pubs/ stats/). These papers are nearly equally divided between geochemistry and geophysics. One could then argue that ‘‘geosystems’’ is underrepresented. But to date, G-Cubed has had 17 theme issues, averaging just under three themes per year. Many of the themes are interdisciplinary and thus naturally fall within a geosystems category. Nevertheless, geosystems is an area that we have identified as requiring additional attention, as discussed below.

[3] In addition to traditional articles, research

let-ters, and reviews, a fourth category of publication, named briefs, was created. A brief can be either technical (analytical methods or technical ad-vance), brief reports of data, or characterizations

(for example, models of chemical or physical properties). Presently, just over 10% of the pub-lished manuscripts are briefs.

Publication Speed

[4] The average time between submission and

acceptance for G-Cubed is under 10 weeks. The time from acceptance to publication is also under 10 weeks. Both figures compare well against other journals. But we feel as a community we can do better. The responsibility for timeliness lies with authors, editors, reviewers, and the publisher. As editors, we accept editorial tasks on a daily basis. We also strive for a decision shortly after receiving the advice of the reviewers.

[5] But a relatively large amount of time is spent

soliciting reviews; the mean is 17 days. G-Cubed needs prompt answers to review requests and for a greater portion of the community to accept review responsibilities. The median time for a reviewer to return an evaluation is 23 days. This statistic shows though that many decisions are being delayed by late reviews. Obviously, there is considerable room for improvement here, but this improvement depends on the community.

[6] A different area where progress can be made is

production. As editors, we will keep pressure on the publisher to streamline the production process to shorten the production time. But in neither the editorial process nor the production process should quality be sacrificed for speed.

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Geochemistry

Geophysics

Geosystems

Published by AGU and the Geochemical Society AN ELECTRONIC JOURNAL OF THE EARTH SCIENCES

Geochemistry

Geophysics

Geosystems

Manuscript Effectiveness

[7] Even with the start of page charges, the length

of G-Cubed articles is increasing. Some manu-scripts require very extensive and comprehensive discussions. Nevertheless, the trend toward longer lengths threatens the ‘‘readability’’ of the typical paper. The electronic format of G-Cubed is ideally suited for succinctness of text, with additional explanation, if needed, linked as auxiliary material. [8] There is another aspect of manuscript

effec-tiveness that falls squarely on the shoulders of potential authors. Prior and present G-Cubed edi-tors have commented that a great deal of time is spent improving manuscripts that are clearly iden-tified by reviewers as being of lower quality in presentation and/or report results representing only incremental advances relative to prior published work. Clearly, G-Cubed is not alone in facing this challenge.

[9] As editors, we will work hard to insure that

well-prepared manuscripts with important new results sail through review. But for the benefit of all we will be returning manuscripts that are not well prepared, lack crucial materials, or represent only incremental advances.

Using the Full Benefits of Electronic

Publishing

[10] One of the great advantages of G-Cubed is that

it provides a venue for the publication of nontra-ditional materials. Interestingly, the submission of manuscripts containing nontext or graphics materi-als has not increased over time.

[11] This is another issue over which the authors

have the most influence. We can only call for manuscripts that do take full advantage of the electronic form of the journal. However, we do anticipate inviting specific papers to serve as models for the larger community. We should note that there are significant issues concerning the archiving of some nontraditional materials. However, these issues will not be addressed unless there is pressure from submitted manuscripts.

Geosystems

[12] Geosystems is a poorly defined term (e.g.,

there is no definition in Encyclopædia Britannica). We think of geosystems as interdisciplinary

research. That research could be between geochem-istry and geophysics or between subdisciplines within either field. Of course, research that truly spans either geochemistry or geophysics and an-other field (e.g., biology) might also fall in the geosystems category. Thus the inability to define exactly geosystems comes with the territory; it represents research that does not neatly fit within existing constructs.

[13] As editors, we will continue to support the

publication of geosystems research through theme sessions, but we will also keep an eye out for emerging geosystem topics where even theme issues may be premature. In this case we hope to solicit invited papers, with the hope that they may stimulate future theme issues.

Deserved Credits

[14] G-Cubed started as and maintains to be a

community endeavor. However, a small group of people deserve special mention for shaping the journal. These include the initial advising commit-tee consisting of Henry Shaw, Hubert Staudigel, Alan Zindler, Bill McDonough, and Charlie Lang-muir and the founding editors, Bill White, Rick O’Connell, and Harry Elderfield. With the depar-ture of Bill White, Bruce Anderson will also leave as managing editor as these tasks are now per-formed at AGU headquarters. Bruce Anderson needs to be thanked for his dedication to the journal.

In Closing

[15] G-Cubed has grown into a first-tier journal

publishing manuscripts that concern all aspects of geophysics and geochemistry. This is what the present editors are committed to continue. Many of the expectations of the journal have been realized, and often we do better than other journals. It does not mean there is no room for improvement. Better use of the electronic medium is one; even shorter times between submission and publication is another. These improvements can only be made if each of us makes an effort; as the editors, we can only do so much. We encour-age you to submit your best work to G-Cubed. We will make every effort to keep review and production times some of the shortest while keeping the quality high.

Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems

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