About Lithosphere
GOLD OPEN ACCESS • EXPANSIVE SCOPE • COMMUNITY-DRIVEN
Lithosphere, published by GeoScienceWorld in collaboration with five international societies, is a leading open access journal in the geosciences. Published by the community, for the community, Lithosphere is a trusted option for researchers to publish their scientifically rigorous results in an environment than encourages cooperation and accelerates discovery.
Lithosphere publishes authoritative research and reviews across a broad scope of geoscience disciplines, providing a home for both specialized and interdisciplinary research, advancing understanding beyond the scope of a single area of research practice.
Lithosphere is published in partnership with these global scientific societies:
- American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
- The Geological Society of America (GSA)
- Mineralogical Society of America (MSA)
- SEPM Society for Sedimentary Geology
- Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG)
Globally, these societies reach well over 100,000 researchers, faculty, ECRs, and students.
Our Values
Community-Driven
- Purposefully developed by the community to meet the needs of the community
- Shaped by scientists and published by your peers
- Provides a sustainable hub for collaboration and an opportunity for collective advancements
- APC discounts for members of partner societies
Nonprofit
- Reinvests in the geoscience community
- Supports the participating society’s scientific missions
Trusted
- Backed by prominent organizations with a proven track record of publishing quality, authoritative research
- Unique collaboration from the leading societies and editors in the geosciences
- Scientifically rigorous review process
Open Access
- A high quality, trusted OA option for the geosciences
- Fulfills funder and institutional mandates while maintaining quality and editorial rigor
- Fully compliant with all existing funder requirements for Open Access (including Plan S/cOAlition S, all US federal funding agencies, European Commission/ERC and UKRI)
- Automatic full and partial APC waivers applied at submission based on institutional affiliation
Expansive Scope
- Covers multiple disciplines and in between
- Broad coverage of research in all areas of earth, planetary, and environmental sciences
- Diverse international editorial board and reviewer base with expertise across geosciences
- Research published in the following areas and in the intersections between them:
- Applied Geophysics
- Atmospheric Science
- Economic Geology
- Engineering Geology and Natural Hazards
- Geochemistry and Petrology
- Geomorphology, Regional Geology, Past Environments
- Mineralogy and Crystallography
- Oceanography
- Petroleum Geology
- Sedimentary Geology, Palaeoclimate, Palaeontology
- Structural Geology and Tectonics
- Space and Planetary Science
Visibility
- Research is open for all to read and cite, enhancing scientific sharing and collaboration
- Global readership
- Indexed and abstracted in DOAJ, EBSCOhost, GeoRef, Science Citation Index, Scopus; archived in LOCKSS and CLOCKSS
Author Benefits
- Free for readers to access, read, and cite, offering broad impact and visibility
- Fulfills all OA mandates
- Backed by leading scientific societies
- Constructive and cooperative peer review process
- Retain copyright of your work
- Discounts on APCs for members of participating societies
- Automatically applied full and partial waivers, based on institutional affiliation
- Data deposition encouraged
Publishing Criteria
- Scientifically rigorous and valid, with observations separated from interpretations, and conclusions supported by data
- A useful contribution, that tells us something new, and discussed in the context of existing literature
- Ethically sound, previously unpublished and meeting all applicable research integrity standards
- Reproducible with methods, analyses and statistics (as appropriate) detailed sufficiently to be followed
- Written in clear and concise English, so the study cannot be misunderstood
Article Processing Charges
As a Gold Open Access journal, Lithosphere is funded through author payments of Article Processing Charges (APCs). APCs support the conversion of a submitted manuscript into a final published article. The single APC covers staff and systems across a variety of departments including:
- The Editorial Screening team, who perform initial technical and ethical checks.
- The Editorial team, who help the journal's Academic Editors manage the review process.
- The Production team, who convert the manuscript to a professionally typeset article and well-structured XML.
- The Proofing team, who coordinate the proofing process through the Online Proofing System (OPS).
- The Editorial Quality Assurance team, who perform a final check to ensure that the manuscript and its review process adhere to the journal's guidelines and policies.
- Our marketing and communications teams, who ensure your article receives the attention it deserves.
- The technology team, who build and maintain our systems.
Member Discounts
As a community journal, Lithosphere is a collaboration between GeoScienceWorld and five of its member societies. As a member benefit, all authors who are members of one of the following five societies are eligible to receive a 20% discount on their APC:- American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
- The Geological Society of America (GSA)
- Mineralogical Society of America (MSA)
- SEPM Society for Sedimentary Geology
- Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG)
Member discount requests must be made prior to manuscript final decision.
Requests for discounts must be emailed to [email protected] after a manuscript has been submitted and before final decision.
Discount requests should include the following information:
- Manuscript ID
- Society Name
- Membership Number
- Membership expiry date (valid through)
Discounts can not be awarded and applied until a manuscript is submitted to Lithosphere.
Waivers
To help support researchers in low-to-middle income countries, Lithosphere automatically provides full and partial waivers of article processing charges for manuscripts based on the corresponding author's listed affiliation. Authors do not need to request these waivers, they will be applied at submission.
- Corresponding authors based in countries in Research4Life’s Group A will receive a full (100%) waiver of APCs
- Corresponding authors based in countries in Research4Life’s Group B will receive a partial (50%) waiver of APCs
Please note that only one APC waiver can be applied to each submitted manuscript.
Reduction of APCs are also considered when certain criteria are met. Requests to apply for a reduction in APC should be made when submitting your manuscript by contacting [email protected]. Requests made during the review process or after acceptance will not be considered.
Peer Review and Editorial Policies
All submitted articles are subject to assessment and peer review by the Editorial Board to ensure editorial appropriateness and technical correctness. In order for an article to be accepted for publication, the assigned Editor will first consider if the manuscript meets minimum editorial standards and fits within the scope of the journal. If an article is within scope, then the Editor will ideally solicit at least two external peer reviewers (whose identities will remain anonymous to the authors) to assess the article before confirming a decision to accept. Decisions to reject are at the discretion of the Editor.Part of the ethos of Lithosphere is for the peer review process to feel constructive and cooperative. Section Editors take editorial responsibility for their subject area and Associate Editors will run peer review based on the following criteria for publication:
- Scientifically rigorous and valid, with observations separated from interpretations, and conclusions supported by data
- A useful contribution, that tells us something new, and discussed in the context of existing literature
- Ethically sound, previously unpublished and meeting all applicable research integrity standards
- Reproducible with methods, analyses and statistics (as appropriate) detailed sufficiently to be followed
- Written in clear and concise English, so the study cannot be misunderstood
All Lithosphere manuscripts are subject to Lithosphere's Code of Publishing Ethics.
Please direct editorial questions to the Managing Editor at [email protected].
