About Geochemistry: Exploration, Environment, Analysis

About

Geochemistry: Exploration, Environment, Analysis (GEEA) is a co-owned journal of the Geological Society of London and the Association of Applied Geochemists (AAG).

Geochemistry: Exploration, Environment, Analysis is a Plan S compliant journal.

Scope

GEEA welcomes papers that focus on the use of geochemistry in mineral exploration and resource development, the application of geochemistry to environmental issues related to mining and mineral processing, and the development of methods and techniques to geochemically analyze rocks, soils, sediments, waters, and vegetation. Particularly welcome are papers that examine:

• the integration of geological, geochemical, and geophysical methods in relation to mineral exploration
• geochemical mapping at all scales
• the application of geochemistry in identifying the nature and extent of pollution associated with mining and mineral processing, and approaches to remediation
• the application of geochemistry to geometallurgy
• case histories of broad interest, such as the use of innovative geochemical methods leading to new mineral discoveries, and solving environmental issues related to mining, mineral processing and remediation.

Article types

GEEA welcomes submissions of the following article types.

Unless otherwise specified, submissions should be up to 12 typeset journal pages (straightforward word count – no figures: 1 page = 1000 words). Longer submissions will be considered if justified by the content. There are no restrictions on figures/tables. Articles may also be accompanied by supplementary material.

Research

Research articles are communications of original research. They report on primary and unpublished studies.

Review

Review articles are overviews of topics that have seen significant development or progress in recent years, with comprehensive depth and a balanced perspective. Ideally, reviews present a complete overview of the state of the art (not merely a summary of the literature), and can include: different schools of thought or controversies; fundamental concepts, issues, and problems; current research gaps, and potential developments in the field. Review articles should not include a major component of unpublished data or new hypotheses.

Perspective

Perspectives are commentaries putting published articles in the context of wider research and society. They generally present a brief discussion on a specific area of investigation and can include: a discussion of current advances and future directions; presentation of the authors’ perspective; accurate presentation and citations of other authors’ work, as relevant; original data (optional) as well as personal insights and opinions. They can also be written by editors to summarize a thematic collection. In this form they are a review of a collection of papers.

• Up to 10 journal pages. Longer submissions will be considered if justified by the content.

Thematic collections

Thematic collections are curated sets of papers that present a timely snapshot of research in a topic of high current interest and importance. Edited by experts in the field, invited contributions undergo peer review to the normal GEEA standards and are made available online upon acceptance. The papers are collated on a dedicated collection page on an ongoing basis which ensures that this significant research is visible to the community at the earliest opportunity.

Browse recent examples of thematic collections.

The subject of the collection must be of interest to a broad international audience and the science must be of the highest quality. All the papers must be acceptable to the Journal in their own right.

Thematic collections have 'Guest Editors' whose work is overseen by the Journal's Editor-in-Chief and/or a member of the Editorial Board. The Guest Editors are expected to write a short perspective article to accompany the collection. This summary paper should go beyond merely highlighting the research and data presented in the collection’s papers and should place them in a broader context and provide an authoritative review of the state-of-the-art in the field in general. It can be succinct and could include a useful table or conceptual figure.

If you would like to submit a proposal for a thematic collection in GEEA, we request the following information:

• Names and contact details of the Guest Editors
• A list of papers, including title and all authors. If abstracts are available, we would like to see those too
• A brief explanation of its aims and how it will enhance the Journal
• Details of the meeting that generated the collection (if appropriate)
• Your planned schedule for submission, refereeing and editing

Please send this information by email to the GEEA Editorial Office ([email protected]). This will then be circulated to the Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board, as appropriate.

Instructions for editing thematic collections will be provided once the proposal is accepted. The review procedure for the proposal will take about four to six weeks.

Peer review

GEEA operates a single-blind peer review process, in which reviewers remain anonymous to the authors throughout the review process. Should the reviewer wish for their name to be known to the author, they have the option to do so.

A member of the Editorial Board will send your paper to at least two referees. They will handle the papers through the reviewing and scientific editing procedure and approve the finalised script for publication.

We expect the reviewing and editing procedure to take about two to four months in the case of a paper requiring little revision. We are of course dependent on the goodwill of unpaid reviewers to achieve these targets.

You can keep track of this process through the online submissions package.

If an article is not accepted for publication, we may offer the author the opportunity to transfer their submission to another GSL journal.

Co-reviewing

GSL supports co-reviewing across its portfolio of publications. In co-review, invited reviewers have the option to involve a co-reviewer (often a junior colleague, for training purposes) in completing their report. All peer reviewers for GSL publications are expected to follow the Society’s ethical guidelines, including confidentiality of peer review.

Publishing policies

GEEA maintains the highest standards of publication and research ethics. All publishing policies can be found on our Publishing Policies page.

The Geological Society is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), and applies the principles of publishing best-practice as detailed in COPE’s Core Practices.

Abstracting and indexing

We work with our authors to help make their work as easy to discover as possible. GEEA is currently included in the following abstracting and discovery services.

• AGI’s Bibliography and Index of Geology
• Chemical Abstracts
• Current Contents
• Engineering Index
• Geobase
• GeoRef
• Mineralogical Abstracts
• PASCAL/CNRS
• GeoArchive
• Thomson ISI database (SCIE, CCIPC & ES)
• Crossref
• Dimensions
• Google Scholar
• Science Citation Index
• Scopus

Open access

Authors may choose to make their article fully open access (sometimes called ‘gold open access’) on payment of an Article Processing Charge.

• 2024 APC price: £2,400/$3360/€2880 (+VAT as applicable as the time of invoicing and subject to change).
• Articles where the corresponding author or at least half the authors are Fellows of the Geological Society or the Association of Applied Geochemists are entitled to a 25% discount.
• Corresponding authors at institutions that have signed a read and publish agreement with the Geological Society of London, qualify for waived APCs. The list of qualifying institutions can be found on our open access page.

More information on the Society’s policy can be found on the open access page. You will be asked to select your publishing option at the point of acceptance.

If you require open access but cannot pay the APC, the Geological Society also supports ‘green open access’, where you can post your final post-refereed version of the article to a website or repository 12 months after the online publication date. Authors must not post a typeset proof or final version to any website or repository unless the article is fully open access.

Cameron-Hall Copper Medal

The AAG's Cameron-Hall Copper Medal is annually presented to the lead author of the best paper published in GEEA in the calendar year preceding the award. The paper should be of high scientific standard and represent a significant contribution in its field. The winner is selected by the GEEA Editorial Board and the medal is presented to the recipient at the AAG’s biannual International Applied Geochemistry Symposium. The winning paper will also be given perpetual 'free access' on the Lyell Collection. The Cameron-Hall Copper Medal is named in honour of two prominent and highly published AAG members and past editors of GEEA, Eion Cameron and Gwendy Hall.

View the past winners for the Cameron-Hall Copper Medal.

Contact

For all enquiries, please contact the GEEA Editorial Office at [email protected].

We produce a regular author newsletter. If you would like to receive this, please visit our subscriptions page or email our marketing team ([email protected]). You do not have to be a published author to sign up. You can unsubscribe at any time.