Journal cover Journal topic
Encyclopedia of Geosciences Encyclopedia
of Geosciences A collection of scientific review articles

For reviewers

The Encyclopedia of Geosciences is a compilation of review articles published in the EGU journals on geoscientific topics. These review articles are accessible via a particular journal front end, either via a content list or via keywords. In order to ensure high quality, the articles in the Encyclopedia of Geosciences will undergo the usual reviewing and acceptance process in their partner journals whose evaluation criteria fully apply. However, the evaluation criteria need some re-interpretation:

Scientific significance

A review article obviously will not represent a substantial contribution to scientific progress within the scope of the respective journal (substantial new concepts, ideas, methods, or data). If the articles of the Encyclopedia of Geosciences are solicited or an agreement on their scope has been made between authors, executive editors of the partner journal, and the editors of the Encyclopedia, it is not considered very helpful if reviewers rate an article as scientifically insignificant because they consider the topic as such insignificant. We suggest to rate a review article intended to be published in the Encyclopedia of Geosciences as scientifically significant

  • if it is complete in a sense that it covers all relevant aspects of the topic and all important related literature;
  • if it is up to date;
  • if its depth is adequate for the partner journal.

Scientific quality

In addition to the criteria given by the partner journal we suggest to rate the scientific quality of a review article intended to be published in the Encyclopedia of Geosciences also according to the following criteria:

  • Is the presented information correct?
  • Are claims about facts either backed by references or is evidence furnished in any other compelling way?
  • Is the article unbiased with respect to issues under dispute?

Presentation quality

Regarding the presentation quality, the usual criteria of the partner journal apply. The authors should be encouraged to use the notation used in the existing articles of the Encyclopedia of Geosciences.

The following checklist (applicable in addition to the regular criteria listed on the partner journal's website) might be helpful:

  • Has the content of the article been agreed upon with the responsible editor of the Encyclopedia?
  • Is the interfacing with other Encyclopedia articles clear?
  • Does the article cover all relevant aspects of the topic?
  • Is the structure of the article compatible with the Encyclopedia in a sense that it is similarly structured to existing articles on a similar topic? If not, is there a good reason for a deviating structure?
  • Are all technical terms and concepts which are only known by specialists defined and explained?
  • Is the article historically complete in a sense that the work of the pioneers in this field is adequately acknowledged?
  • Is the article up to date in a sense that it also includes references to the most recent literature in this field?
  • Is the discussion of issues where there is disagreement within the community balanced? Are arguments and counterarguments of all relevant positions presented?
  • Is the notation and terminology used consistent with that of existing Encyclopedia articles?