Editors’ Vox is a blog from AGU’s Publications Department.
When I was offered to lead the journal as its Editor-in-Chief, I felt tremendously honored, proud, and thankful.
JGR: Solid Earth is one of the most prestigious journals in solid Earth geophysics, renowned for the high quality of its peer-reviews and publications, and the strong impact of its papers. Thus, when I was offered to lead the journal as its Editor-in-Chief, I felt tremendously honored, proud, and thankful. I also felt intimidated as I was following a century of editorship by prestigious male colleagues. But more, I was a bit nervous because I had a huge and important mission in my hands, to serve the entire solid Earth community by offering the best venue to publish their work. With more than 2,000 annual submissions that would all come to my desk, huge challenges were waiting for me.
My immediate action was to expand the editorial board, ensuring that every submission was handled by experts in the field, while balancing the editorial load in a sustainable manner. Over my term, I invited five new Editors and 67 new Associate Editors to join the board (meanwhile, some Editors and Associate Editors rotated off), altogether building a team of 8 Editors and about one hundred Associate Editors spanning the broad range of disciplines and topics represented in the submissions.
Another immediate action was to improve our communication with the authors. During the first few months of my term, I worked with the editors to publish a more detailed Aims and Scope for the journal that laid the foundations of our strategy, described the requirements for a submission to fit within the scope, and explained the different steps a submission goes through during its journey to publication. With the latter, authors would learn, for instance, that any submission passes through up to three steps of internal review -by the EiC, the Editor, and the Associate Editor- before it is possibly sent out for external review. With the former, they would learn the major pillars of the journal. These pillars have been the principal focus of our actions over these last 4 years, and I thus describe them below.
A Six-Pillar Strategy
JGR: Solid Earth is a unique venue for truly innovative and groundbreaking research that significantly advances the current scientific knowledge and understanding of the solid Earth.
Our first pillar was to maintain and even raise the excellence of the articles published in the journal. Most papers submitted to JGR: Solid Earth are highly valuable and deserve publication. However, JGR: Solid Earth is a unique venue for truly innovative and groundbreaking research that significantly advances the current scientific knowledge and understanding of the solid Earth and hence the “big picture”. This led us to take strong, and sometimes difficult, decisions. All in all, the acceptance rate has remained around 35% over the past 4 years. To cope with our strong decisions, we developed an efficient communication stream with the other AGU journals so as to propose to the authors the possible transfer of their paper to a more appropriate AGU venue.
The second pillar is that the science published in JGR: Solid Earth must be rigorous, ethical, and transparent. This means, among others, that any work published in the journal must be testable, verifiable, and reproducible. This calls for the clarity and sharing of any constitutive element of the work, including the data and codes on which it relies. These needs are encapsulated in AGU’s FAIR data and code sharing policy. After a two years period of transition, from 2022 on, any submission that did not comply with this data and code sharing policy would not be retained for further consideration in the journal. Because these changes were new for a number of authors, we did our best to communicate and explain our decisions. We reinforced that sharing also leads to better recognition and perhaps future collaborations.
Our third pillar is that JGR: Solid Earth be diverse, equitable, and inclusive to best represent the richness of research and knowledge where solid Earth is of concern.
Geosciences are currently diversifying to embrace the new challenges facing our planet, its ecosystems, biodiversity, and humanity as a result of global changes. Artificial intelligence is also revolutionizing our fields, while inter-disciplinary research is growing. Our third pillar is that JGR: Solid Earth be diverse, equitable, and inclusive to best represent the richness of research and knowledge where solid Earth is of concern. This has led us to expand the topics covered by the journal, to include, among others, works on data science and artificial intelligence with solid Earth applications, environmental geophysics, and solid Earth interactions with the cryosphere, atmosphere, oceans, and climate.
To amplify this scope broadening, we launched Special Collections focusing on the new fields, generally in collaboration with other AGU journals, such as Solid Earth Geophysics as a means to address issues of global change, Machine learning for Solid Earth observation, modeling and understanding, and Understanding and anticipating Induced Seismicity: from mechanics to seismology. All received a large number of submissions, and the former even motivated a Union Session at AGU’s annual meeting in 2023, led by JGR: Solid Earth Editors.
A fourth pillar is that of diversity. The definition of diversity is as diverse as its name. In JGR: Solid Earth, we were forced to realize that hardly 10% of the first authors are female, most invited reviewers are male, the geographic distribution of reviewers differs from that of authors, while some countries are under-represented in the pools of authors, reviewers, and editors. Moving towards a greater balance is complex, and editors and AGU teams cannot push this move alone. However, we can contribute, and we have thus directed tremendous efforts to increase diversity where we could.
We increased the representation of female Associate Editors from 26% to 44% during my term, and invited new Editors and Associate Editors from under-represented countries.
We increased the representation of female Associate Editors from 26% to 44% during my term, and invited new Editors and Associate Editors from under-represented countries, expanding the board to 24 countries around the world. Among the new Associate Editors, we have voluntarily invited some early career researchers. To cope with the increasing fraction of Chinese authors, we have increased the representation of Chinese Associate Editors. We have encouraged the Associate Editors to increase their invitations to female reviewers and referees from under-represented countries, and to look for a balance in career level. In our annual nomination of most outstanding reviewers, we have promoted a balance in gender, geography, career level, and topics. In our editorial letter, we have encouraged authors from developing countries, female authors, and early career scientists to submit their work to the journal. We hope these actions will foster greater diversity in the future.
Timeliness was the fifth pillar of our strategy: we must solve the complex equation between high quality peer reviews and editor’s evaluations -which take time, and rapid publication -which is needed to quickly disseminate groundbreaking works. The equation is especially challenging as reviewers are overburdened by tremendous numbers of review invitations, and JGR: Solid Earth Editors handle huge volumes of manuscripts. We feel that our strict scope requirements help with solving this equation as the desk-rejected submissions do not add to the reviewers’ overburden, while they help authors to quickly find a more appropriate venue for their work. To go further, I set up a weekly check of all pending papers to identify any significant delay in the submission journeys. Editors, Associate Editors, and reviewers were then doing their very best to reduce these delays. Our actions were successful since we have maintained a stable median time of about two months for the first decision to be returned to the authors after review, and a stable median time to final decision between five-six months.
A final important pillar is to broadly disseminate the new knowledge published in the journal. Only shared science can be useful and inspiring. To address this challenge, we have made the Plain Language Summary mandatory in the journal as a way to present the work and results in simple terms understandable by any reader. We have highlighted the 5-6% very best papers published in the journal, as a way to disseminate their message simply and broadly, and generate enthusiasm and inspiration in the readership. We have created or co-hosted about ten Special Collections on hot scientific topics, to provide readers a synthetic and exciting overview of the current knowledge on the topics. Whenever possible, Associate Editors were invited to write the papers’ highlights to disseminate the science of the papers while acknowledging the fantastic work of our Associate Editors.
Thanks to the incredible work of our team, and the perseverance of authors, we were able to maintain the high standards of the journal.
I need to add that another, unexpected challenge erupted in our term: the COVID pandemic. A few months after we had started, the pandemic was declared, and we entered the long, dark period of troubles and lockdowns. This dramatically affected some of us, authors, reviewers, editors and staff members, delaying submissions, reviews, and editorial handling. This also put an end to meetings in person and most of our term was thus based on remote discussions. However, thanks to the incredible work of our team, and the perseverance of authors, we were able to maintain the high standards of the journal.
The Challenges Ahead
I will end with a few general comments. JGR: Solid Earth is among the best journals in solid Earth geophysics. It is critical that it maintains such a high and unique position in the future. I see three challenges that may need to be overcome:
- First, the number of submissions is continuously increasing (with a large part originating from Chinese authors). Meanwhile, the acceptance rate remains stable, around 35%. This shows that a large fraction of the submissions is not fully within the scope of the journal and would be a better fit for other, more appropriate journals. If this situation does not improve and the volume of submissions goes on increasing, handling the out-of-scope submissions may become a challenge.
- Second, the landscape of available geoscience journals is changing rapidly, especially with the emergence of many new journals promising super quick and fair scientific evaluations, at no cost. Rather, JGR: Solid Earth is a demonstration that providing robust and ethical scientific peer-reviews and evaluations takes some time, while requesting the commitment of many expert people. I hope authors keep on the rigorous side and continue to submit their work to the expert evaluation of their peers.
- Third, geosciences are evolving to address current global challenges. The solid Earth community, and JGR: Solid Earth as its representative, will need to adjust to these changes to produce a science that goes from academic solid Earth issues to more practical concerns about environment, ecosystems, and humanity.
I’m confident that JGR: Solid Earth will meet all these challenges. With its FAIR data and code sharing policy, and its open access status in the very near future, JGR: Solid Earth will likely gain an increasing influence on the scientific international scene; being not just a place to publish papers but where new important science and knowledge are produced and shared, inspiring further science and providing clues for our planet and humanity.
Thank You!
As I come to the end of my term, I would like to thank the so many people without who JGR: Solid Earth and its great publications would not be possible:
Thank you to the thousands of authors who so greatly appreciate JGR: Solid Earth and entrust us with the scientific evaluation and handling of their best work. A special thanks for their patience when processing their paper takes longer than expected.
Thank you to the thousands of reviewers for their outstanding, incredible work and the considerable time they spent reviewing JGR: Solid Earth manuscripts. They are the gatekeepers of the high standards of the journal. Please see their names in our 2020, 2021, and 2022 reviewer thank you editorials.
Thank you to the Associate Editors for their fantastic work and time to handle many manuscripts in a professional and timely manner. They are constructive coaches to the authors, invaluable actors of the editorial process, and outstanding colleagues. Please see their names at the end.
Thank you to the amazing Editors I had the chance and honor to work with: Rachel Abercrombie, Yehuda Ben-Zion (rotated off in 2021), Yves Bernabe, Michael Bostock, Mark Dekkers, Shin-Chan Han, Satoshi Ide, Steve Parman (rotated off in 2021), Douglas Schmitt, and Paul Tregoning (rotated off in 2022). Editors build up the strategy of the journal, handle huge volumes of submissions, take final decisions some may be difficult, and all in all, serve the needs of authors and readers. They helped me so much. My most heartfelt thanks.
Thank you to the Editors-in-Chief of the other AGU journals with who I so often communicated about the possible transfers of some JGR: Solid Earth submissions, in our joint efforts to find the best venue for every paper: Graziella Caprarelli, Peter Fox (deceased) and Benoit Pirenne (Earth and Space Science), Claudio Faccenna (G-Cubed), Taylor Schildgen (Tectonics), Amy East (JGR: Earth Surface), Laurent Montesi (JGR: Planets), Georgia Destouni (Water Resources Research), and Matthew Huber (Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology).
Thank you to the AGU editorial team for their dedicated work and time to make everything possible, from the smallest detail to the biggest issue: Mike Crowner, Sarah Dedej, Tanya Dzekon, Matthew Giampaola, Lorraine Hall-Petty, Sandra Long, Jenny Lunn, Chris Micucci, Jeanette Panning, Mia Ricci, Stephanie Stanford, Erin Syring, Randy Townsend, and Paige Wooden. Your help and kindness were invaluable.
Thank you to all of you for the honor of leading JGR: Solid Earth over 4 years, and for your trust and support. My special heartfelt thanks to the female colleagues who have contributed in a way or another to make JGR: Solid Earth a more diverse and inclusive journal. I applaud their commitment and hope it will encourage other women to follow their path.
Now I would like to welcome the incoming Editor-in-Chief, Alexandre Schubnel. I have no doubt that I leave the journal in the best of hands, and I wish Alexandre and the board the greatest success in their exciting task.
JGR: Solid Earth Associate Editors in 2020-2023: Ludmila Adam, Bjarne Almqvist, Chao An, Yosuke Aoki, Marcelo Assumpçao, Nikolai Bagdassarov, Sylvain Barbot (rotated off in 2021), Anne Becel (rotated off in 2020), Mark Behn, Juliet Biggs (rotated off in 2021), Carmen Blackwood, Sascha Brune (rotated off in 2021), Fabio Capitanio, Luca Caricchi (rotated off in 2021), Camilla Cattania, Corentin Caudron (rotated off in 2020), Estelle Chaussard (rotated off in 2021), Jianli Chen, Kate Huihsuan Chen, Sebastien Chevrot (rotated off in 2021), Emily Chin, Gail Christeson (rotated off in 2021), Eduardo Contreras-Reyes, Michele Cooke, Isabelle Coutand (rotated off in 2020), Sheng Dai, Fiona Ann Darbyshire, Peter DeCelles, Maarten de Hoop (rotated off in 2020), Mark Dekkers (became Editor in 2021), David Dempsey, Mai-Linh Doan, Brandon Dugan, Susanna Ebmeier, Annette Eicker, Javier Escartin (rotated off in 2020), Robert Evans (rotated off in 2020), Colin Farquharson, Lujia Feng, Andreas Fichtner, Andrew Frederiksen, Anke J. Friedrich, Gou Fujie, Alice Gabriel, Sujoy Ghosh, Thomas Goebel (rotated off in 2022), Michael Heap, Agnes Helmstetter, Emma Hill (rotated off in 2022), Emilie Hooft, Andrew Hooper (rotated off in 2020), Sigrun Hreinsdottir, Ja-Ju Hsu, Hsin-Hua Huang, Qinghua Huang, Yihe Huang, Satoshi Ide (became Editor in 2022), Matt Ikari, Kazutoshi Imanishi, Phil Janney, Jordi Julia, Yoshihiro Kaneko (rotated off in 2020), Anna Kelbert, Dawn Kellett, Agnes Kontny, Cécile Lasserre, John Lassiter, Maxim Lebedev, Brice Lecampion, Vedran Lekic (rotated off in 2021), Baosheng Li, Elita Li, Zefeng Li, Yan Liang (rotated off in 2020), Fan-Chi Lin (rotated off in 2022), Niklas Linde (rotated off in 2021), Kelly Liu (rotated off in 2021), Qingsong Liu, Qinya Liu, Yajing Liu, Jing Liu-Zeng, Bryant Loomis, Patricia Martinez-Garzon, Valérie Maupin (rotated off in 2023), Diego Melgar (rotated off in 2020), Daniel Melnick, Tom Mitchell (rotated off in 2021), Max Moorkamp, Kristin Morell, Birgit Mueller, Tobias Markus Muller, Adrian Muxworthy (rotated off in 2022), Norimitsu Nakata, Frédéric Nguyen, Fenglin Niu, Adriana Paluszny, Daniel Pastor-Galan, Ingo Pecher (rotated off in 2020), Marco Pistolesi (rotated off in 2021), Michael Poland (rotated off in 2022), Jeffrey Priest, German Prieto (rotated off in 2020), Beatriz Quintal, Francois Renard, Olivier Roche, Gideon Rosenbaum (rotated off in 2020), Alison Rust, Kate Rychert (rotated off in 2021), Maria Sachpazi, Valenti Sallares (rotated off in 2022), Chrystèle Sanloup, Joel Sarout, Brandon Schmandt, Martin Schoenball (rotated off in 2020), Alexandre Schubnel (rotated off in 2021), Vera Schulte-Pelkum (rotated off in 2020), Richard Secco (rotated off in 2021), Nikolai Shapiro, Aleksey Smirnov (rotated off in 2020), Hiroki Sone, Pietro Sternai, Susanne Straub, Ellen Syracuse (rotated off in 2022), Michael Taylor (rotated off in 2020), Fang-Zhen Teng, Elisa Tinti, Jun Tsuchiya, Martyn Unsworth (rotated off in 2021), Ylona van Dinther (rotated off in 2022), Marie Violay, Ikuko Wada, Gregory Waite, Moran Wang (rotated off in 2020), Qin Wang (rotated off in 2022), Linda Warren, Alexander Webb (rotated off in 2020), James Wookey, Lindsay Worthington, Masumi Yamada, Yingjie Yang, Lingling Ye, Takashi Yoshino, Han Yue, Ilya Zaliapin (deceased in 2023), Haijiang Zhang (rotated off in 2020), Li Zhao, and Olaf Zielke (rotated off in 2020).
—Isabelle Manighetti ([email protected]; 
0000-0003-4413-6578), GEOAZUR-Université Côte d’Azur, France
Learn more about the incoming Editor-in-Chief, Alexandre Schubnel.
