Instructions for Authors Submitting to Earth Sciences Research Journal

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Instructions for Authors
Manuscript Submission
Manuscripts submitted to ESRJ will only be considered if they have not been or not will be reproduced in the same extension and form in a different journal. Contributions falling into the following categories will be considered for publication:

Regular Papers: Regular papers constitute most of the works published in ESRJ and contain original information (e.g. that has not been published, and is not being considered for publication elsewhere). There are no limitations to the lenght of regular papers, but we encourage authors to express their views in a concise manner. From our experience we have found that the shorter the paper, the better they are received.

Brief Contributions: To be considered as a Brief Contribution, your manuscript must contain original information that may be more limited in lenght and scope than a Regular Paper. Sometimes authors wish to concisely share their research and may do so through a Brief Contribution, which should be limited to six (6) pages or less, including any figures.

Comments, Praise, and Replies: Sometimes differences in opinions and views arise from published reasearch and the Earth Sciences community may benefit from open discussion. Sometimes an author´s outstanding contribution may be publicly praised, as a way to aknowledge the good work. Comments on and Praises to contributions as well as their Replies, should not exceed two (2) pages in lenght.

Translations of Articles: There are many papers (specially classic papers) that represent momentous facts in the Earth Sciences history. Some other important articles remain unknown to the Spanish-Speaking or English-Speaking science communities because these articles are published in foreign languages. Translations of articles may be submitted to ESRJ provided that written authorization of original publishers is obtained.

With the exception of Comments, Praises, and Replies, all submissions must contain the following parts:

TITLE.

NAME(S) OF AUTHOR(S). Please underline the name of the corresponding author.

ABSTRACT. Should not exceed 300 words. A list of key words must appear following the abstract.

INTRODUCTION.

DATA.

METHOD.

RESULTS.

DISCUSSION.

CONCLUSIONS.

REFERENCES.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.(Optional)

AUTHORS´CONTACT INFORMATION. Please provide contact information that includes: Affiliation, e-mail, physical address, telephone, and fax numbers.

APPENDIX. (If any).

If a manuscript falls in the Brief Contribution category, the following sections may be joined:

DATA AND METHOD.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS.

All submissions will undergo peer-review by experts in the subject area being considered. Usually two reviewers are assigned, one of them may be a local scientist.
Potential Reviewers of your Manuscript
ESRJ mantains a data base of reviewers and experts in various disciplines of Earth Sciences. To speed up the process of review, however, we request that the author suggests at least four (4) potential reviewers for their work. The list of potential reviewers should contain full contact information and must be included along with the submission for consideration in ESRJ. Suggested reviewers must fulfill the following requisites:

MS or Ph.D academic degree in a discipline related to the work under consideration.

Scientific production (publications) during the last two years.

Preferably affiliated with an institution that is different from that of the author.

To guarantee high standars and ethics during the review process, the Editorial Board of ESRJ reserves the right of sending manuscripts to those reviewers whom we consider appropriate.
We encourage submission of manuscripts via e-mail in Ms. Word format. Optionally, authors may submit their works as hard copies. In this case we request three (3) copies of the manuscript. After the reviewing process is completed and the paper is accepted for publication, a digital form of the manuscript will be requested for editing and final minor modifications prior to publishing.
The process of your submitted manuscript
Once your manuscript has been classified as submitted by the Editor, ESRJ will seek reviewers for the work. If two reviewers are found, then ESRJ will e-mail you with an update. Usually we allow reviewers 3-4 weeks for returning comments to ESRJ (first round of review). Once both reviewers have sent their comments back to us, we will contact the authors and provide them with the evaluation forms (filled out by the reviewers) and any additional comments and suggestions that we receive. Because we are a growing Journal, we need to keep an eye on deadlines, and we strongly encourage authors to incorporate the reviewers´comments and send their revised work as soon as possible. Please attach a letter (e-mail is acceptable) indicating your responses to the comments of both reviewers. After receiving the revised manuscript from the authors, ESRJ will contact both reviewers again to request a (hopefully) final review (second round). The final review should not take longer than the first round, and usually we allow reviewers 1-2 weeks to send their final comments (if any) along with a note stating their recommendation/rejection of the manuscript for publication. ESRJ will contact the authors as soon as comments are received.
Guidelines for preparation of your manuscript

Manuscripts must be written entirely in English, and must be spell-checked using a word processor. Please make sure that structure and grammar are appropriate. Keep in mind that ESRJ is a wide-scope journal and your article may be read by scientists from other disciplines.

Prepare your manuscript using letter-size pages (216 mm × 279 mm). Please use size 12 Times New Roman or Arial fonts, with a double line spacing.

Figures,Tables, and Equations

Limit figures to no more than five (5) shades of grayscale. If you use elements such as lines, line stripes, dots, or specific symbols, make sure they will be easily distinguished when reduced for publication.
Please use CorelDraw or Canvas formats for creating your figures, if it is not possible use Tiff, Gif o Jpg.
Please always include geographic coordinates and/or scale in maps.

The sizes of letters are very important. Try to use the same size text throughout a figure. Figures will be reduced in size for publication. Use Times Roman or Arial fonts. Avoid using light text on dark background.
Try to create figures that are as close as possible to the size they will appear in the printed version of ESRJ.
Try no to use too much black in your figures. For example, some journals have found that record sections with too much black reproduce poorly.
We require the use of S.I. physical units (m, kg, s).
Every figure must have a number and a figure caption. The latter describes, as completely as possible, the content of the graphic. Please make sure that all symbols and abbreviations are fully explained.
Please be aware that because we are a self-financed journal, at present, high costs do not allow us to publish color figures. All figures will be published in black and white or gray scale. Please prepare your figures accordingly.
All tables should be numbered, have a title and must be in Ms. Excel format.
Please send us the tables, figures and their corresponding legends in separate files.
Please number all equations at the right.

Format for References

References should be arranged alphabetically by author and should follow the format that appears in the examples below.

Reference to a paper published in a Journal:
Barrow, J. P. and Smith, C. (2004). Ground motions in colombian basins, Earth Sciences Research Journal. 10, no. 1, 824-832.
Reference to a book:
Kodiak, D. C. and Gómez, D. (2003). Geology and Seismicity, International University Press, Bogotá, Colombia, 256 pp.
Reference to an edited book:
Bonilla, O. P., Tapias, D. and Ortega, F. (2002). Water supply in desert areas, L.P. Posada (Editor), Geological Special Publication No. 2, Colombian Society of Geologists, Bogotá, Colombia, 115-125.
Reference to a Thesis:
Smith, J. (2006). Pipelines and constructions in seismic regions, Ph.D. Thesis, School of Geociences, International University, Bogotá, Colombia.
Reference to a technical manual:
International Institute of Geological Sciences (1999). Methodology for Estimation of Model Parameters: Technical Manual, Latinoamerican Disaster Management Agency, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Reference to a report:
Colombian Earthquake Research Institute (COER) (1990). Report on seismicity in Colombia, Earthquakes Bulletin, 3.
Reference to a conference:
Sánchez, J. J., Smith, J. and Barrow, J. P. (2004). Volcanology and hazards assessment, 4th National Conference on Geology and Geophysics, Bogotá, Colombia, August, 436-444.
Reference to a web site:
Aragón, P. B., Rosas, R., Taborda, P. and Koyohama, Y. (2005). Internet Site for Data on Earthquakes, Latinoamerican Commission, Earthquakes Programme, http://www.geociencias.unal edu.co/ESRJ_htm (last accessed February 2004).
Contact us via e-mail
El logo de ESRJ y el Escudo de La Universidad Nacional son propiedad de La Universidad Nacional de Colombia.
Dirección de Correspondencia

Revista Earth Sciences Research Journal
Depto. Geociencias, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Cra 30 No 45-03
Ed. Manuel Ancízar, of. 326
Tel 3165000 ext 16539

Last updated: August 23, 2007.