Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
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What major advantages does the interactive scientific journal BG offer to the authors of scientific papers?
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What major advantages does BG offer to the readers and scientific community?
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How are efficient distribution and permanent archiving and accessibility of BG articles achieved by the publisher Copernicus Publications? BG is accessible online and free of charge. Copernicus Publications makes sure that the final journal articles of BG as well as related preprints on EGUsphere are indexed and archived worldwide in electronic archives, search engines, and databases to guarantee their maximum dissemination and impact. |
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How are preprints and interactive comments archived, and are the interactive comments citable? All preprints are archived in EGUsphere, EGU's preprint repository. Preprints therefore receive a DOI EGUSPHERE-YEAR-NUMBER. The community comments, referee comments, editor comments, and author comments posted in the interactive discussion also receive their own DOI, which allows citation of every individual interactive comment. |
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How does BG ensure the quality of related preprints?
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What happens if a manuscript that has been posted as an EGUsphere preprint is not accepted for publication as a final paper in BG? Can the preprint be removed? All EGUsphere preprints remain permanently archived, citable, and publicly accessible and therefore cannot be removed. This approach has been chosen for a number of practical and conceptual reasons, and it has proven to be beneficial for scientific communication and quality assurance as explained above. For further information, please see the EGU Position Statement. Nevertheless, we are aware that the appearance of a manuscript as preprint and subsequent non-acceptance for BG can be inconvenient for authors. In such cases, the authors have the following options to proceed:
Overall, we are confident that the advantages of permanent archiving outweigh the potential disadvantages. For exceptional individual cases in which this policy may be disadvantageous, we regret any potential inconvenience. Nevertheless, we hope that we have the authors' understanding and continued support in the effort to improve scientific communication and quality assurance via interactive open-access publishing. |
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Will EGUsphere preprints aimed at publication in BG be visible on the BG page? Yes, all EGUsphere preprints aimed at publication in BG are originally posted on EGUsphere and additionally co-listed on the BG website as long as the peer-review process including public discussion and peer-review completion is going on. If a final revised journal article is published in BG, the corresponding EGUsphere preprint is again co-listed there, but if the revised manuscript is rejected from BG, the EGUsphere preprint is no longer co-listed on the BG website. |
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Will rejected preprints with DOI EGUSPHERE-YEAR-NUMBER remain on EGUsphere? Yes, just like any other document with a DOI. However, they will not show a relation to the journal for which it was intended since its citation is EGUSPHERE-YEAR-NUMBER. Therefore, after rejection, the EGUsphere preprint will no longer be listed on the BG website. |
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I am aiming to resubmit. Can a manuscript that was previously posted on EGUsphere be resubmitted? Manuscripts should only be resubmitted after rejection if they were significantly enhanced and substantially revised to compensate the weaknesses reported by reviewers in the first instance. |
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A preprint targeting peer review in an EGU journal is already posted on another preprint server. How should authors proceed? The EGUsphere guidelines state that "it is inappropriate for an author to submit preprints describing essentially the same research to more than one server to be posted simultaneously". Hence, additional submission of a preprint to EGUsphere is not possible. For such cases, we allow linking of a previous preprint to EGUsphere as an external preprint where it will undergo full peer review guided by an EGU editor. Please find more information on external preprints joining EGUsphere. The action authors need to take is:
How do editors treat such manuscripts? Please note that no corrections or revisions can be implemented at the access-review stage since the external preprint will not be re-posted on EGUsphere, but only opens a public discussion page with the abstract and the preprint PDF linked to the original source (external preprint server). Other than that, editors apply all criteria as for any other preprint submitted to BG. |
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I have an EGUsphere question, who do I contact?
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Where can authors find guidance on data and software deposition, availability, and citation? Copernicus Publications is a signatory of the Commitment Statement in the Earth, Space, and Environmental Sciences. The Enabling FAIR data project provides extensive guidance on questions relating to data and software deposition, citation, and availability. This guidance is mostly also applicable for data outside the Earth, space, and environmental sciences: http://www.copdess.org/enabling-fair-data-project/enabling-fair-data-faqs/ |