Editorial policy and review procedure
Plan
Haut de pageEditorial policy and partnerships
The Revue de Géographie alpine – Journal of Alpine Research is an international, multidisciplinary journal. It publishes, in French and English, hitherto unpublished scientific papers on regional and environmental questions concerning the Alpine Arc and European mountain areas. Analyses of other mountain areas of the world may also be included in issues dealing with a comparative theme.
The Editorial Committee is both international and multidisciplinary and is responsible for ensuring the scientific quality and innovative and original nature of contributions.
The Journal of Alpine Research is the property of the Association pour la Diffusion de la Recherche Alpine.
The editorial policy is defined in partnership with Mountain Research and Development, a journal which publishes articles concerning the “mountains of the south” and adopts a more applied approach.
The Journal of Alpine Research is the main instrument of scientific communication of the Alpine Convention. As such, it receives financial support from the ISCAR (International Scientific Committee for Alpine Research).
It is also supported by the CNRS (French national science research centre), Université J. Fourier-Grenoble 1, the PACTE laboratory and Cemagref-Grenoble.
The journal has long been indexed on the bibliographical bases associated with the INIST (Institute of Scientific and Technical Information), in France and abroad.
Since 2007, the Journal of Alpine Research has been one of the very few French journals referenced by the ISI Web of Knowledge (WOK) of Thomson Reuters.
The entire archives of the journal, which has been published uninterrupted since 1913, are available free on the “Persée” site; a direct link is accessible from this site.
To maintain a hard copy of the Revue, at the end of each year a volume is published containing all the articles made available on line during the year. This volume may be purchased by subscription: see relevant heading on this site.
Submitting an article or a proposal for a special issue (see publication rules)
Since at least half of the journal’s readership are non-French speakers, articles must take into account the international dimension of the themes studied.
Authors may submit an unsolicited article for publication under the heading “Miscellaneous articles”, which remains visible on the home page throughout the current year. Unsolicited articles are published as soon as their final version has been validated by the editorial committee.
Proposals for special issues must be submitted to the editorial committee at least 18 months before publication. They must provide details of the theme of the special issue and propose a list of possible authors for contributions.
Calls for articles for future special issues are announced in a special column on the journal’s site. Interested authors are invited to take note of the relevant dates and rules for publication.
Those responsible for special issues participate in the work of the editorial committee concerning the proposed issue.
Authors must submit their texts in either French or English. In addition, they may also submit their article in any other language, in which case this version will be added to the English and the French versions.
Given that the texts must be translated, authors and those responsible for special issues are urged to provide either translations or the funding for such translations.
The editorial office undertakes to examine manuscripts and to inform authors of the committee’s acceptance or refusal within three months.
Review procedures
Whether the article is unsolicited or part of a special issue, it is first evaluated by the editorial committee for scientific interest, format and compliance with editorial policy.
Articles that contain more than 30 000 characters are immediately returned to the author.
If the text is accepted at the first reading, it is then evaluated anonymously by at least two critical reviewers chosen by the editorial committee. As far as is possible, the reviewers are not on the editorial committee and do not belong to the same institution as the author. Anonymity, with regard to both the author and the reviewers, is preserved throughout the evaluation process.
Reviewers have a detailed evaluation grid and are asked, among other things, to give their overall opinion on the text and, if they so wish, to annotate the text.
Critical reviewers may recommend refusal of the text, the making of major or minor revisions, or immediate acceptance for publication.
If the opinions of the reviewers are contradictory, the editorial committee reserves the right to seek the opinion of an additional expert. Finally, it is the editorial committee that decides on the definitive refusal or acceptance of the article.
Once the opinions of the reviewers have been received, they are studied by the editorial committee and, in the case of a special issue, together with the person responsible for the issue. A summary of reviewers’ opinions is sent to the author by the Editorial office. At that time, major revisions may be requested. The editorial committee reserves the right to refuse the final text if the revisions requested are not made.
Role of person responsible for a special issue
The person responsible must submit a written project detailing the theme, possible authors, and the possibilities for financing translations.
After acceptance of the project by the editorial committee, the person responsible for the issue must:
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prepare a call for articles in conjunction with the editorial office;
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attend at least two committee meetings;
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decide, together with the editorial committee, on the means of financing;
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inform authors of dates relating to the submission of articles and the review procedure;
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send publication rules to all authors;
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collect the texts and submit them as quickly as possible to the editorial committee;
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help in the choice of reviewers as required;
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assist the editorial committee with the work of following up revisions requested to texts and final corrections.
Proposals for the columns: Localities and Books Reviews
Anyone interested can submit a text for publication in these columns, the aim of which is to be open, reactive and original.
The columns are intended to diversify the ways of communicating information on research on mountain areas.
Localities: the aim this column is to present short communications on a particular place, comprising a photo and a short text. The photos may be of any type, the only restriction being the quality of the reproduction. They must also be in the public domain or, if not, submitted with the author’s authorisation for reproduction. The photo must be accompanied by a text (of 2000 to 4000 characters) that comments on or analyses the photo in a style and tone that can be fairly free and less academic in nature.
Proposals should be submitted to the editorial office, which will then forward them to the person responsible for the column, Bernard Debarbieux.
Books Reviews: The Revue publishes reviews on texts concerning mountain areas of the world. Scientific texts are preferred but the editorial committee leaves the possibility open for reviewing more popular texts if they are deemed to be of sufficient interest.
Reviews may take the form of a short note (of 2000 to 3000 characters) introducing the text with an outline of its contents accompanied by a short commentary, or a longer and more detailed note (up to 5000 characters) involving a more in-depth reflection on the text. The author may have the right to reply.
Reviews should be sent to the editorial office, which will submit them to the review committee.
Ethical considerations
The editorial committee makes every effort to ensure that the following rules of professional ethics are respected:
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vigilance regarding plagiarism and multiple publications;
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complete anonymity of author and reviewers throughout the evaluation process;
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quality of writing;
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pluralism, openness, curiosity, rigour in the choice of themes, scientific excellence.