For Authors
For more than a century, AGU Publications has been supporting researchers to advance the Earth and space sciences.
About AGU Special Collections
AGU special collections feature premier Earth and space science research focusing on a particular topic, significant event, or prominent theme. Articles in a special collection are published online as they are ready and will be collated into a virtual issue, allowing quick access to all papers in that collection. Special collections maintain the same scientific rigor and high ethical standards of the rest of the AGU portfolio. In addition:
- Special collections must fall within the scope of the journal(s).
- The journal's Editor-in-Chief is responsible for the content of the entire journal, including special collections. Special collection articles are handled with the same editorial oversight as regular papers, undergoing single anonymized peer review (see Peer Review Policy section for general peer review information).
Benefits of Organizing a Special Collection with AGU
- Special collection papers are highly cited and downloaded.
- Multiple journals can participate in a cross-journal special collection, and all of the published papers are hosted on a shared landing page.
- Cross-journal special collections allow for multiple paper types to be submitted to the collection (e.g., Review Articles to Reviews of Geophysics, Technical Reports to Earth and Space Science, or Policy Perspectives to GeoHealth).
- AGU can partner with other societies and publishers to run joint special collections.
- One-click transfer to ESS Open Archive from all AGU journals allows for easy cross-referencing of unpublished papers.
- Special collection organizers may be invited to be guest editors in the participating journals to assign reviewers and make recommendations to the editor.
- The transfer system between AGU journals could help find a home for all planned papers.
- Special collections can be promoted across AGU social media.
Quick Links
AGU Special Collections - Wiley
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ESS Open Archive
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Submit a Proposal
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Special Collection's Catalog
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Submit a Proposal
Please complete a proposal form. Your responses will be shared with the AGU special collections team and the editor(s)-in-chief of the participating journal(s).
Cross-Journal Special Collections
Cross-journal special collections connect interdisciplinary research from across the AGU portfolio. Cross-journal collections are the preferred option when more than one journal scope may be appropriate for your research and allow for more paper types to be part of your collection. The AGU special collections team can help you identify which journals are the right fit for your topic.
Organizers
- The special collection’s lead organizer is responsible for submitting a proposal on behalf of the organizing group. The lead organizer can be aided by up to 12 co-organizers to assist in hosting a special collection. Their names, affiliations, and email addresses will be included on the call for papers for the collection.
- Organizers are encouraged to aid with inviting submissions to the collection and promoting papers that have been published to the collection.
- Organizers should not act as reviewers for papers that are part of their collection.
- Organizers can receive status reports of the collection’s submissions upon request. Confidential peer review information is not included in this report, in compliance with AGU Publications’ peer review policies.
- Organizers are encouraged to submit an Introduction piece that provides context and highlights topics covered in the collection. This paper is published at the top of the unique special collection landing page.
Guest Associate Editors
- Not all AGU journals use Guest Associate Editors for special collections. The organizers of a special collection may be invited by the journal’s editorial board to act as Guest Associate Editors when needed (i.e., to support a large number of submissions or to provide expertise in a specific topic), but they are not converted to Guest Associate Editors by default. Each collection is limited to a maximum of two Guest Associate Editors.
- Guest Associate Editors may be invited to assign reviewers and make recommendations on manuscripts that they did not author. To ensure impartial peer review, they do not make final decisions on manuscripts submitted to the special collection they organized.
- Guest Associate Editors attend Associate Editor training, and their editorial work is overseen by the journal’s editorial board.
- Guest Associate Editors' credentials will be checked and must be approved prior to acceptance of a special collection proposal.
- Guest Associate Editors will only be assigned to handle papers within their special collection.
- Guest Associate Editors may contribute to the special collection, but their submissions will be overseen by an independent review process. In addition, no more than 25% of the collection's total content may be authored by the Guest Associate Editors.
Featured Collection
Rhythms of the Earth: Ecological Calendars and Anticipating the Anthropogenic Climate Crisis
Indigenous and rural societies that have contributed least to the anthropogenic climate crises are facing its harshest consequences. One of the greatest challenges is the lack of predictability, especially at local scales. Indigenous and rural societies face an ever shifting...
