Editorial Policies

Aims and Scope

The Lithosphere (Russia) aims to develop scientific knowledge in the field of a wide range of problems of the solid Earth:

• Structure and dynamics of the lithosphere in space and time;
• Processes of sedimentation, lithogenesis, magmatism and metamorphism;
• Mineragenesis and ore formation, creation of effective methods for searching and prospecting for minerals;
• Geophysical features of the Earth;
• Development of modern technologies for research and monitoring of the state of the environment, forecasting and preventing natural and man-made catastrophic phenomena;
• Development of geoanalytical techniques.

The Lithosphere (Russia) journal can be useful to a wide range of specialists in the field of geology, mineralogy, geochemistry, petrology, geophysics, geoecology.

Codes OECD

105 Earth and related environmental sciences

Peer Review Process

1. All manuscripts submitted to the Editorial office of the Lithosphere (Russia) journal are subject to mandatory double-blind peer review. This method of scientific expertise implies that neither the reviewer is aware of the authorship of the manuscript, nor the author maintains any contact with the reviewer.

2. Submitted manuscripts are initially checked against minimal acceptance criteria to verify that their research subject fits the aims and scope of the Lithosphere (Russia) journal and that all formal requirements set out in the Author guidelines are addressed. In the case where a manuscript is presented in a form contradicting the requirements given in the Author guidelines, the author/s are requested to re-submit the text in the appropriate form.

3. Manuscripts that do not fall within the thematic scope of the Journal are not accepted for further peer review, about which the author/s are notified within 2 weeks of submission.

4. A submitted manuscript that meets the minimal acceptance criteria is forwarded to peer review by one or more experts in the corresponding research field.

5. The Editorial board has the right to reject manuscripts without peer review in the case of their low scientific quality.

6. Peer review is performed by leading Russian and foreign researchers, including the Editorial board and Editorial council members. The Editor-in-chief or Deputy editors select reviewers for each submitted manuscript.

7. The peer-review process in the Lithosphere (Russia) journal is normally completed within the period of 1 month. However, upon the request of the reviewer/s, or if an additional expert evaluation is required, the peer-review period can be extended. The author/s are notified in writing on the extension of the peer-review period.

8. Reviewers are informed that the manuscripts sent for review are privileged communications and are the private property of the author/s.

9. Reviewers should decline a peer-review invitation in the case of any relationships that could be viewed as a potential conflict of interest, since such relationships may affect the impartial evaluation of the work under review.

10. Upon the completion of peer review, reviewers are requested to make one of the following recommendations:

- accept the manuscript for publication it its current form;
- invite the author/s to revise their manuscript following the presented suggestions;
- suggest that the publication decision be reached following additional reviewing by another expert;
- reject the manuscript outright.

Reviewers are requested to include the assessment of the following aspects in their report:

a) relevance of the presented research to the contemporary achievements in the corresponding field;
b) novelty and impact of the obtained results;
c) advantages and disadvantages of the work;
d) quality of figures and tables, as well as other illustrative materials;
e) suitability of the form, in which the research is presented, including the quality of references, the abstract, etc.

11. The texts of the reviews are forwarded to the author/s.

12. The authors are requested to notify the Editorial board verbally or in writing if they decide to refuse from revising their manuscript following the reviewer’s comments, thus refusing from publishing their manuscript.

13. In the case where the reviewer/s have recommended revisions, the Journal requests the author/s either to make the necessary corrections or argue them reasonably. The revised version of the manuscript is re-submitted within the period of maximum 2 months for final assessment. The revised manuscript is additionally sent for review.

14. Revised manuscripts re-submitted after 2 months of receiving the initial review are withdrawn from the publication process. The author/s are invited to submit their manuscript as a new submission. The Editorial board treats such manuscripts as entirely new submissions.

15. When one of the reviewers has not recommended the manuscript for publication, the Editorial board has the right to send it to one more reviewer for additional evaluation.

16. Positive reviews do not guarantee the acceptance, since the final decision on the publication lies exclusively with the Editor-in-chief.

17. Manuscripts that have been rejected following the peer-review process cannot be submitted to the Lithosphere (Russia) journal again.

18. Upon the decision to accept the manuscript for publication, the author is notified of the scheduled period of publication.

19. All conflict situations arising during peer review are resolved exclusively by the Editor-in-chief.

20. Original reviews of submitted manuscripts remain deposited during the period of 5 years.

21. No fee is charged for providing peer review.

Open Access Policy

The LITHOSPHERE (Russia) journal adheres to the policy of a maximal visibility of its content, which contributes to the sustainable development of scientific knowledge. Therefore, the Journal provides immediate open access to all articles published therein on the basis of principles formulated in the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI) definition, which permits any user to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles published in the journal, crawl them for indexing, pass them as data to software, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without financial, legal, or technical barriers other than those inseparable from having access to the Internet itself.