Geoscientific Data & Discovery (GDD) is a journal of geological data sponsored by National Geological Archives of China (NGAC) under administration of the China Geological Survey. The GDD journal aims to “enhance the sharing of scientific data resources, promote the protection of data intellectual property rights and lead the internalization of China’s geological data”. All GDD papers and the related physical data are published at the Geoscientific Data & Discovery Publishing Center (http://geodb.cgs.gov.cn) and Geoscientific Data & Discovery Publishing System (http://dcc.cgs.gov.cn) for open access.

Our columns

The GDD journal has set up columns related to basic geology, energy geology, ore geology, hydrological, engineering and environmental geology, minerals survey, geophysics, geochemistry and geological information among others. We cordially invite papers from all circles.

Submission Channel

All papers shall be prepared with word text (.doc) and submitted through the manuscript submission system or the editorial E-mail (geodb@mail.cgs.gov.cn). The E-mail subject shall be in the form of “intended column – author’s affiliation – author’s name – title of paper”. Please kindly write down your correspondence address, post code, telephone number, fax number or E-mail address.

Our requirements for papers

The contributed papers must be original and have never been published elsewhere, and must be well-structured, supported with reliable data and accurate references, and written in concise manuscript. Please visit our website (http://geodb.cgs.gov.cn) for detailed requirements for paper format. We require that the data should be of clear copy rights (with the names of project, and foundations, etc. given), the truth of the scientific dataset (database) should be ensured, and no confidential data should be included. The author shall be solely liable for any violation of the aforesaid.

Preprint system

after receiving the manuscript, the GDD Editorial Department will complete the open review within three working days and upload the unedited original manuscript to the preprint system. Articles accepted by the preprint system cannot be guaranteed to be accepted by the official GDD journals (online and paper), which shall go through the normal article review procedures. If the author does not agree to upload it to the preprint system, please indicate in the submission. See geodb.cgs.gov.cn for details on the preprint system.

Copyrights. All contributed papers are deemed in default accompanied with all authors’ consent to transfer to GDD all rights to reproduce, publish, circulate on the Internet, translate and compile the manuscripts worldwide. The GDD journal is published by means of electronic formats, including CD-ROM, and website, in addition to hard copies. Authors disagreeing to publication by CD-ROM or website means are not supposed to contribute.

The author(s) shall be responsible for any liabilities in relation to the text. Our editorial shall have rights of wording and technical changes or deletion and will seek the author’s consent in case of substantial modification.

Paper Requirements and Notes to Contributors

1. The author(s) shall state that the paper is being contributed to GDD only and has not yet been formally published otherwise. Multiple contribution of the manuscript is strictly forbidden and the author(s) shall be solely liable for any violation.

2. The contributor is requested to, after login, write down the authors’ communication channels, e.g. correspondence address and telephone number, and suggest 3-5 prospective reviewers for the editorial’s consideration, with name, correspondence address and telephone number

3. The editorial will advise the contributor of its decision on acceptance or rejection within 4 months upon receipt of the contribution. The contributor is allowed to submit the paper to another journal if not receiving the notice of acceptance or rejection upon expiry of the above 4-month period.

4. In addition to hard copy, the GDD journal is also published in electronic copies, e.g. CD-ROM and website publication. Acceptance of the manuscript by the GDD editorial shall automatically mean that the author(s) have transferred the copyrights of all relevant publications to the GDD journal. Authors disagreeing to publication by CD-ROM or website means are supposed to contribute to another journal. We’ll pay appropriate amount of remuneration and present to the author(s) 2 copies of the published journal.

5. The author(s) shall be responsible for any liabilities in relation to the text. The editorial shall have rights of wording and technical changes or deletion and will seek the author’s consent in case of substantial modification.

6. The contributed papers shall be of explicit arguments, sufficient evidences, reliable data, logical demonstration, clear structure and concise text. Titles and subtitles shall be limited to two or three levels, numbered in formats of, for example, 1, 2, 3….. and 1.1, 1.2, 1.3……, without indent left.

7. The first page footnotes shall give the following details: 1) foundation name and identification number in the case of a research project funded by foundations; 2) first author profile, including name, gender, month and year of birth, academic degree, professional title, job responsibilities and E-mail address.

8. The manuscript shall be written in the order of paper title in Chinese (preferably up to 20 Chinese characters), authors’ names in Chinese (preferably maximum 4 authors if from one affiliation and 6 authors if from different affiliations), authors’ affiliations in Chinese ( full name, address, post code), abstract and key words in Chinese, paper title in English, authors’ names in Pinyin, full names of authors’ affiliations in English (address, post code), abstract and key words in English, author profile in English, foundation name in English (no need to give specific project name) and identification number, body part, references (first references in English, then references in Chinese). We do not set limits on size of the text (including abstract, figures, tables and references). The abstract in Chinese shall not be less than 400 Chinese characters and shall include 4 aspects, i.e., study background, methods, results, and conclusions or discussion. These are usually 5 key words. The abstract and key words in English shall correspond to the Chinese counterparts.

9. The manuscript shall be based on China’s statutory measurement units and proper use of punctuation marks.

10. Figures and tables shall be limited to those absolutely necessary. Illustrations shall be of prominent motif, proper structure and appropriate breadth and intensity of lines. Black and white illustration, other than color ones, shall be used if it is adequate to convey the meaning. However, color illustration is recommended in case of complicated details and multiple layers where grey scale is inadequate. The Chinese characters and numerals in the illustration shall be of Song font, and what the illustration conveys shall be in line with notes to the illustration and text of the main body. The illustration shall be computer plotted at the printed size and shall use a line scale. The illustration shall be no more than 8 cm wide for double-column page layout and 17 cm for single column layout. When possible, the illustration shall be preferably plotted with the CorelDRAW application. If other applications are used, the illustration shall be converted into JPG format. The resolution shall be 400 dpi for color illustrations and 600 dpi for greyscale ones. The original illustration shall be separately saved and provided. The title of and notes to the illustration shall be under the illustration, first Chinese text, then English text. Reference numbers which can be included in the notes shall not be written in the legend. Tables, if for relevant simple information, shall take the form of three-line table, with its title in Chinese and English given above the table. In case testing data is provided, the name(s) of the testing person(s), testing methods, experimental apparatus used, experimental conditions, precision, and error range shall be noted below the table.

11. If the manuscript cites any content or conclusions of other authors, the names of the original authors, and the title and the source of citing shall be listed in the References according to the provisions in the Copyright Law of the People’s Republic of China. The contributor shall be solely liable for any non-compliance. The References section shall list only the main references that the author has read directly and that are related to the contributed paper. References that are not published openly shall not be listed in the References section; however, where necessary, they can be given in the note column before the References section and numbered in order of circled numbers. In case of citing unpublished materials or data, consent of relevant parties shall be obtained, with corresponding note given. The references in the journal are based on author-year of publication system. Where references are cited in the manuscript, the name of the first author and the year of publication shall be given in brackets immediately after the citation. In case of more than one authors, “et al.” shall be noted after the name of the first author, e.g., (Yuan Xuecheng et al., 2002). In case of multiple references listed simultaneously, they can be listed in the order of year of publication. In the references section, all cited references shall be listed. The Chinese and English references shall be listed in a mixed manner in the alphabetical order of the names of Chinese reference authors in Pinyin and the family names of English reference authors in Latin alphabets (the family name shall go before the given name). If different references have the same first author, they shall be listed in the order of year of publication. If the original manuscript is written in English, just give the full title. If the original manuscript is written in Chinese but include abstract in English, give the title in English followed by “(in Chinese with English abstract)”. If the original manuscript is in Chinese but without English abstract, the translated English title shall be given, followed by “(in Chinese)”. Formats of references are given below:

Journals. All authors’ names. Year of publication. Title [J]. Journal name, volume number (issue number): starting page number-ending page number.

Monographs. Author’s name. Year of publication. Book title [M]. Edition number (neglected for the first edition). Place of publication: name of publisher, starting page number-ending page number.

Collected papers. Authors’ names. Year of publication. Paper title [C]//Editors’ names (ed./eds.). Title of collected papers. Place of publication: name of publisher, starting page number-ending page number.

The formats of references including journal (in Chinese and English), monograph, and collected papers are as follows.

References

Chang Chengfa, Pan Yusheng, Zhen Xilan. 1982. Geology and Tectonics of the Qinghai- Tibet Plateau[M]. Beijing: Science Press, 82–91 (in Chinese with English abstract).

Rapp R P, Watson E B. 1995. Dehydration melting of metabasalt at 8-21 kbar: Implications for continental growth and crust-mentle recycling[J]. Journal of Petrology, 36: 891–931.

Xu Zhiqin, Yang Jingshui, Cheng Fangyuan. 1996. The A’nyemaqen suture zone and the dynamics in subduction and collision[C]//Zhang Qi (ed.). Study on Ophiolites and Geodynamics. Beijing: Geological Publishing House, 185–89 (in Chinese).

Yuan Xuecheng, Ren Jishun, Xu Mingcai, Tang Wenbang. 2002. Reflection seismic profile from Dengxian to Nanzhang, eastern Qinling and its tectonic implication [J]. Geology in China, 29(1): 14-19 (in Chinese with English abstract).

12. Upon receipt of the notice of acceptance or the request for amendment, the author shall send the manuscript as amended (MS-Word file with illustrations) and separately saved illustrations (CorelDRAW X4 and lower versions) to the editor in charge in time.