The European Geosciences Union isn’t all about the General Assembly, but delivers opportunities to learn, develop and network all year long! With many driven and developed by our volunteers in our committees and working groups, our initiatives cover a breadth of topics and formats, including training, funding, and more. The list below covers just some …[Read More]
peer review
25 years of interactive open access publishing: An interview with current and former EGU Publications Committee chairs Barbara Ervens and Ulrich Pöschl
It is not every day you get to celebrate a silver jubilee in the world of digital publishing, but this year, the European Geosciences Union is doing exactly that. Twenty-five years ago, back when most of us were still navigating dial-up internet, EGU was already flipping the script on the black box of scientific publishing. …[Read More]
You don’t have to review alone… introducing EGU’s new co-reviewing scheme for Early Career Scientists and first time reviewers
Any journal editor will recognize this challenge: a new manuscript arrives for review. It’s great, and you’re enthusiastic about getting it into the system, but suddenly, there’s a problem. All the suggested reviewers are unavailable! What do you do now? Across publishing fields, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find suitable reviewers for scientific manuscripts. …[Read More]
AI-based tools in scientific publishing: to what extent can we rely on them?
Academic publishing has considerably evolved in response to technological developments. Current discussions revolve around the rise of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools or Large Language Models (LLM). They exceed the capabilities of simple spelling and grammar checkers or translation software and their use in the publication process has several implications that need to be considered. …[Read More]
Three peer review myths debunked by the First EGU Peer Review Training
In 2023, EGU offered Peer Review Training for the first time, over three virtual sessions in September and October 2023, with a little homework in between. With more than 100 applications, from which we chose 57, mostly Early Career Scientists (ECS) to fill the available places, the desire for this kind of training in the …[Read More]
Learning from EGU’s first Peer Review Training: In conversation with Kifle Aregahegn
For the first time, EGU organized a Peer Review Training in September and October this year. It was attended by 50 participants, most of whom were early career scientists with little to no background in the peer review process. The training comprised three online sessions and an at-home exercise of reviewing real manuscripts. And of …[Read More]
To accept or not accept: what makes a good scientific editor
Researchers and those in academia sooner or later come across the scientific editor: the gatekeeper of scientific journals. The editor plays a key role in the publishing process, working closely with authors and reviewers to implement an unbiased peer-review process that upholds rigorous standards. They are often experienced scientists and experts in their field who …[Read More]
Interactive peer review: The foundation of EGU’s open access journals
Some 20 years ago, a group of young atmospheric scientists united to shake up the scientific publishing world. Their novel idea was to make the peer review process transparent and allow the scientific community to participate in the discourse – in the truest sense of the word: “reviewed by the peers.” From day one, this …[Read More]
Enmeshed in the gears of publishing – lessons from working as a young editor
Editors of scientific journals play an important role in the process research publication. They act as the midpoint between authors and reviewers, and set the direction of a given journal. However, for an early career scientist like me (I only defended my PhD in early December 2016) the intricacies of editorial work remained somewhat mysterious. …[Read More]
All you ever wanted to know about EGU publications
Did you know that, the EGU, through Copernicus Publications, publishes 17 peer-reviewed open-access journals? The journals cover a range of topics within the Earth, planetary and space sciences: with publications spanning the cryospheric sciences, soil system sciences, through to non-linear processes in geophysics, there is something for everyone. Whatever your area of research, chances are …[Read More]