Volcanica is a broad-scope open-access international journal promoting research into all aspects of volcanology, including physical phenomena and their impact on society, health, and the environment. Volcanica has a diamond open access ⧉ policy, which you can read about here. Volcanica is self-published, meaning we are both journal and publisher—not owned by a larger publishing house. All research articles, including Reports and Reviews, and articles appearing in a Special Issue, are subject to rigorous peer review by a minimum of two expert referees. Volcanica  articles are published on a rolling basis, as and when they are accepted, copyedited, and typeset. Articles are then assigned to an issue and volume, dependant on the publication date; there are two issues per volume, and one volume per year. Volcanica reserves Special Issues for exceptional themes which are solicited by the Editorial Board. 

The Volcanica team is committed to a publication system that allows free open access to published content, whilst also removing publication fees. While there are inherent costs involved in academic publishing, thanks to financial backing from an institutional publishing house (Presses universitaires de Strasbourg), these costs are not passed on to authors or subscribers. A rigorous peer review system assures impartial assessment of quality scientific research which, thanks to Open Journal Systems ⧉, part of the Public Knowledge Project, can be accessed freely, by anyone. In practice, this means that submitting a manuscript is completely free for authors, and accessing content is completely free for readers. Moreover, authors retain copyright to their work, so your work can be shared freely and openly. More information is available on our Policies page.

Research formats

Volcanica accepts original research in Research article, Short communication and Report format. For more information, check out the Author Guidelines page. We also consider proposals for Review articles. Authors wishing to submit a Review should contact editor@jvolcanica.org, including the scope, potential author list, intention of review, and a statement as to why it is timely/necessary. Articles may be submitted in Microsoft Word, Open Office, or LaTeX format. A template for Word can be found here and for LaTeX can be found here. You can also find our Overleaf template here ⧉. Please follow the formatting instructions provided in the relevant documents. Figures should be embedded in the manuscript or uploaded separately. Figures should be sized according to whether they will cover one or two columns: 85 mm or 175 mm width, respectively. Maximum figure height is 200 mm.

Archiving

Volcanica's articles are archived via the PKP Preservation Network ⧉. The PKP PN, a private LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe ⧉) network, is a secure dark archive. This means that Volcanica articles are available in perpetuity: free, forever, for everyone.

The review process

All articles published in Volcanica are subject to rigorous peer review. The first stage of manuscript assessment is an initial screening by a journal editor, who makes a first-pass appraisal of whether the manuscript is in-scope and constitutes a substantive piece of research. If the manuscript is deemed in principle to be suitable for publication in Volcanica, the journal editor will assign it to a topical editor within the Editorial Board based on the specific subdisicipline or article type. The topical (handling) editor is then responsible for a more detailed assessment of the content of the manuscript, and will either decline the submission at this stage, or facilitate the external peer review process. In the latter case, editors will solicit a minimum of two review reports from external reviewers in order to inform their final decision. These reports may be supplemented by internal editorial reviews as appropriate. Based on the reviews and their own assessment of the manuscript, editors will then communicate a decision to the authors. This may be to accept the manuscript for publication, accept with conditions (e.g. minor technical changes), recommend minor or major revisions, or to decline the submission. If minor or major revisions are requested by the editor, the authors will have an opportunity to resubmit a revised version of their manuscript alongside a point-by-point response to the editor and reviewer comments. The handling editor will then re-assess the revised submission in light of any changes and/or rebuttal, and will make another decision. As in the previous round, the editor may recommend acceptance, revisions, or rejection. This can continue for as many rounds as are required for the handling editor to make a final decision (accept/reject) regarding the suitability of the manuscript for publication in Volcanica. More information on the role of the editor(s) in facilitating peer review are available in Volcanica's Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement.

While the default system is "single-blind" (i.e. the authors are known to the reviewers, but not vice versa), we can also facilitate double-open or double-blind reviews. In the spirit of openness, we encourage authors (and reviewers) to opt for a double-open approach; this can be communicated to the editor on submission.

If you wish to have your manuscript reviewed anonymously, then please follow the instructions laid out in the Ensuring blind review and Blinding manuscripts documents. Note that the responsibility is with the author to ensure they have appropriately blinded their manuscript such that it is free from identifying metadata.