About GJ

Aims and Scope

Geochemical Journal is an international journal devoted to original research papers in geochemistry and cosmochemistry. It was established in 1966 and has been published as an open access journal since 2022. It is the primary journal of the Geochemical Society of Japan.

Areas of research are as follows:

• Cosmochemistry and Planetary Geochemistry
• Mineral and Rock Chemistry
• Volcanology and Hydrothermal Chemistry
• Isotope Geochemistry and Geochronology
• Atmospheric Chemistry
• Hydro- and Marine Chemistry
• Organic Geochemistry
• Environmental Chemistry
• Biogeochemistry
• New Methods in Geochemistry

Papers published in the journal are scientifically original and novel, exploring unique and important ideas or describing important developments in geochemistry and cosmochemistry. They have broad, rather than local, significance and interest to the journal’s global audience of researchers, engineers and students.

Manuscript Types

The journal welcomes six manuscript types, all of which are subject to peer review.

Invited Reviews

Invited Reviews provide summaries of scientific progress in selected frontier fields and provide new interpretation. The aim of Invited Reviews is to enhance understanding and to promote interaction among researchers of the major fields of the geochemical community. The Editor exclusively solicits Invited Reviews; unsolicited Reviews are not considered.

Articles

Articles are the principal mode of reporting research. They present important new results and deal with major studies that address a significant area of interest to the readers. They should be as concise as possible. Large tables should be submitted as Supplementary Material.

Notes

Notes are short reports intended mainly for data presentation that benefit the geochemistry community. Short papers dealing with new ideas and/or new experimental methods are also considered as Notes. Text should not exceed 1500 words. Tables, if required, must be included as Supplementary Material.

Express Letters

Express Letters are short, timely papers which report a new idea, experimental method, discovery, or invention. They should not exceed 6 printed pages or approximately 5,500 words, but including all tables, figures and references. The editors will assist in the rapid publication of Express Letters, and papers of this category are normally published within two months of submission.

Data

Data articles are analytical reports, databases, and compilations of valuable geochemical data and datasets (databases), which are of international interest to the geochemical research community and contribute to the development of the field. New scientific discoveries are not required to be reported, but manuscripts must provide scientifically meaningful and reliable datasets.

The introduction must provide background of the data, database and potential benefits. Methods should include detailed analytical procedures, experimental design, and computational calculation that are readily reproducible. Technical validation and statistical processing of data or alternative criteria of data must be described to provide measures of quality control; example are the statistical analyses of experimental error and variation. The Results and Discussion should include chemical compositions and isotope ratios of internationally available geochemical reference materials or alternative reference materials to allow for the evaluation of the accuracy of the data.

It is highly recommended that a discussion of the applications of the given datasets is included. The following items are optional, but would be informative: (i) usage notes of the datasets to assist researchers, such as information on database design, structure, contents, and uniform resource locator (URL), (ii) file format, and (iii) instructions for users. Large tables and supportive figures should be submitted as a part of any Supplementary Material.

The submitted manuscript is reviewed in terms of the value of the data and its utility. In particular, the validity and robustness of experimental and observational procedures, data generation processes, and statistical processes are reviewed by specialists.

Critical Comments

Critical Comments examine issues raised by previously published articles in Geochemical Journal. The authors of the original article are given the opportunity to reply. Critical Comments and replies are reviewed and edited as per Articles.

Special Issues

Collections of papers on a particular topic can be published in a Special Issue with the agreement and collaboration of the journal’s Executive Editor.