Aims and scope
Earth Observation (EO) is a not-for-profit interdisciplinary and international journal dedicated to the public discussion and open-access publication of high-quality studies and original research on Earth observation technologies, methods and applications.
Earth Observation is ubiquitous across the geosciences and is a fundamental tool for observing, monitoring, and understanding Earth surface and atmospheric processes and more generally in Earth System Science. It is also essential in many operational applications from numerical weather prediction to marine navigation and safety, precision agriculture, hazard management, water resources and other critical services.
The aims and scope of the journal Earth Observation (EO) are to cater for original research articles, within all fields of geosciences, which focus on
- methods and data analysis tools;
- instruments and sensors;
- missions and campaigns;
- ground-based, airborne, and spaceborne Earth observation;
- not only electromagnetic radiation but also other forms of force and information transfer such as gravity or sound.
For studies comprising measurement and information retrieval of atmospheric gases, aerosols and clouds we recommend consideration of the topical EGU journal Atmospheric Measurement Techniques. If authors are in doubt about the fit of EO for their submission, we also invite consideration of the EGU journal Geoscientific Instrumentation, Methods and Data Systems.
Earth Observation has a two-stage publication process that involves interactive scientific discussion of preprints and utilizes the full potential of the internet to do the following:
- foster scientific discussion;
- enhance the effectiveness and transparency of scientific quality assurance;
- enable rapid publication;
- make scientific publications freely accessible.
In the first stage, manuscripts that pass a rapid access review by one of the editors are immediately posted as preprints on EGUsphere, EGU's preprint repository. They are then subject to interactive public discussion, during which the referees' comments (anonymous or attributed), additional comments by other members of the scientific community (attributed), and the authors' replies are also posted alongside the preprint. In the second stage, the peer-review process is completed and, if accepted, the final revised papers are published in EO. To ensure publication precedence for authors, and to provide a lasting record of scientific discussion, EGUsphere and EO are ISSN-registered, permanently archived, and fully citable.
Earth Observation also provides an effective way of publishing special issues focused on specific topics, such as specific satellite sensors or missions or large measurement networks and campaigns. For each special issue the individual papers are published as soon as they are available, and they are linked electronically (for more information, see special issues).