Submissions

Author Guidelines

The Journal of Engineering Geology and the Environment publishes: 

Original Articles, Invited Articles, Technical Notes and Book Reviews on historical case studies of relevant interest, and Short Technical Discussions of articles and communications published in the Journal and event announcements.

Authors can also download the guidelines by clickling here.  

In attention to the arbitration procedure, the authors are requested to strictly follow the following instructions for the preparation of the manuscript:

1) GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS

• Contributions must be original. It must be guaranteed that these have not been sent to another journal simultaneously and that they have not been published previously, in whole or in part.
• It must be guaranteed that the article will not be published in other publications in any language without the consent of the copyright owners, that the rights of third parties will not be violated and that the Argentine Association of Geology Applied to Engineering (ASAGAI) will not be held legally responsible if there is any claim for compensation.
• Works written in Spanish, Portuguese or English will be accepted.
• All submissions will be preliminarily evaluated by the Editor-in-Chief and the Associate Editor. Subsequently, they will be sent for blind peer review.
• All new presentations must be accompanied by a note to the Editor of the Journal of Geology Applied to Engineering and Environment in which the title of the work and the authors must be stated, stating that it is original and that it has not been sent or it will not be sent to any other journal during the editorial process. Any personal or interest conflicts should be clarified here.
• Articles that do not meet the editorial standards will be returned without arbitration.
• Authors must review the list of topics and the scope of the journal available on the website, as well as the submission rules.
• The Journal of Geology Applied to Engineering and the Environment does not charge for the processing of articles (APC), while encouraging and supporting the Diamond Open Access movement to academic scientific literature. Their editions have no charges for the authors or readers.
• You can check the focus and scope of the Journal, as well as the rest of its policies at https://www.editoresasagai.org.ar/ojs/index.php/rgaia/about   

2) ABOUT THE FORMAT AND LENGTH OF THE TEXT

• The original articles must have a length that does not exceed 20 (twenty) pages and must conform to the established standards.
• In the technical notes, the total length of the manuscript must not exceed 3 (three) pages and must include an Abstract, Resumen, Keywords, Palabras Clave, up to 2 (two) figures and a table.
• In the case of Invited Articles, the extension may be greater than 20 pages, provided that the interest of the content justifies it and prior agreement with the Editor of the Journal and the Committee.
• The rest of the situations mentioned (Technical Discussions and Book Reviews) should have up to one page in length.
• The title of the manuscript must be concise, informative, and indicative of the content and written without using abbreviations.
• The text must be prepared in the Microsoft Word® text processor (.doc or .docx).
• The sheet size is A4 (210 x 297 mm).
• The margins to use are 20 mm (left, right, top and bottom).
• The title of the article must be included on the first page. To do this, use Calibri font, size 12, capital letter in the initial of the first word and proper nouns, bold, and centered, without underlining.
• If the article is written in Spanish, the title must be expressed in both Spanish and English. If the work is written in Portuguese, the title in English must also be included. If the work is written in English, the title in Spanish must also be included. The specifications mentioned in the previous item must be followed. The spacing between both titles will be 12 points.
• Below the title, in centered text, with Calibri font size 10, the data of the authors. This is full names and surnames (no abbreviations or initials), the Author Identifier Number (ORCID) along with the corresponding link, affiliation, and email address in italics for each. The contact author must be indicated with an asterisk (*). The Author Identifier Number (ORCID) is a mandatory requirement for article publication. It can be generated free of charge on the website https://orcid.org/ and constitutes a persistent digital identifier.

It should be included as follows:

Full Names and Surnames of each author https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000 (corresponding number), author´´´s email

• From the second page the development of the work begins. In the first place, the resumen, resumo, abstract must be included, according to the language of the manuscript. All text, except for the title and subtitles, must be written in Calibri font, size 12, with single line spacing and with a one-centimeter indentation. No additional spaces or lines should be included between paragraphs, but the text should be continued after a full stop. The prominent fonts that the author considers appropriate will be preserved, as well as those corresponding to certain symbols and scientific terms or Latin or foreign expressions.
• If the language of the work is Spanish:

First, place the subheading Abstract (abstract is up to 250 words) and under Keywords (followed by between 3 and 5 words).

Second, place the Abstract subtitle (with the same maximum length as the abstract) and Keywords (between 3 and 5 words) below.

Third, start the article.

• If the work is in Portuguese:

First, place the subtitle Resumo (the abstract is up to 250 words) and below Palavras chave (followed by between 3 and 5 words).

Second, place the Abstract subtitle (with the same maximum length as the abstract) and Keywords (between 3 and 5 words) below.

Third, start the article.

• If the work is in English:

First, place the Abstract subtitle (with the same maximum length as the abstract) and Keywords (between 3 and 5 words) below.

Second, place the subheading Resumen (the abstract is up to 250 words) and under Palabras Clave (followed by between 3 and 5 words).

Third, start the article.

• The keywords will also be used for indexing purposes. They can include short sentences. They must be in alphabetical order, and it is recommended not to repeat words included in the title.
• The body of the manuscript should include, in general terms, the following sections: INTRODUCTION (general context, problems/motivation, objectives), STUDY AREA (location, background), METHODOLOGY (materials and methods used), RESULTS (results of the study itself). said), DISCUSSION (analysis of the results, discussion with previous data), CONCLUSIONS (most relevant contributions of the study), ACKNOWLEDGMENTS/FUNDING (if applicable), CONTRIBUTION OF AUTHORSHIP (mandatory section), DECLARATION OF CONFLICTS OF INTEREST (mandatory section) , BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES.
• The body of the manuscript must include the figures and tables and the legend of figures and tables in the corresponding position, from their mention in the manuscript.
• Full justification must be used in the body of the text.
• The use of the metric decimal system is mandatory.
• When an abbreviation or acronym appears in the text for the first time, its meaning should be fully explained between parentheses.
• Footnotes will not be accepted.
• Mathematical expressions must be elaborated with the text processor and be part of it. Equations must be centered and separated by a line. All equations must be numbered consecutively, using numbers in parentheses aligned to the right margin. The sequence of parentheses should be the usual one in Mathematics: “)]}”.
• Subscripts and superscripts must be legible.
• Take special care to differentiate between zero (0) and the letter "o", and between one (1) and the letter "l".
• Provide the meaning of all symbols immediately after the equation in which they are first used.
• For simple fractions use the symbol "/" instead of the horizontal line; for example: Sy/Xm.
• In chemical formulas, the valence of ions should be specified as, for example, Ca₂+ and CO₃2-, not Ca++ or CO--3.
• Isotope numbers should be indicated by a superscript preceding the chemical symbols, for example: ¹⁸O
• Repeated writing of chemical formulas in the text should be avoided. Instead, the full name of the compound should be given. Those cases of very long and frequent names, or of compounds that are described as the final product of a gravimetric determination (example: phosphate as P₂O₅) will be excepted.

3) ABOUT THE FORMAT OF FIGURES AND TABLES

• All illustrations, maps, photographs, graphs, etc., cited in the text, will be included as figures. These must have consecutive Arabic numerals in order of appearance and will adjust to the size of the box (170 x 257 mm). Its original size must allow a reduction of 50%, without loss of quality.
• The figures included in the manuscript must be uploaded in the submission as independent files in .jpg format with a definition between 150 and 300 dpi with a name that identifies them, for example Figure 1.
• All figures will have their corresponding legend, immediately below it, which should not be included in the body of the figure. Calibri font size 12 will be used, single line spacing. The figure and the number will be in bold, without underlining, followed by a period, in the form Figure n. where n is the corresponding order number. It is recommended to prepare short and concise captions.
• Figures will be cited in the text as (Figure n), where n is the corresponding order number, either directly as Figure 1, or in parentheses as (Figure 1). The size must consider the space occupied by the epigraph. In the case of a figure composed of several images, they must be duly identified with a letter in the lower right corner of the figure.
• Photographs (and figures in raster format with continuous tone) must have contrast, be clear and with adequate light. They must be sent as .tif, .jpg or pdf files, with a definition equal to or greater than 300 dpi. When there are no elements in the photographs that allow their dimensioning (scale, tape measure, geological hammer, compass, vehicle, etc.), they must include a vertical and horizontal scale if they are different.
• The outlined figures or drawings must be clear and have contrast.
• Map-type figures must be oriented, include a graphic scale and indication of the geographic location (UTM or Lat/Long coordinates). They must have the appropriate references corresponding to the symbols, traces, etc. used.
• For the purposes of preparing map-type figures, it is suggested that the symbols be adapted to:
• https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/fgdc_gds/geolsymstd/fgdc-geolsym-all.pdf
• http://info.igme.es/cartografiadigital/datos/magna50/docs/ModeloMAGNA.pdf
• https://doi.org/10.1080/02626666209493264
• The graphs must have coordinate axes correctly labeled and with an indication of the corresponding unit of measure, if applicable.
• Tables must be submitted as a text file (Word format) and not as an image. They must be included in separate files. They will be cited in the text starting with a capital letter in direct citations, or indirect citations in parentheses, that is, as Table 1, or (Table 1).
• The information presented in the tables should not appear repeated in the figures.
• Each table must have, in the same way as the figures, a brief and explanatory legend at the bottom. The table and the number must be indicated as Table n where n is the corresponding order number.

4) AUTHORSHIP CONTRIBUTION

After the CONCLUSIONS and prior to the BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES section, the CONTRIBUTION OF AUTHORSHIP section must be included. In it, authors are recommended to include declarations of contribution in the work that specify the contribution of each author to promote transparency. The following options are suggested:

In the case of an article with a single author: “The conceptualization; analysis of data; writing and preparation of the original draft; writing, revision and edition of the final manuscript were in charge of the author of the article.”

In the case of more than one author, you must choose ONE of the following versions:

1. a) “All authors contributed to the conception and design of the study. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by [full name], [full name] and [full name]. The first draft of the manuscript was written by [full name], and all authors commented on earlier versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.”
2. b) “Conceptualization: [full name]; Methodology: [full name]; Data analysis: [full name]; Writing - preparation of original draft: [full name]; Writing - proofreading and editing: [full name]. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.”

5) DECLARATION OF CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

Prior to the BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES section, the DECLARATION OF CONFLICTS OF INTEREST section must be included, in which the possible conflicts of interest that may exist are exposed. If there is no conflict, please include the following sentence: “The Author(s) declare(s) that there is no conflict of interest”.

For more information see the Conflicts of Interest section (https://www.editoresasagai.org.ar/ojs/index.php/rgaia/about) 

6) BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES AND QUOTES OF WORKS

• The reproduction of original figures or tables from other articles or book chapters is not allowed without the express authorization of the person who holds the rights, that is, the publisher responsible for the corresponding publication or the author(s). The authorized reproduction of tables, photographs or other illustrations from other works must include in the epigraph the citation of the original work from which it was obtained. With respect to the figures, if it is reworked, or a table that is edited, it must indicate "modified from..." followed by the citation of the original article.
• Authors who wish to include figures, tables or entire sections of text that have already been published in other publications are required to obtain permission from the copyright owner(s) and include evidence that such permission has been granted when submitting your articles. All this without prejudice to the fact that other inclusions of paragraphs, definitions, concepts, or classifications from other authors may be accepted with the express citation of the corresponding reference. Any material received without this documentation will be considered as originating from the authors, who, therefore, must assume the corresponding legal responsibility.
• Bibliographical references will be included under the title of BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES. The Journal of Geology Applied to Engineering and the Environment adheres to the international bibliographic citation standards of the American Psychological Association (APA) in its 7th version. The standards are available at https://normas-apa.org/referencias/.
• The citation of works in the text will refer to the final bibliographic list, indicating the last name of the authors and the year of publication in parentheses, for example: (Caminos, 1975). If there are more than two authors, et al. will be used (without underlining or bold). When more than one work by the same author is cited, they will be separated by a comma, for example: Caminos (1956, 1978). In the case of locating several authors within the parentheses, they will be separated from each other by a semicolon. If several works by the same author and from the same year are cited, letters will be added after the year, according to the order in which they appear in the text.
• The list of references should be arranged alphabetically, each with a hanging indent at 1.27 cm. Everything referenced must be in the text citations and vice versa.
• Each reference model is exemplified below; If you need a type of reference other than those listed, you can check it with the editor.

Clarification: both for books and periodical publications, the access URLs must correspond to a DOI, HANDLE or URI, NEVER to a document or PDF:

• Periodical publications print format: Surname, A.A., Surname, B.B. and Surname, C.C. (Year). Article title. Name of the journal, volume (number), pp-pp.

Example:

Lexow, C., Di Martino, C., Lafont, D., Albouy, R. y Marcos, A. (2016). Identificación y cuantificación de la carga contaminante al acuífero de la localidad de Monte Hermoso. Revista de Geología Aplicada a la Ingeniería y al Ambiente (37), 37-44.

• Periodicals with permanent identifier (DOI, HANDLE or URI): Surname, A.A., Surname, B.B. and Surname, C.C. (Year). Article title. Name of the journal, volume (number), pp-pp. DOI or HANDLE URL

Example:

Folk, R. y Ward, W. (1957). Brazos River Bara study in the significance of grain size parameters. Journal of Sedimentary Research, 27, 3-27. https://doi.org/10.1306/74D70646-2B21-11D7-8648000102C1865D

• Publications in conference proceedings: Surname, A.A., Surname, B.B, and Surname, C.C. (Year). Article title. Name of the congress or scientific meeting, volume, pp-pp. DOI URL, HAND-LE or URI (if any)

Example:

Bastianelli, N., Garrido, A., Albouy, R. y Carrica, J. (2016). El recurso hídrico subterráneo de la ciudad de Zapala, Neuquén: ambiente geológico de la formación la Bardita. En E. Custodio, M. Varni y R.F. García (Eds.), IX Congreso Argentino de Hidrogeología y VII Seminario Hispano-Latinoamericano Sobre Temas Actuales de la Hidrología Subterránea (Catamarca), (pp. 134-141).

• Printed book: Last name, A.A. (Year). Qualification. Editorial.

Example:

Dearman, W.R. (1991). Engineering geological mapping. Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd.

• Book with editor: Last name, A.A. (Ed.). (Year). Qualification. Editorial. DOI URL, HANDLE or URI (if any)

Example:

Mateos Ruiz, R.M. y M. Ferrer Gijón. (1994). Methodology for landslides hazard map 1:10,000 in the area of Monachil (Granada, Spain). Oliveira, R., Rodrigues, L.F., Coelho, A.G. y Cunha, A.P. (Eds.). (1994). 7th International Congress International Association of Engineering Geology. (Vol. III). Balkema.

• Online Book: Last Name, A.A. (Year). Qualification. Editorial. DOI URL, HANDLE or URI (if any)

Example:

Herrera Cáceres, C. y Rosillo Peña, M. (2019). Confort y eficiencia energética en el diseño de edificaciones. Universidad del Valle. https://doi.org/10.25100/peu.163

• Book chapter: only in cases of books where each chapter has a different author and there is an editor or compiler: Surname, A.A. and Last Name, B.B. (Year). Chapter title. In A.A. Surname (Ed.), Title of the book (pp. xx-xx).

Example:

Basualdo, A. (2011). Balance hídrico como herramienta de decisión. En S. Occhiuzzi, P. Mercuri y C. Pascale (Coords.), Herramientas para la evaluación y gestión del riesgo climático en el sector agropecuario (pp. 55-63). (1ª ed.). Ministerio de Agricultura, Ganadería y Pesca de la Nación.

• Unpublished theses: Surname, A.A. (Year). Qualification. Type of thesis. Institution. DOI URL, HANDLE or URI (if any)

Example:

Benítez, S. M. (2020). Niño, varón y argentino. Historia de los saberes psicológicos sobre la masculinidad en la infancia en la Argentina (1900-1930). Tesis doctoral inédita. Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Nacional de La Plata. http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/89255

• Websites: Page title. (YEAR). Website name. Retrieved URL YEAR MONTH DAY.

Example:

United States Geological Survey. (s./f.). Earth Explorer. Recuperado el 1 de mayo de 2016 de https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/

• Software: Forte Lay, J.A., Aiello, J.L. y Kuba, J. (1995). AGROAGUA v.5.0. [Sorftware de PC]. AGROAGUA, CIBIOM, CONICET.STANDARS FOR DATA CITATION

The Journal of Geology Applied to Engineering and the Environment allows the authors who publish in the journal to deposit their works and the primary data that accompany said publications in national or international institutional repositories (as appropriate). Particularly, national authors must take into account that, in accordance with Law No. 26,899 "Open Access Institutional Digital Repositories", in the event that their research results published in the article have been financed or co-financed with public funds, they are obliged to publish their works and primary data in their own or shared institutional repositories. On the other hand, in accordance with the law, there may be exceptions to the obligation, such as, for example, in cases of confidentiality in which the data cannot be shared.

For data citation: citations to the data set should be included within the text when necessary, being linked to the corresponding entry in the list of references, as occurs in conventional academic writings. The minimum conventional elements that the reference must have are: the author, title, date of data deposit, repository, location (URL or persistent unique identifier), type of resource and version/edition.

As an example:

• Author(s), Year, Title of the data set, Repository or data file, Version, Global Persistent Identifier.

Example:

Remesar Betlloch, X., Antelo, A., Llivina, C., Albà, E., Berdié Rabanaque, L., Agnelli, S., Arriarán, S., Fernández López, J. A. y Alemany, M. (2015). Influence of a hyperlipidic diet on the composition of the non-membrane lipid 6 pool of red blood cells of male and female rats. [Raw Data]. Versión de junio de 2015. Dipòsit Digital de la Universitat de Barcelona. http://hdl.handle.net/2445/66010 

7) ACCEPTANCE OF PREPRINS

 The Journal of Geology Applied to Engineering and the Environment will accept submissions that have been previously published as preprints or preprints on servers or digital platforms. The use of preprint versions does NOT replace the fact that the author(s) must upload the manuscript, following the guidelines for authors, through the OJS system to start the editorial process.

SUBMISSIONS

The only way of submitting manuscripts is through the website http://www.editoresasagai.org.ar/ojs/index.php/rgaia, through which the author must proceed to register.

When loading the shipment in the system, the following considerations should be considered:

1) Title and abstract.

• Content in Spanish and English must be included.
• In the title, only use a capital letter in the initial of the first word and proper nouns.

2) Collaborators.

• The ORCID identifier of each co-author must be included
• Affiliation must be entered in upper and lower case. Mention the full name, not the acronym, which can be indicated in parentheses after the text.

3) Metadata.

• Keywords must be entered individually and then press the “enter” key.

4) References.

• In this space you must copy the list of bibliographical references used in the text.
• A blank line must be left between successive citations
• In the event that two references are from the same year, the letter that accompanies the number in the references must be omitted.

At the end of the submission, you will receive a confirmation by email, with a reference number. We ask you to keep this number, as well as the username and password you chose at the time of registration. Those authors who already have a user, obtained during a previous presentation or arbitration, are requested not to start a new registration, but to use the password recovery function available on the portal, if necessary.

It is suggested to consult the submission checklist and other journal policies at https://www.editoresasagai.org.ar/ojs/index.php/rgaia/about/submissions

The text, figures, and captions, made according to the instructions, must be uploaded as separate complementary files.

EXCLUSION OF REVIEWERS

Authors may request the exclusion of reviewers when submitting their manuscripts, indicating the reasons for such request. The Editors have the power to decide in this regard.

CONFIDENTIALITY

All communication between the authors and the Publisher is considered confidential and includes, exclusively, the contact between the authors with the Chief Editor, Associate Editor and Secretary of the Editorial Committee.

Both during the evaluation stage and the editing stage, modifications to the main file will be requested, as well as to the figures that accompany the submission. They should be uploaded replacing the original ones and not as new files, with the required modifications. Papers sent to authors for correction and returned after four months will be treated as new articles.

PEER EVALUATION PROCESS

The articles are initially reviewed by the Editorial Committee and / or Editor-in-Chief, which verifies that they satisfy the formal requirements and that the subject is included within the editorial policy. Based on this, three possible situations arise: (a) If the article does not conform to the objectives and themes of the journal, the editor may reject the article before continuing the editorial process; (b) If the article conforms to the theme of the journal but does not meet the style requirements indicated in the guidelines for authors, the editor may reject the article or it may be returned to the authors requesting changes before continuing with the review process; (c) If its publication is considered pertinent and it complies with the format indicated in the regulations, the editorial process will continue. Both during the evaluation stage and the editing stage, modifications to the main file will be requested, as well as to the figures that accompany the submission. They should be uploaded replacing the original ones and not as new files, with the required modifications.

Papers sent to authors for correction and returned after four months will be treated as new articles.

The peer evaluation is carried out by sending the original manuscript to two external evaluators to the publishing entity and in a blind modality. In the case of disparity of opinions, it is referred to a third external evaluator. The final decision regarding the publication of articles and reviews is made based on the opinions of external evaluators, for which two favorable recommendations for publication are required. The Editors reserve the possibility of making the final decision in the event that the third evaluation does not establish whether or not the article should be accepted for publication. The possible opinions are: accepted, accepted with minor changes, accepted with major changes, and not accepted. The evaluation process, between the moment it is received and has a review opinion, has an estimated time of up to 3 (three) months.

INFORMATION STANDARS

Authors must present their original research through a precise description of the work carried out as well as a discussion of its importance. The underlying data must be rigorously presented in the manuscript. An article must contain the detail and the necessary references that allow the reply of other interested parties. Inaccurate or fraudulent claims will knowingly constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable.