UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Penn State University Libraries Open Publishing has launched Geomorphica, a Diamond Open Access journal that promotes discourse and disseminates research in geomorphology, the study of landforms. Geomorphica is the only journal in its field that is free to access, read and publish, as the Diamond Open Access model removes all author and reader fees that come with traditional academic journals.
Geomorphica aims to publish content in the field of geomorphology, including but not limited to landscapes and landforms, earth and other planetary surface and near-surface processes, and the mechanisms, dynamics and timescales pertaining to those processes. The first issue launched in May 2024.
“Geomorphica stands for an inclusive, supportive and free publishing environment,” said Alice Lefebvre of the Center for Marine Environmental Sciences (MARUM) at the University of Bremen in Germany, the journal’s editor-in-chief. “The journal is community based. We have been able to launch it and publish the first papers thanks to the work of more than 30 volunteers from all over the world, as well as the incredible support of Penn State University Libraries and the International Association of Geomorphologists.”
The journal is managed by a steering committee, which includes Lefebvre; Roberto Fernández, assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Penn State; and other global experts in the field, including Matthieu Giaime, assistant professor in the Department of Geography at Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier III; Melanie Stammler, a doctoral student and research assistant in geography at Universität Bonn; and Larry Syu-Heng Lai, a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Earth and Space Sciences at the University of Washington. It maintains a dedicated and expansive team of editors, contributors and volunteers, and is currently recruiting additional volunteer support.
"I am grateful to work alongside extremely motivated and inspiring volunteers,” Stammler said. “I want to be part of a scientific world where scientific publishing holds true to the values of accessibility and transparency and is independent of an author’s gender, origin, place of employment and access to funding.”
Fernández agreed.
"Geomorphica is all about removing barriers in the publishing landscape and providing an accessible journal to authors and readers worldwide,” he said.
“We have a rigorous and innovative triple anonymous peer review to try and avoid (unconscious) biases,” Lefebvre said. “We welcome a variety of publication types to encourage a diverse community of authors to publish their work. Equity, diversity and inclusion values are at the heart of the journal.”
Beginning next year, the journal will move to publishing biannual issues. Editors are currently recruiting for submissions on a rolling basis.
Penn State Libraries Open Publishing, Penn State University Libraries’ Open Access imprint, is a unit within the Libraries’ Research Informatics and Publishing department. Open Publishing provides tools and support for Penn State–affiliated authors and groups to publish full-featured electronic scholarly journals, searchable annotated bibliographies and monographs using a variety of digital platforms. All publications are free to view online and download. Copyright is retained by the individual authors where possible, or by the journals or sponsoring entity. Almost all are licensed for use under a Creative Commons license.
For more information about the program, visit openpublishing.psu.edu or contact the Open Publishing team at openpublishing@psu.edu