The objective of the Central American Journal of Geology (RGAC by its acronym in Spanish) is to communicate geoscience research, both basic and applied, with focus on Costa Rica, Central America and the Caribbean. Its target audience is the scientific community, professionals in geoscience, and the general public interested in topics regarding geology.

The RGAC publishes the following type of documents:

1. Original research work in academia and technology
2. Technical and scientific reports
3. Geological maps and guides
4. Reviews of recently published books
5. Replies to publications of this journal.

Frequency of Publication

The RGAC is a biannual journal of continuous publication with issues for the periods between January-June and July-December. The issues are available from the beginning of the publication period (January and June). Both the manuscript reception and revision is continuous throughout the year with editorial closing in the months of May and November for each respective period.

Peer Review

The editorial board is responsible for choosing an adequate peer review. The manuscripts are reviewed by the Editor, the Director, two external reviewers (double –blind), and the Editorial Committee which makes the final decision on publication. The reviewers are anonymous and independent and chosen based on their area of expertise pertaining to the topics of the manuscript. In some cases, the opinion of an additional reviewer or of the Editorial Committee may be sought.

Based on the criteria by the reviewers, the Editor and the Director, the following conditions are recommended:

1. The manuscript is accepted without modifications.
2. The manuscript is accepted with minor revisions.
3. The article is accepted if major revisions are carried out by the authors.
4. The manuscript is rejected without the possibility of re-submission.

Finally, the Editorial Committee consults the recommendations of the reviewers and the changes made by the authors in order to reach a final decision on publication. The duration of the editorial and review process is typically of 3 to 5 months from the moment of reception of the manuscript documents by RGAC to the final editorial decision.

Ethical Principles

The RGAC follows ethical rules in accordance with international standards for the publication of articles. This includes all of the people involved in the editorial process (authors, reviewers, and editorial staff). With the aim of promoting and guaranteeing the transparency, objectivity, ethical use, and scientific rigor of the editorial management. Some of the responsibilities of the participants in the publication process are:

Editors: they must carry out the process of manuscript reception, revision, decision, and publication in a transparent and impartial manner. The editors must follow the publication norms, the journal’s policies, and the peer review (double blind) process. Moreover, the editors must specify the steps of the editorial flow since the reception of the documents until the publication or rejection of the manuscripts.

Authors: they must only submit original, unpublished work that is not submitted for publication to other journals. The authors must clearly indicate the existence of conflict of interest, they must also show the supporting data and appendices ina a clear and transparent manner. They must provide the proper citation of the works included in their writing following the standards for the RGAC . Figures must be clear and legible at the size for publication in RGAC , abiding by the quality and resolution required by the journal. Given the regional reach of the journal and the lack of existence of similar publications in the Central America and the Caribbean region, the RGAC accepts manuscripts from authors that participate in the editorial committee. In those cases, an external peer will be designated to carry out the editorial process of the document.

Reviewers: they must communicate the decision on the publication of the document within the specified time. They must detect possible instances of plagiarism or irregularities in the document and notify it to the editor. They must objectively evaluate the document and provide justification for the decision on acceptance or rejection of the manuscript as well as provide suggestions for the improvement of the document.

Detection of Plagiarism

In order to carry out the detection of plagiarism, the journal uses the services of “Turnitin” as the primary and principal tool. Moreover, the journal asks that the anonymous reviewers notify any suspicion of plagiarism. In case that an instance of manipulation of citation, re-publishing, falsification of data or other conflict is detected by the editorial staff, reviewers or readers, the Editorial Committee must be notified. In those cases, the committee is obliged to carry out the pertinent investigation. If it’s concluded that a fault has been committed, the Editorial Committee may request the rejection or retraction of the document or may publish an erratum.

Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate open access to all of its content. All documents published are protected under a license Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Costa Rica (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 CR), which allows sharing (copy and redistribution of material by any means and formats) and adapting (mixing, transforming and creating based on material). Thus, the authors are free to share their published content in any data repository or website, including drafts prior to publication, and updated versions of the published content.

An open access journal implies that all of the content is available without cost to the user or the institution; there is no charge for the authors for the submission or publication of the articles, or for any other reason. The users may read, download, copy, distribute, print, and search the articles published in this journal without requiring permission of the editors or authors, as long as it is for a nonprofit purpose.

The authors maintain the intellectual and patrimonial rights of their works, they are free to publish in any repository or website, any versions of their documents, including drafts prior to publication and updated versions of the published works.

Sponsors

The RGAC is financed with public funds, through the University of Costa Rica, both its editorial independence and ethical compliance are guaranteed by the rules of the Editorial System and Scientific Diffusion of Research (SIEDIN by its acronym in Spanish).

Protocol on Interoperability

The RGAC uses the protocol OAIPMH (Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting) which allows for the transfer of digital resources, mainly of scientific character and of open access. More details may be found under: https://revistas.ucr.ac.cr/index.php/geologica/oai

Policy on Digital Preservation

The RGAC implements a system of digital preservation named CLOCKSS (Controlled Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe) in order to guarantee the permanency and security of the published articles. CLOCKSS is based on the open source software LOCKSS developed by Stanford University Library. This software allows the libraries to keep the chosen web addresses. Each file is constantly validated against cache memories of the same libraries and if any corrupted or defective content is detected, a prior cache memory will restore the link.

Furthermore, the RGAC preserves its digital files (text, images, and other data) by means of a system of redundant storage (hard drives, cloud storage) with the goal of augmenting the resilience against failure. The access to this storage is restricted to the Editors and the Director of the Journal. Additionally, the University of Costa Rica provides a dedicated institutional repository for data.

List of Recent Reviewers

Ivonne Arroyo, University of Kiel, IFM-GEOMAR, Germany

Allan Astorga, University of Costa Rica, Central American School of Geology (ECG, by its acronym in Spanish), San Jose, Costa Rica

Elena Badilla, University of Costa Rica, Central American School of Geology (ECG), San Jose, Costa Rica

Rafael Barquero, Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE), San Jose, Costa Rica

Belén Benito, Politecnic University of Madrid, Madrid, España

Ileana Boschini, Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE), San Jose, Costa Rica

José S. Carrión, University of Murcia, Murcia, España

José F. Cervantes, Independent consultor, San Jose, Costa Rica

Carlos Cháves, Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE), San Jose, Costa Rica

Álvaro Climent, Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE), San Jose, Costa Rica

Jorge Cortés, University of Costa Rica, Center for Marine Research and Limnology (CIMAR, by its acronym in Spanish), San Jose, Costa Rica

Mitchell Craig, California State University, California, United States

Hugo Delgado, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM, by its acronym in Spanish), Mexico City, Mexico

Mario Fernández, University of Costa Rica, School of Geography (ECG), San Jose, Costa Rica

Rudolf Fischer, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität Hannover, Hannover, Germany

Kennet Flores, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

Esteban Gazel, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, New York, United States

Bas van Geel, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Paulo Hidalgo, Michigan State University, Michigan, United States

Salvatore Inguagiato, National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, Palermo, Italy

Carlos Jiménez, Center for Marine Research and Limnology (CIMAR), San Jose, Costa Rica

César Laurito, National Institute of Apprenticeship (INA, by its acronym in Spanish), San Jose, Costa Rica

Carlos Leandro, Ingeotec, Heredia, Costa Rica

María Laporte, Servintec, San José, Costa Rica

Melvin Lizano Araya, Universidad de Costa Rica, Escuela de Geografía, San José, Costa Rica

José Antonio López, Center for Human and Social Sciences (CCHS, by its acronym in Spanish), Madrid, Spain

Spencer Lucas, New Mexico Natural History Museum, New Mexico, United States

Oscar A. Lücke, Comisión Nacional de Emergencias (CNE), San José, Costa Rica

Uwe Martens, Stanford University, California, United States

Agnes Mazot, GNS SCIENCE, Wellington, New Zeland.

Marisol Montellano, Universidad Autónoma de México (UNAM), Ciudad de México, México.

Walter Montero, Universidad de Costa Rica, Centro de Investigaciones en Ciencias Geológicas (CICG), San José, Costa Rica.

Rolando Mora, University of Costa Rica, Central American School of Geology, San Jose, Costa Rica.

Sergio Mora, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), La Paz, Bolivia.

Luis G. Obando, University of Costa Rica, Central American School of Geology, San Jose, Costa Rica.

Javier Pacheco, Universidad Nacional, Observatorio Vulcanológico y Sismológico de Costa Rica (OVSICORI), Heredia, Costa Rica.

Lina Patino, National Science Foundation, Michigan State University, Michigan, United States.

Giovanni Peraldo, University of Costa Rica, Central American School of Geology, San Jose, Costa Rica

Wendy Pérez Universidad Kiel, IFM-GEOMAR, Germany

Roberto Ramírez (Servicio Nacional de Riego y Avenamiento)

Pablo Ramírez, Independent consultor, San Jose, Costa Rica

Dmitri Rouwet, Unviersity of Bologna, Department of Biological, Geological, and Environmental Sciences, Bologna, Italy

Pablo Ruiz, University of Costa Rica, National Laboratory of Materials and Structural Models (LANAMME, by its acronym in Spanish), San Jose, Costa Rica

Gerardo J. Soto, Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE), San Jose, Costa Rica

Monika Springer, Center for Marine Research and Limnology (CIMAR), San Jose, Costa Rica

Waldo Taylor, Arenal and Miravalles Volcanologic and Seismologic Observartory (OSIVAM-ICE, by its acronym in Spanish), Tilaran, Costa Rica

Ana Lucía Valerio, National Museum of Costa Rica (MNCR, by its acronym in Spanish), San Jose, Costa Rica

Asdrúbal Vargas, Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE), San Jose, Costa Rica

Carlos Vargas, MYV Soluciones Geotécnicas S.A., San Jose, Costa Rica

Nick Varley, University of Colima, Faculty of Science, Colima, Mexico

Ronald Días, Research Center in Geophysics, (CIGEFI, by its acronym in Spanish), San Jose, Costa Rica

Pilar Madrigal, University of Costa Rica, Central American School of Geology (ECG), San Jose, Costa Rica

Constanza Ricaurte, Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras (INVEMAR), Santa Marta, Colombia

Guaria Cárdenes Sandí, University of Costa Rica, Central American School of Geology, San Jose, Costa Rica

César Sequeira, University of Costa Rica, Central American School of Geology, San Jose, Costa Rica

Natalia Acevedo Gómez, National Univesity of Colombia, Bogota, Colombia

Dolors Ferrés, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Mexico City, Mexico

Jaime Garbanzo, University of Costa Rica, School of Topographic Engineer, San Jose, Costa Rica

Herbert Rendón, Venezuelan Foundation for Seismological Researcha (FUNVISIS, by its acronym in Spanish), Caracas, Venezuela

Jeffrey Marshall, California State Polytechnic University, College of Science, Geological Sciences, California, United States

Monika Sobiesiak, Institute of Geophysics Polish Academy of Science, Varsaw, Poland

Natalia Pardo, University of Los Andes, Bogota, Colombia

Mario Ruíz Romero, Instituto Geofísica, Escuela Politécnica Nacional, Ecuador

History of the Journal

The first publication of the journal was in 1984 with an Editorial Council formed by professors Siegfried Kussmaul as Director, Sergio Paniagua as Editor, Walter Montero as Secretary, and Teresita Aguilar as Treasurer, all of them from the Central American School of Geology (ECG by its acronym in Spanish). In the Special Issue on the 30 anniversary of the journal, these professors provide a detailed account of the beginnings of the journal as a facsimile produced by a low cost printing press at an unknown location. This early version featured documents produced via typewriters and hand drawn maps fitted by a copying machine. From these modest beginnings, the Journal has undergone important changes and exists now exclusively in digital form.