Guide for Authors
1. Aims and Scope
Resources Science welcomes innovative, high-quality, and significant original research articles, as well as reviews and other types of articles that demonstrate the latest advances in the field of resources science. The journal has 18 sections for different types of articles (see Overview). The topics of the submitted manuscripts should be within the scope of the corresponding columns, and the discussion should be centered on the theories of resource science or the development and use of resources.
2. Submission Method
(1) The journal adopts online submission system (website: http://www.resci.cn) and manuscripts should be in Word format with no more than 10M file size. Authors will receive an e-mail notification after the manuscript is successfully submitted.
(2) Anonymous submission policy: During the submission process, no personal information should be included in manuscripts, including author names, author affiliations, address, postal code, author introductions, funding projects. If such information is included, the manuscript may be rejected at the preliminary review stage. At the time of submission, the full name, date of birth, title, degree, phone number, email, and research areas of the authors (generally less than 6 authors) should be provided in the submission system. The first author and corresponding author information cannot be changed after submission. If certain authors are already registered in the system, please contact the authors for the relevant information and make sure that the information provided, especially names, phone numbers, and email, match those registered.
(3) Prior to submission, authors should complete and sign the Author Declaration (see the Download page) to declare their individual contributions and conflicts of interest. Please submit the signed document with your manuscript.
3. Submission Guidelines
(1) Submitted manuscripts should not have been formally published in other publications. Multiple submissions, redundant publication, and republication in other languages are strictly prohibited. Manuscripts that are found to involve any of the above would be rejected. The editor would inform the authors' institutions and other resource science journals of their academic misconduct. In addition, the author's other manuscripts would no longer be considered by the journal. Manuscripts rejected by other journals would not be accepted by the journal without major revisions.
(2) The manuscript review process includes: preliminary review by the Editorial Office, peer review by experts, second review by executive reviewers, and final review by the Editor-in-Chief. In general, each review process would take no more than 20 days, extended in the case of national holidays. Authors may request withdrawal of their manuscripts at any stage of the review process, provided that the Editorial Office is notified. Authors are not allowed to submit the manuscript to other journals without withdrawal, unless the review time has exceeded the agreed time limit or the statement of withdrawal has been sent to the Editorial Office.
(3) If the revised version of the manuscript is returned more than 30 days later, the Editorial Office will consider the date of return as the date of submission. The Editorial Office reserves the right to reject such manuscripts.
(4) Authors are responsible for the content of their manuscripts. In addition, the Editorial Office reserves the right to make technical and textual changes to the manuscripts and to change the substantive content with the permission of the authors.
(5) After publication, the authors are fully responsible for the content and its consequences. In the case of manuscripts with more than one author, the first author is the person directly responsible. If the first author is not qualified or able to assume such responsibilities, his/her supervisor or project leader should be listed as corresponding author and assume the corresponding responsibilities for him/her.
(6) Once published, the article may not be republished in other journals or other public publications in the same language. If the author needs to use the article for a personal portfolio, the journal must be indicated as the source of the article.
(7) The electronic version of all articles will be permanently archived by the journal, and authors may log on to the website at any time to review and download them. However, the journal does not guarantee the absolute security of the data on the website and assumes no responsibility for its safekeeping. Please make a backup of your manuscript when submitting it.
(8) Authors will receive a one-time payment (50 CNY/page), and three copies of the current issue will be sent to them as a gift after the article is published.
(9) The journal is included in the databases of China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Weipu, etc. The remuneration paid to authors includes the copyright fees for the use of the digital edition of their articles, and no other fees will be paid. By submitting manuscripts, all authors agree that their manuscripts will be included in the above-mentioned databases after acceptance by the journal for academic communication and exchange.
4. Fees Standard
(1) Review fee: 300 CNY/article. Before peer review, authors of manuscripts that have passed the preliminary review will be notified by e-mail to pay the review fee. Upon receipt of the review fee, the Editorial Office will send the manuscript to the reviewers for peer review.
(2) The Article Publication Charge (APC) is 400 CNY per page, and an additional 600 CNY per page is charged for the production of color images for articles containing color images or photos.
5. Manuscript Processing Process
(1) Submission: Please log in to the journal's submission system and submit the manuscript. Authors will receive an email notification upon successful submission.
(2) Receipt of manuscripts: Upon receipt of manuscripts, the editor will assign a Manuscript Number to the manuscripts, and the number will be e-mailed to the authors.
(3) Manuscript review: The manuscript review process includes preliminary review by the Editorial Office, peer review by experts, second review by executive reviewers, and final review by the Editor-in-Chief. In general, each review process would take no more than 20 days, extended in the case of national holidays. The detailed introduction to manuscript review is as follows:
Preliminary Review: It is conducted by the Editorial Office, focusing on whether the manuscript involves multiple submissions, the topic falls within the scope of the journal, the writing meets the basic requirements for academic articles, etc. Manuscripts that pass the preliminary review will be sent for peer review and the authors will be notified to pay the review fee (300 CNY). If the manuscript does not pass the preliminary review, no payment will be required.
Peer Review: Manuscripts that pass the preliminary review will be sent to at least two experts for peer review. Excellent articles recommended by academic conferences will be reviewed by experts organized by the conference organizers. The journal adopts double-blind peer review process. Reviewers who have a teacher-student relationship with the author or are in the same research group as the author should avoid reviewing relevant manuscripts. The focus of this review process is on the scientific quality and merit of the manuscripts, including the innovation of theories and methods, the accuracy of data, the reliability of conclusions, and whether figures, tables, and writing conform to the standards of scientific writing, and so on. After the reviewers' comments have been checked by the Editorial Office, authors can log on to the journal's website to view them, and should keep the review comments strictly confidential from others. The review comments are divided into five categories: Advance Publication, Publication After Revision, Review After Revision, Submission to Other Journals, and Rejection. Manuscripts approved for Advance Publication by all reviewers will be sent to the Editor-in-Chief for final review. If all reviewers agree that the manuscript falls into the Submission to Other Journals or Rejection categories, the review process will be finished. Others manuscripts will proceed to the next review stage.
Second Review: Manuscripts commented as Review After Revision will be sent to the executive reviewers for a second round of review after revision.
Final Review: Acceptance decisions will be made by the Editor-in-Chief and Associate Editors. The final decision on a manuscript is divided into two groups, including Advance Publishing and Acceptance. Generally, very few manuscripts would be revised or rejected at this stage.
Submission by Editorial Board Members or Editors of the Journal: For manuscripts submitted by the Editorial Board Members or editors of the journal, they must follow all the review and editing procedures of the journal. Review of manuscripts will be handled independently from relevant Editorial Board Members, editors and their research groups. All Editorial Board Members and editors are not allowed to participate in the review, editing and employment decisions of the manuscripts written by themselves, their families or colleagues.
(4) Editing and Publication: Manuscripts that have passed all of the above reviews will proceed to the editing and publication process.