About the Journal

The Journal of Geography Education (ZGD, Zeitschrift für Geographiedidaktik) publishes in English and German papers covering all fields of Geography Education. The journal looks back on a tradition of more than half of a century and is the only exclusively scientific journal in the German-speaking countries. Starting with 2019 (Vol. 47), ZGD became an open-access journal.

 

Review Process

All submitted manuscripts–including invited and special issue pieces–will be subjected to a review process. Contributions in the Research Article section submitted to ZGD are subject to initial evaluation by the Editors, and, if found suitable, to anonymous peer review by two reviewers (double-blind peer review). In case of strongly diverging recommendations, the Editors commission a third review. Submissions in the other sections (Editorial, Report, Review) undergo review by the Editors and a member of the Scientific Advisory Board.

Authors can monitor the progress of the review process via the OJS submission system. ZGD does not charge processing or publication fees.

 

Open Access Policy

ZGD is committed to the idea of open access. The journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

All contributions published since 2023 (Vol. 51) are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0). This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon the article even for commercial purposes, as long as they credit the author(s) and license their new creations under the identical terms. All authors publishing with us accept these as the terms of publication.

All contributions published up to 2022 (Vol. 50) are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). This allows for the reproduction of articles, free of charge, for non-commercial use only and with the appropriate citation information.

ZGD does not charge any fees for submitting, reviewing, editing, or reading the journal contributions. The publications can be downloaded free of charge and without login or registration.

 

Publication Ethics & Malpractice Statement

ZGD is firmly committed to promoting the highest ethical publication practices. Its practices rest on the Commission on Publication Ethics (COPE) recommendations. We expect authors to uphold the highest standards of ethics under the COPE guidelines. The Editors will also follow the COPE guidelines in case of ethical misconduct.

Publication & Authorship

ZGD only accepts original manuscripts. Upon submission, the author(s) must confirm that the same manuscript has not been submitted for consideration elsewhere. Original manuscripts may not entail parts of previous or other publications–i.e. (self-)plagiarism. They also may not contain any fraudulent data.

Permission for any copyrighted material needs to be presented before publication with ZGD. It is the duty of the author(s) to obtain written permission to reproduce third parties' copyrighted material.

Whenever applicable, a funding acknowledgment is to be included at the end of the manuscript body and prior to References. Author(s) are free to use the wording required by the funding bodies.

Author(s)' Responsibilities

ZGD subjects every submission to a double-blind peer review process. There is no exception to this rule, and it is our understanding that, upon submission, the author(s) accept this measure of quality assurance.

When submitting text and any visual or other media, we require the author(s) to

  • confirm that the data presented in the manuscript is genuine and authentic;
  • declare that all author(s) have significantly contributed to the research presented in the submitted manuscript;
  • list all individuals who contributed to the research the submission is based on as authors;
  • only list such persons as authors who made a significant contribution to the manuscript;
  • guarantee that research was carried out according to ethical standards and that none of the participants in the research were mentally or physically harmed;
  • apply the data protection laws of the European Union and, should the research have been carried out elsewhere, in addition, the local legal framework;
  • refrain from revealing personal information of participants who have not explicitly given their permission or actively revoked it;
  • guarantee the maximal protection of participants;
  • ensure that all authors provide retractions or amendments of errors;
  • have carried out grammar, spelling, and style checks before submission and, if required, made us of professional support to achieve maximal linguistic coherency and standards.

Reviewer(s)' Responsibilities

The double-blind peer review process requires both author(s) and reviewer(s) to remain anonymous throughout the process.

Reviewer selection rests on professional expertise, as proven by the academic record. Following editorial processing, at least two independent reviewers evaluate each submitted manuscript.

Reviewers are required to check (a) whether the manuscript has been published elsewhere; (b) the theoretical framework is adequate and up to date; (c) methods and sample are sound; (d) results presented are relevant to the research questions and rest on the outlined methodology; (e) the discussion considers the theoretical framework and explains how the manuscript will contribute to progress in the field; (f) all conclusions are sound; (g) sources cited in the manuscript body and those listed in References match. The Editors encourage reviewers to insert direct comments into the manuscript body and offer more generic feedback. All reviews are expected to offer constructive suggestions aiming at an overall improvement of the reviewed manuscript.

Reviews can opt between the following decisions: (1) accept; (2) accept with minor revision; (3) accept with major revision; (4) reject.

Upon submission of both reviews, the designated Editor communicates the decision to the corresponding author. The editorial letter entails both reviews, additional attachments (e.g., reviewers' comments on the manuscript), and, wherever needed, a list of priorities for the resubmission.

In case of major revision, the designated Editor initiates a second round of review, requesting the same reviewers to check the amended paper. Author(s) are encouraged to attach a cover letter to their resubmission.

The Editors make the final decision on each manuscript.

It is ZGD's understanding that all stakeholders involved in manuscript handling will neither copy nor adapt the ideas presented in the submission (plagiarism, adaptation). As reviewers are expected to be objective in their judgment, any conflict of interest (including the suspected identity of the authorship) should be reported to the Editors. ZGD expects reviewers to point out relevant published work that might have been overseen.

All stakeholders are expected to keep confidentiality. This also includes author(s) not posting the manuscript's title on any openly accessible platform with the remark "under review." Should the system-generated confirmation not suffice, the Editors will assist the author(s) in obtaining any required documentation (e.g., for cumulative Ph.D. thesis submission, information for third-party funding bodies).

Editors' Responsibilities

Paper acceptance/rejection remains in the hands of the Editors. Every editorial decision will be communicated via the OJS system in a letter. Editors are also responsible for taking measures in case of misconduct (involving the Editorial Board), carrying out corrections and retractions, and securing the double-blind nature of the peer review process.

Whenever one of the Editors submits a manuscript, the other Editor commission the reviews outside the OJS system (visibility for all editors). When both Editors are co-authors, the Senior Editors or a member of the Editorial Board will take over the management of the peer-review process. Whenever biased, Editors are required to declare their concerns and transfer the manuscript to the other Editor. In case of both Editors are biased, the Senior Editor or an unbiased member of the Editorial Board takes over.

Publishing Ethics

The Editorial Board and the Editors monitor and safeguard the publishing ethics. This task entails the identification of (suspected) plagiarism, conflicts of interest, communication of corrections, retractions, and, whenever needed, apologies.

In the first instance, the process will aim for amendments and corrections. Should the investigation lead to clearly identified fraud, papers will be retracted. This decision will clearly and rapidly be communicated to the authorship, readership, and all indexing systems.