Soils in Space and Time (SST), a peer reviewed research journal, is published by Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources (GUASNR) in yearly volumes of two issues. Soils in Space and Time publishes papers describing original field and laboratory investigations on soil morphology and micromorphology, soil genesis and classification, soil geography, paleopedology and pedometrics. Papers focusing on soil management and quality related either to the spatial distribution of soils or to their evolution could be considered.
Manuscript Submission
Manuscripts should be submitted through this website (http://sst.gau.ac.ir/).
There is no publication and processing charges.
Language
The journal's language is English. British English or American English spelling and terminology may be used. We appreciate any efforts that you make to ensure that the language is corrected before submission. This will greatly improve the legibility of your paper if English is not your first language.
Manuscript Presentation
Soils in Space and Time (SST) publishes Research and Review papers (which should not exceed 12,000 words without prior agreement from the Editor-in-Chief. Manuscript should contain titles such as: Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Regional setting, Material and methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions, Appendices, Acknowledgement and Reference.
Title. Concise and informative. Titles are often used in information-retrieval systems. Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible.
Author names. Please clearly indicate the given name(s) and family name(s) of each author and check that all names are accurately spelled.
Affiliation(s). Present the authors' affiliation addresses (where the actual work was done) below the names. Indicate all affiliations with a lower-case superscript letter immediately after the author's name and in front of the appropriate address. The correspondence author and address, including e-mail address and telephone, should be identified.
Full address. Provide the full postal address of each affiliation, including the country name and, if available, the e-mail address of each author.
Text. The text should include: Title, author(s) name and address, Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Regional setting, Material and methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions, Appendices, Acknowledgement and Reference. Divide your article into clearly defined and numbered sections. Subsections should be numbered 1.1 (then 1.1.1, 1.1.2, ...), 1.2, etc. (the abstract is not included in section numbering). Use this numbering also for internal cross-referencing: do not just refer to 'the text'. Any subsection may be given a brief heading. Each heading should appear on its own separate line. Manuscripts should be double-spaced and left-justified throughout; text lines should be numbered consecutively. Submit the file in its native word-processing format (.doc or docx is best). Place all tables and figures within text. The final manuscript should not be more than 7MB.
Abstract. The abstract must not be longer than 200 words in a single paragraph that summarizes the main findings of the paper. An abstract is often presented separately from the article, so it must be able to stand alone. The abstract should not contain any undefined abbreviations or references.
Key words. After the abstract a list of up to six keywords that will be useful for indexing or searching should be included.
Footnotes. Footnotes should not be used.
Acknowledgements. Collate acknowledgements in a separate section at the end of the article before the references and do not, therefore, include them on the title page, as a footnote to the title or otherwise. They should identify who provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article, including grant number if applicable.
References. All references cited in the text, figures, or tables must be included in a list of references. All articles used as reference material must be at least in press and accessible by readers via a DOI number. The manuscript should be carefully checked to ensure that the spellings of authors' names and publication years are exactly the same in the text as in the reference list. Do not type author's and editor's names in capitals.
In the text
These should be cited in the text by the author's surname and date. Grouped citations should be separated by semicolons and given in chronological order: e.g., (Smith, 1964; Khormali and Kehl, 2011; Chen et al., 2008, 2010).
Only articles that have been published or are in press can be included in the references. Unpublished results or personal communications should be cited as such in the text and should include the surname and initials of the source as well as the year of communication, e.g., (Atiken, L.D., personal communication, 2008).
In References Cited
The reference section should be arranged alphabetically according to the author's surname. Journal names should be spelled out in full. List all the authors, but if there are more than eight you may use 'et al.' instead.
Birkeland, P.W., 1999. Soils and Geomorphology. Oxford University Press, London, 430 pp.
Ruhe, R.V., 1983. Depositional environment of late Wisconsin loess in the midcontinental United States. In: Wright, Jr. H.E., Porter, S.C. (Eds.), LateQuaternary environments of the United States Volume 1, The Late Pleistocene. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, pp. 130-137.
Muhs, D.R., Aleinikoff, J.N., Stafford, Jr. T.W., Kihl, R., Been, J., Mahan, S.A., Cowherd, S., 1999. Late Quaternary loess in northeastern Colorado: part I –Age and paleoclimatic significance. Geological Society of America Bulletin 111, 1861-1875.
Frechen, M., Kehl, M., Rolf, C., Sarvati, R., Skowronek, A., 2009. Loess chronology of the Caspian Lowland in Northern Iran. Quaternary International 128, 220-233.
Mason, J.A., 2001. Transport direction of Peoria Loess in Nebraska and implications for loess sources on the central Great Plains. Quaternary Research 56, 79-86.
Figures. Figures should be numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals. Label all axes. Minimize differences in font size, and aim for a font size of 7 or 8 points at publication scale. Only use the following fonts: Arial, Courier, Helvetica, Geneva or Times for legibility after reduction. Figures should not include images of identifiable persons. Recommended file formats for all figures are JPEG, TIFF, PDF and images created in MS Word. Color or grayscale photographs (halftone) images must be saved at 300 dpi (dots per inch). Bitmapped line drawings should be saved at 1000 dpi. Combination figures must be saved at a minimum of 500 dpi.
Tables. Please submit tables as editable text. Tables should be placed next to the relevant text in the article. Number tables consecutively with Arabic numerals in order of appearance in the text. Type should be double-spaced, with any essential footnotes below. Units should be clearly indicated for each of the column entries in a table. In formatting tables do not use grids or vertical lines.
Manuscript submission
Cover letter
A cover letter should accompany the submitted article. This letter should briefly explain the type and main point of the paper, the significance of the findings and how they satisfy the SST Aims and Scope. The author(s) should declare that the manuscript has not been published previously, and not being considered for publication elsewhere, in whole or in part.
Electronic submission
SST uses a Web-based online manuscript submission and review system. Please submit your article via http://sst.gau.ac.ir/. The Web site guides authors stepwise through the creation and uploading of the various files. Original text source files are required (.doc or .docx are best), not PDF.
Review Process. The objective is to provide detailed, constructive feedback on submitted papers and publish high quality papers within a very short period of time. The target for a first reply is 10 weeks. All manuscripts will be reviewed by at least two referees, an Associate Editor, and one Senior Editor. They will be evaluated for whether they are interdisciplinary in content and of broad interest, are scientifically sound, and present evidence that is sufficient to support the conclusions. They are also evaluated for organization, clarity, and conciseness. The editors' decision is sent to the corresponding author, together with the referees' comments and evaluations as soon as the file is complete. You may be requested by the Editor to submit a revision. Please assist us in achieving our ambitious goals for short publication times by submitting a revision at your earliest convenience.
Copyright transfer. Authors will be asked, upon acceptance of an article, to transfer copyright of the article to the Publisher. This will ensure the widest possible dissemination of information under copyright laws.
Additional Information. Additional information can be obtained from:
Soils in Space and Time
P.O. Box: 49138-15739
Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources
Faculty of Water and Soil Engineering, Department of Soil Sciences
E-mail: sst@gau.ac.ir
http://sst.gau.ac.ir/
Tel-Fax: +981732426523