Online Submission Now Available
Area
Published on behalf of the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers)
Edited by:
Kevin Ward (Editor) and Louise Bracken (Co-Editor, Physical Geography)
ISI Journal Citation Reports® Ranking: 2008: 14/51 Geography
Impact Factor: 1.78
Area publishes ground breaking geographical research and scholarship across the field of geography. Whatever your interests, reading Area is essential to keep up with the latest thinking in geography. At the cutting edge of the discipline, the journal:
• is the debating forum for the latest geographical research and ideas
• is an outlet for fresh ideas, from both established and new scholars
• is accessible to new researchers, including postgraduate students and academics at an early stage in their careers
• contains commentaries and debates that focus on topical issues, new research results, methodological theory and practice and academic discussion and debate
• provides rapid publication
To be accepted, therefore, an article must make a concise, significant and original contribution to geographic knowledge. It should be situated in the relevant literature within and beyond the discipline, and should make a distinctive contribution to debates within human or physical geography. Where possible, links should be made with themes and issues within the wider discipline, with other relevant disciplines, and with concerns in the world beyond geography on which the discipline may offer insight, understanding and critical comment.
Calling all physical geographers!
Area is very keen to encourage more submissions of physical geography papers, and especially those written by postgraduates. The journal prefers short, pithy articles which focus on topical issues, new research results or discussions of methodology, theory and practice. We aim for a rapid turnaround time between submission and publication. Recently Area has published papers on desertification, soil erosion, geomorphological ideas and urban fluvial hazards. If you would like to submit a paper, or even discuss an idea at an early stage of writing, then please contact Louise Bracken, Co-Editor for physical geography at l.j.bracken@durham.ac.uk
Essential book reviews
Area carries a topical book review section with in-depth reviews of the latest books related to its mission.
TopNews and Announcements
Area Prize Results 2009
We are pleased to announce the 2008 Winner of the Area Prize. View the article free online:
Emilie Lagacé, John Holmes and Rachael McDonnell
Science-policy guidelines as a benchmark: making the European Water Framework Directive
Area 40 (4). pp.421-434
View previous winning articles of the Area Prize.
About the Area Prize for New Research in Geography
Part of Area's mission is to be accessible to new researchers, including postgraduate students and academics at an early stage in their careers. The purpose of the Area Prize is to encourage submissions from new researchers and to reward excellent geographical research. The winner of the prize will receive a cash prize of £500.
To be eligible for consideration, at the time of submitting their paper, authors should be engaged in full or part-time postgraduate research, or be within three years of the completion of their PhD, or of equivalent professional standing. This time limit excludes any periods of formal career breaks taken for family care responsibilities, health or other personal reasons, or periods spent working outside academia (e.g. in a business or policy environment).
Click here for more information on the Area Prize.
Methods in Geography: New Perspectives - Virtual Issue
The first virtual issue of Area is on 'Methods in Geography: New Perspectives' and is now available online. In this special selection of Area papers from 2003 to 2007 we bring you a wide range of articles that interrogate existing methods as well as propose and develop new ones.
We have selected a sample articles for you to view free online. To view the articles online click here
Area Special Sections
Area regularly publishes topical special sections. Details of recent themes are:
Climate policy implementation: Geographical perspectives
39.4 December 2007
(Re)thinking the scales of lived experience
39.3 September 2007
Geographies of nano-technoscience
39.2 June 2007
Commentaries: Debating (de)territorial Governance
39.1 March 2007
Now FREE Online - A Guide to Publishing in Geography for New Researchers
www.rgs.org/gettingpublished
We would encourage you, to download a free copy of the guide from the RGS-IBG website. You can either download the whole guide or browse and print by section, and you can also access additional materials from the Publishing in Geography: Key Issues for New Researchers panel session at the RGS-IBG Annual Conference 2008.
If you would like us to send you a printed copy of the guide we are happy to do so. Please contact rrees@wiley.com with your request.
ScholarOne ManuscriptsAuthors are able to submit their paper to Area online via the new electronic editorial office. Benefits will include:
• Quicker peer review
• Web-based manuscript tracking
• Online Reviewing
• Faster Response
Submit your paper online to Area
Area Articles on EarlyView
Area features EarlyView articles. These articles are in final form and published online in advance of their appearance in a regular issue. They have been through the full peer review process and proofs have been corrected by the author. Visit Area online to view the latest EarlyView material.
NEW: Online production tracking is now available for your article through Wiley-Blackwell's Author Services
Author Services enables authors to track their articles - once accepted - through the production process to publication online and in print. Authors can check the status of their articles online and choose to receive automated e-mails at key stages of production. The author will receive an e-mail with a unique link that enables them to register and have their article automatically added to the system. Please ensure that a complete e-mail address is provided when submitting the manuscript. Visit http://authorservices.wiley.com/bauthor/ for more details on online production tracking and for a wealth of resources including FAQs and tips on article preparation, submission and more.
Editoral by Louise Bracken
Louise Bracken, the incoming Co-editor of Area, has written her first editorial for the journal, in which she revisits the ideas of the outgoing Co-editor, Heather Viles, and considers where Area, and herself in particular, should focus their efforts for the future.
In this editorial, Louise reflects on the trends in the numbers of physical and environmental articles published in Area and highlights the significant increase in these papers following the introduction of Heather Viles as Co-editor.
Louise goes on to outline several aims which she would like to achieve as Co-Editor:
- to support the continued submission of this type of paper to Area to continue to develop our readership and author base
- to encourage wider debate about practices within, and the future of, physical and environmental geography
- to encourage people involved in interdisciplinary research projects, many of which seem to be focused on land use/climate change and/or water resources, to publish results in Area
- to encourage those who do not think of themselves as geographers, yet work on related and relevant issues, to consider publishing in Area
Free Online Access in the Developing World
Access to this journal is available free online within institutions in the developing world through the OARE Initiative (Online Access to Research in the Environment) in conjunction with UNEP, the United Nations Environment Programme.
RGS-IBG Book Series
The RGS- IBG also publishes a book series of the highest international standing. It seeks to promote scholarly publications that leave an intellectual mark and change the way readers think about particular issues, methods or theories.
View the latest titles in the book series.
TopHighlights
Possible geographies: a passing encounter in a café
Eric Laurier and Chris Philo
Re-scripting the character of Birmingham's ethnic minority population: assets and others in the stories of a multicultural city
W F Chan
The place of individuals in the politics of scale
Julie Cidell
Aspiration and reality: flood policy, economic damages and the appraisal process
Clare Johnson, Edmund Penning-Rowsell and Sue Tapsell
Monthly estimates of carbon dioxide emissions from fossil-fuel consumption in Brazil during the late 1990s and early 2000s
London M Losey, Robert J Andres and Gregg Marland
Why rehabilitate urban river systems?
Sophia Jane Findlay and Mark Patrick Taylor
TopEndorsements
'Fascinating articles and commentaries ... what our discipline needs to charge ahead in a critical perspective.'
Thomas R. Leinbach, University of Kentucky, USA
'The content and focus on new and experimental research in Area gives it an edge ... I really enjoy reading the articles in this journal.'
Stuart C. Aitken, San Diego State University, USA
