Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
ACP

Manuscript types

The following types of manuscripts can be considered for peer-reviewed publication in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP): research articles, ACP Letters, review articles, technical notes, measurement reports, commentaries, and special issue overview articles as detailed below.

  • Research articles report substantial new results and conclusions from scientific investigations of atmospheric properties, and processes within the scope of the journal. Research articles must include substantial advances and general implications for the scientific understanding of atmospheric chemistry and physics. Manuscripts that report substantial new measurement results, but where the implications for atmospheric chemistry and physics are less developed, may be considered for publication as measurement reports (see below).
  • ACP Letters are research articles that report particularly important results and major advances in atmospheric chemistry and physics in a concise and engaging style. Letters have fewer than 2,500 words in the main text, 200 words in the abstract, and an appropriate number of figures, or tables, and references. For more information, see the instructions for authors. Papers accepted for final publication as ACP Letters will also become "Highlight articles", which have high visibility in EGU. ACP Letters are also eligible for inclusion in EGU Letters. Manuscripts submitted for consideration as ACP Letters are subject to regular peer review with interactive public discussion, and the selection procedure is overseen by the ACP executive committee.
  • Review articles summarize the status of knowledge and outline future directions of research within the scope of the journal. Before preparing and submitting a review article, please contact the executive editors with a draft outline or summary of the prospective article (less than two pages). Review articles can be superseded by an updated version in order to incorporate a significant amount of new information (similar to the "living reviews" concept). The new article should contain a direct reference to the preceding article, both in the abstract and introduction sections. Please contact the executive editors if you would like to update your review article. Depending on the subject and further characteristics, review articles are also eligible for inclusion in the Encyclopedia of Geosciences. If you are interested in this option, please see the author instructions and contact the editors of the encyclopedia.
  • Measurement reports are peer-reviewed publications that present substantial new results from measurements of atmospheric properties and processes from field and laboratory experiments. Analysis of the measurements may include model results and conclusions of more limited scope than in research articles. The title must clearly reflect the manuscript type and start with "Measurement report:". The data presented in measurement reports must be openly accessible in accordance with our data policy and the following preconditions must be fulfilled:
    • upon submission, all data must directly be accessible via either a functional digital object identifier (DOI) or some form of preliminary access (review links) at a repository; a data citation is mandatory in both cases;
    • upon submission, all data must be accessible by anonymous access (i.e. no registration, name, email or other information is required of reviewers/editor as they access the data);
    • upon publication, all data must possess a functional DOI and citation;
    • data should be available under a non-restrictive license such as CC0 or CC BY;
    For manuscripts focused on pure data reporting, we recommend submission to the interactive open-access journal Earth System Science Data (ESSD).
  • Opinions are concise, authoritative articles written by experts that include agenda-setting and/or provocative viewpoints on topical issues within the scope of the journal. Topics of relevance include perspectives on recent major research developments, policy or societal issues, as well as perspectives on the historical or future direction of the author's area of expertise. Opinions should be insightful and informative for a wide readership and written in an engaging style. The open review and discussion is intended to stimulate scientific debate and overseen by the ACP executive committee. Opinion articles are generally invited, but authors with ideas for an opinion paper are encouraged to contact an executive editor . The title must clearly reflect the manuscript type and start with "Opinion:".
  • Technical notes are peer-reviewed publications that report new developments, significant advances, or novel aspects of experimental and theoretical methods and techniques that are relevant for scientific investigations within the scope of the journal. These can also include developments or assessments of new or improved emission inventories, or the development of numerical algorithms for the interpretation of atmospheric data (such as statistical methods and machine learning). The title must clearly reflect the manuscript type and start with "Technical note:". For manuscripts focused on the development, intercomparison, and validation of measurement instruments and data processing techniques, we recommend submission to the EGU interactive open-access journal Atmospheric Measurement Techniques (AMT). For manuscripts focused on the development and description of numerical models and model components, we recommend submission to the EGU interactive open-access journal Geoscientific Model Development (GMD).
  • Perspectives are non-peer-reviewed articles that are invited or provided by an ACP executive editor or senior editor. They accompany published ACP Letters or other highlight articles. Perspectives place the main results and conclusions of the original article in a broader research context and elaborate why it can be considered an ACP highlight article. The title must clearly reflect the manuscript type and the related article, and must start with "Perspective on "TITLE":".
  • Commentaries continue the discussion of published papers beyond the limits of immediate interactive discussion. They will usually refer to papers published in ACP, but may refer to papers published in other journals if satisfactory justification is given. They undergo the same process of peer review, publication and interactive discussion as research articles and other manuscripts, and they are equivalent to the peer-reviewed commentaries in traditional scientific journals. The manuscript title should start with "Comment on" or "Reply to".
  • Overview articles synthesize and summarize the findings and conclusions of the papers published in a special issue. The manuscript title must clearly reflect the relation to the special issue and start with "Overview:".
  • Corrigenda correct errors in preceding papers, whereby the authors should indicate the reasons for correction and explain the changes. The manuscript title reads as follows: Corrigendum to "TITLE" published in JOURNAL, VOLUME, PAGES, YEAR. The publication of corrigenda is overseen by the executive editors , who may also involve the handling editor and reviewers of the original paper. Please note that corrigenda are only possible for final revised journal papers and not for the corresponding preprints. Corrigenda have to be submitted to Copernicus Publications within 3 years from the publication date of the original journal article. Should there be reasons for publishing a second corrigendum within these 3 years, the first one will be substituted by a single new corrigendum containing all relevant corrections.
To view papers in each category, please visit Manuscripts by type.

Highlight articles

Building on the ratings and recommendations of the handling editor, the ACP senior and executive editors decide whether to rank a paper as a highlight article. The selection is made either immediately after acceptance of the paper by the handling editor or retroactively after publication. Every highlight article is accompanied by an editor statement that is published together with the article. Highlight articles include one of the following characteristic features:

  • Important discoveries, or major advances in long-standing questions in atmospheric research.
  • Scientific advances of high interest that are accessible to the broad geoscience community or to the broader public and media (cf. EGU newsworthy research guide).

Highlight articles are promoted on the ACP and EGU websites. Articles that are accepted for final publication as ACP Letters and Opinions are automatically treated as highlight articles.