In October, the English-language version of NSU’s Russian Geology and Geophysics (RGG) journal was added to GeoScienceWorld (GSW), the leading collection of scientific journals on earth sciences. The GSW Internet resource will now distribute the electronic version of the Journal along with other top-rated international publications. This will make RGG more available to the world’s geological elite.
NSU has been the official publisher of the English version of the RGG journal since April 2020. Today it is the most highly cited Russian journal in the earth sciences and one of the ten best in terms of impact factor among all Russian scientific publications.
Dmitry Metelkin, Executive Secretary of the Journal and Professor at NSUs Geology and Geophysics Department, talked about moving to GSW,
Work on integrating the journal into the GSW system is still ongoing. Some sections of the Journal may not be currently available or do not open correctly. We hope to complete the transition to the GSW platform by the end of this year. During this time, all of the Journal’s content will continue to be posted on the SB RAS Publishing House website. Up-to-date information about the Journal is also available on the University website.
Novosibirsk State University co-founded and for several years has been publishing RGG together with the SB RAS, the Institute of Geology and Mineralogy SB RAS, and the Institute of Oil and Gas Geology and Geophysics SB RAS. From 2007 to 2018, Elsevier published the English version of RGG. The contract with Elsevier expired and was not renewed at the end of 2018. The highly rated RGG journal, a leading Russian scientific periodical, found itself without an international home. As a result, for almost two years it practically disappeared from the view of the world’s geological elite. Throughout this period, the Journal’s editorial board and co-founders looked for an outlet that could represent RGG on the international market. They were also navigating a difficult financial situation making significant efforts to maintain the scientific level of the journal in spite of staff shortages. The primary supporting role then and now was NSU, including the University agreeing to serve as publisher during these challenging times. As a result, RGG not only managed to maintain a high rating and its presence in the elite Web of Science and Scopus international databases, but also developed the partnership with GSW for distribution on one of the best electronic platforms.
The list of publishers whose journals are distributed by GSW is impressive, among them are large geological unions including the Geological Society of America, Geological Society of London, Mineralogical Association of Canada. Also included are individual scientific organizations such as leading universities and their publishers such as Cambridge University Press and the University of Wyoming. NSU is the only Russian university on the site.
Metelkin explained why this is important for NSU,
NSU greatly benefits from its agreement to be a publisher. To be on the same list as Cambridge University is very significant, including with regard to the Top 100 Program. What does this provide for the scientific community? It increases the Journal’s visibility. Once again, it will be available to the widest circle of specialists, which means that those, mainly Russian, authors who are published in it will be able to present the results of their scientific research to the whole world under the NSU brand!