About the Journal

Peer-review process

Submitted manuscripts that meet the editorial and content requirements established by the journal will be evaluated in a blind peer-review process by two external experts. .

As soon as the required reviews are available, authors will be informed of the decision and the reasoning behind it. This decision can be::

1. Publishable:
   • Acceptance
   • Minor changes
   • Major changes
2. Not publishable

Accepted articles for publication with minor or major changes will be reviewed again by an external expert. This expert can be the same of the original review or another expert on the discipline.

The Editorial Board will adopt the necessary precautions to maintain the anonymity of the authors and the reviewers..

Publication frequency

The journal is published annually.

Languages of publication

The journal publishes manuscripts in Spanish, French, Portuguese, English. 

Open Access policy

The journal offers immediate open access to all its content under the idea of free dissemination of scientific research to the public that promotes a better knowledge exchange of Geographic Science through high-quality cartographic design.

Indexation

Geographicalia is indexed in the following databases: ISOC, CIRBIC, LATINDEX, GEOREF and DIALNET.

It is also included in the following quality assessment systems: CARHUS Plus, DICE, IN-RECS and RESH.

Journal sponsors

The journal is edited by the Department of Geography and Land Management at the University of Zaragoza

History of the journal

Geographically was founded in 1977. Since then, it is the journal of the Department of Geography and Land Management at the University of Zaragoza.

Dr. Higueras collects, in a way, the legacy of Geográphica, which was the first journal of Geography published in Zaragoza from 1954 to 1966, conjointly with the Department of Geography and the Institute of Applied Geography Juan Sebastián Elcano of the CSIC, under the direction of Professor José Manuel Casas Torres. A few years earlier, in 1940, Estudios Geográficos, also from the CSIC, was published. Both were added to the Boletín de la Real Sociedad Geográfica, which began in 1876, and were the first to include new approaches to geographical science research.

Geographicalia aims to follow this path of permanent updating in applied geography and advances in cartography as a necessary representation of spatial facts, and has maintained it until the present day. Accordingly, the name that Dr. Higueras gives to the journal is a confirmation of the connection and continuity with the spirit of that first journal founded in Zaragoza. In this long period, two periods can be distinguished. In the first, from 1977-1979 to 1985, the journal was published by the Institución Fernando el Católico, of the Diputación Provincial de Zaragoza, and the scientific part was held by the Department of Geography and the Institute of Applied Geography of the CSIC, based in Zaragoza, as shown on the cover. The design of the front and back cover reproduces fragments of the map of Aragon de Labaña, from 1610. The director was in all this stage Dr. Higueras, joining as co-director Dr. Rosario Miralbés Bédera (1983-84). The honorary director in this period is Mr. José Manuel Casas Torres and since 1983, also Dr. Salvador Mensua Fernández. The editorial board is made up of geographers from the University and the CSIC. The journal was to be published every six months and comprised three collections: the ordinary edition, a monographic series, of which only two issues were published, and Trabajos de Geographicalia, as extraordinary issues.

The second period began in 1988, and was published by the then Department of Geography, with funds from the University of Zaragoza. Its publication is maintained until the present day under the direction of the Department of Geography and Spatial Planning. In this second stage, the cover was modified, with a simpler and more modern design, the editorial board was enlarged to include geographers from other universities and the Advisory Board was introduced, with geographers from national and foreign universities and research centers. The director of the journal varies periodically, according to the approved regulations. Until today, it maintains its initial spirit, open to new paradigms, to the publication of leading themes of social, economic and environmental interest and to techniques applied to thematic and spatial analysis.

Geographicalia starts its journey in the years when new concepts and methods of analysis in Geography are being introduced in Spain from the Anglo-Saxon countries, mainly quantitative Geography and with less impact on radical Geography and Perception, marginalizing, in a certain way, the traditional approaches of French influence that were published in the first issues of Geographicalia in its headquarters in Zaragoza. These new approaches can be seen in the issues published between 1977 and the 1990s, orienting the works towards emerging themes, with the application of new spatial analysis techniques, both in urban systems and regional structures and in cartography, without forgetting traditional themes such as rural and agrarian studies or population studies, although with new points of view. Studies on Aragon continue to dominate, contributing significantly to knowledge of the region, but articles on other Spanish and foreign areas are also included.

The beginning of the 21st century does not imply an essential modification of the thematic orientation of the research published, but in the various articles there is a greater emphasis on subjects that have become relevant, such as climate, biogeography and hydrogeomorphology, which are interconnected with human action on the space we inhabit. There are also new territorial approaches to landscape, the environment, rural development and agricultural policies, tourism, demographic problems and migration. In some of these issues there are conceptual and methodological approaches and a use of Geographic Information Systems with a specific line of research on thematic mapping and data representation, from a multidisciplinary and multiscale perspective.

About this publication system

This journal uses Open Journal Systems , 3.1.2.1 which is an open access journal manager and software developed, funded and distributed free of charge by the Public Knowledge Project under the GNU General Public License.

Ethics

Geographicalia adheres to the Code of Conduct and the Best Practices Guidelines for Journals Editors of the Committee on Publication Ethics (Core Practices).

Complaints and suggestions

If, as a reader, author or reviewer, you have a complaint or suggestion to make to Geographicalia, please send an e-mail to geographicalia@unizar.es. The journal, following quality standards, commits itself to answer your message.