Manuscript types
Earth System Science Data (ESSD) maintains sections for the following manuscript types. Please read the requirements for each section carefully.
Data description articles
This article type serves as the main vehicle to present and communicate original research data. Earth system data products span a continuum from direct measurements to model-derived data, many combining observational and computational elements (e.g. remote sensing retrievals, spectroscopic calibrations, proxy reconstructions, gap-filled time series).
A data description article extends and advances beyond a technical description in a repository. The published article adds context to a dataset, clearly outlines its generation, use cases, and limitations and contains a dedicated section on uncertainty and its evaluation.
ESSD editors evaluate ESSD data products (the data and the manuscript) with respect to the following properties:
Community value: Ideally, an ESSD data product will prove useful to the next data user. Suitable datasets save the community significant effort in future research, for example through expert processing, quality assessment, multi-source integration, or compilation of formerly inaccessible data.
Accessibility: A dataset described in an ESSD data description article must be deposited in a suitable repository, ensuring long term accessibility and availability using persistent identifiers (e.g. a DOI) and open licenses (e.g. CC BY). The dataset must be accessible to anyone with minimal barriers to reuse. Please see the ESSD data policy and repository criteria for further details.
Reusability: ESSD data description articles put special emphasis on the evaluation of both internal variability within the data and potential deviation from the truth. Manuscripts must include a section on validation against independent reference data or, if such data are unavailable, a plausibility assessment, characterizing data quality variations (e.g. identification of extrapolation zones, data-sparse regions, and methodological limitations).
In any case, authors should demonstrate best efforts to build trust in the dataset.
The focus of this manuscript type is quality assurance and trust-building through assessment of the presented data. Extensive analysis and interpretation of data is considered out of scope and should seek publication in an appropriate regular journal. Similarly, manuscripts that focus on methodology and model development should seek publication elsewhere.
Data review articles
This article type, ESSD encourages the review and comparison of previously published data. It is strongly recommended to consult an ESSD editor prior to submission.
Data review articles may:
- evaluate relative merits of previously published data;
- propose procedures to enhance the usability of previously published data.
In this, the articles must clearly highlight the added value to the community of data users.
ESSD Visions
With this article type, ESSD invites the public discussion of novel ideas, concepts, standards, or visions for the Earth System Science Data community as a whole. This article type is primarily intended as a vehicle of community engagement, to discuss ideas broadly and collect feedback. Please contact the ESSD chief editors before submitting an article to this section.
Brief communications
This is an open section that may include general comments, replies, and updates to previously published articles.
Corrigenda
Corrigenda correct errors in recent papers. The manuscript title reads as follows: Corrigendum to "TITLE" published in "JOURNAL, VOLUME, PAGES, YEAR". 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.