Scientific synthesis reports and assessments
Scientific synthesis reports and assessments
SP

Aims and scope

State of the Planet (SP) is dedicated to the publication of scientific synthesis reports and assessments on all subjects of the Earth and environmental sciences. In a rapidly changing world, expert-based assessments of academic findings curated for a wider audience to support decision making, science communication, education, and funder mandates are becoming more and more widespread. Such reports are extensive science community efforts offering timely, state-of-the-art insight into a specific field of the Earth sciences.

Timeliness and accuracy, however, should not come at the expense of academic exchange, transparency, and scientific excellence, especially for publications reaching beyond an academic audience. State of the Planet is envisioned as a platform bringing together environmental reporting initiatives and assessments from around the globe, publishing regular updates on key aspects of the Earths' system, thereby defining common standards for transparent peer-review, as well as author and reviewer recognition.

State of the Planet is organized like a journal but is bibliographically classified as a report series. Each report forms a separated volume of SP and each report chapter is individually published as an equivalent to a journal article in a journal volume. While the report as such receives a DOI and a bibliographic meta data set, each report chapter has its own DOI and bibliographic meta data, including the individual list of authors.

State of the Planet offers:

  • Transparent, open peer review of all report chapters adopted to environmental reporting and assessments;
  • Distinct recognition of author groups by report chapter;
  • Rapid dissemination through all channels of a regular journal publication;
  • State of the art processes for open-access publications, open data, and open code distribution;

State of the Planet is open to any reporting and assessment initiative by (inter-) governmental agencies, environmental services, learned societies or associations of researchers that aim to publish on a regular basis.