Geophysical Research Letters (GRL), published by the American Geophysical Union (AGU) since 1974, is a premier gold open access journal dedicated to disseminating high-impact, innovative, and timely research across the broad spectrum of geoscience disciplines. With an impact factor of 4.6 and a SCIMAGO H-index of 322, GRL ranks among the top journals in Earth and environmental sciences, holding the 4th position in Earth Science and 9th in Environmental Sciences according to Research.com. The journal focuses on concise, communications-length articles (typically limited in length to expedite review and publication) that present significant scientific advances with broad and immediate implications for their respective fields or across multiple geoscience domains.
GRL’s scope spans key geoscience areas, including climatology, atmospheric sciences, geophysics, seismology, oceanography, and planetary geophysics, among others. It prioritizes research addressing pressing topics such as climate change, climate modeling, precipitation, magnetosphere dynamics, seismic activity, and ocean-atmosphere interactions. The journal’s emphasis on rapid publication ensures that cutting-edge findings reach the scientific community quickly, with a streamlined submission process and a time to first decision typically not exceeding eight weeks. Accepted papers are posted online within days and fully composed within 15 days, making GRL one of the fastest high-impact publications in the geosciences.
The journal operates under a rigorous single-blind peer-review process, requiring each manuscript to be evaluated by two to three reviewers, with authors encouraged to suggest at least three potential reviewers. GRL upholds high ethical standards, utilizing plagiarism detection software and requiring conflict of interest statements, as well as explicit references to institutional review board (IRB) checks for studies involving human participants. Authors are also encouraged to support open science by posting preprints on platforms like Earth and Space Science Open Archive, which automatically links to the final published article. As a fully open access journal since January 2023, all accepted articles are freely available under Creative Commons licenses (CC BY, CC BY-NC, or CC BY-NC-ND), though authors pay an article publication charge (APC) of $3,190 USD, with waivers or discounts for certain institutions or article types like commentaries.
GRL’s editorial policies emphasize quality, conciseness, and broad geophysical implications. Manuscripts are evaluated based on their innovation and impact, with a focus on advancing knowledge in areas like climate variability, extreme weather events, tectonic processes, and air-sea interactions. The journal also publishes a limited number of invited frontier articles and hosts special collections on topics such as atmospheric variability and geophysical fluid dynamics. Its commitment to accessibility is evident in its support for ORCID integration, data sharing, and self-archiving options, allowing authors to deposit preprints or accepted manuscripts in institutional repositories without embargo.
With a global readership and contributions from leading institutions like Johns Hopkins University, University of California, and Nagoya University, GRL fosters interdisciplinary collaboration and visibility for top-tier research. The journal’s legacy is further enriched by its editorial leadership, notably the late Harihar Rajaram, Editor-in-Chief from 2019 until his passing, whose dedication to the journal’s mission left a lasting impact. GRL continues to be a vital platform for geoscientists, bridging fundamental research with real-world applications in understanding Earth’s complex systems.
