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About the journal

A brief history

The Revue de géographie alpine (RGA) was founded in 1913 by the French geographer Raoul Blanchard. Although established as a geography journal, it was open to related disciplines from the very start. Since 1968, it has been published by the Association for the Promotion of Alpine Research (ADRA), based at the Institute of Urbanism and Alpine Geography in Grenoble, France (IUGA, Université Grenoble Alpes). In recent decades, the journal has progressively broadened its scope beyond the European Alps to address mountain regions worldwide.

In 2004, the journal was renamed the Revue de géographie alpine | Journal of Alpine Research, and it began publishing all articles in both French and English. In 2013, a century after its founding, the order of the title was switched to Journal of Alpine Research | Revue de géographie alpine, placing the English title first to reflect the journal’s ambition to reach a wider international readership. Since then, all articles have been published in English and in one of the Alpine languages (French, German, Italian or Slovenian), or in Spanish. The inclusion of the word “research” in the English title highlights the journal’s multidisciplinary scope, which goes far beyond geography alone.

Since 2020, the journal has been jointly published by ADRA and UGA Éditions (the Grenoble Alpes university press). It also receives financial support from several academic institutions based in the Alpine region.

Editorial policies and review process

Editorial policies

The Journal of Alpine Research | Revue de géographie alpine is an international, multilingual and multidisciplinary Diamond Open Access journal. The journal’s complete archives are available via OpenEdition (for the period since 2007) and via Persée (for the period 1913 to 2006).

The journal aims to publish research that analyses the issues and challenges faced by mountain regions and societies. Our mission is to bring mountains – often portrayed or perceived as peripheral – back to the centre of academic debate. We seek to produce knowledge about mountain areas that is grounded in both theory and empirical research. By considering their diversity and their connections to broader geographical and analytical contexts, we aim to learn from mountains on both a theoretical and methodological level, thereby deepening our understanding of the socio-spatial category of “mountain”. Ultimately, our goal is to think with and through mountains.

We invite scholars from all fields of the humanities and social sciences, as well as from physical geography, to contribute to scientific dialogue on the many issues affecting mountain regions around the world. Manuscripts may be submitted and reviewed in any of the six languages of the journal, and the translated version is provided by the authors only after final acceptance of the paper.

The journal’s international, multidisciplinary editorial committee is responsible for ensuring the scientific quality and originality of the contributions. Every two years, the composition of the committee is reviewed by inviting active members to confirm whether they wish to continue on it. In the interim, new members may be co-opted by the committee, either through invitation or after receiving an unsolicited application.

Review process

Whether an article is unsolicited or part of a thematic issue, it undergoes initial review by the editors-in-chief or by the guest editors of the thematic issue to assess its scientific relevance, format and compliance with the journal’s editorial policies. In particular, articles that exceed 30,000 characters (approximately 5,000 words) and/or do not comply with the journal’s author guidelines are returned to the author(s), who are asked to submit a version that complies with these guidelines.

If the manuscript is not desk-rejected, it is reviewed by at least two referees through a double-blind peer review process, in which both authors and reviewers remain anonymous. Whenever possible, reviewers are selected from outside the editorial committee and from outside the author(s)’s own institution(s). Anonymity is maintained on both sides throughout the review process.

Reviewers complete a detailed evaluation form and are asked, among other things, to provide an overall assessment of the manuscript, determine whether it aligns with the journal’s editorial policies and, if they wish, annotate the text directly. Reviewers may request minor or major revisions, or recommend rejection. In cases where reviewer opinions diverge, the editorial committee or the guest editors of the thematic issue may seek the advice of an additional expert.

The reviews are examined by the editorial committee or the guest editors, and a summary of the reviewers’ comments is then sent to the author by the editorial office. The editorial committee or guest editors reserve the right to reject the final manuscript if the requested revisions are not made to their satisfaction.

Ethical considerations

The editorial committee makes every effort to uphold the following ethical principles:

  • vigilance against plagiarism and self-plagiarism;

  • complete anonymity of authors and reviewers throughout the review process;

  • high-quality writing;

  • pluralism, openness, curiosity and rigour in the selection of themes.

The journal is also committed to ensuring that all exchanges between authors, reviewers and guest editors are conducted in a respectful and constructive manner.

Mentoring scheme

The JAR | RGA mentoring scheme

The Journal of Alpine Research | Revue de géographie alpine is committed to promoting the dissemination of high-quality, open and freely accessible research. It upholds the principles of autonomy, plurality and the collective dimension of public research.

In this spirit, the journal offers a support programme designed to assist less experienced authors throughout the publication process. This initiative provides guidance and mentoring during the writing stage, with the aim of fostering equity among researchers – regardless of their level of experience or training in academic writing – and encouraging contributions from diverse backgrounds that offer high-quality academic insights into mountain regions and societies.

How the scheme works and how to apply

1. Authors who want to benefit from this scheme must submit a first version of their article. This may be prepared in response to a thematic call for papers, or submitted unsolicited for publication in a “Varia” issue. If a submitted article is promising, but has formal weaknesses, the journal may suggest to the author(s) that they would benefit from the mentoring scheme.

2. The journal will accommodate requests depending on the availability of mentors.

3. The mentor works with the author(s) for a period of 1 to 3 months, with no more than 3 rounds of feedback. Mentoring may take various forms depending on the identified needs, including discussions about the methods, literature review, or the argument and structure of the article.

4. At the end of the mentoring period, the author finalises and submits the article to the journal, after which it follows the standard review process.

The journal solely undertakes to support authors during the submission process, and does not guarantee the publication of mentored articles. If the article is published, the author(s) must agree to mention the mentor in the acknowledgements section. The journal also publishes an annual list of mentors.

The benefits for authors

This scheme aims to promote better understanding of the journal and its scientific publication standards. It is not a substitute for training in academic writing or communication training, such as that offered on some postgraduate courses.

Before engaging in the mentoring process, authors may want to review some key methodological references that will help strengthen their scientific writing and research approach:

Day, R. A. 1988.– How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper (3rd ed). Phoenix (AZ), The Oryx Press.

Garnier S. & Savage A.D., 2018.– Rédiger un texte académique en français : règles grammaticales, règles d’usage, exercices d’entraînement corrigés, Paris, Éditions Ophrys.

Lindsay, D., Poindron, P., 2011.– Guide de rédaction scientifique, Versailles, Éditions Quæ. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3917/quae.linds.2011.01.

Livian Y.-F. & Laurini R., 2018.– Réussir son mémoire de master ou sa thèse : guide pour les étudiants étrangers, Meylan, Campus ouvert.

Contact: Marie-Christine Fourny marie.christine.fourny38@gmail.com

Indexing

The journal is indexed by the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), a unique and extensive index of various open access journals from around the world.

It is also indexed in the following databases, among others: Erih Plus, Road, DDH (Diamond Discovery Hub), Crossref, OpenAlex, BASE, HCERES, WOS-SSCI, Scopus, Pascal and Francis.

The Journal of Alpine Research | Revue de géographie alpine is included in the “Fascia A” (Area 14) category of journals for the purposes of the Italian Abilitazione scientifica nazionale.

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