About the Journal

Aims and scope

Physiographic Studies is a valuable journal publishing works about Poland and the world in the field of Earth sciences.
The dominant area of science describing a scientific journal is:
The field of exact and natural sciences: science about the Earth and the environment
The field of engineering and technical sciences: civil engineering and transport
The journal publishes articles mainly on hydrological and climatological phenomena, as well as on land mapping and protection of the natural environment.

Review procedure

Basic rules for reviewing articles
in Physiographic Studies
1. At least two independent members shall be appointed to evaluate each article reviewers from outside the editorial board.
2. In the case of texts written in English, at least one of reviewers is affiliated with a foreign institution other than nationality the author of the work.
3. The author (s) and the reviewers do not know their identities (the so-called "double-blind review." process").
4. In other cases, the reviewer signs a declaration of non-appearance conflict of interest; a conflict of interest is considered between reviewer and author:
a.direct personal relationships (kinship, legal relationships, conflict),
b. relations of professional subordination,
c. direct scientific cooperation during the last two years preceding the preparation of the review.
5. The review is in writing and ends with an unambiguous request for accepting the article for publication or rejecting it.
6. The names of the reviewers of individual publications / issues are not disclosed; once a year, the journal publishes the list of reviewers cooperating.

Open Access Policy

The journal provides open access to all of its contents in line with the principle that freely accessible research increases and enhances the global development of science and knowledge circulation. The editors encourage authors to publicise research published in the journal in open repositories (following their review process or submission of the final version to the publisher), provided that the link to the journal website's top page and the DOI number of the article are given.

The submission and publication of manuscripts is free for all authors.

Ethics

Authors' obligations
Authorship of the work
Authorship of a scientific publication must be based solely on creative and relevant research contributions. The authors of the publication can only be people who have made a significant contribution to its creation and only these people should be listed as authors or co-authors of the article. All those who have made a significant contribution to the article should approve the final version of the article and consent to its publication. All authors are responsible for posting content, unless otherwise stated. The order in which surnames are given should be accepted by all co-authors.
Disclosure of Data and Conflicts of Interest
The articles must contain reliable results of the conducted research. Authors are required to provide a reliable description of the research work carried out and an objective interpretation of the results.
It is the authors' responsibility to disclose all funding sources for projects in their work, contributions from research institutions, etc., to avoid conflicts of interest that may affect the interpretation or conclusions of the article.
Originality
The authors guarantee that the article submitted for review has not been submitted for publication in another scientific journal. Submitting the same article to several journals is unacceptable behavior by the editors.
Citing sources
Authors should ensure that the work written is entirely original. If works by other authors that are key in a given field and thematically related to the published article have been used, they should be properly cited.
Errors in published works
In the event that the author finds errors or inaccuracies in the text that affect the interpretation of the conclusions in the published article, it is his responsibility to immediately notify the journal editor or publisher in order to withdraw the article or publish appropriate errata.
Plagiarism
Any form of plagiarism is considered unethical and unacceptable. This applies to both assigning the authorship of someone else's articles, as well as copying someone else's research results. Articles submitted to the journal must be original works only, not infringing the copyrights of third parties.
In the event of alleged or proven scientific misconduct or plagiarism, the publisher, in close cooperation with the editor of the journal, will take all appropriate measures to clarify the situation and possibly withdraw the article from the journal.
Duties of the Editorial Committee
Approval of publication - editorial decisions
The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for the content of the articles published in the journal. When making decisions, the Editor may consult other members of the Editorial Committee and reviewers. The decision regarding publication is primarily influenced by the content of the publication and two independent, anonymous reviews, as well as the currently applicable legal regulations, including copyright law (copyright infringement, plagiarism).
Confidentiality
Members of the editorial team may not disclose any information about the content of articles submitted for publication and the content of reviews to third parties, except for the author, reviewers, other editorial consultants (linguistic proofreading, translation) and the publisher.
Impartiality
In the process of deciding whether to accept or reject a given scientific text, the quality of work is important, not the origin, nationality, political views, gender or religion.
Anonymity
The decision to publish an article is based on reviews. The editorial office does not disclose data about authors to reviewers, as well as data about reviewers to authors.
Avoiding a conflict of interest
The editor counteracts the occurrence of conflicts of interest. The editorial office does not appoint persons who are directly subordinate to the authors of the texts as reviewers.
Unpublished articles (or fragments thereof) may not be used by members of the editorial team without the written consent of the authors

Reviewer Policy
The task of reviewers is to support editors in making decisions about accepting or rejecting an article.
When giving opinions, the reviewers are obliged to make every effort to reliably and objectively assess the value of the reviewed work. Reviewers should clearly express their views, supporting them with appropriate arguments. Comments should be unbiased, constructive, and substantive.

1. At least two independent members shall be appointed to evaluate each article
reviewers from outside the editorial board.
2. In the case of texts written in English, at least one of
reviewers is affiliated with a foreign institution other than nationality
the author of the work.
3. The author (s) and the reviewers do not know their identities (the so-called "double-blind review."
process").
4. In other cases, the reviewer signs a declaration of non-appearance
conflict of interest; a conflict of interest is considered between
reviewer and author:
a.direct personal relationships (kinship, legal relationships,
conflict),
b. relations of professional subordination,
c. direct scientific cooperation during the last two years
preceding the preparation of the review.
5. The review is in writing and ends with an unambiguous request for
accepting the article for publication or rejecting it.
6. The names of the reviewers of individual publications / issues are not disclosed;
once a year, the journal publishes the list of reviewers
cooperating.

Reviewers

prof. Damian Absalon, Uniwersytet Śląski, Polska
prof. Adam Choiński, UAM,Polska
prof. Roman Cieśliński, Uniwersytet Gdański, Polska
prof. Joanna Fac-Beneda, Uniwersytet Gdański, Polska
prof. Krzysztof Fortuniak, Uniwersytet Łódzki, Polska
dr Zhao Lingling, Chińska Akademia Nauk, Chiny
prof. Andrzej Macias, UAM, Polska
prof. Jan Piekarczyk, UAM, Polska
prof. Rajmund Skowron, UMK, Polska
dr Leszek Sobkowiak, UAM, Polska
prof. Dmitrij Subetto, Rosyjska Akademia Nauk, Rosja
prof. Edmund Tomaszewski, Uniwersytet Łódzki, Polska
prof. Zbigniew Zwoliński, UAM, Polska

History

The first volume of Physiographic Studies of Western Poland appeared in print in 1948.

The idea to publish a journal was born in the Physiographic Committee of the Poznań Society of the Friends of Sciences (PTPN), which resolved to launch a research seeking to establish the physiography of Poland’s Regained Territories.

The articles included in the journal took up geological, geographical and biological problems. Its second volume appeared in 1950. In 1955 the Editorial Board decided to alternate a tome devoted to the Earth sciences with one containing biological papers. The third volume of the journal appeared after a few years’ break, in 1956, and only discussed geographical and geological issues.

The successive volumes of Physiographic Studies of Western Poland were usually devoted, in turns, to geological-geographical and biological issues. In 1968 the Editorial Board decided to publish the next volumes in two parallel series: A – Physical Geography, and B – Biology. With time, Series B started to embrace Series Botany, while Zoology formed Series C.

In October 2009, at the instance of the Dean of the Faculty of Geographical and Geological Sciences of Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, a meeting was organised of representatives of the PTPN, the Faculty of Geographical and Geological Sciences, and the Faculty of Biology. As a result of an agreement, the individual series were combined into a single journal.

Since 2010 Physiographic Studies of Western Poland has been coming out as a quarterly under the title Physiographic Studies in four series:

Series A – Physical Geography,
Series B – Botany,
Series C – Zoology,
Series D – Spatial Management.

It should be emphasised that Physiographic Studies continues the years-long tradition of its predecessor, the journal Physiographic Studies of Western Poland.