About the Journal

Gaia Scientia is an online journal, edited by the Graduate Program in Development and Environment - PRODEMA, from the Federal University of Paraíba. Launched in 2007, the journal is intended for the dissemination of original and unpublished technical-scientific articles or reviews (special cases, only by prior consultation to the Editor-in-Chief of the journal or by invitation), in the area of Environmental Sciences. Exceptionally, the journal may publish Special Editions of current and relevant themes to the area of Environmental Sciences. Manuscripts prepared must be intended exclusively for the Gaia Scientia journal, and its simultaneous submission to another journal is not allowed. In the focus of the published works, we consider research developed in the most diverse branches of the Environmental Sciences area, including works in the interface with Anthropology/ Environmental Sociology, Environmental Economics, human actions for threat or conservation of Biodiversity and Environmental Impacts, Environmental Engineering, Ethnobiology, Human and Environmental Geography, Health and Environment, Environmental Technologies, among others.

Journal history

The Gaia Scientia began to be published in 2007 as an initiative to disseminate interdisciplinary work, a profile that concur with that of the Graduate Program in Development and Environment (PRODEMA). Despite being a journal headquartered at the Federal University of Paraíba, PRODEMA is a program supported by a network of seven universities in the Northeast, all focused on research with scope in the area of Environmental Sciences.

Over these 13 years, the journal has been under the command of four editors-in-chief, having undergone adjustments both in its editorial policy and in the frequency of publications, in order to meet the quality practices for publication. The Gaia Scientia has technical and digital support from UFPB’s Journal Portal.

Publication periodicity

The Gaia Scientia receives articles submissions throughout the year, with no interruption in the flow of evaluations. Since 2017, four editions are published annually.

Indexing

The Gaia Scientia is an open access journal published online (ISSN 1981-1268). The journal is indexed on the following platforms:

  • Latindex (Online Regional Information System for Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal (http://www.latindex.unam.mx/buscador/ficRev.html?folio=16462)
  • Open Academic Journals Index
  • CiteFactor Academic Scientific Journal
  • JIIFactor
  • Google Scholar
  • ABEC - Brazilian Association of Scientific Editors

Intellectual property

All contents of the journal are licensed under a Creative Commons attribution BY-NC 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). That is, the content may be copied, adapted or modified, as long as the origin, authorship and changes made are indicated and provided that it is for non-commercial use. All contents of the journal has online publication, open and free access.

Support / Sponsors

  • Federal University of Paraíba
  • FAPESQ - Research Support Foundation of the State of Paraíba
  • CAPES - Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel

Scope, policy and editorial process

The GAIA SCIENTIA Journal is intended for the dissemination of original and unpublished technical-scientific articles or reviews (special cases, only by prior consultation to the Editor-in-Chief of the journal or by invitation), in the area of Environmental Sciences. Exceptionally, the journal may publish Special Editions of current and relevant themes to the area of Environmental Sciences. In the focus of the published works, we consider research developed in the most diverse branches of the Environmental Sciences area, including works in the interface with Anthropology/ Environmental Sociology, Environmental Economics, human actions for threat or conservation of Biodiversity and Environmental Impacts, Environmental Engineering, Ethnobiology, Human and Environmental Geography, Health and Environment, Environmental Technologies, among others.

After submission, all submitted manuscripts will be pre-analyzed by the Editor-in-Chief, who will check the profile, relevance, structure, ethical issues and merit for publication. If necessary, updates according to the journal’s rules may be requested. If the author does not respond within 15 (fifteen days) the article shall be rejected. Since the manuscript is in the journal’s format, it will be submitted to a similarity program with previously published texts. We are currently using the iThenticate. Manuscripts that meet all preliminary criteria will be forwarded to the peer review process. The order of submission does not guarantee the order of publication. The publication of accepted articles relies on the approval in the entire editorial process.

Free Access Policy

This journal offers immediate free access to its content, following the principle that making scientific knowledge freely available to the public provides greater worldwide democratization of knowledge.

Peer Review Process

Each manuscript shall be evaluated by two ad hoc reviewers, in an optional double-blind evaluation system. If the reviewers or authors accept, they can request the identification during the review process.

Reviewers must pay attention to the COPE Ethical Guidelines (https://publicationethics.org/files/Code_of_conduct_for_journal_editors_Mar11.pdf), undertaking not to reveal names, contents or any other details of the work analyzed. Neutrality and impartiality should guide the process and the reviewer should have no conflict of interest. All reviewers will be doctors, specialists in the field of knowledge of the manuscript.

If changes are requested, the evaluations and/or opinions will be sent back to the authors, who must return the corrected version mandatorily accompanied by a reply letter, listing the changes made and responding to the evaluators’ analyses/opinions. The Editor-in-Chief, who will issue a final opinion on the process, shall analyze the new version of the manuscript.

In the event that the manuscript is accepted by a reviewer and rejected by another, the manuscript may be sent to a third reviewer, at the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief, who will give the final opinion on the acceptance or refusal.

Accepted manuscripts will be sent to the final layout process. In this process, the author will no longer be able to make any significant changes to the text, which will be subject to a new evaluation process. If rejected, the entire submission and evaluation process remains on file in the journal’s system.

Ethical issues and protocol in case of misconduct

The Gaia Scientia follows COPE guidelines (https://publicationethics.org/files/Code_of_conduct_for_journal_editors_Mar11.pdf) regarding all questions and ethical factors of scientific work.

We emphasize the importance of ethical compliance for one and all involved in the editorial process:

  • Authors: the list of authors must reflect those people who effectively contributed to the elaboration of the work, whether in intellectual participation for its conception and/or methodological development and writing, and in the approval of the final version of the manuscript. The activities developed by each person must be specified in the manuscript file. People with punctual participation in the article or who have had any kind of collaboration may be mentioned in the Acknowledgments section. Another essential criterion is for the author to be aware that there is no conflict of interest and to declare funding agencies. It is still expected that the text has its own writing by the authors, with no copies from other sources and that the ideas presented, when not from the authors, are properly referenced.
  • Reviewers: the reviewers must carry out analysis of the manuscript independently and without bias, adopting scientific technical criteria and guaranteeing the confidentiality of the process. The reviewers are committed to sending their evaluations within the established deadlines.
  • Editors: they must ensure that the editorial steps described in the journal’s standards are followed and that the editorial process follows as quickly as possible.

The Gaia Scientia values the originality of the work, being extremely demanding in relation to the quality of the writing. Plagiarism cases, identification of misconduct, conflict of interest or other action that compromises scientific seriousness, if proven, lead to the refusal of the manuscript. The authors can be consulted for clarification, if necessary. Currently, the manuscripts are checked for similarity with other texts already published via iThenticate, when a qualitative analysis of the generated report is made.

In cases of denunciation for plagiarism, misconduct, complaints for authorship issues and conflicts of interest in articles already published, the journal will proceed according to the rules of COPE and, if the denunciation is proven, the article can be retracted partially or totally (cancellation of the Publication).

The Gaia Scientia is entirely aligned with the requirements regarding ethical issues in performing the research. Thus, all work must be approved by federal, state or municipal ethical standard bodies, according to the laws of the research location. In this regard:

  • Works with animals, when applicable, must be approved by the Committee on Ethics in the Use of Animals;
  • Works in Conservation Units must present approvals from Organs managing bodies (Sisbio or state or municipal departments);
  • Works with people must be approved by the Ethics Committee;
  • Works with traditional populations and indigenous peoples must be approved by Sisgen.

It is recommended that plants and animals deposited in collections, have the disclosure of the collections and the numbers of the vouchers informed.

Information storage policy

The Gaia Scientia is concerned and committed to the registration of the editorial process, maintaining a long-term record of the entire process on its platform. The platform adopted is OJS 3 and is under the direction of the Electronic Portal for Scientific Journals / UFPB Publisher (https://periodicos.ufpb.br/capa/periodicos.php).