This is the first time that I submitted to this journal, the paper has just got accepted, and I’m going to share my experience. This work of mine has started about 4 years ago, and the formal preparations started 2 years ago. It was in the direction of the inversion that I haven't done before. It took about a year to start learning inversion methods, programming, and practice. After the initial results came out, I felt great and started writing a paper (about a month). After the manuscript was completed, I was so excited and submitted it to Nature Communications and EPSL, but it was rejected without being sent to external review, which seemed to be two heavy blows to me. Then I submitted it to JGR-SE, but it was another blow to me. The advice given by the deputy editor-in-chief was a direct rejection and a suggestion to revise and resubmit. Well, I will do my best to modify it and submit again. About 1 month after the resubmission, I got 2 review comments, and both reviewers were experts. One expert required a major revision and gave a lot of comments (very helpful for me to study and revise the article in the future), another one required a minor revision, but there were also many comments. After 3 months of revision, I submitted the manuscript again. After about a month or so, we got the review comments. This time both reviewers had positive comments (both required minor revisions), but they gave a bunch of suggestions. The deputy editor and editor in chief required a major revision. We modified it for another month and submitted it. After about a week, I got the email notifying the acceptance. The other mountains looks higher, and I will continue to climb.

(34) Thank | 北图

A Nature Index journal. For my first submission, Prof. Yehuda Ben-Zion rejected it. The research point is very good but not well written. It was returned to the editorial office after half a year, with a major revision and a minor revision required. The comments were very good, the control is very professional. It was submitted to the editorial office again after revisions made, and then it was accepted after a minor revision. You need to have good ideas, good data, and solid writing skills. After all, it is a Nature Index journal. As the 4th poster said, even for scholars in the field of earth sciences from Harvard University, Stanford University, and California Institute of Technology, etc., publishing a paper in JGR is usually regarded as a widely recognized academic achievement.

(48) Thank | Gravityzhang

I have submitted two articles, let’s talk about the experience. It took three months for the review of first article, and it was suggested to resubmit after revision. After half a year of revision, it took another half a year for revision, and finally it was accepted. It took three months for the review of second article, and it was accepted directly after a major revision and a minor revision. Generally speaking, submission is difficult, as long as you work hard, it can always be accepted. The comments given by the reviewers are often very insightful which greatly improves the quality of the manuscript. It deserves to be indexed by the Nature Index!

(80) Thank | CNS

The reviewers are slow. The two reviewers and the editors believe that I should supplement the experiment or they will reject the manuscript.

(0) Thank | 904654089@qq.com

Two kinds, one is outstanding, the other is a direct rejection.

(0) Thank | ethan-2023

Good game, good player.

(0) Thank | 多孔介质

Excuse me, is this considered as "G"?

(0) Thank | 云自无心

Have you heard any news or updates?

(0) Thank | zero

Hello, may I ask how long does the Initial Quality Control Started at the back continue until the next stage? It has been 6 days and I haven't heard anything yet.

(0) Thank | fzuhhuzzy

It has been seven days since the submission, but there has been no response yet, only "Initial Quality Control Started" displayed.

(0) Thank | 放你们撒大家

Rock mechanics. The experience of submission is not good. Three manuscripts were rejected after revision, which wasted a lot of time. The requirements for resubmission to JGR are different from other journals, as they require converting images to PDF before uploading, which is very time-consuming. It would be better to reject the manuscript directly if it is deemed unsuitable, rather than making the author spend a long time revising it only to get such a result. Furthermore, if the review comments are constructive, it can improve the quality of the manuscript, but many comments are inexplicable and the reviewers may not be very professional. Also, it seems that the journal shows favoritism towards manuscripts with prominent North American researchers, as they may find various reasons to reject submissions that do not have such names attached, such as not fitting the scope or being considered incremental work. However, many papers with prominent North American researchers as authors have been published despite being incremental work. If the article is in the field of seismology, it may be worth a try, but for rock mechanics or rock physics, it is advised to be cautious with submissions, unless there are prominent North American researchers as authors

(0) Thank | 知行合一199

The article was first submitted in 2021, and the first review suggested revisions before resubmission. After making revisions for over half a year, the article was resubmitted and received minor revisions in the review comments. The subsequent minor revisions were mostly language-related issues. The manuscript has now been accepted for publication, and the editors at JGR, including the external reviewers and the editorial team, have been very diligent. The submission experience has been very positive

(0) Thank | 神奇小饼干

NI goalkeeper, a highly recognized journal in the industry, with deputy editors and reviewers being industry experts from institutions such as MIT. The requirement for article innovation is relatively lower compared to journals like Geology. As long as the content is detailed and the logic is rigorous, the chances of acceptance are not low. The entire research was planned three years ago and after several mentors carefully revised it for over a year before submission. It was finally accepted after minor revisions

(4) Thank | 最初的梦想_H

This journal is still good, and the journal of Geology Frontiers and Journal of Paleogeography are indeed not as good as this old journal!

(0) Thank | 地质小袁

Indeed, some Chinese deputy editors dare not leave their names when making blind comments

(0) Thank | tcdzs

Editor only checked for three minutes! It doesn't match, now completely inclined towards geological direction.

Decision Made; E-mail Confirmation Sent 2023-07-13 10:54:36
Awaiting Editor Decision 2023-07-13 10:54:36
Waiting for Associate Editor Assignment 2023-07-13 10:51:14
Editor Assigned 2023-07-13 10:51:14
Waiting for Editor Assignment 2023-07-11 14:33:00
Initial Quality Control Complete 2023-07-11 14:33:00

(0) Thank | FreddieColeone

The editor-in-chief is alright, but some of the deputy editors are really incompetent. They make blind comments without even understanding the content of the articles.

(0) Thank | moyang

The submission experience of JGR:SE is simply excellent, and every process is quite efficient! Here is an approximate timeline for reference:

2022.12.09 - Submitted
2022.12.27 - Under Review
2023.01.30 - Waiting for Revision (Major)
2023.03.30 - Preliminary Manuscript Data Submitted (Revised)
2023.05.17 - Waiting for Revision (Minor)
2023.06.02 - Decision Made (Accepted)

It took about six months from start to finish. During the major revision, although the reviewers expressed very positive evaluations of the manuscript, they still provided many comments. The original article was only 26 pages long, but the comments on the revised version amounted to nearly 35 pages. The reviewers' comments covered everything from small language and formatting issues to major model flaws. Overall, the manuscript quality has greatly improved, truly worthy of NI (presumably referring to the journal's reputation). 

Furthermore, the submission process was not delayed. It is a pity that it was classified as a second-tier journal by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The quality and submission experience of JGR surpasses some first-tier journals of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, where it takes three months from submission to review.

(6) Thank | Treusw

Our college has its own internal standards for evaluating awards and assessments for outstanding students, as well as for assessment of young teachers. We no longer pay attention to the Chinese Academy of Sciences' regional classification table, as it is a self-created and unrealistic thing. Everyone involved in scientific research knows the ranking of journals such as JGR:SE, JGR:ES, Tectonics, and GRL. Similarly, the ranking of journals like Earth Science Frontiers and Journal of Paleogeography is well known to every researcher.

(0) Thank | 野外出到昏厥

No APC fee, unless you are Open Access!

(0) Thank | 北图

No page fees, but the journals under AGU should charge article processing charges (APC).

(0) Thank | 多孔介质

May I ask if there is a fee for page layout after being hired? Thank you.

(0) Thank | znb

Very fortunately, JGR was selected in the end. Two reviewers provided 140 suggestions for modification. After three rounds of overall revisions, the quality of the article has greatly improved. It is indeed worthy of being a Nature Index journal!

(76) Thank | 多孔介质

Learn from the original poster and keep up the good work in writing papers at this level.

(0) Thank | 小王12106

This journal is a natural index journal, although the impact factor is a bit low. The reviewers are quite professional and directly rejected my nonsensical paper. :)

(91) Thank | MMM