Here I list Earth science journals that I regularly check and consider to have a rigorous process of review.
Journal Name | Subject | Publication Model | Description |
Nature | General science | Paywall and gold open access | Publishes “high impact” publications, usually on the cutting edge of the field, or in topics of societal impact. |
Science | General science | Paywall | Another “high impact” journal, though in my experience it publishes less Earth science papers than Nature |
Nature Communications | General science | Gold open access | Tends to publish papers with high potential impact, but likely were rejected from Nature. It usually publishes several Earth and environmental science papers every week, with a high concentration of papers with a climate science focus. |
Science Advances | General science | Gold open access | This journal also publishes a number of Earth science papers every week, with a larger variety of topics. |
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) | General science | Hybrid and gold open access | PNAS also tries to publish “high impact” publications. They publish weekly though not every issue has Earth science papers. They often publish papers that are of a more controversial nature, and so some caution should be taken on some of the bigger claims made in the papers published here. |
Nature Geoscience | General Earth Science | Paywall and gold open access | Nature Geoscience aims to be a “high impact” journal. Since it publishes monthly, there are only a few articles coming out every month. Because of that, it does not require frequent checking. |
Nature Climate Change | Climate sciences | Paywall and gold open access | This journal publishes on any topic related to climate sciences, and that includes papers related to climate impacts, social sciences and biology in addition to Earth science. |
Communications Earth & Environment | General Earth Science | Gold open access | This journal came out of nowhere a few years ago and now publishes many Earth science papers every week (probably taking in a lot of papers rejected from Nature Communications). There is no specific focus, but the quality of papers seems good in general. |
Quaternary Science Reviews | Paleoclimate and Quaternary geology | Paywall and gold open access | Probably the most popular paleoclimate journal, it usually has a few new articles every week. |
Climate of the Past | Paleoclimate | Gold open access | There are a number of paleoclimate papers coming out every week, plus many preprints that lets you see what is to come (and you can comment before publication if you like). |
Boreas | Paleoclimate and Quaternary geology | Gold open access | This journal tends to publish papers related to glaciation and climate variations during glacial periods. They often have a Europe focus. There tends to be about five new articles published per month. |
Journal of Quaternary Science | Paleoclimate and Quaternary geology | Paywall and gold open access | Similar to Boreas, but often with a British Isles focus. |
Quaternary Science Advances | Paleoclimate and Quaternary geology | Gold open access | An open access alternative to Quaternary Science Reviews, it publishes a few articles every month. |
Geology | Geology | Paywall and gold open access | Publishes short form papers of high significance in all fields of geology. New issues come out every month. |
Geophysical Research Letters | Geology and geophysics | Gold open access | Similar to Geology, it publishes short form papers of high significance, but with a larger emphasis on geophysical topics. Many papers are published every week, and contains many on the subjects of climate and cryospheric sciences. |
Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology | Paleoclimate | Paywall and gold open access | As the name implies, most of the papers here have a paleoclimate focus. Several papers are published every month. |
Journal of Glaciology | Glaciology | Gold open access | This journal publishes anything to do with ice, from glacial dynamics to the physics of ice skating. |
The Cryosphere | Glaciology | Gold open access | Publishes many glaciology papers, often with a climate focus. There are usually several preprints posted every week. |
Global and Planetary Change | Paleoclimate and geophysics | Paywall and gold open access | The main topics are relevant to paleoclimate and tectonics at geological time scales. |
Quaternary International | Paleoclimate and Quaternary geology | Paywall and gold open access | The official journal of the International Union for Quaternary Research. It regularly publishes special issues, but also publishes general papers on Quaternary sciences. |
Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology | Paleoclimate | Paywall and gold open access | Also known as Palaeo3. A broad paleoclimate journal covering any time period. They publish several papers per week. |
Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research | Cold climate environments | Gold open access | As the name suggests, they publish papers related to Arctic and polar regions, often with an environmental focus. There are a couple of dozen papers published each year. |
Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences | Geology and geophysics | Paywall and gold open access | Frequently publishes articles on Quaternary geology in Canada. |
The Holocene | Paleoclimate, Quaternary geology and archeaology | Paywall and gold open access | Focused on Earth science topics for the past 12,000 years. |
- Paywall: you have to pay to access the papers (or have access via an institution subscription)
- Gold open access: Authors pay to make the papers freely available to readers.
- Hybrid: Authors pay a smaller fee to make the papers freely available after a set amount of time (before which a subscription is needed)