The Anthropocene Review
Geography, Earth & Environmental Science | Global Change | Human Geography (General)
| Robert Costanza | University College London, UK |
| Anthony D. Barnosky | Stanford University, USA |
| Frans Berkhout | Kings College London, UK |
| John Dearing | University of Southampton, UK |
| Georgina Endfield | University of Liverpool, UK |
| Marina Fischer-Kowalski | University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna |
| Ida Kubiszewski | The Australian National University, Australia |
| Daniel Schillereff | King's College London, UK |
| Jan A. Zalasiewicz | University of Leicester, UK |
| Frank Oldfield | University of Liverpool, UK |
| Frank Biermann | Institute for Environmental Studies, Netherlands |
| John Birks | University of Bergen, Norway |
| Olman Segura Bonilla | Universidad Nacional, Costa Rica |
| Carole Crumley | Uppsala University, Sweden |
| Dalva Maria da Silva Matos | Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar), Brazil |
| Brynhildur Davidsdottir | University of Iceland, Iceland |
| Keith Dobney | University of Liverpool, UK |
| Angela Doku | Université de Genève, Switzerland |
| Erle C. Ellis | University of Maryland Baltimore, USA |
| Mike A. Ellis | British Geological Survey, UK |
| Lorenzo Fioramonti | University of Pretoria, South Africa |
| Carl Folke | The Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics, Sweden |
| Dorian Fuller | UCL, UK |
| Mesfin Tilahun Gelaye | Mekelle University, Ethiopia |
| Andrew S Goudie | University of Oxford, UK |
| Irene Gregory-Eaves | McGill University, Canada |
| Bertrand G. Guillaume | University of Technology of Troyes, France |
| Zhengtang Guo | Chinese Academy of Sciences, China |
| Helmut Haberl | University of Klagenfurt, Austria |
| Simon Haberle | Australian National University, Australia |
| David M. Hughes | Rutgers University, USA |
| Christian Isendahl | University of Gothenburg, Sweden |
| Thorsten Kiefer | PAGES - Past Global Changes, Switzerland |
| Sarah Krakoff | University of Colorado, USA |
| Anupama Krishnamurthy | French Institute of Pondicherry, India |
| Pushpam Kumar | UN Environment, Kenya |
| Cuauhtémoc León | Centro de Especialistas en Gestión Ambiental (CEGAM), Mexico |
| B. Larry Li | University of California at Riverside, USA |
| Eva Lövbrand | Linköping University, Sweden |
| N. Macdonald | University of Liverpool, UK |
| Anson Mackay | UCL, UK |
| Michel Masozera | WWF International, Rwanda |
| Raphael Mathevet | Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle & Evolutive, France |
| John A Matthews | Swansea University, UK |
| Anthony McMichael | The Australian National University, Australia |
| Karen O'Brien | University of Oslo, Norway |
| Kate Pickett | University of York, UK |
| Innocent Pikirayi | University of Pretoria, South Africa |
| Kristin Vala Ragnarsdóttir | University of Iceland, Iceland |
| Katherine Richardson | University of Copenhagen, Denmark |
| Daniel Richter | Duke University, USA |
| Paul Robbins | University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA |
| Neil Rose | UCL, UK |
| Bill Ruddiman | University of Virginia, USA |
| John Smol | Queen's University, Canada |
| Sverker Sörlin | Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden |
| Paul Sutton | University of Denver, USA |
| Peter Victor | York University, Canada |
| Davor Vidas | Fridtjof Nansen Institute, Norway |
| Colin Waters | University of Leicester, UK |
| Helga Weisz | Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany |
The Anthropocene Review is a transdisciplinary journal issued 3 times per year, bringing together peer-reviewed articles on all aspects of research pertaining to the Anthropocene from earth and environmental sciences, social sciences, material sciences, and humanities.
For more information, read the first editorial here.
This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this Journal. Open Access options are available - see section 2.3 below.
Please see our guidelines on prior publication and note that this Journal may accept submissions of papers that have been posted on pre-print servers; please alert the Editorial Office when submitting (contact details are at the end of these guidelines) and include the DOI for the preprint in the designated field in the manuscript submission system. Authors should not post an updated version of their paper on the preprint server while it is being peer reviewed for possible publication in the journal. If the article is accepted for publication, the author may re-use their work according to the journal's author archiving policy.
If your paper is accepted, you must include a link on your preprint to the final version of your paper.
- Editorial Policies
1.1 Peer review policy
1.2 Authorship
1.3 Acknowledgments
1.4 Funding
1.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
1.6 Data - Publishing Policies
2.1 Publication Ethics
2.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
2.3 Open Access and author archiving
2.4 Permissions
2.5 Research Data - Article types
- Submitting your manuscript
4.1 How to submit your manuscript
4.2 ORCID - Manuscript style
5.1 File types
5.2 Journal style
5.3 Reference style
5.4 Manuscript preparation
5.4.1 Your Title, Keywords and Abstracts: Helping readers find your article online
5.4.2 Corresponding author contact details
5.4.3 Guidelines for submitting artwork, figures and other graphics
5.4.4 Guidelines for submitting supplemental files
5.4.5 English language editing services - After acceptance
6.1 Proofs
6.2 E-Prints and Complimentary Copies
6.3 Sage production
6.4 Online First publication - Further information
The Anthropocene Review operates a strictly anonymous peer review process in which the reviewer’s name is withheld from the author and, the author’s name from the reviewer. The reviewer may at their own discretion opt to reveal their name to the author in their review but our standard policy practice is for both identities to remain concealed. Each manuscript is reviewed by at least two referees. All manuscripts are reviewed as rapidly as possible.
As part of the submission process you will be asked to provide the names of X peers who could be called upon to review your manuscript. Recommended reviewers should be experts in their fields and should be able to provide an objective assessment of the manuscript. Please be aware of any conflicts of interest when recommending reviewers. Examples of conflicts of interest include (but are not limited to) the below:
- The reviewer should have no prior knowledge of your submission
- The reviewer should not have recently collaborated with any of the authors
- Reviewer nominees from the same institution as any of the authors are not permittedPlease note that the Editors are not obliged to invite any recommended/opposed reviewers to assess your manuscript.
All parties who have made a substantive contribution to the article should be listed as authors. Principal authorship, authorship order, and other publication credits should be based on the relative scientific or professional contributions of the individuals involved, regardless of their status. A student is usually listed as principal author on any multiple-authored publication that substantially derives from the student’s dissertation or thesis.
Please note that AI chatbots, for example ChatGPT, should not be listed as authors. For more information see the policy on Use of ChatGPT and generative AI tools.
All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, or a department chair who provided only general support.
1.3.1 Third party submissions
Where an individual who is not listed as an author submits a manuscript on behalf of the author(s), a statement must be included in the Acknowledgements section of the manuscript and in the accompanying cover letter. The statements must:
• Disclose this type of editorial assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input
• Identify any entities that paid for this assistance
• Confirm that the listed authors have authorized the submission of their manuscript via third party and approved any statements or declarations, e.g. conflicting interests, funding, etc.Where appropriate, Sage reserves the right to deny consideration to manuscripts submitted by a third party rather than by the authors themselves.
1.3.2 Writing Assistance
Individuals who provided writing assistance, e.g. from a specialist communciations company, do not qualify as authors and so should be included in the Acknowledgements section. Authors must disclose any writing assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input – and identify the entity that paid for this assistance”).
It is not necessary to disclose use of language polishing services. Please supply any personal acknowledgements separately to the main text to facilitate anonymous peer review.
The Anthropocene Review requires all authors to acknowledge their funding in a consistent fashion under a separate heading. Please visit the Funding Acknowledgements page on the Sage Journal Author Gateway to confirm the format of the acknowledgment text in the event of funding, or state that: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
1.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
The Anthropocene Review encourages authors to include a declaration of any conflicting interests and recommends you review the good practice guidelines on the Sage Journal Author Gateway
Sage acknowledges the importance of research data availability as an integral part of the research and verification process for academic journal articles.
The Anthropocene Review requests all authors submitting any primary data used in their research articles if the articles are accepted to be published in the online version of the journal, or provide detailed information in their articles on how the data can be obtained. This information should include links to third-party data repositories or detailed contact information for third-party data sources. Data available only on an author-maintained website will need to be loaded onto either the journal’s platform or a third-party platform to ensure continuing accessibility. Examples of data types include but are not limited to statistical data files, replication code, text files, audio files, images, videos, appendices, and additional charts and graphs necessary to understand the original research. [The editor(s) may consider limited embargoes on proprietary data.] The editor(s) [can/will] also grant exceptions for data that cannot legally or ethically be released. All data submitted should comply with Institutional or Ethical Review Board requirements and applicable government regulations. For further information, please contact the editorial office.
Sage is committed to upholding the integrity of the academic record. We encourage authors to refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics’ International Standards for Authors and view the Publication Ethics page on the Sage Author Gateway.
2.1.1 Plagiarism
The Anthropocene Review and Sage take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. We seek to protect the rights of our authors and we always investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of articles published in the journal. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of the journal against malpractice. Submitted articles may be checked using duplication-checking software. Where an article is found to have plagiarised other work or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, or where authorship of the article is contested, we reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the article (removing it from the journal); taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the author’s institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies; banning the author from publication in the journal or all Sage journals, or appropriate legal action.
2.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
Before publication, Sage requires the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. Sage’s Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement is an exclusive licence agreement which means that the author retains copyright in the work but grants Sage the sole and exclusive right and licence to publish for the full legal term of copyright. Exceptions may exist where an assignment of copyright is required or preferred by a proprietor other than Sage. In this case copyright in the work will be assigned from the author to the society. For more information please visit our Frequently Asked Questions on the Sage Journal Author Gateway.
2.3 Open Access and author archiving
The Anthropocene Review offers optional open access publishing via the Sage Choice programme and Open Access agreements, where authors can publish open access either discounted or free of charge depending on the agreement with Sage. Find out if your institution is participating by visiting Open Access Agreements at Sage. For more information on Open Access publishing options at Sage please visit Sage Open Access. For information on funding body compliance, and depositing your article in repositories, please visit Sage’s Author Archiving and Re-Use Guidelines and Publishing Policies.
Authors are responsible for obtaining permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. For further information including guidance on fair dealing for criticism and review, please visit our Frequently Asked Questions on the Sage Journal Author Gateway
The journal is committed to facilitating openness, transparency and reproducibility of research, and has the following research data sharing policy. For more information, including FAQs please visit the Sage Research Data policy pages.
Subject to appropriate ethical and legal considerations, authors are encouraged to:
- share your research data in a relevant public data repository
- include a data availability statement linking to your data. If it is not possible to share your data, we encourage you to consider using the statement to explain why it cannot be shared.
- cite this data in your research.
Research articles:
High-impact research papers that contain original data, present innovative interpretations or address significant methodological or conceptual issues. Research articles should not normally exceed 6,000 words, with a maximum of 10,000 words in exceptional cases. We envisage 3 research articles per issue.
Reviews:
Authoritative and stimulating reviews on any theme relating to the Anthropocene. Review articles should be written in a way that will allow them to attract and be accessible to a wide range of readers across different disciplines. Review articles should not exceed 12,000 words in length.
Perspectives and Controversies:
Brief contributions (not normally exceeding 2,000 words) on controversial issues likely to generate debate between colleagues with different outlooks and opinions, or to develop original perspectives on any aspect of the Anthropocene.
4.1. How to submit your manuscript
Before submitting your manuscript, please ensure you carefully read and adhere to all the guidelines and instructions to authors provided below. Manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned.
We strongly encourage potential contributors of research articles and reviews to submit a short proposal (no longer than 300 words) before completing their manuscript. Contributors will then be advised by the editorial board as to the potential suitability of their article for The Anthropocene Review. Proposals should allow non-specialist members of the editorial board to understand the aims, scope and content of the intended contribution.
All interested should, in the first instance, contact Editor Robert Costanza (rcostanz@gmail.com), Tony Barnosky (North American Editor; barnosky@berkeley.edu) or an Associate Editor: Frans Berkhout (frans.berkhout@kcl.ac.uk) John Dearing (J.Dearing@soton.ac.uk), Marina Fischer-Kowalski (Marina.Fischer-Kowalski@aau.at), John McNeill (mcneillj@georgetown.edu), Will Steffen (will.steffen@anu.edu.au) or Jan Zalasiewicz (jaz1@leicester.ac.uk).
The Anthropocene Review is hosted on Sage Track, a web based online submission and peer review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts. Please read the Manuscript Submission guidelines below, and then simply visit http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/anthropocene to login and submit your article online.
IMPORTANT: Please check whether you already have an account in the system before trying to create a new one. If you have reviewed or authored for the journal in the past year it is likely that you will have had an account created. For further guidance on submitting your manuscript online please visit ScholarOne Online Help.
All papers must be submitted via the online system. If you would like to discuss your paper prior to submission, please refer to the contact details above.
Those interested in posting blogs or developing podcasts should contact Dan Schillereff (Editorial Assistant; dns@liverpool.ac.uk).
Each manuscript should contain:
(i) title page with full title and subtitle (if any).
(ii) abstract of 100-150 words
(iii) up to 10 key words
(iv) main text to be clearly organized, with a clear hierarchy of headings and subheadings and quotations exceeding 40 words displayed, indented, in the text. Texts of a length greatly exceeding this will be considered as interest warrants and space permits
(v) end notes, if necessary, should be signalled by superscript numbers in the main text and listed at the end of the text before the references.
As part of our commitment to ensuring an ethical, transparent and fair peer review process Sage is a supporting member of ORCID, the Open Researcher and Contributor ID. ORCID provides a unique and persistent digital identifier that distinguishes researchers from every other researcher, even those who share the same name, and, through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, supports automated linkages between researchers and their professional activities, ensuring that their work is recognized.
We encourage all authors and co-authors to link their ORCIDs to their accounts in our online peer review platforms. It takes seconds to do: click the link when prompted, sign into your ORCID account and our systems are automatically updated. We collect ORCID IDs during the manuscript submission process and your ORCID ID then becomes part of your accepted publication’s metadata, making your work attributable to you and only you. Your ORCID ID is published with your article so that fellow researchers reading your work can link to your ORCID profile and from there link to your other publications.
If you do not already have an ORCID ID please follow this link to create one or visit our ORCID homepage to learn more.
Only electronic files conforming to the journal's guidelines will be accepted. Preferred formats for the text and tables of your manuscript are Word DOC and RTF. Please also refer to additional guideline on submitting artwork below.
The Anthropocene Review conforms to the Sage house style. Click here to review guidelines on Sage UK House Style.
For an example of the journal style, please refer to the first editorial.
The Anthropocene Review adheres to the Sage Harvard reference style. Click here to review the guidelines on Sage Harvard to ensure your manuscript conforms to this reference style.
For an example of the journal’s reference style, please see the first editorial.
If you use EndNote to manage references, download the Sage Harvard output style by following this link and or search for ‘Sage Harvard’. Save the ens. file to the appropriate folder (normally for Windows C:\Program Files\EndNote\Styles and for Mac OS X Harddrive:Applications:EndNote:Styles). Once you’ve done this, open EndNote and choose “Select Another Style...” from the dropdown menu in the menu bar; locate and choose this new style from the following screen.
The text should be double-spaced throughout and with a minimum of 3cm for left and right hand margins and 5cm at head and foot. Text should be standard 10 or 12 point.
5.4.1 Keywords and Abstracts: Helping readers find your article online
The title, keywords and abstract are key to ensuring readers find your article online through online search engines such as Google. Please refer to the information and guidance on how best to title your article, write your abstract and select your keywords by visiting Sage’s Journal Author Gateway Guidelines on How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online.
5.4.2 Corresponding Author Contact details
Provide full contact details for the corresponding author including email, mailing address and telephone numbers. Academic affiliations are required for all co-authors. These details should be presented separately to the main text of the article to facilitate anonymous peer review.
5.4.3 Guidelines for submitting artwork, figures and other graphics
For guidance on the preparation of illustrations, pictures and graphs in electronic format, please visit Sage’s Manuscript Submission Guidelines.
Figures supplied in colour will appear in colour online regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in colour in the printed version. For specifically requested colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Sage after receipt of your accepted article.
5.4.4 Guidelines for submitting supplemental files
This journal is able to host approved supplemental materials online, alongside the full-text of articles. Supplemental files will be subjected to peer-review alongside the article. For more information please refer to Sage’s Guidelines for Authors on Supplemental Files.
5.4.5 English Language Editing services
Non-English speaking authors who would like to refine their use of language in their manuscripts might consider using a professional editing service. Visit English Language Editing Services on our Journal Author Gateway for further information.
We will email a PDF of the proofs to the corresponding author.
Sage provides authors with access to a PDF of their final article. For further information please visit Offprints and Reprints on our Journal Author Gateway.
At Sage we place an extremely strong emphasis on the highest production standards possible. We attach high importance to our quality service levels in copy-editing, typesetting, printing, and online publication (http://online.sagepub.com/). We also seek to uphold excellent author relations throughout the publication process.
We value your feedback to ensure we continue to improve our author service levels. On publication all corresponding authors will receive a brief survey questionnaire on your experience of publishing in The Anthropocene Review with Sage.
A large number of journals benefit from OnlineFirst, a feature offered through Sage’s electronic journal platform, Sage Journals Online. It allows final revision articles (completed articles in queue for assignment to an upcoming issue) to be hosted online prior to their inclusion in a final print and online journal issue which significantly reduces the lead time between submission and publication. For more information please visit our OnlineFirst Fact Sheet.
Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the Manuscript Submission process should be sent to the Editorial Office as follows:
Dan Schillereff
Editorial Assistant, The Anthropocene Review
Email: dns@liverpool.ac.uk