Focus and Scope

JOSIS encourages submissions from topics including, but not limited to spatial and spatiotemporal information systems; computational geometry, geocomputation, spatial algorithms; geovisualization, cartography, and geographical user interfaces; computing with spatiotemporal information under uncertainty; spatial cognition and qualitative spatial reasoning; spatial data models and structures; conceptual models of space and geoontology; distributed and parallel spatial computing, web-based GIS, and interoperability; context- and location-aware computing; and applications to GIS, spatial databases, location-based services, geosensor networks, and geosensor web. The journal publishes full-length original research articles, as well as survey-style review papers. In addition, the journal publishes shorter articles in three sections: reports from community activities, letters to the editors, and book reviews.

 

Section Policies

Research Articles

JOSIS publishes original, high-quality articles in spatial information science, spanning the theoretical foundations of spatial and geographical information science, through computation with geospatial information, to technologies for geographical information use.

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Review Articles

JOSIS publishes original, high quality review papers which survey and synthesize the research literature from a particular topic.

Checked Open Submissions Checked Indexed Checked Peer Reviewed

Letters to the Editors

The journal publishes letters to the editors.

Checked Open Submissions Checked Indexed Unchecked Peer Reviewed

Book Reviews

The journal publishes reviews of books in the field of spatial information science.

Checked Open Submissions Checked Indexed Unchecked Peer Reviewed

Community Activities

JOSIS encourages the submission articles reporting on community activities, such as workshop and conferences, that are of general interest to the spatial information science community. Articles about community activities do not require formal peer review, but will be reviewed and discussed by the editors. Please contact one of the JOSIS Editors-in-Chief before preparing your article if you would like to submit a community activity article.

Unchecked Open Submissions Checked Indexed Unchecked Peer Reviewed
 

Peer Review Process

JOSIS aims to publish the highest quality papers in the field of geographic information science, within the shortest possible time in review. The journal aims to provide the most rapid reviews possible, without compromising quality. Currently, our average time from submission to first review is 57 days, and we aim for no paper to require more than 3 months for a first review. Submissions to JOSIS are single-blind peer reviewed by three anonymous reviewers. In addition, the editors may take into account comments on submissions in review made through the discussion module of the JOSIS web site, especially in cases where reviews are delayed. For more information on the JOSIS reviewing process, see the Review Criteria below.

 

Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

 

JOSIS promotional material

JOSIS is a community run initiative, and relies on members of the GIScience community to spread the word! As a result, we encourage you to show your support for JOSIS by talking about JOSIS or taking promotional material to your next conference or workshop. We have the following materials for download:

 

Donations to JOSIS

JOSIS is non-fee, non-commercial, free to authors and to readers. However, even today, publishing is not free, and running JOSIS does incur some unavoidable costs (typically about $500 per year in costs for web hosting, domain name, and DOI registration). These costs are met entirely by volunteer donations. We gratefully accept donations of any size. Donations can be made via PayPal using any major credit card. Thank you.

 

Special features

JOSIS encourages researchers to propose topics for special feature issues. Special feature editors are expected to provide suggestions of appropriate reviewers, and are consulted by the EIC for advice on decisions for special issue papers. However, to ensure JOSIS standards are consistently applied, it is JOSIS policy that special feature submissions undergo exactly the same peer review process as regular JOSIS submissions, with the JOSIS EIC overseeing and making final decisions on acceptance of papers. As a consequence, it should be noted that the number of papers in a special feature is never a consideration in acceptance or rejection of submissions to a special feature issue (i.e., there is no minimum number of accepted papers in a special feature). Assuming at least one paper is accepted for a special feature issue, special feature editors are also invited to provide brief editorial introductions to the special feature article(s).

 

Review Criteria

Reviewers are asked to consider the following six criteria when assessing submitted research articles.

1. Scientific and technical quality: Is the submission technically sound? Are the submission's claims and conclusions adequately supported?
2. Evaluation: Does the paper present an objective (experimental or theoretical) evaluation of its results? If not, how are the results evaluated, and is the evaluation convincing?
3. Significance: How important is the work reported? Does the submission address a challenging theoretical or practical issue? Does the work integrate ideas from, or have interesting implications across multiple disciplines?
4. Originality: Does the submission address a new issue, present a new approach to an issue, or put forward a novel combination of existing ideas or techniques? Does the submission correctly situate itself within the context of existing research literature?
5. Style and presentation: Is the submission clearly written and logically structured? Does the submission provide adequate motivation and interesting conclusions? Are the results clearly described and critically evaluated?
6. Scope and relevance to JOSIS: Is the paper closely related to the themes of the journal? Is the content interesting to the journal readership? Is the submission written in a form readable for a multi-disciplinary audience?

 

Prior publications

In keeping with common practice in computer science (e.g., see ACM Prior Publication Policy http://www.acm.org/publications/policies/sim_submissions/) JOSIS does allow the submission of revised or extended versions of papers that have appeared previously in refereed or formally reviewed publications elsewhere if:


  • The paper has been substantially revised and/or extended, and there is significant additional benefit from republication. As a rule of thumb, at least 1/3 of the material in the paper should be original and not previously published.
  • Upon submission, the author notifies the EIC that the paper has been previously published. Authors must also include with their submission a copy of the previously published article and a summary of the important differences along with their submission (which will be made available to reviewers).
  • The submitted paper cites the prior publication in section 1 of the paper, clearly identifying the relationship to the previous work.
  • The policies of the conference or publication involved in the prior publication do not prohibit its publication in JOSIS.

Where applicable, it is the authors' responsibility to ensure permission for publication is obtained from copyright holder of the prior publication. Simultaneous submissions, where the publication is currently under review for another outlet, are under no circumstances permitted, even if the submission would otherwise fulfill the criteria above. Issuing the paper as a technical report, posting the paper on a web site, or presenting the paper at a workshop or conference that does not publish formally reviewed proceedings does not disqualify it from JOSIS publication.

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Articles in JOSIS are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.