“Addressing the global challenges facing society, such as natural hazards and climate change, requires the open and transparent exchange of knowledge and ideas, and this Journal enables that exchange and increases collaboration between academia and the financial services industry.”
Prof Len Shaffrey, Professor of Climate Science, National Centre for Atmospheric Science, University, of Reading
The Journal of Catastrophe Risk and Resilience (JCRR), is a diamond open-access interdisciplinary research journal with a broad remit encompassing natural hazards, catastrophe risk, and the societal and institutional response to their management. It publishes original research, reviews, and commentary from scientists, researchers, practitioners, and decision makers across academia and the private sector on a variety of topics including: the monitoring and modelling of hazards, exposure and vulnerability; catastrophe risk management; and mitigation and adaptation strategy design by governments, NGOs, and businesses.
JCRR is a diamond open-access interdisciplinary research journal with a broad remit encompassing natural hazards, catastrophe risk, and the societal and institutional response to their management. It publishes original research, reviews, and commentary from scientists, researchers, practitioners, and decision makers across academia and the private sector on a variety of topics including: the monitoring and modelling of hazards, exposure and vulnerability; catastrophe risk management; and mitigation and adaptation strategy design by governments, NGOs, and businesses.
The Journal aims to:
• Provide a forum for experts in both academia and industry to publish the methods and results of their research
• Remove some of the barriers to publication erected by traditional academic journals
• Foster a spirit of collaboration and methodological openness amongst industrial practitioners
• Make relevant academics visible to an industry which can consume and utilise their research
• Generate impact through the definition and maintenance of best practice
• Command a dedicated readership amongst catastrophe researchers, model vendors, and academic geoscientists
• Cultivate new avenues of interdisciplinary collaboration in academia to strengthen the link-fundamental to catastrophe risk research – between physics-and economics-adjacent fields
Governance
Members of the Supervisory and Editorial Boards work in the interests of the journal in upholding its values and ensuring it remains functional. They do not receive compensation for this, and work solely as individuals interested in advancing catastrophe research, multi-sector collaboration, and transparency. They do not work in the interest (commercial or otherwise) of themselves or their employers.
Article types
The journal publishes four types of article:
- Research Article: Traditional, long-form academic articles presenting a novel idea with significant results, validating the methods, and contextualising results in the wider literature.
- Research Note: Short-form summary articles of original research, with lower requirement for novelty and contextualisation
- Review: A high-impact overview of a subject within the journal scope, providing a broader perspective with wide appeal.
- Comment: Perspectives, solicited by the Editorial Board, to provoke discussion and set a wider research agenda.
Types 1–3 are peer-reviewed, the process of which is described in the following section.
Peer-review process
1. Authors must upload their research article, research note, or review (based on our Article Template) through the JCRR Submission Form, where they will need to recommend at least three expert reviewers and an appropriate Handling Editor from the Editorial Board.
2. The Managing Editor will assign articles to a Handling Editor, drawn from the Editorial Board based on their expertise and availability. The Managing Editor will do some basic checks to ensure the article adheres to our guidelines.
3. Handling Editors make the initial decision on whether to:
i) send the article out for review, or
ii) reject it.
4. If (3i), the Handling Editor assigns at least two expert reviewers from academia or industry, who will review the paper in line with our Peer-Review Guidelines.
5. The Handling Editor makes a decision, based on expert reviewer input and their own judgement guided by our Aims & Scope (as detailed above), whether to:
i) Accept: accept the article as is.
ii) Revise: to require revisions to the submission from the author. The authors will receive review comments from the Handling Editor to guide their manuscript revision.
iii) Reject: reject the article for publication. The authors will receive review comments from the Handling Editor justifying their decision.
6. The next stage depends upon the Handling Editor’s decision:
i) If Accept (5i), the Managing Editor will format and copy edit and stage the article for publication.
ii) If Revise (5ii), the authors will resubmit a revised manuscript, with changes tracked, as well as a point-by-point response to each of the editorial and reviewer comments. The Handling Editor then decides whether to:
a) seek further review (4) of the revised manuscript, or
b) make a decision without further review (5)
Solicited comments
Comments are invitation-only. For a member of the Editorial Board to invite a Comment, a second member of the Editorial Board must support the solicitation. Both Handling Editors may discuss the initial submission with the author(s) and request edits, but the article will not be sent out for wider peer-review. Once the article is accepted by the Handling Editors, it must be approved by the Chair of the Editorial Board before being copyedited and staged for publication.
Prospective contributors may indicate their interest in submitting a Comment piece with a brief outline of their topic and views. These will be considered on a case-by-case basis. If a primary and secondary Handling Editor support the contribution, they may solicit a Comment as per the process outlined above.
Review and editorial guidelines
Articles published in JCRR are those deemed by editors to be within its scope, contributing towards its aims, and (where relevant) satisfying independent reviewers that it meets high standards of scientific significance and quality. Reviewers will assess submitted articles using the following criteria:
- Relevance: whether the article addresses relevant concepts within the scope of the journal
- Novelty: whether the article presents new ideas, concepts, methods, or results
- Validity: whether the scientific methods are valid
- Significance: whether the article represents a significant contribution to the community’s understand of catastrophe risk and resilience
- Clarity: whether the article is well-written with clear figures and a logical structure
- Accuracy: whether the article’s title, abstract, key points, and conclusions are unambiguous, understandable, and supported by the results obtained
- Conciseness: whether the article uses precise, broadly consumable, technical language of optimal length
- References: whether the article cites appropriate related work and discusses and recognises relevant contributions to the literature
Editorial Board
The Editorial Board will consist of representatives of the Members or Supporters as available and will meet once a month. The monthly editorial meetings will be chaired by a Director of the company.
The Editorial Board principally manages everything related to the article submissions to the Journal. They take editorial decisions on submissions, manage the peer-review process, and ensure published articles reflect the scope and spirit of the Journal. A quorum of the Editorial Board can veto or retract articles. The Chair of the Editorial Board is appointed by the Supervisory Board. Members of the Editorial Board are appointed by a quorum of the Editorial Board.
Supervisory Board
The Supervisory Board will consist of the following representatives:
The day to day editing and management of the Journal website and quarterly newsletter is undertaken by a professional editorial team, led by Lysander PR.
The Company is a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee. This means that it does not have shares or shareholders, but instead it has Members. Its day-to-day management is carried out by the Directors and the Supervisory Board.
All decisions relating to material funding commitments of the Company (being expenditure of more than an amount to be set by the Members from time to time) and other material changes to the Company’s structure and governance will be taken by the Members at general meetings.
We would ask Members to attend quarterly general meetings of the Company in such locations as the membership determines.
The Company’s Board of Directors (the “Supervisory Board”) is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Company, reporting to the Members.
Each Member has the right to appoint, or remove, a Director from the Board, in accordance with the Articles of the Company.
Members shall be required to pay an annual subscription fee of £5,000, or such other amount as is subsequently agreed by the Members.
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