Ofioliti is an independent international journal with the main goal of diffusing the knowledge on ophiolites and modern oceanic lithosphere. In 35 years of activity, Ofioliti published high-quality original papers dealing with geodynamics, petrology, geochemistry, stratigraphy, tectonics, biostratigraphy and palaeogeography. From the June 2011 issue, the Ofioliti journal is presenting to the international scientific community an important change in its editorial scope.
The Ofioliti journal is present in all the bibliography main search engines and databases (Scopus, Science Citation Index Expanded, ISI Alerting Service, Current Contents/Phy. Chem. & Earth Science, Geobase, Geological Abstract, Georef, Pascal Thema etc.). Ofioliti is in the ISI journal catalogue since 1998, with an Impact Factor (IF) that places it at medium-high levels in the "Geology" category (17th out of 48, corresponding to the Q2 quartile of the category). The IF over the last 5 years is 1.35 (1.52 in 2010).
From the June 2011 issue, the Ofioliti journal is presenting to the international scientific community an important change in its editorial scope. Ofioliti aims to become a fundamental journal for the publication and promotion of scientific knowledge of the modern oceanic lithosphere. The journal will still remain a key reference for all researchers devoted to the understanding of ophiolites and meta-ophiolites in mountain belts from all over the world.
Ofioliti's Editorial Committee now has five editors. Benoît Ildefonse, from CNRS/Montpellier 2 University, France, and Aral Okay, from the Technical University of Istanbul, Turkey, joined Valerio Bortolotti, Michele Marroni and Riccardo Tribuzio as Chief-Editors. The Editorial Board is also largely renewed, with many experts in the different disciplines related to both the ophiolites and the modern oceanic lithosphere (http://www.edizioniets.com/ofioliti/board.htm).
The editorial policy of the Ofioliti journal is moving towards larger diffusion of the journal, and greater scientific impact of the published contributions. We ensure a rigorous peer-review process and a short publication time. In addition, Ofioliti is willing to become a “low-cost journal”. To favour a large diffusion of the journal, a free of charge distribution of the published contributions is being tested. This represents a radical choice, opposite to the general strategy of the main international editorial groups. All papers published in Ofioliti from 1998 to 2010 are now available online for free. Voluntary donations are welcome.
Manuscripts may now be submitted electronically to the journal, through its web site (http://www.edizioniets.com/ofioliti/). In October 2011, a new version of the Ofioliti web site will be available. The whole archive of past issues (since 1976) will then be available for downloading. We encourage all researchers working on ophiolites and/or on modern oceanic lithosphere to submit the results of their studies to Ofioliti, and we look forward to a fruitful collaboration with the international ocean lithosphere community.
Best regards,
The Editorial Committee
