Editorial policy

Australian Geomechanics is published quarterly, in March, June, September and December, by the Australian Geomechanics Society. The magazine is edited and produced by the Australian Geomechanics Society. It provides a journal and news magazine for matters of interest to the Australian geotechnical community. The statements made or opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of the AGS.

Whilst the authors of papers retain copyright, submission of a paper for publication implies that the author gives AGS permission to copy and distribute papers in hardcopy format as well as in electronic format. Furthermore, permission is given for the sale of individual papers or compilations by AGS to benefit AGS members as well as for the supply of paper abstracts to third parties so that papers can be catalogued and made findable in bibliographic databases.

The Editorial Panel of Australian Geomechanics seeks contributions for future editions. The following comments are offered to assist would-be contributors.

Contributions can include: refereed technical papers; technical papers or notes; or news items and reports.

Technical papers can be refereed to ensure that they are of a standard similar to those published in international geotechnical journals. Authors should aim for a maximum overall length of no more than 10 pages, although shorter papers or technical notes are particularly welcome. Authors should indicate if they want their submission to be refereed; the status of the paper will be indicated on publication.

Submissions must be accompanied by a signed Author Declaration Form.

Refereed technical papers should be original and:

• Papers on geotechnical engineering, engineering geology and environmental geomechanics. Papers should be topical, practically oriented and preferably of national interest. Case studies describing innovative geotechnical work are particularly encouraged.
• Papers on geotechnical or geoscience research undertaken in Australia or of relevance to Australian Geomechanics. These should clearly indicate their practical relevance and limitations.
• Authoritative reviews of aspects of geotechnical practice or aspects of geotechnical education.

Technical papers or notes can be:

• Items as above but submitted for rapid publishing. These will not be refereed but will be reviewed. They will be accepted at the discretion of the editorial panel. The intention is to provide a source for rapid dissemination of technical material to the geotechnical community.
• Discussions on papers published in previous editions.

News items and reports can be:

• Items describing significant projects, instructive failures, conferences, courses or other matters of general interest to the Australian geotechnical community.
• Geotechnical book reviews.
• Letters to the Editor.

It is preferable for contributors to submit formatted text, tables and figures in electronic format using Microsoft Word on Windows or Mac compatible hardware. If containing equations a PDF file should also be submitted.

It is preferable that submitted papers are presented in a specific format, detailed below. Papers that have not been properly formatted prior to submission, and are provisionally accepted, will be returned to authors to address peer review comments and proper formatting.

A formatted template for technical papers in Australian Geomechanics is available for download.

Details of the correct journal format are:

• Single column format on A4 paper.
• Left and right margins of 20 mm.
• A top margin of 30 mm and a bottom margin of 25 mm.
• 10 point character size of Times New Roman font with single (normal) line spacing.
• Text should be formatted to have 6 pt after paragraphs and after headings.
• No indent at the beginning of paragraphs.
• Title of Paper in 14 point Times New Roman, bold, uppercase, and centred in column.
• Main headings numbered 1, 2, 3…. etc. in 12 point Times New Roman, bold, upper-case and centred in the column.
• Sub-headings numbered 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 … etc. in 10 point Times New Roman, bold, upper-case and left justified.
• Minor headings numbered 2.1.1, 2.1.2 … etc. in 10 point Times New Roman, bold, lower-case and left justified.
• Items in bulleted or numbered lists should not be separated by a line, but should be indented by 10 mm.
• Formulae typed and numbered (1), (2), (3) … etc. and centred in the column.
• Captions for figures should be placed beneath the item and numbered Figure 1:
• Captions for tables should be placed above the item and numbered Table 1:
• Figures and tables should be referred to in the text as Figure 1, Table 1, etc.
• Figures and tables should be centred in the column.
• Do NOT use page numbers, these will be added later.
• In text citation according to the Harvard system of author (year) or (author, year) as appropriate. Multiple references should be separated by semicolons (author 1, year 1; author 2, year 2)
• References should be listed at the end of the paper in alphabetical order using the Harvard system: Author (year) title, publication, volume, pages, publisher with a 10 mm hanging indent and no blank line between each.
• Underlining should be avoided and symbols shown in italics.

Figures and Tables

All the journal is published in colour.

Where possible figures and tables should be placed at the correct position in the text. Figures should be scanned. Failing this place them together at the back of the text. These should be sharp and of the correct size for incorporation into the finished document. The width of these must be less than or equal to the width of the text column (165 mm).

Where images are included in the paper they should be sent as a separate JPEG file to improve the picture resolution.

Photographs should preferably be good contrast gloss prints and of the correct size for incorporation directly into the copy. Please ensure that all such items are clearly marked to indicate position in paper.

Authors will remain responsible for the integrity of their material and for permission to publish.

Material will be accepted at any time and published in the next available issue.

Editorial Contacts

The Editor is Hugo Acosta-Martinez, and the Editorial Panel consists of the Executive and State Chapter Representatives on the AGS National Committee.

The process of submission, peer review, discussion, re-submission, approval etc. of technical papers, is conducted using the paper review software Scholastica. Technical papers may be submitted via Journal Submission given on the right sidebar of this web page, or via the AGS Scholastica website.

Correspondence other than submission of, and queries about, technical papers, may be emailed to:
Email: [email protected]

Advertising Rates

Every three months, Australian Geomechanics reaches more than 2000 professional geotechnical engineers and engineering geologists spread throughout Australia. Most of these are associated with significant site investigations, construction and computer analysis. So Australian Geomechanics provides a very targeted delivery for advertising.

Advertising rates include GST and from the 1^st January 2020 are:

The prices quoted are for advertisements supplied in digital form as print resolution (240dpi or more) PDF, JPG or TIFF files.

* Files should be supplied at correct size with at least 3 mm bleed for designs that print to the edge of the page.

A4 Portrait – Width: 210 mm x Height: 297 mm (+bleed)
Half A4 Landscape – Width: 210 mm x Height: 148.5 mm (+bleed)
Half A4 Column – Width: 105 mm x Height: 297 mm (+bleed)
Quarter A4 Column – Width: 105 mm x Height: 148.5 mm (+bleed)

Inserts into an individual mail-out of Australian Geomechanics can be accepted at a minimum charge of $1330 (including GST).

Advertising queries should be addressed to:

Sara Lanesman

Email: [email protected]