New digital developments for RGS-IBG journals in 2018

We are very pleased to announce that the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) has partnered with Wiley to deliver a digital-first publishing approach – hence the new look for the journals and papers. This will help make the submission process more straightforward, improve article design so that papers are easier to read online, and enable faster production times. The digital-first approach involves greater standardisation of article formatting and will, in the future, allow us to publish papers that integrate text, images, data, multimedia, and code.

Information for submitting authors is available on each of the journal's websites. The updated author guidelines also include guidance about Data Accessibility Statements, which describe the location and accessibility of the data that underpins articles and can be included at the point of submission (on an optional basis), and ORCID iDs, which will be required for submitting authors from January 2018.

Wiley are also launching a new Society publications website in 2018. This will include: all RGS-IBG journals (Area, The Geographical Journal, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, Geo: Geography and Environment and WIRES Climate Change); the RGS-IBG Book Series; Geography Directions and the Geo blog; and other resources such as the Society's publishing guide. A new guide about Open Data will be published in 2018.

Linked to development of the new Wiley websites, and the Society's new website, the journal covers have been re-designed in RGS-IBG colours. The new Wiley websites will enhance the searchability and discoverability of research published in Society titles and allow content on specific topics to be accessed with greater ease.