About the Journal

Focus and Scope

The Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia was founded in 1895. It publishes original papers dealing with all fields of paleontology and of stratigraphy, from Italy and the Mediterranean to the Tethys, as well across the globe from China to North America.

All papers are written in English and are reviewed by international experts.

RIPS does not have neither article processing charges (APCs), nor article submission charges.

Peer Review Process

Reviewer selection for each article submitted is up to the editors and takes into account reviewers' experience, competence, suggestions by authors or different editors, and a previous experience in reviewing papers for RIPS.

Every proposal submitted for publication is read at least by an editor, for an initial review. If the paper agrees with editorial policies and with a minimum quality level, is sent to two reviewers for evaluation. 

Reviewers may decide to remain anonymous.

The review process aims to provide authors with a competent opinion on their paper. A review should give authors suggestions, if needed, on how to improve their papers.

The peer-review process is managed with the OJS platform.

We are pleased to inform that RIPS is participating in the ReviewerCredit programme (https://www.reviewercredits.com).

Upon the completion of a review for a paper or an article, reviewers can claim redeemable credits and generate a Reviewer Index on ReviewerCredit website. The Index reflects the reviewers' activity, hence, their contribution for the advancement of science. The reviewers can showcase it in their resume or for grants request.

Publication Frequency

The Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia is published in three issues (one volume) each year.

Open Access Policy

In 2015 RIPS joined The Unimi Journals project (riviste.unimi.it), in line with Open Access principles, being included in the Directory of Open Access Journals.

RIPS is published under a Creative Commons Attribution - Share alike 4.0 International License.

Archiving

The University of Milan has an archival arrangement with the National Central Libraries of Florence and Rome within the national project Magazzini Digitali.

The journal has enabled the PKP PN (Preservation Network) plugin, in order to preserve digital contents through LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe)  project

Plagiarism

Editors have a duty to act promptly in case of errors and misconducts, both proven and alleged. This duty extends to both published and unpublished papers. In case such as errors in articles or in the publication process, fraudulent publication or plagiarism, appropriate steps will be taken, following the recommendations, guidelines and flowcharts from di COPE.  Corrections will happen with due prominence, including the publication of an erratum (errors from the publication process), corrigendum (errors from the Author(s)) or, in the most severe cases, the retraction of the affected work. Retracted papers will be retained online, and they will be prominently marked as a retraction in all online versions, including the PDF, for the benefit of future readers.

iThenticate

The journal performs a Similarity Check on the submissions received, through iThenticate software.

Declaration on Artificial Intelligence

Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia acknowledges the importance of artificial intelligence innovations understanding the challenges and opportunities they entail.

Authors who have used artificial intelligence tools in the editing of a manuscript, in the production of images or graphical elements of the article, or in the collection and analysis of data, are invited to explicitly declare their use, mentioning the AI tool, the field of application, the search queries used and the date of use, in order to allow reproducibility and verification.
The author will remain responsible for the accuracy and correctness of any published content and guarantees compliance with the code of ethics and anti-plagiarism rules.
Authors who have used AI, or AI-assisted tools, are required to include a paragraph at the end of their manuscript, entitled "Declaration on Generative AI and AI-Assisted Technologies in the Writing Process", with the following information:
"During the preparation of this paper the author(s) used [TOOL/SERVICE NAME] on [DD/MM/YYYYY] using the search terms: [SEARCH TERMS] in order to [REASON]. After using this tool/service, the author(s) have reviewed and edited the content as necessary and take full responsibility for the content of the publication."

Editors are not allowed to upload received manuscripts into artificial intelligence software, in order not to risk compromising privacy and copyright.

Reviewers undertake not to use artificial intelligence tools to evaluate manuscripts in order to guarantee the application of critical thinking and original assessment, as required for this work.

 Indexing and Abstracting

The journal is currently indexed and abstracted by:

  • AGI, American Geosciences Institute 
  • ISI, Institute for Scientific Information
  • Current Content
  • GeoRef 
  • Geological Abstract 
  • SciSearch

Journal History

The Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia was founded in 1895 and it had a fundamental role in the development of Italian paleontology and stratigraphy. 

The journal (then Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia) was founded in Bologna by Giovanni Capellini, Professor of Geology at the Bologna University. The first editors were Carlo Fornasini and Vittorio Simonelli.

The issues of these first years consisted mainly in reviews and comments on books or articles appeared in other journals, but gradually in the following years the original papers took over.

With the eleventh volume, in 1904, the headquarters of the journal moved to Perugia University, with Paolo Vinassa de Regny as editor, and then to Catania, where he remained until 1912. The main content of the journal consisted by the time in original papers.

In 1924 Vinassa become the owner and Editor-in-Chief of the journal and, as Professor of Geology, he moved to Pavia University.

In 1942, following his retirement, Vinassa ceded ownership and management of Rivista to Ardito Desio.

In the difficult years 1930-1945 the journal experienced some decline with a few items and many reviews and a consequent reduction in number of pages. It was only in 1947, after the reinstatement of Desio at the Milan University, that the journal became Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia.

From the beginning, Desio was helped in managing the journal by his first student, Carla Rossi Ronchetti. In the 1950’s Desio was more and more involved with Karakorum, with the expedition to K2 and all subsequent controversy, but Rivista continued to flourish under the guidance of Carla Rossi Ronchetti, supported by Fausta Guaitani before and then by Carla Albanesi. In the same years, Nerina Fantini Sestini oversaw the financial aspects of the journal, and her watchful management revealed providential for years to come. The Journal reached up to a thousand pages published in four issues per year.

In 1976 Desio retired and ceded the ownership of the Journal to the Milan University.

In 1995 Maurizio Gaetani became Editor-in-Chief. He successfully led the journal for over 20 years: in 1997 Rivista is the first Italian geological journal to be indexed by ISI.

In 2015, the management of the journal goes to Lucia Angiolini and Fabrizio Berra, also from Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra “A. Desio” of the University of Milan.

In 2016 RIPS joined the Unimi Journals project (riviste.unimi.it).

The journal is currently published in three issues (one volume) each year in A4 format, and it is indexed and abstracted by AGI, ISI, Current Contents, Georef, Geological Abstract and SciSearch.