Interactive Public Discussion

In the Interactive Public Discussion following the publication of a paper in eEarth Discussions (eED), the following types of interactive comments can be submitted for immediate non-peer-reviewed publication alongside the discussion paper:

Short Comments (SC):

• by any registered member of the scientific community (free online registration);
• attributed (i.e. published under the name of the commentator);
• maximum length: 10 pages (eED format);
• maximum number: 5 per person.

Referee Comments (RC):

• by the referees involved in the access peer-review of the discussion paper;
• anonymous or attributed (according to the referee's preference);
• maximum length: 15 pages (eED format);
• no maximum number.

Editor Comments (EC):

• by the editor of the discussion paper;
• maximum length: 15 pages (eED format);
• no maximum number.

Author Comments (AC):

• by the contact author of the discussion paper on behalf of all co-authors;
• maximum length: 15 pages (eED format);
• no maximum number.

Only plain ASCII text (with optional Latex formatting commands) can be used in the interactive discussion at present.
Figures can only be included in the revised version of the manuscript being discussed or in extended, non-interactive comments which can be submitted for peer-reviewed publication.
All interactive comments are fully citable, paginated, and archived as a supplement to eED.

The Interactive Public Discussion comprises two Phases

Phase 1: Open Discussion (8 weeks)

The referees are asked to publish one or more Referee Comments and every registered member of the scientific community may publish Short Comments as defined above. The authors of the discussion paper have the option (but no obligation) to reply by publishing their own Short Comments individually, or by Author Comments collectively on behalf of all co-authors. The authors of a discussion paper are automatically informed by e-mail about the publication of comments in the Interactive Public Discussion of their paper. Publication alert services will also be available to other members of the scientific community. The publication of interactive comments is supervised by the editors, who have the option of censoring comments that are not of a substantial nature and of direct relevance to the issues raised in the discussion paper or which contain personal insults. Authors are advised to follow the discussion of their paper and to notify the editor in case of abusive commenting. Since interactive comments may have been referred to before their text is censored, they will generally not be removed in a traceless way, but the intervention of the editor (partial or complete deletion of the text) may be marked and explicitly noted, which is expected to deter abusive comments. The eE editorial board reserves the right to exclude abusive commentators.

To participate in the interactive discussion of a paper recently published in eED, please locate this paper on the eED Website and follow the appropriate links there.

Phase 2: Final Response

After the open discussion no more Short Comments and Referee Comments are accepted, but the contact author and the editor of the discussion paper have the opportunity to publish final Author Comments and Editor Comments, respectively. The final response phase is generally limited to 4 weeks (expandable to 8 weeks) and automatically terminated upon submission of a revised manuscript. Before submitting a revised version of their manuscript for publication in eE (second stage of publication), the authors are supposed to have answered the Referee Comments and relevant Short Comments cumulatively or individually in one or more Author Comments.