Landslides: a top international journal in geological engineering and engineering geology?

Scientific literature is becoming daily more and more abundant. Scientific and professional journals as primary information sources are competing to each other to attract readership. Their position (ranking, visibility, attractiveness, prestige) in scientific community can be measured by using different journal bibliometric and scientometric parameters, journal impact factor being only one of them. Springer Nature publishes the journal Landslides: Journal of the International Consortium on Landslides since 2004. Being examined in the past by different authors from bibliometric and editorial point of view, this review on the journal’s achievements confirmed the high ranking of this journal in the fields of geological and geotechnical engineering and engineering geology. Strong and weak points are discussed from the bibliometric point of view, stressing the need for higher internationality of co-authorship of published articles in order to be true international journal. Continuous publishing and the move to a monthly journal in 2018 will eventually increase journal’s h-index and cited half-life of citations, but further editorial efforts should be directed to attract excellent review papers and focused technical notes to increase cites per paper. Until now, the journal Landslides is the foremost journal in the field of landslide disaster risk reduction, and the top young international journal in the field of geological engineering and engineering geology.     

Landslides: A state-of-the art on the current position in the landslide research community

The international journal Landslides (ISSN 1612-510X), launched in 2004 and published by Springer Verlag, soon gained international recognition as the only specialized scientific journal in the world dedicated to different aspects of landslides, and as one of the leading world journals in the field of geological engineering. After 7 years, seven published volumes with 28 issues and 290 published papers on 2,794 pages, there is time to make a comparison with other related journals that also cover the field of landslide risk mitigation. The critical review of these seven publishing years was done using ISI Journal Citation Reports produced by Thomson Reuters, and available scientometric data from the ISI Web of Knowledge and SCOPUS. The data presented in this paper and the analysis shown may help the Editorial Board to further improve the journal into the direction of a high quality scientific journal with even higher impact on the international research community in the field of landslide risk mitigation.     

网络首发对提升我国科技期刊质量和学术影响力的积极作用——以《地球学报》为例

在数字出版时代,网络首发能显著提升我国科技期刊质量和学术影响力。本研究以《地球学报》为例,统计其从2018年第3期至2022年第3期共318篇文章的投稿日期、改回日期、网络首发日期、刊发日期、被引频次、首次被引日期、印刷版下载量、网络首发版下载量等。对其出版周期、质量控制、出版方式、被引和下载量、主要期刊评价指标等进行分析。分析表明,网络首发能大幅缩短论文出版周期,吸引优秀稿源;避免了论文的政治性差错,学术和出版质量都得到了显著提升;增强出版助力学术期刊的知识生产与传播;网络首发出版流程和增强出版能有效避免学术不端行为;提高了论文的被引频次和下载量。网络首发对推动我国科技期刊的高质量发展,提升其质量和学术具有积极作用。     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Estuaries and Coasts</Emphasis> as an Outlet for Research in Coastal Ecosystems: A Bibliometric Study

Recent changes in the editorial leadership, name, content, and publishing process for Estuaries and Coasts and looming changes in scientific publishing as technology advances have provided an opportunity to assess the health and examine the growth in size and reputation of the journal. Estuaries and Coasts has grown in size by about fourfold, with a concurrent decline in acceptance rate of about 1.5% per year to reach the present 65% acceptance rate. The number of paper downloads has increased exponentially to the current 4,000 downloads per month. Most (81%) of the published papers come from senior authors in the USA, with only 15% of the papers coming from senior authors based in non-English-speaking countries. The average number of authors per paper increased from an average of two in 1980 to three at present, and the impact factor has risen to 1.563 in 2006, at about the middle of the range in impact factors for related journals, from an average of 1.295 in the previous 10 years. Papers published in Estuaries and Coasts have a long citation half-life (8.4 years), resulting in very few (3.5%) published papers never receiving citations. All metrics assessed portray Estuaries and Coasts as a journal on the rise that stands up in comparisons of quality and citation rate with other journals in its field.     

3rd Regional Symposium on Landslides in the Adriatic-Balkan Region (3rd ReSyLAB)—a final report

The 3rd Regional Symposium on Landslides in the Adriatic-Balkan Region (3rd ReSyLAB) was held in Ljubljana, Slovenia, from June 11 to 13, 2017, with 70 participants from nine countries (Austria, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, Italy, Republic of Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain)—scientists, engineers, researchers, students, experts, politicians, and other decision-makers working in the area of landslide risk reduction in the region. The ReSyLAB is a biannual event organized by the Adriatic-Balkan Network of the International Consortium on Landslides (ICL ABN). Being an important form of activities of this ICL regional network comprising of six ICL members from four countries, it was also a contribution of the International Consortium on Landslides (ICL) to the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030. This article reports on the main outcomes of the 3rd ReSyLAB Symposium. Altogether, 41 abstracts were published in the symposium book of abstracts, and the symposium proceedings with over 20 reviewed full papers are under preparation to be printed early in 2018. During the 3rd ReSyLAB, a five invited keynote lectures have been presented, and 28 oral presentations are given to the audience. An important part of the symposium was a Round Table entitled “Enhancing cooperation between landslide research community and end users.” On the last day of the symposium, over 30 experts participated in two post-symposium study tours in Slovenia.     

地震作用下甘肃天水地区黄土-泥岩接触面滑坡机理

以甘肃天水地区渭河北岸大型黄土-泥岩滑坡为研究对象,通过野外地质调查、工程地质钻探、室内力学试验以及FLAC3D数值计算的方法,对该类滑坡的发育特征及地震作用下的稳定性进行分析评价。结果表明:该类滑坡多属于历史地震滑坡,其破坏类型为滑移拉裂型。通过对滑坡的稳定性进行计算分析可知,静力作用下滑坡处于稳定状态;地震作用下,稳定性明显降低,坡体可能再次滑动,预测滑面位于黄土-泥岩接触带位置,与野外调查观测结果一致。研究结果对天水地区该类滑坡的早期识别有重要参考意义,可为该类滑坡的防灾减灾提供科学依据。     

Development of ICL landslide teaching tools

Capacity development is important and urgently needed for landslide disaster risk reduction. This is especially so in developing countries where mountain and urban development is accelerating most rapidly, including construction of highways and railways and residential complexes. However, effective tools to teach practical landslide risk reduction knowledge and skills are not available. Therefore, International Consortium on Landslides (ICL) has decided to compile a collection of landslide teaching tools (Sassa et al. 2013) to provide teaching materials to ICL members and other landslide teaching entities to assist in education of university students, local government officers, staff in nongovernmental organizations, and the public. The teaching toolbox contains five parts: (1) mapping and site prediction; (2) monitoring and early warning; (3) testing and numerical simulation; (4) risk management; and (5) country practices and case studies. The teaching toolbox contains three types of tools: (1) TXT tools consisting of original texts with figures; (2) PDF tools consisting of already published reference papers, manuals, guidelines, and others; and (3) PPT tools consisting of PowerPoint® files made for lectures. The initial TXT tools have been published as a full color booklet (405 pages). The PDF tools and PPT tools are contained in a CD. The basic concept and a list of contents of the ICL landslide teaching tools are introduced in this article.     

甘肃天水地区强降雨诱发黄土-泥岩滑坡机理实验研究

在甘肃天水地区每年由降雨诱发的黄土-泥岩滑坡灾害事故很多,给当地人民生命财产造成巨大损失。为探索该类斜坡的滑动破坏过程与机理,在野外地质调查、工程地质钻探及岩土体力学测试的基础上,通过室内大型物理模型实验,研究“上部黄土+下部泥岩”二元结构类型斜坡在强降雨作用下的动态变形演化过程,揭示该类斜坡的破坏机理和破坏模式。结果表明:强降雨作用下斜坡变形破坏以滑动破坏为主,水分的作用主要表现为增加土体自重、引起土体强度降低、降低结构面的抗滑力、产生孔隙水压力及降低有效应力等几个方面,斜坡的破坏模式则主要表现为坡肩侵蚀→微裂隙产生、发展、贯通→斜坡局部滑动破坏→斜坡整体滑动破坏。研究结果对天水地区该类滑坡的早期识别有重要的参考意义,可为该类滑坡的防灾减灾提供科学依据。     

Ensemble-based landslide susceptibility maps in Jinbu area, Korea

Ensemble techniques were developed, applied and validated for the analysis of landslide susceptibility in Jinbu area, Korea using the geographic information system (GIS). Landslide-occurrence areas were detected in the study by interpreting aerial photographs and field survey data. Landslide locations were randomly selected in a 70/30 ratio for training and validation of the models, respectively. Topography, geology, soil and forest databases were also constructed. Maps relevant to landslide occurrence were assembled in a spatial database. Using the constructed spatial database, 17 landslide-related factors were extracted. The relationships between the detected landslide locations and the factors were identified and quantified by frequency ratio, weight of evidence, logistic regression and artificial neural network models and their ensemble models. The relationships were used as factor ratings in the overlay analysis to create landslide susceptibility indexes and maps. Then, the four landslide susceptibility maps were used as new input factors and integrated using the frequency ratio, weight of evidence, logistic regression and artificial neural network models as ensemble methods to make better susceptibility maps. All of the susceptibility maps were validated by comparison with known landslide locations that were not used directly in the analysis. As the result, the ensemble-based landslide susceptibility map that used the new landslide-related input factor maps showed better accuracy (87.11% in frequency ratio, 83.14% in weight of evidence, 87.79% in logistic regression and 84.54% in artificial neural network) than the individual landslide susceptibility maps (84.94% in frequency ratio, 82.82% in weight of evidence, 87.72% in logistic regression and 81.44% in artificial neural network). All accuracy assessments showed overall satisfactory agreement of more than 80%. The ensemble model was found to be more effective in terms of prediction accuracy than the individual model.     

《地球科学与环境学报》2004—2010年载文信息及被引频次统计分析

运用文献计量学方法,对《地球科学与环境学报》（以下简称《学报》）2004—2010年载文的第一作者学历、职称和服务单位、论文资助项目来源、研究领域、出版时滞、被引频次、下载次数、影响因子等论文信息指标进行了统计分析。结果表明《学报》呈现以下特征：高学历作者比例稳步提升;副高职称和中级职称作者是《学报》作者的骨干力量;作者来源呈多元化发展,主办单位论文呈下降趋势;大多数论文有各类基金项目资助;基础地质及矿产地质是《学报》载文的主要内容;出版时滞需要进一步优化;被引频次计量指标反映《学报》呈现良好的发展态势。     

PROMETHEE II and fuzzy AHP: an enhanced GIS-based landslide susceptibility mapping

This paper describes the application of a well-known multi-criteria decision-making technique, called preference ranking organization method for enrichment evaluation (PROMETHEE II), in combination with fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP), as a weighting technique to explore landslide susceptibility mapping (LSM). To this end, eight landslide-related geodata layers of the Minoo Dasht located in the Gorgan province of Iran, involving slope, aspect, distance to river, drainage density, distance to fault, mean annual rainfall, distance to road and lithology have been integrated using the PROMETHEE II enhanced by FAHP technique. Afterward, the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves for the proposed LSM were drawn using an inventory of landslides containing 83 recent and historic landslide points, and the area under curve = 0.752 value was calculated accordingly. Additionally, to further verify the practicality of such susceptibility map, it was also evaluated against the landslide inventory using simple overlay. The outcome was that about 11 % of the occurred landslide points fall into the very high susceptibility class of the LSM, but approximately 52 % of them indeed fall into the high and very high susceptibility zones together. Also, it resulted that no recorded landslide occurred in the zone of very low susceptibility. According to the results of the ROC curves analysis and simple overlay evaluation, the produced map has exhibited good performance.     

Landslide susceptibility analysis and its verification using likelihood ratio, logistic regression, and artificial neural network models: case study of Youngin, Korea

The likelihood ratio, logistic regression, and artificial neural networks models are applied and verified for analysis of landslide susceptibility in Youngin, Korea, using the geographic information system. From a spatial database containing such data as landslide location, topography, soil, forest, geology, and land use, the 14 landslide-related factors were calculated or extracted. Using these factors, landslide susceptibility indexes were calculated by likelihood ratio, logistic regression, and artificial neural network models. Before the calculation, the study area was divided into two sides (west and east) of equal area, for verification of the models. Thus, the west side was used to assess the landslide susceptibility, and the east side was used to verify the derived susceptibility. The results of the landslide susceptibility analysis were verified using success and prediction rates. The verification results showed satisfactory agreement between the susceptibility map and the existing data on landslide locations.     

Applying weight of evidence method and sensitivity analysis to produce a landslide susceptibility map

The main purpose of this study is to define the main variables that contribute to the occurrence of landslides in Kimi, Euboea, Greece, and to produce a landslide susceptibility map using the weight of evidence method. For the developed model, a sensitivity analysis is carried out in order to understand the model’s behavior when small changes are introduced in the weight value of the landslide-related variables. Landslide locations were identified from field surveys and interpretation of aerial photographs which resulted in the construction of an inventory map with 132 landslide events, while eight contributing variables were identified and exploited. All landslide-related variables were converted into a 5?×?5-m float-type raster file. These input-raster layers included a lithological unit layer, an elevation layer, a slope angle layer, a slope aspect layer, a distance from tectonic features layer, a distance from hydrographic network layer, a topographic wetness index layer, and a curvature layer. The validation of the developed model was achieved by using a subset of unprocessed landslide data, showing a satisfactory agreement between the expected and existing landslide susceptibility level, with the area under the predictive rate curve estimated to be 0.808. The area under the success rate curve was estimated to be 0.828 indicating a very high classification rate for existing landslide areas. According to the results of the sensitivity analysis, the lithological unit “yellowish gray to white marls” was the most sensitive as it had the highest change in the relative frequency of observed landslides. The overall outcomes of the performed analysis provide crucial knowledge in successful land use planning and management practice and also in risk reduction projects.     

ICL strategic plan 2012–2021—To create a safer geo-environment

The International Consortium on Landslides (ICL) was founded on 21 January 2002, during the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization?CKyoto University Joint Symposium on Landslide Risk Mitigation and Protection of Cultural and Natural Heritage, as an activity of IGCP-425. In its first decade, ICL established the first scientific full-color journal Landslides, a new International Programme on Landslides, organized and held the First World Landslide Forum in 2008 and the Second World Landslide Forum in 2011, and recognized 15 World Centres of Excellence on Landslide Risk Reduction. A 10th anniversary conference was held on 17?C20 January at the facility in which ICL??s founding meeting had been held. This conference was jointly organized by ICL and ICL-supporting organizations. During the conference, the ICL Strategic Plan 2012?C2021: to create a safer geo-environment??was developed and adopted. This strategic plan accompanies this preface.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Landslides</Emphasis>: a review of achievements in the first 5 years (2004–2009)

The international journal Landslides was initiated in April 2004. It is the core project (IPL-C100) of the International Programme on Landslides, a joint initiative of the International Consortium on Landslides and the United Nations and other global organizations. The aims of Landslides are to promote landslide sciences, technology, and capacity building and strengthen global cooperation for landslide risk reduction within the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction. This paper presents an analysis of the first 5 years of Landslides, the study methods employed, the types and major causes of landslides, the number of different contributors per country, and the “times cited” per issue and most frequently cited papers and briefly discusses some of these. Strategies for future development of the journal involve obtaining input and suggestion from researchers and readers worldwide.     

Determination and application of the weights for landslide susceptibility mapping using an artificial neural network

The purpose of this study is the development, application, and assessment of probability and artificial neural network methods for assessing landslide susceptibility in a chosen study area. As the basic analysis tool, a Geographic Information System (GIS) was used for spatial data management and manipulation. Landslide locations and landslide-related factors such as slope, curvature, soil texture, soil drainage, effective thickness, wood type, and wood diameter were used for analyzing landslide susceptibility. A probability method was used for calculating the rating of the relative importance of each factor class to landslide occurrence. For calculating the weight of the relative importance of each factor to landslide occurrence, an artificial neural network method was developed. Using these methods, the landslide susceptibility index (LSI) was calculated using the rating and weight, and a landslide susceptibility map was produced using the index. The results of the landslide susceptibility analysis, with and without weights, were confirmed from comparison with the landslide location data. The comparison result with weighting was better than the results without weighting. The calculated weight and rating can be used to landslide susceptibility mapping.     

Use of an artificial neural network for analysis of the susceptibility to landslides at Boun,Korea

The purpose of this study was to develop landslide susceptibility analysis techniques using artificial neural networks and to apply the resulting techniques to the study area of Boun in Korea. Landslide locations were identified in the study area from interpretation of aerial photographs and field survey data. A spatial database of the topography, soil type, timber cover, geology, and land cover was constructed and the landslide-related factors were extracted from the spatial database. Using these factors, the susceptibility to landslides was analyzed by artificial neural network methods. The results of the landslide susceptibility maps were compared and verified using known landslide locations at another area, Yongin, in Korea. A Geographic Information System (GIS) was used to analyze efficiently the vast amount of data and an artificial neural network turned out to be an effective tool to analyze the landslide susceptibility.     

The ICL landslide monitoring and warning thematic network

The International Consortium on Landslides (ICL) was established in 2002 and soon became an important world player in the field of landslide risk mitigation; in 2012, it has more than 50 member organizations throughout the world. As a part of the activities to celebrate ICL’s tenth anniversary, a strategic document for the second decade called the ICL Strategic Plan 2012–2021 with the motto “to create a safer geo-environment” was adopted in Kyoto in January 2012. An important part of this document was a clear dedication to broaden the scope and societal impact in a thematic, institutional, and geographic manner. Thus, thematic and regional networks for landslide risk reduction were recognized to be an important form of ICL activities in the decade to come. In this paper, one of the eight newly established thematic and regional ICL networks is presented: the ICL Landslide Monitoring and Warning Thematic Network, a joint effort of ten ICL member organizations and two ICL supporters from eight countries, five of them are active ICL World Centres of Excellence in Landslide Risk Reduction in the period 2011–2014. The general objective of this thematic network is to compare experiences in the field of landslide monitoring and existing/installed (early) warning systems for active landslides in different regions of the world.     

ICL Latin-American Network: on the road to landslide reduction capacity building

There is a clear need for integrated research on landslide disaster risk. Landslide disasters have major impacts in developing countries due to the increasing social vulnerability of both rural and urban communities. In recent decades, landslide disasters in Latin America triggered by both precipitation and earthquakes have also increased considerably. Thus, scientific contributions based on integrated risk research are quite urgent for improving the knowledge base for reducing the vulnerability of exposed communities to landslides. Thus, there is a parallel necessity to promote capacity building for young scientists in Latin America by considering the shift of disaster paradigm to recognize the “unnaturalness” of disasters. Under such a framework, there are particular goals to be pursued including: (1) Development of landslide regional networks with a commitment for understanding risk as a socially constructed process; (2) Engagement of young scientists in integrated landslide risk research; (3) Inducing a scientific multi- and transdisciplinary approach for integrated landslide risk research; (4) Development and implementation of capacity building; (5) Contributing to the dissemination and application of common methodologies on landslide disasters investigations; and (6) Strengthening collaboration on integrated landslide disaster risk research in Latin America. In this paper, we present one of the main activities of the ICL Latin-American network in terms of capacity building carried out in 2013; to that end, the first international workshop on forensic investigations of disasters associated with landslides was held in the University of Sciences and Arts of Chiapas in the city of Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas, Mexico, from June 26th to July 4th, 2013.     

DISTRIBUTION OF GALLIUM IN ROCKS AND MINERALS (REVIEW OF GALLIUM BY O.V. VERSHKOVSKAYA,V.S. KRASNOVA,V.S. SALTYKOVA,AND A. YE. PERVUKHINA)

This book reviewer is quick to point out the many omissions he detected in the Gallium volume. His list includes some 43 citations. Many of these are from foreign journals, but the reader would first have to refer to the Russian source in order to track down the original source. The data cited, however, should be of interest to those seeking geochemical data on gallium. --H. Brown.