The AAG publishes four scholarly journals – Annals of the AAG, The Professional Geographer, The AAG Review of Books, and GeoHumanities. Each year a total of 16 issues spread among the four journals is produced with the help of AAG Publications Director Jennifer Cassidento. The AAG scholarly journals range from long-standing and distinguished titles to new and innovative publications. All are published by Taylor and Francis. Each journal has a page on the AAG website with an overview of the journal, the names of the editors, and their contact information, plus submission information for authors. The journals are similar, in that their focus is on geography, but there are a some differences to highlight for each one.

Annals of the AAG has been published for over a hundred years, since 1911, and it’s the AAG’s flagship journal. With a 2016 Impact Factor of 2.799 (8th out of 79 titles in geography), Annals is a general geography journal that publishes articles aimed at a broad audience in the discipline. It’s published six times a year, including one themed special issue. For example, in 2017 the special issue was on the topic of mountains.

The AAG began publishing The Professional Geographer in 1949 when the AAG merged with the American Society for Professional Geographers. The Professional Geographer focuses on short articles of academic or applied geography, emphasizing empirical studies and methodologies. It’s published four times a year and was ranked 41st out of 79 titles in geography with an Impact Factor of 1.276 in 2016.

The AAG Review of Books was launched in 2013, when the AAG decided to publish the book reviews formerly in Annals and the Professional Geographer in a separate journal. The journal is published online only, four times a year. There’s also a database with over 300 books that have been reviewed in the journal over the past four years. Anyone can search the database by title, author, reviewer, or theme, and access to the database is through the journals page on the AAG website.

GeoHumanities is the AAG’s newest journal, launched in 2015. The journal brings together the disciplines of geography and humanities. It features full length scholarly articles, and shorter creative pieces in the Practices and Curations section. It’s published twice a year.

Anyone can submit a paper to three of the four journals – Annals, The Professional Geographer, or GeoHumanities. The submission process is very easy – it’s done online through a self-guided manuscript submission site. Articles are evaluated by the journals’ editors, then they’re usually sent out to at least two external reviewers. The review process normally takes about 2-4 months, and then the editor will respond to the author with a decision on the paper, including comments from the reviewers, and the editor’s own assessment of the paper.

Submission to the fourth journal, the AAG Review of Books, is handled a little differently. The book reviews for this journal are commissioned by the editor, Debbie Hopkins, so if you’re interested in writing a book review, you would need to contact Debbie at debbie.hopkins[at]ouce.ox.ac.uk.

As an AAG member, you can receive free print or online access to all current and past issues of the journals. The AAG also offers members a complimentary online-only subscription to one additional Taylor and Francis journal from the following six options: Geopolitics; Gender, Place, and Culture; International Journal of GIS; International Journal of Remote Sensing; Journal of Geography in Higher Education; or Social & Cultural Geography. Members can subscribe as part of the membership renewal process.

Do you have any questions about any of the journals or submitting to the journals? Contact the AAG Publications Director, Jennifer Cassidento at jcassidento [at] aag [dot] org.

The AAG Snapshots series, first launched at the 2017 Annual Meeting, provides insight on and information about different aspects of the projects, programs, and resources of the association. Do you have suggestions for future Snapshots content from AAG staff? Email cluebbering [at] aag [dot] org.