Journal of geophysical research atmospheres

Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres (journal-of-geophysical-research-atmospheres)

Journal positioning

Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres is the American Geophysical Union (AGU) flagship for full-length atmospheric science, published by Wiley. It is the disciplinary journal of record for substantial, complete studies of the atmosphere — composition and chemistry, aerosols, clouds and precipitation, dynamics, radiation and energy budgets, boundary-layer and convective processes, and atmosphere-surface exchange. Its defining character is depth over brevity: JGR-Atmospheres expects a thorough analysis with full methods, comprehensive validation, and a complete treatment of uncertainty, addressed to the specialist atmospheric-science community rather than a broad readership. Work is judged on whether it advances mechanistic or quantitative understanding of an atmospheric process and stands as a definitive contribution, not on novelty headlines. This skill is a fit / venue-selection / re-framing tool. It does not replace the journal's current official submission guidelines. Before submitting, re-check the live author instructions on the AGU/Wiley JGR-Atmospheres site.

When to trigger

• The author names JGR-Atmospheres as the target for a complete, full-length atmospheric-science study.
• A manuscript reports observations, modeling, or analysis of atmospheric composition, aerosols, clouds, dynamics, or radiation with enough depth to need full methods and validation, and the author is choosing between JGR-Atmospheres and Geophysical Research Letters or Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.
• A finding is too detailed and method-heavy for a short-format letter but is a self-contained disciplinary advance.
• The author needs JGR-Atmospheres' depth, validation, and data-policy requirements, plus desk-reject criteria, before submission.

Scope & topic fit

• Atmospheric composition and chemistry: trace gases, oxidants, reactive nitrogen, ozone budgets, and chemistry-transport modeling tested against observations.
• Aerosols: microphysics, optical properties, sources and sinks, aerosol-radiation and aerosol-cloud interactions, and remote-sensing or in-situ characterization.
• Clouds and precipitation: cloud microphysics, convection, precipitation processes, and parameterization development evaluated against measurements.
• Dynamics and circulation: boundary-layer processes, gravity waves, stratosphere-troposphere exchange, transport, and regional-to-global circulation studies.
• Radiation and energy budgets: radiative transfer, surface-atmosphere energy exchange, and forcing/feedback quantification.
• Observational and methodological advances: new instruments, retrieval algorithms, or field-campaign analyses that deliver a quantitative atmospheric result.

Method & evidence bar

• The study must be complete: full methods, comprehensive validation against independent observations or established models, and an explicit, quantitative uncertainty treatment.
• Model studies require evaluation against measurements and a clear account of sensitivity to key parameters and assumptions; observation studies require error characterization and representativeness discussion.
• Claims must be supported at the level of mechanism or budget, not correlation alone; statistical significance and physical interpretation must both be addressed.
• Instrument and retrieval papers must document calibration, validation, and uncertainty propagation.
• Data and code must be deposited in an AGU-compliant FAIR repository (e.g., Zenodo, PANGAEA, or a domain archive) with persistent identifiers; AGU enforces data availability at acceptance.
• Reanalysis or satellite-product use must justify suitability and document version and processing level.

Structure & house style

• JGR-Atmospheres uses a standard full-length structure: Abstract, Plain Language Summary, Introduction, Data/Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions, with full references.
• A Plain Language Summary is required in addition to the technical abstract; it must be jargon-free and accessible to non-specialists.
• Length is generous relative to letters; the expectation is completeness rather than compression, but every section must earn its space.
• Figures should be publication-quality, quantitative, and individually informative; supporting figures and extended analyses go to Supporting Information.
• Methods must be reproducible in the main text or SI; model configurations, versions, and forcing datasets must be specified.
• An Open Research (data availability) statement is mandatory and must list every dataset and code resource with repository and identifier.

Official-submission checklist

• Before giving submission-ready advice, read ../../resources/source-basis.md and ../../resources/official-source-map.md; start from the official source anchors for this journal family, then cite the current journal-specific page you checked.
• Search the live site for "JGR Atmospheres author guidelines" and follow the current AGU/Wiley version.
• Re-check article-type definitions, length expectations, and the Plain Language Summary requirement.
• Re-check AGU's Open Research / data-and-software availability policy; confirm accepted FAIR repositories and the at-acceptance enforcement.
• Re-check competing-interests, funding, authorship (CRediT), and AI-use disclosure requirements; confirm preprint policy (ESSOAr/preprint posting is generally compatible).
• If the live official instructions conflict with this skill, the official instructions win.

Pre-submission self-check

• One sentence — the atmospheric process advanced and the quantitative result that defines the contribution.
• Methods, model configuration, and datasets are fully specified and reproducible from the paper plus SI.
• Validation against independent observations or established models is included, with explicit uncertainty quantification.
• A jargon-free Plain Language Summary is written and accurate.
• Data and code are deposited in a FAIR repository with persistent identifiers; the Open Research statement is complete.
• The paper is positioned against recent JGR-Atmospheres / ACP literature on this process.

Common desk-reject triggers

• A short, single-result finding better suited to a letter, submitted without the depth and validation a full-length study requires.
• A modeling study with no evaluation against observations and no sensitivity analysis.
• A descriptive case study or campaign report without a generalizable atmospheric result or mechanistic interpretation.
• Missing or non-compliant Open Research / data-availability statement, or data in a non-persistent location.
• A retrieval or instrument paper lacking calibration, validation, and uncertainty propagation.

Re-routing decision

• Short, high-impact, broad-interest atmospheric finding needing rapid publication: geophysical-research-letters.
• Atmospheric-chemistry-focused study, or work suited to interactive open peer review: atmospheric-chemistry-and-physics.
• Broad cross-disciplinary geoscience significance beyond atmospheres: Nature Geoscience or a high-impact generalist venue.
• Climate-system or Earth-system-futures framing rather than process atmospheric science: earths-future.

Output format

[Fit] High / Medium / Low (one-line reason)
[Target] JGR: Atmospheres
[Topic tags] <2–3 closest topics>
[Method/evidence] <is the study complete — full methods, validation against observations/models, explicit uncertainty?>
[Top risk] <the single most likely reason for rejection>
[Official items to re-check] <length/article type / Plain Language Summary / Open Research data-code policy / disclosure / preprint policy>
[Re-route suggestion] <if not a fit, a better-matched venue>