Preprint submission

EGUsphere avoids double preprinting

If authors already posted a preprint on a non-EGU preprint server, they can join the public discussion on EGUsphere to receive a public peer review and possible journal publication in one of EGU's journals, but they would join EGUsphere as so-called external preprint without additional posting of a new EGUsphere preprint and without assigning an EGUsphere DOI. If authors claim that the content of their preprint has been updated, the procedure depends on the level of adjustment: if the similarity of the contents between the posted non-EGUsphere preprint and the updated manuscript is greater than 60%, authors are required to update their preprint on the non-EGU preprint server, keep their original, non-EGUsphere DOI, and continue as external preprint. However, if the similarity is less than 60%, the updated manuscript might qualify for the posting of an original EGUsphere preprint including EGUsphere DOI, if and when EGUsphere moderators or EGU journal editors accept the manuscript for preprint posting.

Preprints not (immediately) targeting journal publication

Preprints not (immediately) targeting journal publication are screened and, if accepted, posted solely on EGUsphere. Such EGUsphere preprints do not have to follow the submission guidelines of EGU's topical journals and the requirements to the *.pdf file are thus significantly lower than for preprints aimed at publication in an EGU journal. However, the following needs to be fulfilled:

Download the Copernicus Publications LaTeX Package or WORD template to compile your preprint's *.pdf file;
Ensure that your preprint's *.pdf file includes page and line numbers, and your title page includes full first names for all authors. Should you have used AI tools to generate (parts of) your manuscript, please describe the usage either in the Methods section or the Acknowledgements;
Prepare your abstract text so that you can paste it into the file upload form and, if applicable, your supplement file as *.pdf or *.zip archive;
Ensure that your text and figures include either standard fonts like Times, Arial, Helvetica, or Verdana, or, if other fonts have been used, such fonts have been embedded;
Ensure that your figures' colour schemes allow readers with colour vision deficiencies to correctly interpret your findings. Please check your figures using the Coblis – Color Blindness Simulator and revise the colour schemes accordingly;
Ensure that you have secured the reproduction rights for figures, tables, maps, images, and aerials, if such materials are included in your preprint;
Ensure that you included copyright statements or credits for maps, images, and aerials, according to the regulations of the provider;
Ensure that you properly cited all literature and materials used with corresponding entries in your reference list;
Consider submitting assets like data sets, software and model code, samples, and videos to reliable repositories and link such assets, ideally through DOI, from your preprint.

Special type: LESSONS Posts

LESSONS Posts (Limitations, Errors, Surprises, Shortcomings, Opportunities for New Science) document a well-substantiated finding that is not a classic 'positive' result, perhaps non-confirmatory, or revealing methodological limitations: a 'lesson learnt'. Unforeseen complications in investigations, plausible methods that failed, unexpectedly null results, and technical issues are also in scope. Different from LESSONS Reports published in some EGU journals (with corresponding preprints posted on EGUsphere in the course of the peer-review process), LESSONS Posts on EGUsphere are of a brief and more-preliminary nature and the presented problem and analysis need not be fully explored. LESSONS Posts typically have fewer than 500 words and one figure. Thereby, the extent and depth to which the subject is required to be explored is deliberately limited, although longer posts are permitted. Abstracts must include a sentence stating how the work is linked to the LESSONS acronym. For more information and context on LESSONS posts, see the GC Editorial (under review, coming soon). To submit your stand-alone preprint as LESSONS Post, indicate accordingly in the registration form when submitting your preprint.

Other preprint options

Preprints aimed at publication in an EGU journal as well as external preprints seeking publication in an EGU journal follow the individual submission guidelines of the selected EGU topical journal. Please visit the journal websites for more information.

Preprint registration and submission

Register your preprint in order to receive a link to upload the required files into the online system Copernicus Office Editor. The preprint registration form asks you for your preferred preprint option on EGUsphere (see above).

Templates for your manuscript file

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Technical instructions for LaTeX

Please download the Copernicus Publications LaTeX Package, version 7.14, 12 March 2026 to prepare your manuscript. The package contains the LaTeX2e class file, the configuration file, all needed style files, as well as a template serving as the framework for your manuscript.

Authors are kindly requested to make use of the template.tex file embedded in the LaTeX Package since most of the definitions for the structure of manuscript elements are described there. Since we convert all typeset TeX files into XML, the expressions and markups have to be highly standardized. Therefore, please keep the following in mind:

Please use the document class manuscript as this includes (a) the 1-column format and (b) line numbers.
Please provide only one figure file for figures with several panels, and please do not use \subfloat or similar commands.
Please use only commands in which words, numbers, etc. are within braces (e.g. \textrm{TEXT} instead of {\rm TEXT}).
For algorithms, please use the syntax given in template.tex. Your algorithm will be included as structured text in the *.pdf file as well as in the full-text *.html file of the final paper. If the usage of the algorithm and algorithmics packages according to the template.tex is not possible, you can provide your algorithm as a figure.
For listings, you may use your own packages to include it in your *.tex file. As of now, we will crop the listing from your paper *.pdf file and include it as figure. We are currently working on a text-based representation of listings in *.pdf and *.html files.
Any source code excerpts included in the paper should be typeset using the verbatim environment or \texttt.
Please do not define new commands.
The most commonly used packages (\usepackage{}) are integrated in the copernicus.cls. Some other packages often used by the community are defined in template.tex. Please do not insert additional ones in your *.tex file.
Spaces in labels (\label{}) are not allowed; please make sure that no label name is assigned more than once. For references, please do not use the DOI as label.
Please do not use \paragraph{}; only \subsubsection{} is allowed.
It is not possible to add tables in colour.

If you are familiar with BibTeX, you can use copernicus.bst from the package. It will sort your bibliography entries alphabetically and produce the proper layout of the reference list.

Technical instructions for MS Word and compatible formats

Technical instructions for R Markdown

To prepare your manuscript following the literate programming paradigm, you can use R Markdown. This format allows you to interweave text and code in a single plain-text file format. Your manuscript is then fully transparent and reproducible – see this GeoLog blog post for some background and examples. R Markdown supports multiple programming languages, including R, Python, and SQL. It is intentionally kept simple and therefore very easy to learn. The Markdown document is rendered into a PDF based on the Copernicus Publications LaTeX Package (see above) in version 5.0. Thus R Markdown manuscripts support the full features of LaTeX for chemical formulas and mathematical equations as needed, as well as powerful citation management with BibTeX.

Please install the rticles package to use the Copernicus Publications template for R Markdown. You can create a new document based on the template and render it to a PDF with the following commands:

library("rticles")

library("rmarkdown")

rmarkdown::draft(file = "MyArticle.Rmd",

                 template = "copernicus",

                 package = "rticles", edit = FALSE) rmarkdown::render(input = "MyArticle/MyArticle.Rmd")

The created file MyArticle.Rmd includes a YAML file header with a number of configurations and required metadata, such as authors and affiliations, running title, and special sections (e.g. code/data availability, acknowledgements). These options are explained within the document and can be deleted if not needed. The template also includes examples of text formatting, figure addition, table insertion, and citation/reference usage, etc.

RStudio is a recommended editor for R Markdown documents and provides a user-friendly interface for document creation and a plug-in for comfortable reference management.

Please note that the Copernicus Publications template for R Markdown is not maintained by Copernicus but by community members Daniel Nüst and Sebastian Kreutzer.