E-ISSN 3107-300X · Publisher: ARGO-E GROUP · Published under the auspices of the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE)
Ground and Infrastructure (E-ISSN 3107-300X) is an open-access, peer-reviewed series of conference proceedings in geotechnical engineering and related fields. It is published by ARGO-E GROUP under the auspices of the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE).
The series publishes papers from international conferences and workshops organized by ISSMGE Member Societies, Technical Committees and partner institutions. It covers soil and rock mechanics, foundation and earthquake geotechnical engineering, soil–vegetation–atmosphere interaction, geoenvironmental engineering, and the design, construction, monitoring and resilience of infrastructure in contact with the ground.
The series aims to report advances in research and practice, document the state of the art, and provide a permanent, freely accessible record of international discussion on ground behaviour and infrastructure engineering. Its readers are researchers, practicing engineers, infrastructure owners and policy makers. All papers are published in English.
Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Dimitrios Zekkos, University of California, Berkeley, USA
The series is led by Editor-in-Chief Prof. Dimitrios Zekkos (University of California, Berkeley, USA). He is supported by an editorial board of geotechnical engineering specialists from ISSMGE Technical Committees. Each volume has guest volume editors from the organizing conference, who work under the series' editorial and peer-review policies.
Every paper in Ground and Infrastructure is peer reviewed before acceptance.
Editorial screening. The volume editors check each submission for scope, originality, language and compliance with the author guidelines. All submissions are checked for similarity with Crossref Similarity Check.
External review. Papers that pass screening are sent to at least two independent reviewers with expertise in the topic, usually members of the conference scientific committee or the ISSMGE Technical Committee. The review is single-blind.
Decision. Based on the reviews, the volume editors accept the paper, reject it, or request revisions. Revised papers are checked against the reviewers' comments and may be sent for a second review.
Final approval. The series editor-in-chief oversees the process and gives final approval for each volume.
Reviewers declare any conflicts of interest. Papers by volume editors are handled by another member of the committee. Average time from submission to decision is about two months.
Ground and Infrastructure follows the Core Practices of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the ISSMGE Conference & Publication Manual. Authors, reviewers, volume editors and the publisher are all expected to meet these standards.
Originality. Papers must be the authors' original work and must not have been published before or be under consideration elsewhere. The series does not accept duplicate or redundant publication. All submissions are screened with Crossref Similarity Check.
Authorship. Everyone listed as an author must have made a substantial contribution to the work and approved the final version. The corresponding author confirms this on behalf of all authors at submission. Changes to the author list after acceptance need the agreement of all authors and the volume editors.
Peer review. Every paper is refereed before acceptance, as the ISSMGE Manual requires. Reviewers treat manuscripts as confidential, declare any conflict of interest, and give objective, constructive comments. The preface of each volume states that the papers were refereed and lists the referees.
Editors. Volume editors decide on papers only on their scientific merit and relevance. Papers by a volume editor are handled by another member of the scientific committee, who makes the decision independently.
Conflicts of interest and funding. Authors disclose any financial or personal relationship that could influence their work, and acknowledge all sources of funding.
Data and permissions. Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce third-party material, and should make the data behind their results available on reasonable request.
Misconduct. Allegations of plagiarism, data fabrication or falsification, or unethical review are investigated by the editor-in-chief and the publisher following COPE flowcharts. Concerns can be sent to ethics@argo-e.com.
Corrections and retractions. Published papers are not changed except for gross factual errors, breach of third-party copyright, or unlawful or defamatory content. Corrections are published as linked correction notices. Retracted papers stay online, clearly marked “Retracted”, with a notice explaining why, in line with COPE retraction guidelines.
Authors. AI tools cannot be listed as authors, because they cannot take responsibility for the work. Authors may use AI tools to improve language and readability. Any other use, such as generating text, analysing data or producing figures, must be described in the methods section or acknowledgements, naming the tool and how it was used. Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy and originality of all content.
Images and data. AI-generated or AI-altered images, figures and data are not allowed unless they are part of the research method, in which case the method must be described.
Reviewers and editors. Reviewers and editors must not upload manuscripts, or any part of them, to generative AI tools, as this breaks confidentiality. They may not use AI to write review reports or make decisions.
Ground and Infrastructure is a fully open-access series. In line with ISSMGE's policy of open access for all publications under its auspices, every paper is free to read and download from the day of publication, with no embargo and no registration.
Copyright. Authors keep the copyright in their papers.
Authors may reuse up to 20% of a paper in new work without permission, and third parties may reuse up to three figures, tables or extracts of under 100 words free of charge.
Self-archiving. Authors may deposit the published version in institutional or subject repositories and on personal websites, with a link to the original publication.
Identifiers. Each paper receives a DOI, and each volume carries the series E-ISSN 3107-300X.
Access points. Papers are available on the series website and in the ISSMGE Online Library.
Ground and Infrastructure charges no fees to authors or readers. There are no article processing charges, submission fees, page charges or colour charges.
Several conference volumes a year.