Guidelines for submitting a comment and reply

1. Journals will consider comments (and replies) on papers appearing in that journal within the last year.
2. What is a comment & reply? A comment and reply include discussion and commentary that address significant aspects of the original paper without (a) becoming essentially new papers, (b) delving into too much detail, or (c) becoming personal. A comment and reply should address non-trivial points of interest to readers other than the authors of the comment and the paper being commented on.
3. Page length & charges: The comment and the reply are limited to one journal page each (page charges waived if one page each), including title, affiliations, abstract (fewer than 100 words), text, references, figures, and tables. In unusual cases, this limit might be extended to two journal pages each (authors pay for the additional page), by the overseeing editor (i.e. a total of four pages). Authors are reminded that non-essential material should be submitted as electronic supplements.
4. Submission & format: Both comments and replies should be submitted by selecting the manuscript type "comment/reply" during manuscript registration using the Copernicus Office Editor (see manuscript submission). (a) The comment title should start with "Comment on..." and contain the paper reference (e.g. Comment on "Spatio-temporal filling of missing points in geophysical data sets" by D. Kondrashov and M. Ghil, Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 13, 151–159, 2006). (b) The reply title should start with "Reply to..." (e.g. Reply to A. Smith's comment on "Spatio-temporal filling of missing points in geophysical data sets").
5. Review: An executive editor from the journal will normally oversee the comment & reply (and at his/her discretion involve the editor who oversaw the original paper being commented upon), ensuring that standards for publication are met, and may elect (a) to decline a comment without further consideration, (b) to require revisions before further consideration, or (c) to immediately solicit a reply (with appropriate deadline for return) from the authors of the published work being discussed. If a reply is submitted in a timely matter, the editor will have both the comment and reply reviewed. If the original author chooses not to submit a reply or is unwilling to respond within the time frame set by the editor, the editor may elect to proceed without a reply.
   
   In most cases, only one referee will be used. The referee will be asked to prepare separate reports on the comment and reply (as each has been submitted separately in the Copernicus Office Editor). If the author of the original paper did not reply, the comment will be reviewed and a decision concerning publication will be made after the referee's report has been received.
   
   Upon receipt of the referee's reports, the editor will forward the reply, along with the referee's report on the comment, to the author of the comment. The comment may be revised one time in response to the reply and the referee's report. The revised comment will then be sent, together with the referee's report of the reply, to the authors of the reply. One revision of the reply will be allowed. At this point, a final decision will be made on whether or not to publish the comment and the reply.