A new year at Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology

Three years ago, we launched Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology (ESWRT) “to highlight the best and most innovative science, engineering and technology in water today, while maintaining a timely and transparent review process with prompt publication.” We built a small, but enthusiastic, team of editors that was motivated by the need for more high quality options for publishing water-related research. We were also unified in the belief that if we achieved these lofty goals, as stated in my inaugural editorial, we would earn your trust and become a destination for the top research in our field.

So how are we doing?

While we certainly still have some ways to go, evidence of our progress is mounting. At ESWRT, we aim for prompt publication. As such, we are quite proud of our time from receipt to first decision of just under 40 days. This relatively rapid turnaround places us near the top of the field and ahead of many of our major competitors.

In terms of the quality and impact of the work we are publishing, we can look at the initial metrics ESWRT received in the 2016 Journal Citation Reports®. Last June, we received our first (partial) Impact Factor of 2.817, which places ESWRT in the top 20% of the “Water Resources” category. Perhaps more notable is our Immediacy Index, which represents the average number of times an article is cited in the year it is published. Our initial Immediacy Index of 1.211 ranks us third in the Water Resources category, suggesting that the articles we publish are being read and cited quickly. In launching ESWRT, we wanted to be a home for leading-edge research that pushes the field forward, and by these available measures, we are meeting this goal.

But evidence of our progress can be found in so much more than just metrics. I see it in the increasing number and quality of submissions we receive each month. I hear it in the feedback from colleagues at meetings and via email who have enjoyed their experience publishing with us. Certainly, not all feedback I receive is positive, but we welcome the constructive criticism so we can make your experience with ESWRT better next time.

Looking ahead, the next year stands to be an exciting and dynamic time for the journal. Our increasing credibility in the field has resulted in more and better submissions. Accordingly, we will now be publishing issues of ESWRT monthly (12 issues per year), rather than every other month. Further, in response to this growth, we have added two new Associate Editors to our team in recent months. I'm delighted to have Dr. Michael Templeton of Imperial College London and Dr. Xia Huang of Tsinghua University in China join our Associate Editor team. Dr. Templeton has expertise in the occurrence and control of chemical and biological contaminants in water, innovative water treatment processes, and effective water supply and sanitation interventions in low-income countries. He has also previously served as the Guest Editor of our Sanitation Themed Collection (http://www.rsc.li/sanitation), which remains an active area of contributions where Dr. Templeton will continue to bring strong leadership. Dr. Huang is a research leader and innovator in membrane technologies for water and wastewater treatment, nutrient removal and resource recovery, and microbial fuel cells for simultaneous electricity generation and wastewater treatment. We are excited to have Dr. Huang working on submissions to ESWRT in these areas, which have grown in popularity over the journal's lifetime to date.

Along with these additions to the Editorial Board come some notable departures. I want to thank Mike Elovitz of the US Environmental Protection Agency, Yunho Lee of the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology in Korea, and Peter Vikesland of Virginia Tech for their distinguished service since their appointment to our inaugural Editorial Board. During their appointments, they freely volunteered their time and provided engagement, enthusiasm, thoughtful perspectives, and a commitment to helping develop ESWRT from infancy. I also want to extend my hearty congratulations and sincerest best wishes to Peter, who leaves us to take over as Editor-in-Chief of our sister journal Environmental Science: Nano. I'm confident he will bring bold leadership to the journal and continue building upon the sturdy foundation created by Vicki Grassian at Environmental Science: Nano.

We have also extensively revamped our Advisory Board with membership that better reflects the scope of works published over the first three years of the journal and our priority areas going forward. The newly constituted Advisory Board contains research leaders from around the world, with expertise including chemical and microbial contaminants, wastewater treatment and resource recovery, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), the water–energy nexus, potable reuse, and sustainability analysis and design, among others. As ESWRT continues to evolve and build its global reputation, the editorial team is eager to engage the Advisory Board in shaping future content and identifying strategic areas for the journal's growth.

Finally, this next year will also be my last as Editor-in-Chief of ESWRT, with my term limit set to expire in December of 2018 as is Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) policy for Editorial Board member rotation. Certainly, this milestone is bittersweet. Working alongside the team at the RSC, it has been my greatest honor to help build ESWRT from the bottom up. I cannot thank enough the entire team at the RSC and ESWRT for their support, hard work, and commitment over the past three years. Rest assured that we have already begun the process of identifying the next Editor-in-Chief, and I'm confident the journal will be left in good hands once I move on. I'm excited to see what vision and fresh ideas a new Editor-in-Chief brings to ESWRT, but I believe we've built a solid foundation that will allow the journal to reach great heights.

With so much going on, what can you, our valuable readers, authors, and reviewers, expect in the upcoming year? More of the same and better.

You will see a continued commitment to early career scientists through our ongoing Emerging Investigators series. Although it has likely never been more daunting to start out as an independent scientist or researcher in the environmental field, a strength of our discipline remains the outstanding talent of early career scientists that will carry our field forward. Through the Emerging Investigators series, we are proud to be able to showcase this next generation of research leadership by bringing you their best and most innovative work.

You will continue to see timely themed issues focusing on hot topics in water-related research. Currently in preparation for publication in 2018 are themed issues focused on recent advances in anaerobic digestion led by Aijie Wang (Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, CAS), Paige Novak (University of Minnesota), and Jeremy Guest (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), and another issue focused on the latest innovations in UV-based advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) led by Stuart Khan (University of New South Wales), Michael Templeton (Imperial College London), Graham Gagnon (Dalhousie University), and Dion Dionysiou (University of Cincinnati). We are delighted to have these issues led by members of our Editorial Board and Advisory Board teams, and we look forward to bringing you these and more themed content over the year.

Most importantly, we remain committed to bringing you, our readers, the latest and greatest high impact water research. To our authors, we will keep helping you tell your tales of scientific discovery and practical advances. We take our mission seriously, and thank you for entrusting us to showcase your best work.

Thanks for reading and your continued support of ESWRT. I hope you enjoy this first issue of what is sure to be our best year yet.

Until next time.

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