A New Decade in Air,Soil and Water Research : New Challenges and Environmental Issues to Be Discussed

In 2020, a new decade is initiated with several new challenges, including a considerable number of environmental issues. This year also marks the 12th anniversary of Air, Soil and Water Research (ASW). Since its first introduction in 2008, ASW has grown to become the lead publication in environment-related topics. In this new decade, emerging technology development is expected, which will pose new challenges to foresee and need further analysis in the forthcoming manuscripts to be published on ASW.

This editorial team has witnessed the increase in manuscript submissions related to emerging pollutants in air,^1,2 soil degradation and quality,^3-5 and research in water resources management, water quality, and novel water treatment technologies, as well as manuscript related to population’s health impact^3,6 and climate change. ⁷ These submissions have also expanded to multidisciplinary works related to soil, water, and atmosphere interactions^8-10 and opened ASW to new topics, such as the impacts of wildfires, species distributions, and ecological interactions. The latest articles in this journal can be freely accessed online at https://journals.sagepub.com/home/asw. With the continued submission of your manuscripts to ASW, we anticipate that our journal will be soon listed in indices such as the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE) and the Web of Science (WoS).

Since our decision to divide our Editorial Board into 3 editorial sections in 2018, ¹¹ we have seen a 2-fold increase in the total amount of manuscript submissions to our journal. We strongly believe that this change in editorial lead has helped us improve the review process by assigning reviewers and involving new associate editors who are well-recognized experts on specific topics. During 2019, we have received manuscripts by researchers from diverse regions, including South Africa, Nigeria, Iran, the United States, the United Kingdom, Colombia, Croatia, and Germany, just to mention some, for publication in ASW, and we look forward to a continuous rise in the number of submissions and the geographic regions of the authors. This accelerated review process, however, is only possible with the contribution of reviewers, associate editors, and manager editors (Bree Sundling and Barbara Rattner). In this editorial, we would like to take the opportunity to thank all of them for helping us provide a better service and ensure only high-quality manuscripts are accepted for publication in ASW.

Moving forward into the challenges of the new decade, we are determined to improve the quality of our journal. We are committed to a rigorous peer review for all manuscripts, reaching a more diverse and multidisciplinary audience, an improved open access format to attract high visibility and global exposure, and prompt online publication of accepted articles. Our goals can only be successfully achieved with great contributions by researchers, and by authors and expert reviewers working together for the journal. We warmly invite you to become a part of this effort by submitting your contributions to ASW; we look forward to working with you in making your research available to the broadest possible audience.