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20 May 2020 A New Decade in Air, Soil and Water Research: New Challenges and Environmental Issues to Be Discussed
Mohd Talib Latif, Erick R Bandala, Jesús Rodrigo-Comino
Author Affiliations +

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 impact3,6 and climate change.7 These submissions have also expanded to multidisciplinary works related to soil, water, and atmosphere interactions8-10 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.

REFERENCES

1.

Abdel-Gawad SA , Abd El-Aziz HM. Removal of pharmaceuticals from aqueous medium using entrapped activated carbon in alginate.Air Soil Water Res.2019;12:1—7. Google Scholar

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Georgakakos CB , Richards PL , Walter MT. Tracing septic pollution sources using synthetic DNA tracers: proof of concept.Air Soil Water Res.2019; 12:1—7. Google Scholar

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Ebong GA , Ettesam ES , Dan EU. Impact of abattoir wastes on trace metal accumulation, speciation, and human health-related problems in soils within Southern Nigeria.Air Soil Water Res.2020;13:1—14. Google Scholar

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van der Bank M , Karsten J . Climate change and South Africa: a critical analysis of the Earthlife Africa Johannesburg and Another v Minister of Energy and Others 65662/16 (2017) Case and the drive for concrete climate practices.Air Soil Water Res.2020;13:1—11. Google Scholar

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Bandala ER , Rodriguez-Narvaez OM. On the nature of hydrodynamic cavitation process and its application for the removal of water pollutants.Air Soil Water Res.2019;12:1—6. Google Scholar

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Rodrigo-Comino J , Senciales JM , Sillero-Medina JA , Gyasi-Agyei Y , Ruiz-Sinoga JD , Ries JB. Analysis of weather-type-induced soil erosion in cultivated and poorly managed abandoned sloping vineyards in the Axarquía Region (Málaga, Spain).Air Soil Water Res.2019;12:1—11. Google Scholar

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© The Author(s) 2020 This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
Mohd Talib Latif, Erick R Bandala, and Jesús Rodrigo-Comino "A New Decade in Air, Soil and Water Research: New Challenges and Environmental Issues to Be Discussed," Air, Soil and Water Research 13(1), (20 May 2020). https://doi.org/10.1177/1178622120916532
Received: 12 March 2020; Accepted: 12 March 2020; Published: 20 May 2020
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