Quality and Quickness: Some Important Changes for the Journal of Hydraulic Engineering

Recently, the Journal of Hydraulic Engineering (JHE) has been on an upswing. This is seen most vividly with an all-time-high impact factor of 2.183 in 2017.

Additionally, the number of submissions is up 23% in the last 5 years, while turnaround times continue to drop. The time from submission to first decision is now 3 months, which is down 2 whole months in the last 5 years. Our acceptance rate is sitting at 25%. All of this reflects the increasing diligence by the associate editors and editorial staff, as well as the reviewers.

However, one other statistic representing this boost that is not so apparent is that, in the last 2 years, JHE has received manuscripts from 60 different countries (Fig. 1). We could not be happier that our journal continues to grow as an international powerhouse.

As we progress, though, we must remain disciplined in terms of our review process. Our quality must move hand in hand with our quickness. I give credit and my deepest admiration to JHE’s associate editors and reviewers who have worked hard to push the journal to the top. But I also recognize the commitment involved to ensure JHE’s high standards. We must all work together and share the load.

For example, we in the editorial staff and our ASCE support staff have instituted a stricter prescreening process with each submitted manuscript. During this prescreening, we look for formatting and grammatical issues, as well as technical content substantiated with up-to-date peer-reviewed literature. This is done in hopes of easing the load of the associate editors and reviewers, so they can focus on more pertinent concerns. These concerns include the scientific merit of the manuscript, as well as if the authors clearly state their goals, hypotheses, methods, and key contributions.

Reviewers and associate editors can then provide a more constructive discussion and evaluation on the manuscripts that the authors can reflect upon to improve their work. The reviews should focus on the positive merits of the manuscript, as well as the major concerns regarding the objectives, hypotheses, and results.

One final aspect that can help JHE maintain its upward trend would be for the authors of these new manuscripts to willingly volunteer as reviewers for the journal. This could help address the problem of the time it takes to find a reviewer, which is the main cause for delay in turnaround time. We must all act collectively to keep JHE as a global leader of hydraulic research while recognizing the interwoven role of hydraulics within different subdisciplines.

In closing, I again offer my thanks to all the associate editors, reviewers, and authors, as well as the ASCE staff who make JHE what it is today.