Dawn of a New Era

I have not been the editor-in-chief for very long, but for over the past year, one of the most pleasant surprises has been the high quality of the manuscripts that have been received covering many thematic areas focused on the fundamentals of hydraulic engineering and waterways, sediment transport, watershed sedimentation, computational hydraulics, and sensor technology. These papers that integrate science across several of the traditional disciplines in the Journal are welcomed. But, submissions of new manuscripts that present innovative concepts and approaches are also encouraged. Because hydraulic infrastructure is vital to maintaining the nation’s economy, understanding its resilience, as well as improving its design and performance, it is the centerpiece of the work of a hydraulic engineer. The Journal must be the leading interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary journal for the hydraulics community by integrating field, laboratory, and numerical investigations that support the effective design of the critical infrastructure. This is an area that I would like to grow, so I am challenging readers to advance the state-of-the-art and report the findings in the Journal.

As part of the natural evolution of the community’s Journal to address new thematic areas that researchers will face in the years ahead, a new international team has been established. In the past year, 13 new associate editors (AEs) have begun a 4-year term of service: (1) James Fox, University of Kentucky; (2) Philippe Frey, IRSTEA Grenoble; (3) Mohamed Ghidaoui, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology; (4) Abdul Khan, Clemson University; (5) Eddy Langendoen, USDA–Agricultural Research Service (ARS); (6) Xiaofeng Liu, Penn State; (7) Gregory Pasternack, University of California, Davis; (8) Jose Rodriguez, University of Newcastle; (9) Luca Solari, University di Firenze; (10) Thorsten Stoesser, Cardiff University; (11) Kyle Strom, Virginia Tech; (12) Blake Tullis, Utah State University; and (13) Daniel Wren, USDA–ARS. This new team of AEs brings a high level of expertise, as well as a lot of energy. But as the new crop of AEs is welcomed, we have not forgotten those who have contributed their time and efforts over the years but are currently stepping down. First and foremost, we would like to pay tribute to the distinguished service of Professor Terry Sturm, the previous editor-in-chief of the Journal. Many in the community recognize and appreciate the effort and commitment that Professor Sturm has put towards the Journal, and I am asking that the entire community thank Professor Sturm, once more, for excellent work. I would also like to thank the following professors and former AEs for their service to the Journal, as well as their efforts and dedication to the engineering community at large: (1) Panos Diplas with Lehigh University, (2) Ana Maria da Silva of Queen’s University, and (3) Andrea Marion from University of Padua. The editorial board sincerely wishes them continued success for the future.

With the expanded team of AEs, it is our hope to spend more time communicating with the authors and reviewers. The review process is so critical to the success of the Journal, as well as serving the academic and practitioner communities. The mission of the editor and the AEs is not only to render publishing decisions, but also to help the authors with expressing their writing and research clearly and succinctly. As former Editor-in-Chief James Liggett said, “The value of a referee lies far less in the yes or no judgment of the overall paper than in the service rendered by pointing out flaws that would bother or mislead most other readers.” In that sense, I must recognize now, and will continue to recognize, the contributions of the conscientious and very helpful reviewers. The quality of the reviews received is invigorating and it is part of the success story of achieving the highest impact factor (1.75) of all ASCE journals and one of the highest in the area of water resources and engineering.

The quality of the Journal in general depends on the quality of the reviews as much as on the quality of the submitted paper. With this in mind, the Journal implemented 10 important changes to the submission process and the handling of papers, as follows:

Finally, in 2016, the Journal will celebrate its 60th anniversary. Invited forum articles regarding pioneers in different areas of hydraulics and sedimentation engineering will be considered to capture the plethora of different thematic areas published over the years in the Journal. The editorial board plans to hold an open session at the Environmental and Water Resources Institute (EWRI) conference in Austin, Texas, this year (May 17–21) to discuss new thematic areas and opportunities and to seek cutting-edge research contributions in both traditional and emerging disciplines for the Journal. The participation of young researchers in this open session is encouraged so they can become acquainted with the work from the Journal and learn about the submission and peer review policy.

The Journal will continue to cover the full range of pressurized flows, open-channel flows, river mechanics in geomorphology, ecohydraulics, and fundamental environmental fluid mechanics. The Journal is envisioned as continuing as a leader in processes describing the interaction of flow and particulates, as well as flow structure interactions using advanced numerical techniques, sensor technology, and laboratory and field observations starting from the microeddy scale all the way to the watershed scale. Commentaries in the form of forum articles as they are known are encouraged, because the Journal’s readership likes them very much. If readers have an opinion to express, please do not hesitate to submit a forum article.

The community is thanked for its support and for giving the editorial board the opportunity to work as editors of the Journal. We are enthusiastically looking forward to grow and flourish the journal over the next 5 years and encourage the readers to contact any of the editorial board with suggestions and ideas. For the great majority of those who review for the Journal, please keep up the good work. Dr. Christopher Wilson, editorial assistant, Michelle English, editorial coordinator, veteran and moving encyclopedia Holly Koppel, managing editor, as well as Kelly Anderson, managing editor are all thanked for all their hard work so far and in the years ahead. The help and vision from Angela Cochran, director, ASCE Journals, is highly appreciated.