The Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association (JA&WMA) is a longstanding and important venue for the publication of outstanding research in the fields of air quality and waste management. I was honored to take the reins on April 1 as the journal’s new Technical Editor-in-Chief, succeeding Dr S. Trivikama Rao, who provided the journal with dedicated leadership from 2012 until his untimely passing in late 2021. Dr Rao worked tirelessly to maintain and build the journal’s reputation as a premier outlet for policy-relevant research in the air quality and waste management fields, a mission that I embrace. While journal metrics such as impact factor, a place where JA&WMA has seen good growth, continue to receive attention in the scientific community, we should remember that other forms of impact are also important. These include contributions of published work to the design and implementation of effective air and waste management policies. Active readership by those who help craft environmental policy is one reason to consider JA&WMA for your next paper.
The unexpected death of Dr. Rao in late 2021 immediately challenged the editorial operations of the journal. I am extremely grateful to JA&WMA’s Associate Editors, who helped the journal through a significant gap in leadership. Their expert handling of incoming submissions and acceptance decisions maintained efficient journal operations in a way that otherwise simply would not have been possible. In particular, I would like to thank Stephanie Bolyard, Christian (Kip) Carrico, Paul Lemieux, and Jay Lawrimore for their extensive service in this regard. All of the journal’s Associate Editors comprise the backbone of our manuscript evaluation process, work they graciously provide as a service to A&WMA and the scientific community. Thank you! We are excited to welcome four new Associate Editors to this esteemed group. Nefeli Bompoti (University of Connecticut), Ellison Carter (Colorado State University), Jiannan (Nick) Chen (University of Central Florida), and Lin Zhang (Peking University) joined in Fall 2022 and are bringing new ideas, energy, and expertise to managing the journal.
The Associate Editors and I are grateful to the many peer reviewers who participate in the manuscript review process. Your expertise, time, and service help ensure that published research meets high scientific standards and will appeal to our readers. The peer reviewers provided objective and constructive comments, thereby improving the quality of papers published in 2022. This issue is dedicated to our reviewers for their valuable contributions. Growth in manuscript submissions, especially during the early days of the COVID pandemic, has increased pressure on peer reviewers. While many journals now press reviewers to return evaluations in 1 to 2 weeks, we believe it is important to give you time to complete thorough reviews and remain committed to a 4-week review timeline. Obtaining a thorough, expert review in a slightly longer timeframe is more important than sacrificing review quality in favor of a slightly speedier evaluation.
Each year, A&WMA presents the Arthur C. Stern award to recognize the publication of a distinguished paper in JA&WMA. A committee of experts from industry, government, and academia works with the Editor-in-Chief to evaluate nominated papers. Please join me in congratulating the 2022 Stern Award winners: Sherilyn A. Gross, Heather J. Avens, Amber M. Banducci, Jennifer Sahmel, Julie M. Panko, and Brooke E. Tvermoes for their paper, “Analysis of BTEX groundwater concentrations from surface spills associated with hydraulic fracturing operations,” published in 2013 (https://doi.org/10.1080/10962247.2012.759166). This paper is one of the first to systematically examine groundwater contamination resulting from surface spills at active well sites.
During the coming year, I look forward to working to further enhance JA&WMA’s stature and success with important support from peer reviewers, Associate Editors, members of the Editorial Review Board, and the A&WMA Publications Committee. Our success, of course, rests foremost on contributing authors who conduct and publish the exciting research that fills our pages. I hope that each of you reading this editorial will consider submitting some of your recent work or a topical review paper for publication. If you have questions, please reach out to me at [email protected]. Finally, I am grateful to Lisa Bucher and Stephanie Glyptis of A&WMA, and the staff of Taylor and Francis, especially Marissa Nania, for their invaluable assistance in managing the journal over the past year.