An important new journal in environmental science: the first five years

The Royal Society of Chemistry gave birth to the Journal of Environmental Monitoring (JEM) in 1999, launching an important new venue for the publication of cutting edge new science in all aspects of monitoring our environment. Now the first five years have passed, and it is timely to reflect on how JEM has evolved during those years, and its place in the international environmental science arena.

We have set out from the beginning to stimulate the publication of new research describing application of the physical and biological sciences to studies of the natural environment, including aspects that may affect global or local ecosystems or exposures to agents that may impact on human health. From this it is seen that the target audience for JEM is very wide indeed, as reflected in the distribution of the sources of material that have been published during our first five years. During that time, we have seen many excellent multi and interdisciplinary contributions, with about 50% from units associated directly with chemistry (including analytical chemistry and environmental chemistry), about 30% from environmental health, environmental engineering and biomedical units, and about 20% from units associated with the marine, geological, atmospheric and radiological sciences. About 40% dealt with the assessment of human exposures in indoor, outdoor, workplace and dietary scenarios, about 30% with monitoring of the air, water, sediments and biota of our natural environment, and about 30% with the development of new environmental measurement methodologies. About 50% have come from the academic world, about 45% from government institutions and just 5% from industry. Approximately 65% have come from Europe and Scandinavia, about 20% from North America and about 15% from elsewhere. During the first five years there has been steady growth of both submissions and actual publications.

In addition to the steady flux of un-solicited papers submitted for peer-review, JEM has published regular special issues in high impact areas, many from international conferences and all subject to the same level of rigorous peer-review that we have adopted for all other original material. Such special issues are important to our field because they address subject areas of topical interest, and so provide forums for the illumination of the scientific issues of greatest concern not only to the scientific community but also to policy makers and populations at large. JEM has thus sought to be more than just an archive for the excellent scientific work of its contributors, but also to draw together coherent bodies of new knowledge in such a way as to be influential outside the realms of science itself. This role has been reinforced by the introduction of special interest columns, perspectives and editorials that reflect broad trends and reflect opinion among the scientific community in key environmental areas. The interfaces between environmental science, society and policy are important, and we must continue to strive to maintain a high profile in those areas and so remain influential. Public policy cannot be determined only by scientists, but must also involve those who are ultimately accountable to society at large. It is inevitable that other forces come into play beyond science, so that policies and regulatory standards must also include reference not only to the scientific arguments and data about agents in the environment, and how they might impact on the world and its populations, but also to considerations of technical feasibility and socioeconomic and sociopolitical factors, as well as the perceptions of populations. On top of all these, the contribution of cultural and moral dimensions cannot be ignored. JEM can–and should–be prominent at all these interfaces.

From the rough summary statistics outlined here, we can claim that JEM has got off to a very good start, and is already making a significant impact on environmental science worldwide. It is also apparent that further growth may come from a surge in contributions from North America. So I invite my colleagues in the many research institutions in that vast scientific community to look to JEM as a venue for publishing some of their best work. We of course admire our competitors, not least because most of us not only read other journals but also contribute to them. That is the nature of how scientists disseminate their work to their communities and strive to reach the widest and most relevant audiences. But we believe that JEM has risen to the level where it can match–in scope, quality and quantity–any other such outlet.

In my previous editorial, I spoke about the breadth of environmental monitoring science, even beyond that which immediately springs to mind. I touched on environmental agents that have not yet found prominence in our pages, including, for example, aspects of the physical environment such as heat (e.g., does anyone remember the effects of the unprecedented heat wave of Summer 2003 in Europe?) and noise. Environmental factors leading to injury, accidental or otherwise, may also be the subject of environmental surveillance. Some such extensions to the environmental monitoring paradigm may well lie outside the scope of ‘traditional’ environmental science, to include, for example, the discipline of epidemiology. But we have yet to see contributions from those quarters.

As we continue to discuss the scope of environmental monitoring as it relates to the aims of JEM, we find ourselves returning to the question of what types of articles should be published. Should we be concerned purely with basic science, or applied science? Generalizable versus specific? Globally versus locally applicable? The Editorial Board will continue to work towards developing a clear vision that will carry JEM into the years ahead, to ensure that only the very best material is published, that is of the widest interest, and whose interest and value will persist far into the future.

 

Professor James H. Vincent

Chairman

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