Author Guidelines & Submission
Scope
Manuscripts Acceptable for Consideration
Manuscript Submission
Review
Process
Manuscript Format
Terminology
References
Tables and Figures
Acronyms
Equipment and
Materials
Units of Expression
Equations
Statistical
Analysis
Photographs
Correspondence and Inquiries
Scope
Water Environment Research (WER) publishes peer-reviewed
research papers, research notes, state-of-the-art and critical reviews on
original, fundamental and applied research in all scientific and technical areas
related to water quality, pollution control, and management.
Topics of
interest include:
- Physical, chemical, and biological treatment processes for drinking water
and wastewater (agricultural, municipal, industrial), including residuals and
biosolids management, odors, and air emissions.
- Water quality assessment and monitoring for point and non-point pollution,
including stormwater control.
- Water conservation and reuse.
- Water and wastewater-related public health, environmental exposure analysis
and risk assessment.
- Solid and hazardous waste treatment and management.
- Waste minimization, recycle and reuse.
- Environmental restoration, soil and groundwater remediation.
- Groundwater and surface water management, including watershed protection.
- Waste-to-energy conversion processes.
- Aquatic sediments and sediment/water interactions.
- Mathematical modeling and simulation of engineered and natural,
environmental multimedia processes and systems.
Manuscripts Acceptable for Consideration
Manuscripts may be
submitted in one of the following categories. Research Papers must be fully
documented and interpreted accounts of significant findings. They should present
an accurate account of the research performed by the authors and an objective
discussion of its significance. Further, they should contain sufficient detail
and references to published sources of information to permit the authors' peers
to repeat the work. Research
Notes may be short accounts of preliminary but significant
findings of work in progress for which full documentation is not yet available
or accounts of significant findings of abbreviated studies. State-of-the-Art Reviews present
thoroughly documented assessments of selected areas of the water quality and
pollution control technical literature. Identification of research needs or gaps
in current knowledge or practice is frequently a primary focus of such reviews.
Critical Reviews go
beyond State-of-the-Art Reviews by providing in-depth analysis of important
research topics. For both State-of-the Art and Critical Reviews, consultation
beforehand is necessary to decide on the relevance of the topic. Discussions of all published papers are
strongly encouraged. They are to be critical evaluations or amplifications of
papers published in WER and are
to be limited to commentary on the work being discussed. A closing date for
submission of Discussions is published in each issue. Authors of papers being
discussed will be provided an opportunity to respond to all Discussions in a
Closure.
Back to Top
Manuscript Submission
Authors are asked to
submit their manuscripts online at http://wer.allentrack.net for
peer review. At the
time of submission, authors will be asked to certify that the manuscript has not
been published in part or in full elsewhere and is not under consideration for
publication elsewhere. Previous publication or submission elsewhere will
preclude acceptance. Note, however, that presentation at a Water Environment
Federation conference does not preclude review and consideration of
publication. Authors will also be asked
to reveal any potential conflict of interest, proprietary consideration,
contractual obligation, pending legal activity, and so forth, that might be
affected by publication of the manuscript. As well, authors will be asked to
identify any related manuscripts that are under editorial consideration or in
press and indicate the relationships of the manuscripts to the one being
submitted. A list of four potential
reviewers with names, complete addresses, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses
must be provided. Persons affiliated with either
the authors' research or who are from the same company, organization, or
institution will not be accepted, however.Back to Top
Review Process
Each manuscript being considered for
review will be assigned to a Managing Editor on the Board of Editorial Review.
The Managing Editor may decide that a manuscript should be returned to the
author without full review. This recommendation will be made if, in the Managing
Editor's opinion, the manuscript is inappropriate for WER, there are significant deficiencies
in presentation or use of English, or one or more key elements of a technical
paper (references, description of methodology, or sufficient interpretation) are
absent.Otherwise, the Managing
Editor will assign reviewers,
interpret review recommendations, and provide a final recommendation regarding
publication. Notification from the Executive Editor to the corresponding author
of the manuscript will include suggested revisions or reasons for rejection.
Manuscripts required to be revised must be returned within six months; otherwise, they will be
considered as new submissions. Manuscripts will not be formally accepted until
all issues raised by the reviewers
and Managing Editor have been resolved. On acceptance, authors will be asked to
transfer copyright for the manuscript to the Water Environment Federation. There
are no page charges for accepted manuscripts, and membership in the Water
Environment Federation is not a prerequisite for
publication.
Accepted manuscripts are
typically published in the order of date of submission. Page proofs will be made
available to the corresponding author for pre-publication review. A rapid
response is required, and no extensive rewriting of manuscripts will be allowed.
Complimentary reprints are not provided. Information for ordering reprints will
be provided to the corresponding author.
Back to Top
Manuscript Format
To
facilitate review, manuscripts
should be prepared using a one-column, double-spaced format with line numbering
turned on. A complete manuscript should include the following:
title, abstract, keywords, introduction, methodology, results, discussion (or
results and discussion), conclusions, acknowledgments, and references.
Title Page.
The text should
begin with the title of the paper. On the next line place the authors' names in
the order in which they are to be referenced preceded by superscript numbers
that correspond to their affiliations, which will be listed below (the
corresponding author’s name will also be preceded by an asterisk). An example
follows:
Berinda J. Rossini1*,
Lorna E. Ernesto2, Steve M. Harris3
1*COOP, 2 Penna Center, 1500 Heights
Boulevard, Suite 600, Philadelphia, PA 00000; e-mail: brossini@coop.com (at the time that this
research was conducted, graduate student in
the Department of Environmental Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New
Jersey)
2Ipsosis, Englewood, Colorado
3Department of Environmental
Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey
Abstract and
Keywords. The abstract should contain
concise, factual information on objectives, methods, results, and conclusions.
Opinions, obscure terms, and jargon should be avoided. A suitable abstract
length is approximately 150 words. The line below the abstract should contain a
maximum of 10 keywords, listed in order of importance, that identify the main
points in the manuscript.
Main Manuscript
Body. The
body of the text should begin with an Introduction, which should include
citations of published related work to assess previous research and identify the
gap(s) in knowledge, as well as a statement of the objective(s) of the work.
When conducting the background literature review, Water Environment
Research may be accessed online at www.ingentaconnect.com/content/wef/wer.
Sections on
Methodology, Results, Discussion (or combined Results and Discussion), and
Conclusions should then be included. An Acknowledgment section should follow the
Conclusions, which may include any credits for funding of or assistance in the
study.
Manuscripts for Research Papers are to be no more than
32 double-spaced (12-point) pages in length on 220 mm × 280 mm (8.5 in. x 11
in.) paper, including tables and figures. This length allowance, approximately
10 000 words, is intended to allow authors to fully document and interpret their
findings. All manuscripts should, however, be carefully edited to eliminate
redundancy. In particular, similar data should not be presented in both figures
and tables.
Manuscripts for Research Notes should be no more than
12 double-spaced (12-point) pages in length (approximately 4000 words) and
should follow the general format for Research Papers. As with Research Papers,
manuscripts for State-of-the-Art and CriticalReviews should be no more than 32 double-spaced pages,
including tables and figures.
Discussions and Closures, should be no more than 4
double-spaced (12-point) pages in length, including tables and figures, which
should be kept to a minimum. A Discussion should focus on the published paper
and only introduce new material that is required to clearly establish the
writer's point. Authors wishing to introduce extensive new data using the
discussion route will be encouraged to submit a manuscript for publication as a
Research Note.
Back to Top
Terminology
To
promote public acceptance of reuse projects, the Water Environment Federation
has adopted the use of the word biosolids to describe the primarily organic
solids product of municipal wastewater treatment that meets U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency or applicable criteria for beneficial use. The term
"biosolids" is generally used after recycling criteria have been achieved,
typically at the outlet of the stabilization process. Sludge refers to the
unstabilized solids and should be used with a specific process descriptor, such
as primary sludge, waste activated sludge, or secondary sludge. For general
description, solids, residuals, or another appropriate term, is preferred.
Back to Top
References
The
source of all information quoted or presented (except information that is common
knowledge) should be identified and only written works that have been published
in the open literature should be referenced. Information obtained privately, as
in conversation or correspondence, is to be avoided. A list of the cited
references must be included at the end of the manuscript. The list is to be
alphabetized by the last name of the first author cited. The order of items in
each reference is to be: author(s); year of publication; title of work;
periodical, publisher, conference, etc.; volume number, and initial and final
pages, as appropriate. Text citations of the references should consist of, in
parentheses, either the author(s) and year of publication or the year of
publication only, depending on the narrative context. If the same author(s) is
cited in more than one publication in the same year, lower-case letters (a, b, c...) are appended to the
year in the first and succeeding citations. Periodical titles are to be
abbreviated in accordance with the CAplus system (
http://www.cas.org/sent.html ).
Examples are as follows:
In Reference List
Jones, A. B.;
Smith, C. D. (2002a) Treatment of Hazardous Wastes in Wastewater Treatment
Plants.
Water Environ. Res., 71, 999 - 1010.
Jones, A. B.; Smith, C.
D. (2002b)
Survey of Hazardous Waste Sources in Wastewater Treatment
Plants . Report No. 12345; US Environmental Protection Agency: Washington,
D.C.
Ross, B. J. (2000)
Nutrient Removal Technology Guidance ;
EPA-450/4-99-030; US Environmental Protection Agency: Cincinnati, Ohio.
US
Environmental Protection Agency (2000)
Biosolids Compliance;
EPA-224/6-99-031; Washington, D.C.
Naylor, L. M.; Williams, C. (1999)
Biosolids as a Nitrogen and Phosphorus Resource: Back to the Basics.
Proceedings of the 72nd Annual Water Environment Federation Technical
Exposition and Conference [CD-ROM]; New Orleans, Louisiana, Oct 10-13; Water
Environment Federation: Alexandria, Virginia, page numbers.
In Text Citation
"There are several
alternatives (Jones and Smith, 1992a) for handling these wastes."
"Jones and
Smith (1992b) have documented the source of these wastes."
Back to Top
Tables and Figures
Great care should be given
to preparing concise tables containing only that information essential to
substantiating the text. Columns containing few entries or full columns of data
that vary only slightly should be avoided. Judicious use of table footnotes can
greatly simplify the presentation. Inclusion of lengthy explanations in the
footnotes should be avoided, however. These discussions should be included
directly in the manuscript text. Each table should be presented on a separate
manuscript page and placed after the References section.Figures should be used to
substantiate data trends, correlations or illustrate points made in the text,
not merely to present data. Legends identifying data series should be contained
within the figures, not in the captions. Each figure should be prepared on a
separate sheet and identified with a figure number. Figure captions should be
listed separately on a single sheet. Figures should be placed after tables at
the end of the manuscript. Figures should be drawn carefully, must be large
enough for clarity, and of sufficient quality (at least 300 DPI) to ensure that
they are legible when reduced to a column width of 75 mm (3 in.).
Back to Top
Acronyms
The use
of common acronyms to abbreviate long expressions is encouraged. All abbreviated
terms (except for common mathematic units) should be written out on first
occurrence. Authors should use notation that is already accepted in the
field.
Back to Top
Equipment and
Materials
The vendor (or supplier) and its location (city, state
or province, and country if outside the United States) should be included for
all equipment and products identified in the methods section. Computer software
should be identified by name and location of the developer.
Back to Top
Units of Expression
It is the author's responsibility to supply all data in the text, figures,
and tables in metric notation and International System of Units (SI)
nomenclature. Conversion of any non-metric data will be requested from the
author before publication. If desired, English units can be shown in parentheses
following the metric quantities.
Back to Top
Equations
Equations and formulas should be numbered
separately and sequentially throughout the text. All variables and special
symbols, such as Greek letters, must be clearly identified and explained, and
units of measurement provided.
Back to Top
Statistical
Analyses
When reporting results, the type of analysis conducted
(e.g., Spearman rank test, Student's
t test, least-squares regression,
etc.) should be reported. Also, all variables (e.g.,
r, R, p, P, µ, ,
etc.) should be defined on first occurrence for clarity.
Back to Top
Photographs
Submission of photographs should be
limited to those that are essential to an understanding of the text. Photographs
should be sharp, digital, black-and-white. Photographs may be published in color
within a manuscript at the author's expense only. High-quality color photographs
relating to water quality preservation will be considered for cover use at no
charge, but not necessarily in the issue in which a specific manuscript appears.
Full credit will be given if the photograph is
used.Back to Top
Correspondence
and Inquiries
Authors and co-authors may view the status of their
manuscripts online (
http://wer.allentrack.net). Other correspondence and inquiries
should be directed to Executive Assistant,
Water Environment Research ,
601 Wythe Street, Alexandria, VA 22314-1994, USA. Contact 1-703-684-2492 by fax,
or e-mail
wer@wef.org.
- Page revised in October 2006 -