Author Information

Water Environment & Technology (WE&T) is the flagship publication of the Water Environment Federation (WEF). WE&T is a monthly magazine covering a wide range of water quality and municipal wastewater treatment issues, from the design, engineering, and management of domestic wastewater treatment plants to watershed management and wet weather issues. WE&T is not a peer-reviewed journal and, therefore, focuses on practical rather than theoretical information.

Each issue contains three to five feature articles corresponding to the topics outlined in the annual editorial calendar. WE&T also accepts submissions for its Products, Business, and Problem Solvers columns, on a space-available basis.

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Submitting a Feature Article

Prospective authors are encouraged to visit the archives at www.wef.org/magazine to become familiar with the magazine’s style and breadth of topics. Authors should submit an abstract or finished paper, or contact the editor to discuss article ideas. Authors will receive a response after their proposals are reviewed by the WE&T editorial advisory board — typically within 4 to 6 weeks. Since WE&T editors are working on feature articles several months in advance of publication, authors are encouraged to submit their proposals as far in advance of the desired publication issue as possible.

Abstracts and articles must be submitted electronically (via e-mail or on CD) in Microsoft Word format. Submissions must include the authors’ names and the telephone number and e-mail address of the corresponding author. Please note: WE&T does not accept simultaneous submissions or articles that have been previously published.

Deadlines and publication date are set by the editor once an article is accepted. Authors must sign a copyright release form in order for the article to be published in WE&T.

Article Guidelines

While WE&T strives to offer a variety of voices and writing styles in each issue, each article must follow some basic guidelines.

Audience. WE&T readers are an international audience of more than 33,000 utility professionals, consulting engineers, academics, and others in the water quality field. 

Length. Feature articles typically contain between 1500 and 3000 words. Longer articles will be cut or published as multipart series.

Format. Submitted articles should resemble a magazine feature rather than an academic paper. All articles should have a headline, as well as one or two short introductory paragraphs that hint at (but do not give away) the outcome. Short subheads should be used to break the article into accessible chunks of information. The article should have a logical flow from beginning to end, whether it is chronological, spatial, or by order of significance. Footnotes are not used; any references, which should be kept to a minimum, should be attributed within the text of the article. Information that is relevant but not central to the story — such as a list of Internet resources — should be listed separately in a sidebar.

Content. Feature articles should be of interest to the general audience, informational, and free from any promotional language. Specific product information should be made generic unless its inclusion is essential for the reader’s understanding.

Metric units. All technical periodicals use the international system for units of weights and measures. Authors submitting articles that contain English units will be asked to provide conversions. For example: The pipe is 102 mm (4 in.) long. If units are already metric, there is no need to provide an English conversion. Conversions are not required for figures and tables.

Brief author bio. Authors should submit biographical information, including title or professional discipline, company name, office location, and company headquarters. Professional or educational degrees, titles, and certifications are not included in the biographical information, which appears at the end of the article.

Artwork. Authors are encouraged to submit artwork, especially original photos, to accompany their articles. Original graphic files (photos, figures, tables, and charts) must be sent separately from text files. Photos and figures should be in TIFF, JPEG, or EPS format, at least 300 dpi at a minimum size of 3 × 5 in. Tables must be in Microsoft Word or Excel format. Charts must be accompanied by original (Excel or Word format) spreadsheet files. PowerPoint files are not accepted. Authors submitting photos also must provide captions and credit lines.

Publication Process

Editing ensures that articles are in the best possible shape for publication. Once your article is accepted, it will be assigned to a Water Environment Federation (WEF) editor.

Editing. Articles are edited for clarity, cohesion, substance, and style. The WEF Magazines & Newsletters department has developed its own editorial style that dictates grammatical preferences and how words are treated. (Stormwater, for example, is one word, not two, and a comma precedes the conjunction in a series of three or more items.) While prospective authors are not expected to tailor their submissions to WEF style conventions, all articles are edited to conform to this style before they are published. However, WEF editors recognize that each writer has a unique writing style, and make every effort to preserve that style.

Author review. Editors will contact authors ahead of time to confirm a mutually agreeable review period. Once an article has been edited, it is sent back to the author for final review. Authors also may be asked to revise their articles or provide additional information. The final draft is the author’s last opportunity for editorial input.

Production. Articles are edited individually, but may require changes once the whole of the magazine is assembled. Therefore, headlines and subheads may be rewritten. Use of photos and figures may vary. The final draft authors receive is the editor’s best approximation of how the article will appear, but the nature of the production process is that additional small changes may be made. The editor will contact the author if any questions or significant content changes arise during production.

Post-production. The corresponding author will receive two copies of the magazine once it is printed, plus additional copies to be shared with co-authors. Authors are encouraged to link to the article on the WE&T Web site, www.wef.org/magazine. Bulk copies can be purchased by contacting WEF customer service (csc@wef.org). Reprints and PDFs can be purchased by contacting our vendor, The Reprint Department (Jackie Epler at (800) 259-0470 or jepler@reprintdept.com).

Contact Information

To submit articles or for more information, please contact:
 
Steve Spicer
Managing Editor, Water Environment & Technology
601 Wythe St.
Alexandria, VA 22314-1994
sspicer@wef.org
(703) 684-2463

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Other Submissions

The following submissions are accepted on a space-available basis.

Products. Send press releases and high-resolution photos to prods@wef.org. New products only. No product literature.

Business. Send contracts, promotions, and other business news to biznews@wef.org.

Problem Solvers. Send case studies to jfulcher@wef.org with "Problem Solvers" in the subject line.