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Environmental Science & Technology

Most trusted, most cited and most read environmental journal

Authoritative source of information for professionals in a wide range of environmental disciplines. ES&T combines magazine and research sections and is published both in print and online.

Manuscript Categories: Articles, Policy Analysis, Critical Reviews, Features, and Viewpoints. (1,400 articles published in 2010)

2010 Impact Factor: 4.825, 2010 Total Citations: 72,575

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Environmental Science & Technology Focus & Special Issues

ES&T has published focus and special issues dedicated to specific topics of key interest to professionals in the various environmental disciplines. Visit the ES&T website at pubs.acs.org/est.

Environmental Policy – Jan 1, 2011William H. Glaze Tribute - Oct 1, 2010PCB Sources, Exposures, Toxicities – Apr 15, 2010Biogeochemical Redox Processes – Jan 1, 2010Nanoscale Metal-OM Interactions – Apr 15, 2011

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ACS Author Benefits

No Publication ChargesRapid Publication - timesaving online manuscript submission with

the ACS Paragon Plus Environment Broad Dissemination – a worldwide audience of hundreds of

thousands of researchers at institutions around the worldAward-Winning Website – enhances the discoverability of your

content and your user experienceACS Articles on Request – free e-prints of your published articleACS AuthorChoice – allows authors to make their research

immediately open access

Increasing Visibility – TOC Art

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March 15, 2011

Increasing Visibility – ES&T Video

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Virtual Issues

• Initially explored in JACS Beta environment as “JACS Select”

• Chosen Editor gathers high quality content from recent timeframe on the same topic

– Serves as a journal-chosen “special issue”

– Features ALREADY PUBLISHED content

– Showcases journal as venue for hot topic

• Collate in online platform, add editorial, synopses, glossary

• Promote via website, email, etc.

• Can be single journal or multiple

– ES&T was first journal to join in a JACS Select

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Virtual Issues Harnessing Energy for a Sustainable WorldMarch 2010

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Virtual Issues BiofuelsNovember 2010

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Chemosphere

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Citations for ES&T and Selected Journals in Comparison Group

Th

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san

ds

of

Cit

atio

ns

EnvironmentalScience &Technology

Water Research

J. Haz. Mater.

Environ. Pollution

Atmos. Env.Sci. Total Env.

The better the topic of your research, the easier it is to publish

• When planning an avenue of research, realize that some topics are “hotter” (more important?) than others.

• “Hot” topics sell better– Nano/bio/info topics– New materials, energy sources, etc.– Revolutionary better than evolutionary

• If you work on traditional areas, such as wastewater treatment, it will be very difficult to get many citations– (There are just not that many people in the field, and it is not well

funded).

Important vs Incremental

• Hunting expeditions– Sometimes you should go after the bear and ignore the squirrels – When you land the “big game”, you get a big reward– New discoveries are more important than building on existing

information, but it is much riskier (you may not succeed)

• Mapping expeditions– When you map/survey an area, you will come back with data.– Such studies are useful!... But they rarely are big discoveries or

have a big impact.– ES&T is not interested in treatability studies that are descriptive

and do don’t significantly advance theoretical base

Good topics and titles

• Bad title example and reasons– “Effects of materials on solar panel efficiency”– The “Effects of…”, “Analysis of…”, “Comparison of…” papers are

usually low impact

• Better title example– “Solar panels that achieve 50% conversion efficiency using low

cost, non-precious metal materials”– Make the title reflect the topic

• Conduct hypothesis-driven research• Avoid descriptive “look-see” research where you

just vary a bunch of variables.

Writing the paper• Keep it simple

– Introduction: 3 paragraphs– Methods: short as possible, but can be reproduced– Results:

* Tell a story (not a mystery or historical drama)

* Put your most important figure(s) first.

* Limit figures to ≤9.– Discussion:

* Don’t speculate too much

* Start out by emphasizing most important finding

* So What? (discern significance of contribution)

Message Box: Translation Tool

Issue

Benefits?

Problems?

Solutions?

So What?

Scientific Title Abstract Background Methods Results Discussion Conclusion

Audience

Scientists Vs. Everyone Else

Bottom-line

So What?

Background

Results/Conclusions

Supporting Info.

Supporting Details

Writing the paper, cont’d

• Make it shorter– “I apologize for the length of this letter, but I did not have the

time to make it shorter” (B. Pascal, from ES&T website)

– ES&T: Has a 7000 word limit • 10 small figures = 3000 words

• Use supplemental information online

– Avoid useless phrases• “It should be noted that…”

• On the other hand, it can be seen that..”

– Check for run-on sentences– Don’t write a conclusions section unless journal requires it (ES&T

prohibits it)

• When you are done, make it shorter…– I go through a dozen drafts or more for a paper.

Environmental Science & Technology journal

• Science papers >> technology papers in number and impact

• Very few “engineering” papers in ES&T

• Very difficult to get water treatment or wastewater oriented publications in ES&T

• Novelty of the work is very important

Science

Nature

PNAS

Environ Sci. Technol

App. Environ. Micro.

App. Micro. Biotechnol.

J. Env. Eng.

IJHE

Fundamental breakthrough or discovery

New finding that is important, clear high impact

Work that improves our understanding of a process

What you need for different journals

Major revisions needed…• Sometimes a reviewer makes a comment because

they were confused by the way you presented it… change it to make it clearer.

• Make changes!– Don’t just argue with the reviewer. – Try to make a change for each comment (if possible)

• Make it easy for the editor and reviewers to evaluate your changes.

• For each comment:– Restate the comment,

– Provide a reply to the reviewer

– Show what changes were made as a result of the review

Example of a reply to comments

Restate the comment, and put in italics

Indent ½ inch, then put in your reply, normal font (11 or 12 pt)

Put in a copy of your new text, in blue, in a smaller font (say 10 pt)

If rejected, don’t be dejected• Just because a paper is rejected, doesn’t mean you should

give up on it. • Not all reviewers are created equal…

– Talk the paper over with a colleague… were the reviewers fair?

• Reviewers often help to improve the process.– They can find flaws in your logic you didn’t notice– They may make helpful suggestions for future work

• Rejected manuscripts can be resubmitted to the same journal, but they are often not successful in changing the reviewer’s minds

• You should consider resubmitting to the same journal if:– The points can be addressed– You can answer the questions raised during the review

Rejected manuscripts• Choose another journal. Did you “aim too high”? • Consider your reviewers.

– When suggesting reviewers, suggest people that you know are likely to give good and fair reviews… some people are just never satisfied.

• If you feel you got a bad review and you think you know who the person is, then just request they be excluded from further submissions.

• Always make some changes to a paper before resubmitting elsewhere– Likely there is a slightly different audience– One of the reasons for rejection may be you were not convincing

in your presentation of your hypothesis or findings.

The paper is published!• Congratulations!

• Consider whether your work was read by others.

• Are you writing enough “breakthrough” papers (based on “hunting expeditions”)? – Or, are you publishing too many “mapping expedition” type

results?

• If nobody reads or cites your papers…– Are you okay with this?– Is your work like a “critically acclaimed film that nobody went to

see”? If so, maybe time to produce the “action film with special effects”?

– Should you move into new areas of greater interest?

Long term considerations

• Your papers should be a way to teach people new things.

• Take steps to continue to write better papers.

• You can always write a better paper– so continue to improve your writing style.– Look at how others write, examine their style– Form a journal club/ literature review class

27

Enjoy writing

• Engineers often hate to write, but this will change with more experience and confidence.

• Learn to write well, and enjoy the fun that comes from people having read your papers.

• Good papers lead to:– Rapidly advancing the field– Interest in the field– And if you’re lucky… speaking invitations and

opportunities to discuss your work with others interested in your field.

How to Use the Message Box

• Limit to three or four messages • Simple, not necessarily simplistic• Avoid jargon• Messages are reinforced by sound

bites, phrases, statistics, anecdotes

Jonathan PatzUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison

2005 Aldo Leopold Fellow

Benefits?-Reduce the adverse health effects of global warming (w/ co-benefits of cleaning up air quality)-Take care of current populations without compromising health for future generations (“sustainable health”)

Problems?

There is a large regional difference in disease burdens due

to global warming.

Solutions?

The US should sign the Kyoto protocol and join the rest of the world in confronting

climate change.

Personally, I’ve made easy choices as a first step (e.g. hybrid car, mini-

fluorescents, etc.)

So What?

Those most at risk from global warming, are also the least responsible for causing the problem. Herein lies an enormous global ethical challenge.

Audience: U.S. National Media

Regional health effects of

global warming