Comment pubs.acs.org/est
ES&T’s Best Papers of 2016 n 2016, Environmental Science & Technology (ES&T) published approximately 1600 papers in diverse fields encompassing the full spectrum of environmental quality research. As a result of our rigorous peer review process, we know that every paper that we published was novel, substantive, and of high quality. But some papers were particularly memorable because they introduced important new ideas or applied cutting-edge tools to solve critical societal problems. To identify these noteworthy papers, we asked the journal’s Editorial Advisory Board to rank approximately 100 exceptional papers identified by the our Associate Editors over the course of the year. From among the top-ranked papers, I chose best papers in the categories of Environmental Science, Environmental Technology, Environmental Policy, and Features. Ranking all of those papers was a tough job, and we are particularly grateful to tireless efforts of Professor Nathalie Tufenkji (McGill University), the chair of the selection committee, and the participating members of the Editorial Advisory Board. Prospective authors sometimes ask me to tell them the secret of writing an award-winning paper. As an author who is still ecstatic when one of his manuscripts squeaks through the peer review process, I may not be the right person to ask, but as an avid reader of best papers, I can offer some observations. The first step is to pursue an environmental problem that matters to our community. Whether you address a fundamental scientific question about geochemistry (like this year’s Best Technology Paper), you assess the environmental fate of an important class of water pollutants (like this year’s Best Science Paper) or you quantify the human health costs of continued use of a dangerous product (like this year’s Best Policy Paper) top papers must break new ground on matters of great concern to researchers, policymakers and society. The second step requires that you employ impeccable writing, clear graphics, and flawless analysis to tell a compelling story within our word count limitations (N.B., No one said that writing an award-winning paper would be easy). Finally, you load the paper onto our manuscript submission Web site, hit the submit button and we will take care of the rest. To ensure that you succeed in those first two steps, I suggest that you spend some time thinking about your research team. Our very best papers tend to come from teams that include members with diverse skills. Among our top papers, only a third were written by a traditional set of authors consisting of a senior researcher and colleagues from the same department. About half of the research teams were international, as was the case with our second runner-up best Feature, which had coauthors from five countries. As one might have expected, federal grants provided funding for all of the research teams, which indicates that the grant review process selects high quality ideas. Perhaps more relevant from the standpoint of conducting relevant, high-impact environmental research, Federal employees from organizations such as the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Energy, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration
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served as coauthors on a third of our top papers. Finally, if you want to win a Best Technology Paper award, you might have to find a collaborator in Switzerland, or at least increase your chocolate consumption rate. For any readers who lack access to ES&T, half of our top papers are freely available through open access programs (marked with an asterisk) as part of ACS’s Editors’ Choice or Author’s Choice programs. For the other papers, please feel free to contact the proud authors to request an electronic reprint. Happy reading!
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ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE Top Paper. Kimberly M. Parker, Elke S. Reichwaldt, Anas Ghadouani, and William A. Mitch. Halogen Radicals Promote the Photodegradation of Microcystins in Estuarine Systems. Environ. Sci. Technol., 2016, 50 (16), 8505−8513. dx.doi.org/ 10.1021/acs.est.6b01801 First Runner-Up. Bingjie Shi, Kai Liu, Lingling Wu, Weiqiang Li, Christina M. Smeaton, Brian L. Beard, Clark M. Johnson, Eric E. Roden, and Philippe Van Cappellen. Iron Isotope Fractionations Reveal a Finite Bioavailable Fe Pool for Structural Fe(III) Reduction in Nontronite.* Environ. Sci. Technol., 2016, 50 (16), 8661−8669. dx.doi.org/10.1021/ acs.est.6b02019 Second Runner-Up. Pu Xia, Xiaowei Zhang, Yuwei Xie, Miao Guan, Daniel L. Villeneuve, and Hongxia Yu. Functional Toxicogenomic Assessment of Triclosan in Human HepG2 Cells Using Genome-Wide CRISPR-Cas9 Screening.* Environ. Sci. Technol., 2016, 50 (19), 10682−10692. dx.doi.org/ 10.1021/acs.est.6b02328 Third Runner-Up. Nicholas J. Moy, Jenna Dodson, Spencer J. Tassone, Paul A. Bukaveckas, and Lesley P. Bulluck. Biotransport of Algal Toxins to Riparian Food Webs. Environ. Sci. Technol., 2016, 50 (18), 10007−10014. dx.doi.org/ 10.1021/acs.est.6b02760
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ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY Top Paper. Nicolas Walpen, Martin H. Schroth, and Michael Sander. Quantification of Phenolic Antioxidant Moieties in Dissolved Organic Matter by Flow-Injection Analysis with Electrochemical Detection.* Environ. Sci. Technol., 2016, 50 (12), 6423−6432. dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.6b01120 First Runner-Up. Jonas Gros, Christopher M. Reddy, Robert K. Nelson, Scott A. Socolofsky, and J. Samuel Arey. Simulating Gas−Liquid−Water Partitioning and Fluid Properties of Petroleum under Pressure: Implications for Deep-Sea Blowouts.* Environ. Sci. Technol., 2016, 50 (14), 7397−7408. dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5b04617 Second Runner-Up. Qingxia Zhong, Anna Carratalà, Sergey Nazarov, Ricardo Cesar Guerrero-Ferreira, Laura Piccinini, Virginie Bachmann, Petr G. Leiman, and Tamar Kohn. Genetic, Structural, and Phenotypic Properties of MS2 Published: April 4, 2017 3595
DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.7b01464 Environ. Sci. Technol. 2017, 51, 3595−3596
Comment
Environmental Science & Technology Coliphage with Resistance to ClO2 Disinfection.* Environ. Sci. Technol., 2016, 50 (24), 13520−13528. dx.doi.org/10.1021/ acs.est.6b04170
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ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY Top Paper. Philip J. Wolfe, Amanda Giang, Akshay Ashok, Noelle E. Selin, and Steven R. H. Barrett. Costs of IQ Loss from Leaded Aviation Gasoline Emissions. Environ. Sci. Technol., 2016, 50 (17), 9026−9033. dx.doi.org/10.1021/ acs.est.6b02910 First Runner-Up. Joannes D. Maasakkers, Daniel J. Jacob, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Alexander J. Turner, Melissa Weitz, Tom Wirth, Cate Hight, Mark DeFigueiredo, Mausami Desai, Rachel Schmeltz, Leif Hockstad, Anthony A. Bloom, Kevin W. Bowman, Seongeun Jeong, and Marc L. Fischer. Gridded National Inventory of U.S. Methane Emissions.* Environ. Sci. Technol., 2016, 50 (23), 13123−13133 dx.doi.org/10.1021/ acs.est.6b02878
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FEATURE Top Paper. Branko Kerkez, Cyndee Gruden, Matthew Lewis, Luis Montestruque, Marcus Quigley, Brandon Wong, Alex Bedig, Ruben Kertesz, Tim Braun, Owen Cadwalader, Aaron Poresky, and Carrie Pak. Smarter Stormwater Systems. Environ. Sci. Technol., 2016, 50 (14), 7267−7273. dx.doi.org/ 10.1021/acs.est.5b05870 First Runner-Up. Chen-Chou Wu, Lian-Jun Bao, Shu Tao, and Eddy Y. Zeng. Dermal Uptake from Airborne Organics as an Important Route of Human Exposure to E-Waste Combustion Fumes. Environ. Sci. Technol., 2016, 50 (13), 6599−6605. dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5b05952 Second Runner-Up. Thorsten Reemtsma, Urs Berger, Hans Peter H. Arp, Hervé Gallard, Thomas P. Knepper, Michael Neumann, José Benito Quintana, and Pim de Voogt. Mind the Gap: Persistent and Mobile Organic Compounds Water Contaminants That Slip Through. Environ. Sci. Technol., 2016, 50 (19), 10308−10315. dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.6b03338
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David L. Sedlak,* Editor-in-Chief AUTHOR INFORMATION
Corresponding Author
*E-mail:
[email protected] Notes
Views expressed in this editorial are those of the author and not necessarily the views of the ACS.
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DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.7b01464 Environ. Sci. Technol. 2017, 51, 3595−3596
