Expanding CLEAN: Soil, Air, Water: A New Chapter in Environmental Science

After more than 50 years of publishing research in the environmental sciences, we are ready to launch the next chapter of CLEAN: Soil, Air, Water. Historically, the journal's scope has spanned a diverse range of topics, from remediation and soil quality to climate change and air pollution. However, the challenges that environmental research covers have expanded in the face of a rapidly changing world and, as such, this journal needs to change too; moving forward, CLEAN: Soil, Air, Water will expand its scope to cover the whole remit of environmental sciences. As such, we invite submissions in a wider range of topics, including Earth sciences, environmental health, ecotoxicology, environmental chemistry, sustainability, human–environment interactions, planetary health, and research on soil, water, and atmospheric sciences. With a broad multidisciplinary scope, CLEAN is now the place for fundamental and applied research that bridges research topics or addresses environmental problems in unique ways. We are also taking a new, author-friendly approach to our manuscript evaluation process to better meet the needs of the environmental research community. We have noticed three aspects of rejection, all three of which we can now more effectively address. First, there are a multitude of articles rejected for not fitting within the scope of more specialized journals. With our broad scope, this journal can now be home to those manuscripts that fall into gaps between traditional research areas due to their interdisciplinary nature. By removing the strict division of research topics, CLEAN welcomes authors who are unsure of where to submit their environmental research. Another common reason for rejection is insufficient novelty or impact, which is a challenging critique, as this may be a fundamental aspect of the research study. However, we believe that even a confirmatory or regional work is of immense value, allowing authors to share data, contribute to the growth and development of their respective fields, and aid real-life applicability of research. While we are open to innovative work and encourage authors to emphasize their new findings, as we move forward, we will be publishing manuscripts with reproducible, scientifically sound research, and evidence-based analysis, with well-supported conclusions. Novelty of work will no longer be a limiting factor to what our authors can publish. Finally, quite a few research papers end up going through the cycle of rejection and resubmission for reasons that could be corrected on revision, thereby creating a burden for both reviewers and authors as each journal conducts its evaluation process. We at CLEAN are keen to help authors hone their manuscripts into publishable quality through revisions. Working with the wider network of Wiley journals will also provide the opportunity to transfer manuscripts that have not been accepted by the original journal. This transfer process will move the manuscript to CLEAN: Soil, Air, Water, along with any peer review reports, reducing the burden of peer review and manuscript resubmissions on researchers and also bringing down the waiting period for a decision on their manuscript. Our overarching goal as we move forward is for CLEAN’s next chapter to provide a forum for the research and datasets that explore critical aspects of environmental science, whether they demonstrate immediate impact or act as building blocks for future research. Published for a global community of authors and readers, we believe this literature can build a strong foundation for the multidisciplinary field of environmental science. Reflecting the reach and interconnectivity of environmental science, CLEAN: Soil, Air, Water will also welcome environmental science papers that extend beyond the core STEM fields and into the social sciences. While all submissions should center on an aspect of environmental science, this is an inherently interdisciplinary scientific endeavor with significant connections to and impacts on human society. Submissions that span multiple research fields to explore environmental topics are welcome and encouraged, allowing authors to publish complex and multidisciplinary research in our journal. To encourage these submissions and provide specific guidance for these manuscripts, we will be expanding our list of research article types. As the first part of this editorial initiative, we are excited to announce the new research article type, Teaching and Learning in Action. With this new article type, we are looking for research on education and pedagogy that reflects the unique challenges and opportunities for teaching environmental science. We want to enable educators to share their pedagogical research and data to support their colleagues across the globe. Whether the teaching and learning is highly localized to allow students to connect in a more personal way or addresses a fundamental aspect of environmental education, this work can be used to enhance curricula and educational experiences across our diverse readership. The specific article requirements and description are written out below, which can also be found in the Author Guidelines on the journal's homepage (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal/18630669/homepage/2047_forauthors.html): Teaching and Learning in Action articles should focus on the research of teaching and learning in the environmental sciences, including student-centered research projects, pedagogical research, and novel approaches to teaching students in the environmental sciences. These articles should be fully supported by their data, centered on the environmental sciences, and meet the standards of the field of pedagogy and teaching. For articles focused on pedagogy (which may include topics like teaching techniques and practices, problem or experiment-based learning, curriculum development, and other relevant aspects of environmental science education), there should be a clear description of the research methodology, findings, and the context of the learning environment. For manuscripts publishing student-centered research projects, within the paper should be a description of the teaching component of the project as well as descriptions and interpretations of the experimental results. We will also consider articles on experimental or protocols designed for educational use that clearly describe the teaching and learning goals, include examples of their usage in the classroom with representative data, and include all academic context (e.g., what pre-requisite knowledge and skills are required, how it is integrated into the curriculum, and how students are assessed). These article types should meet the requirements of a full-length Research Article as described in the author guidelines and are all subject to evaluation by rigorous peer review. Reviews on these topics are also welcome and should be submitted as a standard Review article. The editorial team at CLEAN: Soil, Air, Water is enthusiastic about our move into the broader environmental sciences and welcomes our new authors and readers. We look forward to joining new research communities and publishing work that contributes to this exciting field of science. The authors declare no conflicts of interest. The data that support the findings of this study are available upon request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.