About This Journal
Open Water Journal™ is an interdisciplinary, international academic journal that publishes original research papers, case studies, software introductions, and dataset descriptions in the water science domain. Water research is an inherently broad discipline and, consequently, supports a number of academic journals with highly specialized niche foci. In contrast, Open Water Journal seeks to provide a fully open access venue for researchers to both publish and access high-quality interdisciplinary research and technology regarding all aspects of water science.
Relevant topics for research papers and submissions include, but are not limited to, surface water hydrology, groundwater hydrology, water policy, water resources planning, hydroinformatics, river restoration, climate hydrology, data analysis, watershed simulation, reservoir management, water/wastewater treatment, and water distribution. Presentations may be in the form of original research articles, conference papers, software introductions, and dataset descriptions. Open Water Journal™ is particularly interested in publishing articles with linked companion datasets, models, and tools published through the CUAHSI Hydrologic Information System
Videos to Learn More about Open Water Journal and Open Water Science
- Introduction to the Open Water Journal by Dr. Dan Ames
- Accessing the Open Water Data of the NOAA National Water Model by Dr. Jim Nelson and Michael Souffront
- HydroShare GIS: Visualizing Spatial Data in the Cloud by Shawn Crawley
- Accessing the USGS National Water Census Data Portal by Jake Nelson
NOTE: The first four volumes of Open Water contain abstracts from previous OpenWater Symposia. Beginning in 2017, the journal moved to a peer-reviewed research article format.
History of Open Water Journal
- Open Water Symposium, Delft, The Netherlands, April 2011 (Open Water Journal Volume 1, Issue 1)
- Open Water Journal website launched: August 2014
- Open Water Symposium, Brussels, Belgium: September 2013 (Open Water Journal Volume 2, Issue 1)
- Hosting agreement with BYU (website hosting), Bepress (journal management system), and HydroMap (journal owner/publisher): August 2015
- Open Water Symposium, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: September 2015 (Open Water Journal Volume 3, Issue 1)
- Editorial Board Expanded: May 2016
- Volume 4, Issue 1 in pre-production
- Currently accepting submissions for Open Water Journal Volume 4, Issue 2, June 2017
Philosophy of Open Water Journal™
The Open Water Journal™ editorial board is comprised of active researchers in the water domain, so we know that there are many venues where you can publish your work. In fact, we serve on review boards and publish our research in several leading journals, including Environmental Modelling & Software (EMS), Water Resources Research (WRR), Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA), Journal of Hydrology, Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, and others. So, what is the purpose of Open Water Journal™? Why another journal?
We saw a niche need for a fully open access venue to publish Data Descriptions, Software Introductions, Conference Papers, and Research Articles that explicitly use or present open access or open source data and tools. Open Water Journal™ authors are encouraged to publish companion datasets and tools in open repositories such as HydroShare.org
While Open Water Journal™ invites all water-related research manuscripts, our special focus on open access data and tools complements these other publication venues.
Become an Editor or Reviewer
As a new journal, Open Water Journal™ is looking for interested researchers from all water science domains to volunteer as reviewers and editors. If you would like to join our reviewer pool or editorial board, please contact the editors.
