Announcements

We cordially invite you to attend the 10th International Electronic Conference on Water Sciences organized by MDPI Water (ISSN: 2073-4441; IF 3.5). It will take place virtually from 24 to 27 November 2026. 

Conference Chairs:

• Prof. Dr. Athanasios Loukas, Department of Rural and Surveying Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece;
• Prof. Dr. Yijun Xu, School of Renewable Natural Resources, Louisiana State University, USA.

The Topics of Interest include the following:
S1. Hydrological/Hydraulic Processes and Modelling;
S2. Urban Water Modelling and Management;
S3. Rivers and Lakes—Water Quality, Nutrient Enrichment, and Pollutant Transport;
S4. Water Resources Management, Policy, and Governance;
S5. Extreme Hydrometeorological Events: Sources, Mitigation, and Adaptation;
S6. Ecohydrological Approaches and Ecosystems Conservancy—Water–Food–Energy Ecosystem Nexus;
S7. Remote Sensing, Artificial Intelligence, and New Technologies in Water Sciences;
S8. Wastewater Treatment and Reuse;
S9. Agricultural Water Systems;
S10. Groundwater Systems Modelling, Analysis, and Vulnerability—Quantity and Quality Issues.

Important dates:
Abstract submission deadline: 11 September 2026;
Abstract acceptance notification: 2 October 2026;
Early bird registration deadline: 30 October 2026;
Covering author registration deadline: 30 October 2026;
Registration deadline: 18 November 2026.

Guide for authors:
To submit your abstract, please click on the following link: https://sciforum.net/user/submission/create/1797.

To register for the event, please click on the following link:
https://sciforum.net/event/ECWS-10?section=#registration.

For details regarding abstract submission, poster and slide submission, and publication opportunities, you may refer to the “Instructions for Authors” section: https://sciforum.net/event/ECWS-10?section=#instructions.

For any enquiries regarding the event, please contact ecws@mdpi.com.

We look forward to seeing you at the 10th International Electronic Conference on Water Sciences.

Our portfolio of journals available for publishing up-to-date research in immediate open access format has been further expanded. In June 2026, eleven new journals released their inaugural issues and two transferred journals released their first issue as part of MDPI, covering the subjects of environmental & earth sciences, chemistry & materials science, public health & healthcare, engineering, medicine & pharmacology, and biology & life sciences. 

We extend our gratitude to the Editors-in-Chief, Associate Editors, and Editorial Board Members who will shape the future course of these new journals. Each journal is dedicated to upholding strong editorial standards through a thorough peer review process, enabling impactful open access scholarship. 

Please feel free to browse and discover more about the new journals below. 

We would like to thank everyone who has supported the development of open access publishing. If you would like to create a new journal, you are welcome to send an application here or contact the New Journal Committee (newjournal-committee@mdpi.com).

Peer review is the invisible foundation of academic progress. The 2025 MDPI Top Reviewers are some of the key experts who helped build it.

We are honored to recognize 1000 individuals from our global community of 210,000 reviewers across 67 countries and territories—chosen for their commitment to rigorous, constructive peer review and the consistency of their contributions throughout 2025.

The Top Reviewers provided constructive and impartial feedback that makes research stronger and more impactful, and we are grateful for it.

The names of these reviewers are listed below in alphabetical order by first name:

(Note: we respected all privacy preferences, with part of nominees opting for limited attribution.)

We are pleased to highlight fifteen selected papers published in the “Biodiversity and Functionality of Aquatic Ecosystems” Section in Water (ISSN 2073-4441). We believe that the following collection will be of particular interest to you.

1. “Predicting Harmful Algal Blooms Using Explainable Deep Learning Models: A Comparative Study”
by Bekir Zahit Demiray, Omer Mermer, Özlem Baydaro˘glu and Ibrahim Demir
Water 2025, 17(5), 676; https://doi.org/10.3390/w17050676
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/17/5/676

2. “Distribution Characteristics and Sources of Microplastics in Inland Wetland Ecosystem Soils”
by Xuan Zhang, Changchao Li, Xiaoke Liu, Yongkang Zhao, Yan Wang, Yi Zhang and Jian Liu
Water 2025, 17(2), 231; https://doi.org/10.3390/w17020231
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/17/2/231

3. “Indicators of Climate-Driven Change in Long-Term Zooplankton Composition: Insights from Lake Maggiore (Italy)”
by Rossana Caroni, Roberta Piscia and Marina Manca
Water 2025, 17(4), 511; https://doi.org/10.3390/w17040511
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/17/4/511

4. “Water Quality and Its Influence on Waterbird Habitat Distribution: A Study Along the Lieve River, Belgium”
by Xingzhen Liu, Long Ho, Andrée De Cock, Nancy De Saeyer, Kim Pham, Diego Panique-Casso,
Marie Anne Eurie Forio and Peter L. M. Goethals
Water 2025, 17(4), 595; https://doi.org/10.3390/w17040595
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/17/4/595

5. “Testing the Remane Diagram: Occurrences of Benthic Macroinvertebrates in Oligohaline to Hyperhaline Salinities”
by Ruth Lim, Stephanie A. Fourie, Emily J. Stout, Ben J. Roots, Sorcha Cronin-O’Reilly, Essie M. Rodgers and James R. Tweedley
Water 2025, 17(11), 1642; https://doi.org/10.3390/w17111642
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/17/11/1642

6. “Algal Community Dynamics in Three Water Intakes of Poyang Lake: Implications for Drinking Water Safety and Management Strategies”
by Bo Li, Jing Li, Yuehang Hu, Shaozhe Cheng, Shouchun Li and Xuezhi Zhang
Water 2025, 17(13), 2034; https://doi.org/10.3390/w17132034
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/17/13/2034

7. “Rice Fields and Aquatic Insect Biodiversity in Italy: State of Knowledge and Perspectives in the Context of Global Change”
by Tiziano Bo, Anna Marino, Simone Guareschi, Alex Laini and Stefano Fenoglio
Water 2025, 17(6), 845; https://doi.org/10.3390/w17060845
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/17/6/845

8. “Impact of Drought on the Aquatic Ecosystem of the Cascade Dam Reservoir in South Korea”
by Youn Bo Sim, Jong Kwon Im, Chae Hong Park, Jeong Hwan Byun and Soon-Jin Hwang
Water 2025, 17(7), 1023; https://doi.org/10.3390/w17071023
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/17/7/1023

9. “Wholesale Destruction Inside a Marine Protected Area: Anchoring Impacts on Sciaphilic Communities and Coralligenous Concretions in the Eastern Mediterranean”
by Carlos Jimenez, Magdalene Papatheodoulou, Vasilis Resaikos and Antonis Petrou
Water 2025, 17(14), 2092; https://doi.org/10.3390/w17142092
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/17/14/2092

10. “The Decreased Incidence of Raphidiopsis raciborskii Bloom in a Temperate Floodplain Lake in the Middle Danube Affected by Extreme Hydrological Events”
by Filip Stević, Melita Mihaljević, Dubravka Špoljarić Maronić, Tanja Žuna Pfeiffer and Vanda Zahirović
Water 2025, 17(3), 309; https://doi.org/10.3390/w17030309
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/17/3/309

11. “Effects of Restoration Through Nature-Based Solution on Benthic Biodiversity: A Case Study in a Northern Adriatic Lagoon”
by Michele Mistri, Matteo Albéri, Enrico Chiarelli, Cinzia Cozzula, Federico Cunsolo, Nedime Irem Elek, Fabio Mantovani, Michele Padoan, Maria Grazia Paletta, Marco Pezzi et al.
Water 2025, 17(3), 366; https://doi.org/10.3390/w17030366
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/17/3/366

12. “Response of Trichoptera and Oligochaeta Communities to Modifications of Mountain River Channels with Low-Head Barriers”
by Ewa Szarek-Gwiazda, Elzbieta Dumnicka, Bronisław Szcz˛esny, Andrzej Kownacki and Dariusz Ciszewski
Water 2025, 17(3), 404; https://doi.org/10.3390/w17030404
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/17/3/404

13. “Nursing Effects of Large-Scale Floating Raft Aquaculture Habitats on Conger myriaster: A Perspective from Marine Ranching”
by Jintao Yu, Zhenhua Wang, Shouyu Zhang, Pengyu Cai, Jiaxuan Mao and Jingjing Li
Water 2025, 17(3), 431; https://doi.org/10.3390/w17030431
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/17/3/431

14. “Feeding Habits of the Invasive Ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi in the Gulf of Trieste (Adriatic Sea)”
by Borut Mavrič, Danijel Ivajnšič, Davor Lučić, Alenka Malej and Lovrenc Lipej
Water 2025, 17(4), 470; https://doi.org/10.3390/w17040470
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/17/4/470

15. “Evaluating Modeling Approaches for Phytoplankton Productivity in Estuaries”
by Reed Hoshovsky, Frances Wilkerson, Alexander Parker and Richard Dugdale
Water 2025, 17(5), 747; https://doi.org/10.3390/w17050747
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/17/5/747

We are pleased to share that Water (ISSN 2073-4441) was awarded an increased Impact Factor of 3.5 in the 2025 Journal Citation Reports™ released by Clarivate™ in June 2026. Water ranks in Q2 (43 among 132 titles) in the “Water Resources” category.

The 2025 Journal Impact Factor is calculated by dividing the number of citations received in 2025 to all publications in the journal from 2023 and 2024 by the total number of citable publications from those same years.

To learn more, visit our journal statistics website for detailed metrics or check out our news article for general information.

The support and dedication of all the editors, reviewers, authors, and readers are an integral part of the journal’s performance. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who have contributed to the journal.

Water (ISSN 2073-4441) is proud to present the second prize of the Water Young Investigator Award to Dr. Yi Yang!

Dr. Yang is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Beijing Normal University, China. Dr. Yang’s research interests include chemical engineering processes, the development of catalytic/adsorption materials, adsorption/ catalytic reaction engineering, separation and purification technology, advanced oxidation mechanisms, etc. Dr. Yang received his PhD in 2020 and has an outstanding publication record, comprising over 80 referred international journal papers with total citations of over 3300. Furthermore, he has an h-index of 35 (data source: Scopus). Dr. Yang was featured in the prestigious World’s Top 2% Scientists list, published by scientists from Stanford University in 2021, which is an impressive record for a young membrane researcher and an outstanding achievement in today’s competitive environment.

The following is a short Q&A with Dr. Yang, who talked about his recent research, and shared his views on his research area:

1. Could you briefly introduce yourself to the readers, your current research direction, and provide an update on your progress? What do you consider to be your most representative research achievement over the past few years?

Hello everyone. I am Yi Yang from Beijing Normal University. My main research directions include advanced oxidation technology, adsorption, and catalytic reaction engineering. I hope to have more exchanges with all of you.

Currently, my research mainly focuses on the adsorption and catalytic processes of recalcitrant emerging pollutants, as well as the development of high‑efficiency adsorptive/catalytic materials. My most representative work lies in the development of a cryogenic auxiliary electrospinning technique for fabricating multi‑scale catalytic membranes, which can simultaneously enhance mass transfer efficiency and membrane stability during reactions, thereby achieving excellent water purification performance.

2. Which research topics are likely to receive special attention in the academic community in the coming years?

I believe the emerging contaminants, specifically PFAS (forever chemicals), microplastics, and pharmaceutical residues, will attract significant attention. We need better methodologies to detect them at trace levels and advanced treatment technologies to remove them from ecosystems. Another critical area may be the nexus of water, energy, and food. Managing water resources efficiently to sustain global agriculture while transitioning to renewable energy requires interdisciplinary research.

3. How do you view the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in your research field? In what ways do you think AI will transform scientific research in the future?

AI is transforming water science, as it may shift scientific research from a hypothesis-driven approach to a data-driven discovery process. However, I believe AI won't replace water researchers because scientific progress relies on human thinking and creativity, an area where AI still cannot compare.

4. What challenges have you encountered in your research, and how did you address them?

I think the biggest challenge for me is the interdisciplinary nature of research. Water science requires expertise from engineering, ecology, chemistry, and the social sciences. As a result， I actively build collaborative networks by inviting experts from different disciplines to co-design our experiments from day one. Through interdisciplinary collaboration, our research can better align with real‑world applications, address more complex issues, and gain greater practical significance.

5. How do you view the opportunities and challenges facing “young researchers” in today’s scientific community? Do you have any advice for aspiring young researchers looking to make a meaningful impact in their respective fields?

Today’s young researchers face a paradox. The opportunities are unprecedented: open-source software, global data availability, and powerful computational tools empower early-career scientists to make progress. Conversely, the challenges are intense. It is questionable whether the social environment allows young researchers to spend a long time delving into a specific field. My advice is to master a hard skill, such as AI modeling or a highly specific lab technique, that makes you an indispensable collaborator on any team. Also, we should never lose sight of the bigger picture, working to help solve real-world water crises and maintain the resilience to embrace failure as a stepping stone.

6. How did you learn about the MDPI Water Young Investigator Award? What does receiving this award mean to you personally? What suggestions do you have for this award?

I learned about the Water Young Investigator Award through emails and web introductions. It is my great honor to receive this award, which proves that my current work is meaningful. This also further strengthens my determination to continue pursuing my research direction. My suggestion for the award is that several sub‑awards could be established for different sub‑fields of water science to encourage more outstanding scholars in this field to apply.

7. As the winner of this award, would you like to take a moment to share your thoughts with our readers or express gratitude to those who have played a significant role in your research accomplishments?

I am honored to receive this award. I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisors at all stages of my academic journey. Their guidance has laid a solid foundation for my scientific research, enabling me to forge ahead continuously along the path of water science research. Meanwhile, I am thankful to all the institutions where I have studied and worked for providing platforms for me to carry out the scientific research that I am passionate about. Lastly, I appreciate MDPI for offering me the opportunity to apply for this award, which recognizes my achievements and motivates me to keep moving forward.

8. Water is an open-access journal. What impact do you think open access has on authors? Do you have any suggestions or expectations for the future development of Water?

For authors, publishing in an open-access journal dramatically increases the visibility, reach, and impact of their work. Our findings can immediately reach researchers in nations that lack expensive institutional subscriptions. This global reach consistently translates to higher citation rates and faster real-world application of our research. Regarding the future development of Water, I expect Water to maintain its rigorous peer-review process while keeping publication times efficient. Balancing speed with high scientific integrity is challenging, but it is absolutely essential for tackling the world's urgent water crises.

We are pleased to announce the winners of the Water Young Investigator Award, established to acknowledge the achievements of young investigators in the field of all aspects of water, including water science, technology, management, and governance. After a rigorous evaluation process, two winners have been selected.

Please join us in congratulating the following winners:

First Prize:

• Dr. Xuan Li, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology Sydney, Australia.

Second Prize:

• Dr. Yi Yang, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Beijing Normal University, China.

Prize:

• The first prize: CHF 2000, an electronic certificate, and a voucher to waive the Article Processing Charges (APCs) for one submission in the Water journal (subject to peer review)—valid for one year;
• The second prize: CHF 1500, an electronic certificate, and a voucher to waive the Article Processing Charges (APCs) for one submission in the Water journal (subject to peer review)—valid for one year.

With so many high-quality applicants, the evaluation process and final decision were challenging. We would like to thank all of the nominators for their participation and the Award Committee Members for their careful evaluation of the many outstanding nominees.

We warmly congratulate the award recipients and wish them continued success in their research careers.

Water Editorial Office

Impact Factors measure how often articles in scientific journals are cited—specifically, the average number of citations received in a given year by articles published in that journal over the previous two years, as tracked in the Web of Science. For researchers, the number answers a practical question: how often is work published in this journal being picked up and built upon?

The metric is assigned to the journal as a whole, not to individual articles. A high Impact Factor tells you something useful about a journal's place in its field; it tells you less about any single paper within it.

For a complementary, article-level view, MDPI lists an Altmetric score on each article page. Where the Impact Factor tracks academic citations, the Altmetric score captures broader online attention: how an article is being shared, discussed, and referenced beyond the journal literature. Together, they offer two different ways of asking the same question: is this research reaching people?

With 2025 CiteScores from Scopus published a few weeks ago, Clarivate has now released this year's Journal Impact Factors in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR).

254 MDPI Journals Saw a Rise in Impact Factor

This year's JCR include 330 MDPI journals across a wide range of disciplines. Of these, 231 journals are placed in the top 50% (Q1 or Q2) of their respective subject categories, a result that spans fields as different as materials science, public health, environmental studies, and mathematics. 78 journals hold a top-quartile position (Q1), and 33 journals have a JIF of 5.0 or above.

• 330 journals earned a Journal Impact Factor (JIF)
• 29 journals earned a first JIF
• 254 journals had an increase in JIF
• 71% of ranked journals are in Q1 or Q2

For the full metrics on any MDPI journal, visit our Web of Science journals overview page or a journal's individual statistics page.

29 MDPI Journals Received Their First Journal Impact Factor

A first Impact Factor is a confirmation for an emerging journal. It marks the point at which a journal has been publishing long enough, and cited broadly enough, to enter the formal record of scientific influence. For the research communities those journals serve, it signals that the work being published is being read and built upon.

This year, 29 MDPI journals received a Journal Impact Factor for the first time, across a range of emerging and established research areas. Each represents years of editorial development and peer review—recognized in 2026 for the first time in the JCR.

This is also part of a longer shift in how science gets indexed. When the Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI) launched in 2016, 24 MDPI journals were included. By 2024 that number had grown to over 200, reflecting a broader change in the visibility of open access publishing within major citation tracking systems, not just at MDPI but across the sector.

Open Access with Impact

MDPI journals have received a total of 25.2 million citations in Web of Science. That figure matters less as a measure of MDPI's reach and more as a measure of what happens when research is freely available: it gets found, read, and used. Open access is only meaningful if the work actually travels and citations are one indicator that it does.

More than 4.6 million authors have published with MDPI. That breadth, across disciplines, institutions, and geographies, is what makes open access at this scale worth doing.

Thank You to the MDPI Scholarly Community

These results belong to the people who do the actual work: the Editors-in-Chief who set the standards, the Editorial Board Members and reviewers who hold them, and the authors who choose open access for their research. The numbers in the Journal Citation Reports are the downstream effect of decisions made at the desk, in the review, and at submission. Thank you for making them.

Data: 2025 Journal Impact Factors, Journal Citation Reports™ (Clarivate, 2026)

The following is an interview with Prof. Dr. Marcelo Pedrosa Gomes:

1. Congratulations on winning the Water 2024 Best Paper Award! Could you please briefly introduce yourself?
My name is Marcelo Pedrosa Gomes, and I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Botany at the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR), Brazil, where I lead the Laboratory of Plant Physiology under Stress (LAFIPE). My research lies at the intersection of plant ecophysiology, environmental toxicology, and biotechnology, with a particular focus on emerging contaminants, antimicrobial resistance, and nature-based solutions for environmental remediation.
Over the years, I have become particularly interested in understanding how contaminants, such as pharmaceuticals, pesticides, and other anthropogenic stressors, affect aquatic ecosystems and how biological systems—particularly plants and microorganisms—can be used to mitigate these impacts. I strongly believe that environmental problems require interdisciplinary and translational approaches, especially from a One Health perspective, connecting ecosystem, animal, and human health.

2. Could you introduce the research focus and the key findings of this award-winning paper?
This study emerged from the growing concern that three major environmental challenges—antibiotic contamination, antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and climate change—are usually discussed separately, even though they are strongly interconnected in real freshwater ecosystems. I felt that there was an important gap in bringing these issues together from a single environmental and public health perspective. The main focus of the paper was to explore how climate dynamics, including rising temperatures, altered precipitation patterns, droughts, and extreme weather events, may influence the environmental fate of antibiotics and intensify the spread of antimicrobial resistance in freshwater ecosystems. The review also examined the pathways through which antibiotics enter aquatic environments and how these contaminants affect biodiversity, microbial communities and ecosystem functioning.
One of the central messages of this study is that antibiotic contamination should not be understood only as a pollution problem. It is also an ecological, evolutionary, and One Health challenge because resistant microorganisms and resistance genes can spread across environmental, animal, and human systems. In addition to discussing the mechanisms and risks, this paper highlights important research gaps and explores possible mitigation strategies, including improved wastewater treatment, nature-based solutions, and stronger environmental policies. I believe that the paper resonated with the scientific community because it offered an integrative perspective on a highly urgent and still underexplored global issue.

3. What were the biggest challenges you faced during this research, and how did you overcome them?
One of the biggest challenges was dealing with the highly interdisciplinary nature of this topic. This research required the integration of fields that are often studied independently, including environmental contamination, microbial ecology, antimicrobial resistance, freshwater ecology, and climate science. Bringing these perspectives together in a scientifically coherent and balanced manner is intellectually demanding.
Another important challenge was the limited integrative literature. There is a substantial body of research on antibiotics in aquatic systems, antimicrobial resistance, and climate change. However, studies explicitly addressing how these issues converge are scarce. This meant that, in many cases, I had to synthesize fragmented evidence from different disciplines and attempt to identify broader patterns and interactions.
On a more personal level, I would say that one challenge was emotional. As I immersed myself in the literature, I sometimes felt a sense of urgency and concern about the trajectory we may be facing regarding freshwater quality and antimicrobial resistance. The more I read, the clearer it became that this is not only a scientific issue, but also a societal one. I overcame these challenges through persistence, extensive reading, and by trying to maintain a broad and integrative perspective on the subject. Rather than viewing the fragmentation of the literature as a limitation, I tried to see it as an opportunity to build bridges between disciplines and stimulate a broader discussion of this issue.

4. What advice would you give to young researchers who aspire to produce high-impact research results?
My first advice would be: do not chase impact; chase meaningful questions. High-impact research often emerges when we genuinely try to answer important and unresolved problems, especially those that matter beyond academia.
I would also encourage young researchers to be intellectually curious and not be afraid of crossing disciplinary boundaries. Many of today’s most important scientific questions—such as those regarding climate change, antimicrobial resistance, biodiversity loss, and environmental contamination— cannot be solved within a single field. Some of the most exciting discoveries occur at the interface between disciplines.
Simultaneously, I believe it is essential to develop scientific rigor and patience. Good science requires time. Read deeply, question assumptions, be critical of your own interpretations, and do not be discouraged by setbacks or rejected manuscripts. Rejections are part of academic life and often strengthen our work.
Finally, I would say: never lose sight of why science matters. Publishing papers is important, but research becomes truly meaningful when it contributes to society, helps people understand the world better, and supports solutions to real problems. Try to conduct science with purpose.

5. Could you tell us what attracted you to submit your paper to Water, and what your experience with the publication process was?
 I chose Water because the journal has a broad and interdisciplinary scope that aligns very well with the type of research I am trying to develop. This paper sits at the intersection of environmental contamination, freshwater ecology, antimicrobial resistance, and climate dynamics, and I believe that Water would provide the right audience for this type of integrative discussion.
Another important factor is that the journal welcomes both applied and conceptual contributions related to freshwater systems, environmental management, and emerging global challenges. Since this paper aimed not only to synthesize knowledge but also to stimulate discussion and highlight future directions, Water seemed like a natural fit.
My experience with the publication process was very positive. The editorial and peer-review processes were professional, constructive, and efficient. I particularly appreciated the reviewers’ comments, which helped strengthen the clarity and scope of this manuscript. As researchers, we sometimes see peer review only as an evaluation process, but in the best situations, it also becomes an opportunity to improve the work—and that was certainly my experience.
Receiving this recognition through the Water Best Paper Award is especially meaningful to me, as it reinforces the importance of discussing urgent environmental issues from integrative and forward-looking perspectives.

6. As a Best Paper Award winner, what suggestions do you have for Water to further enhance its service or impact?
First, I would like to say that Water is already playing an important role in promoting interdisciplinary research on aquatic systems and emerging environmental challenges. Receiving this award has reinforced my positive perception of this journal and its contributions to the scientific community.
If I could offer a suggestion, it would be to further strengthen the bridge between scientific knowledge and its societal impact. Many challenges related to water resources, such as pollution, antimicrobial resistance, climate change, and ecosystem degradation, require not only strong science but also broader communication with policymakers, stakeholders, and the public.
I believe that the journal could further expand its visibility and impact by investing even more in accessible science communication, such as short research highlights, policy-oriented summaries, interviews with authors, visual abstracts, and thematic discussions that help translate scientific findings into broader societal dialogue.
I would also encourage continued support for highly interdisciplinary and forward-looking topics, particularly those integrating environmental science, human health, biotechnology, and sustainability from a One Health perspective. Some of the most urgent environmental problems today require this type of scientific integration.
Overall, my experience with Water has been very positive, and I sincerely look forward to continuing to contribute to this journal in the future.