WHD director Jenna Davis appointed Co-Editor in Chief of PLOS Water

Water, Health and Development Director Jenna Davis was named co-editor in chief of PLOS Water, a new open-access journal that brings together multidisciplinary research relevant to the study of fresh water. Davis’s co-EIC is Pierre Horwitz, professor of environmental sciences at Edith Cowan University in Western Australia.

“It is a humbling exercise to assume a leadership role in such an ambitious enterprise,” Davis said. “The importance of fresh water can’t be overstated. It underpins the functioning of ecosystems upon which all life depends. It also supports human development through its role in food production, manufacturing, energy generation, recreation, cultural and spiritual practices, among other pursuits.”

Davis, a professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Higgins-Magid Senior Fellow with Stanford’s Woods Institute for the Environment, said her vision for the publication is to bridge the diverse scholarly and practice communities engaging with these and other dimensions of freshwater management and use. More than simply a venue for reporting science, Davis sees the journal as an active voice for the broader community, one that can influence and shape the future use of water globally.

Launched in February, PLOS Water brings together diverse water research communities to promote multidisciplinary research and facilitate collaboration between the interconnected fields of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), hydrology, and water resources management. 

“There are many sub-specialties in freshwater scholarship and practice operating largely in silos,” Davis noted. “We want to foster cross-talk across disciplinary borders and between research and practice. That’s where important insights are most likely to emerge.”

Topics covered by the journal include water treatment, contamination, purification, quality, consumption, recycling, scarcity and supply, conservation, infrastructure, technology and engineering, applied governance and policy, equity, access, and environmental impacts, as well as ecosystem approaches, socio-behavioral, and economic studies relevant to these areas.

PLOS (Public Library of Science) is a nonprofit, open-access publisher that seeks to empower researchers to accelerate progress in science and medicine by leading a transformation in research communication. Founded in 2001, PLOS  has helped pioneer a movement for open access alternatives to subscription journals.

“We invite everyone with an interest in freshwater scholarship to join us in building a community that catalyzes new kinds of conversations and values a diversity of perspectives,” said Davis. “We need your support and advice to realize our goals for inclusion and interdisciplinarity while managing the practicalities of academic publishing. Together, we look forward to creating a new and exciting dialogue.”