The ISWCR editorial special meeting was held on September 21, 2024, during the 4th IYFSWC in Shenyang, China.

The meeting was chaired by Prof. Qu Liqin, the executive editor of ISWCR, the official journal of WASWAC. Prof. Michael Maerker, the Editor-in-Chief of ISWCR, gave a welcome address.

Then the participants fully discussed the following topics based on 3 groups:

◆ How can we increase involvement from key scientific and research groups in our journal?

◆ What outreach strategies could we use to collaborate with leading research institutions?

◆ How can we better leverage social media and academic networks to promote ISWCR?

◆ What role can editorial board members play in attracting  submissions from their networks?

◆ How can we streamline the peer review process to reduce processing time while maintaining quality?

◆ What types of incentives could we offer to encourage timely and high-quality peer reviews?

◆ How can we make the reviewer selection process more efficient?

◆ What steps can we take to increase our journal’s citations and impact factor further?

◆ Would publishing more review articles or data papers help boost our impact factor?

◆ Should we consider special issues or thematic sections on trending topics in soil and water conservation?

◆ How can we lower barriers for submissions to attract more high-quality papers?

◆ How do we maintain or improve the journal’s acceptance standards as submission volumes increase?

◆ What ethical considerations should we address to ensure transparency and trust in the peer review process?

◆ How can we attract more interdisciplinary research that bridges soil and water conservation with other fields?

◆ What emerging trends or new technologies should we focus on to stay relevant in the field?

◆ How can we foster collaborations with international institutions to further globalize our journal?

◆ What can we do to better track and enhance the visibility of our published articles?

◆ How can we encourage board members to actively participate in promoting the journal’s development?

◆ What new initiatives or innovations should we explore to ensure the long-term success of ISWCR?

After discussion, Prof. Valentin Golosov, Prof. Borrelli Pasquale, and Prof. Dazzi Carmelo, as the representatives of the 3 groups, shared the opinions for discussed matters.

Meeting was closed with the summary speech, provided by Prof. Liu Baoyuan, the Editor-in-Chief of ISWCR.