Abstract
Excerpt: This issue of Ecological Engineering, Volume 8 (1997), represents the beginning of our sixth year of the journal. After these 5 years of development, it would be prudent for us to reflect on where the field was in 1992 and where we are now. In March 1992, Volume 1, Number 1 of Ecological Engineering was launched, with the support of a 22 member editorial board, with a special issue 'The role of created and natural wetlands in controlling nonpoint source pollution'. (There are currently 26 members of the Board). Through 1996, the journal has received a total of 365 papers, has published 171 papers, and has an overall 34'¼, rejection rate. This rejection rate is despite the high number of special issues. Through 1996, we published no fewer than eleven 'special issues' that, in a way, represent peer-reviewed and edited books (Table 1). The special issue titles listed in Table 1, oll subjects as diverse as wetland creation and agricultural and land use planning, illustrate the breadth of the field. This special issue approach is a feature of the journal that I believe necessary for a field still attempting to define its edges; ~e plan to continue such an emphasis. The special issues have also involved a great number of other editors in the process of this journal, but I would like to hear from the readership on whether you find these special issues useful. All too often, special issues are buried in the library despite the relatively comprehensive way in which they sometimes cover subjects. Should these be marketed by Elsevier as books as well'? It seems that they are amo'ng our best kept secrets in ecological engineering. The field of ecological engineering, first elucidated in detail by our book in 1989 (Mitsch and Jorgensen, 1989) and, since 1992, developed partially through a peer-review process in this journal, has made a lot of progress in the past 5 years.