PNNL

Abstract

We believe that the Journal of Hydrologic Engineering should serve as the primary outlet for hydrogeological research on the engineering aspects—including applications and science—of subsurface hydrology. Our journal fills the interval between the more theoretical and the more applied contexts of hydrogeology for which numerous print outlets exist. We begin drawing together our strategy for invigorating this role in the journal’s future by first holding a discourse on the role of research itself in hydrogeology. This discourse continues an already vigorous discussion that has been ongoing in the literature and is characterized by one primary fact: papers in hydrology literature are cited rarely, relative to a variety of expectations. Research progress in many fields of environmental science and engineering has grown more inclusive of lateral, interdisciplinary contributions while exhibiting commonly valued vertical contributions with less frequency. At the same time, the conventional role of research, its intrinsic value—and especially its value to practical applied science and engineering, has come under increasing scrutiny and criticism. Public discussions and debates addressing aspects of this critique in recent years have appeared in the ASCE Journal of Environmental Engineering 127(4, 5, 9); Ground Water 39(4) and 40(3); Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment 18(4); and the Hydrogeology Journal 13(1). More recently, a quantitative bibliometric analysis of the impact of publishing in hydrology (Koutsoyiannis and Kundzewicz 2007) concludes that the impact of a hydrological technical paper can indeed be satisfactorily (but not ideally) measured by its number of citations. However, these authors also find that “the quantification of the quality and importance of research achievements is very difficult, if not impossible.” In either case, according to a personal communication from V. Klemes, the fact that most papers are rarely cited means that most of the citations that do exist are rarely conveyed. These studies raise a number of questions. Is publishing, for the most part, a waste of time outside of academic merit? Is hydrogeology a “mature science”? Is progress really being made on longstanding hydrogeological problems? This special issue is intended not only to provide a robust platform for continuating the debate surrounding these and related questions but also to reinitialize the role of the Journal of Hydrologic Engineering in disseminating contributions to hydrogeological engineering science and practice. As a continuation of this discussion, the issue editors hosted a session at the fall 2005 meeting of the American Geophysical Union (http://www.agu.org/meetings/fm05/?pageRequest=search&show =detail&sessid=362) encouraging debate about the value of research, academic and otherwise, in hydrogeology. This session involved a small sample of some of the top thinkers on these issues today, representing a wide range of perspectives. Included in this special issue are essays and philosophical commentaries by the participants in that session. These contributions illuminate ways that research, publishing, teaching, practice, and scholarship may evolve to increase the value of research to society, ranging from basic science to engineering hydrogeology, worldwide.