Published online March 8, 2006

Reproduced from Vadose Zone Journal. Published by Soil Science Society of America. All copyrights reserved.

Editorial: The Future of Vadose Zone Journal

contributions from the various disciplines requires the commitment and input from members of all professional societies
involved with vadose zone research. Therefore we encourage
broad participation by the scientific community through thecollective membership of SSSA, GSA, the American Geophysical Union (AGU), the European Geophysical Union (EGU),
and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).
To build upon the successful start of VZJ, we strive tomaintain an enthusiastic and committed Editorial Board thatcovers all of the soil and water sciences and related disciplines
to ensure both depth and breadth. In the transition we plan toadd to the Editorial Board, especially younger scientists whoare eager to participate in developing the content and readership of the journal. We also plan to create more diversity andrepresentation on the Board from other societies and fromregions other than the USA and Western Europe. For this tobe successful we will evaluate the need for editorial assistanceto ensure high quality articles from non-English speaking
authors. We will continue the publication of special sections
or issues, which has been partly responsible for the success ofVZJ. For this purpose we seek your proposals to lead thecoordination and publication of these special issues. The special
issues could be the result of symposia or workshops, as well asfrom your ideas to bundle a series of papers on a special topic.
We will also continue to solicit in-depth review papers that
present comprehensive state-of-the-art updates on topical areasof interest to our readership. We also seek your input towards
publication of white papers on issues that affect the scientificcommunity or society as a whole. Finally, we would like to submit fast-track manuscripts that contain timely material with significantly more merit through their fast publication.
In addition to ensuring high quality articles for a wide audience, VZJ must continuously adapt to better serve our authors
and readers. Starting in 2005, the journal began monthly postingof accepted articles. Coming in 2006 one can purchase customized reprint collections of articles in special sections or issues,or of a special topic in general, or by collating the publicationsof a particular author or set of authors. We note also that VZJ
is now indexed by ISI in the Science Citation Index and Current Contents, and is hosted by the online publishing service
HighWire Press, from which PDF articles older than 18 months
can be downloaded freely. Additional efforts are underway tofurther improve time-to-publication. We ask that you checkwith your institutional library and encourage them to subscribe
to VZJ and consider a personal subscription. The future ofVZJ largely depends on the expansion of library and personal
subscriptions, as well as your submission of quality articles.
In closing, we enthusiastically look forward to working withyou, the authors, reviewers and readers, to make a smoothtransition into this new phase of Vadose Zone Journal. Clearly,
the successful launching of VZJ and its rapid growth has
demonstrated a real need for such an interdisciplinary journal,
with diverse readership across many disciplines, and with tremendous growth potential. A premier journal is defined by
the excellence and relevance of its publications, the breadthof disciplines involved, and the diversity and quality of readership it attracts. We welcome your contributions to making
VJZ the premier outlet for research concerning the mostimportant compartment of the biosphere—the vadose zone.

Vadose Zone Journal (VZJ) was initiated four years ago by
the Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) in cooperation
with the Geological Society of America (GSA). The first issue
was published in August 2002, and after three years the annual number of submissions has risen to about 200. This rapid
acceptance of VZJ within the scientific community is largely
attributed to the foresight and persistent efforts of our founding editor, Rien van Genuchten, backed by SSSA staff and theVZJ Editorial Board. The successful start of VZJ very much
reflects also the increased recognition that vadose zone processes play a prominent role in many interdisciplinary environmental and resource management issues. The recent decisionby Thomson ISI to index the journal further enhances its visibility and credibility. The electronic format and publicationof VZJ is now widely accepted by the scientific community,with the Manuscript Tracker system facilitating a timely review process.
To be more effective in managing the journal, SSSA has now
implemented an important change in the VZJ editorial structure. Vadose Zone Journal will change from having a singleEditor to having one Editor (Jan Hopmans, University of California, Davis) supported by three Co-Editors: Tissa Illangasekare, Colorado School of Mines; Dani Or, Ecole PolytechniqueFédérale de Lausanne; and Rien van Genuchten, George E.
Brown, Jr. Salinity Laboratory, Riverside, CA. We are excitedthat Rien accepted a role of Co-Editor, thus helping us in thetransition to multiple Editors. The new editorial structure withfour Editors will lead to a better distribution of the work load
and a more efficient review process. The change in editorial structure will not only enhance the efficiency of manuscript handlingand review, but also will offer new opportunities to move thejournal towards making it the premier journal for a broad baseof scientists in vadose zone related fields of soil and environmental sciences, hydrology, the geosciences, and engineering.
Within this new editorial structure we are dedicated to serving the research and professional community by offering aforum to share and debate the latest research, and we are committed to a vision that VZJ serve society by helping to protect theearth’s increasingly vulnerable soil, air, and water resources.
The vadose zone plays a critical role in our understanding
the causes and impacts of changes in our water resources andterrestrial ecosystems at both the local and global scales.
When focusing primarily on soil weathering and biogeochemical processes, the vadose zone also includes the recently
defined critical zone. VZJ fills an important and unique niche
in interdisciplinary research because of its focus on the zone
between the earth surface and permanent water table—arguably the most biologically active compartment of the biosphere. While historically the vadose zone was the domainof soil scientists, interests and applications have expanded
greatly during the past several decades to include geophysics,
hydrogeology, geochemistry, microbiology, terrestrial ecology,
global hydrology, and environmental, agricultural, and petroleum engineering. The papers we seek to publish in VZJshould reflect this enormous breadth of vadose zone research,thus contributing to our goal of the journal serving as a forum
for integrated vadose zone research. To successfully attract
Published in Vadose Zone Journal 5:125 (2006).
Letter from the Editors
doi:10.2136/vzj2006.0002leª Soil Science Society of America
677 S. Segoe Rd., Madison, WI 53711 USA

JAN W. HOPMANS (Editor)
TISSA ILLANGASEKARE (Co-Editor)
DANI OR (Co-Editor)
RIEN VAN GENUCHTEN (Co-Editor)

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