Meet Professor Guibin Jiang, Editor-in-Chief of Environment & Health

ACS Publications is excited to announce Professor Guibin Jiang, Ph.D., as the inaugural Editor-in-Chief of Environment & Health, a new partner journal between the Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences (RCEES), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and the American Chemical Society (ACS).

Prof. Jiang is an academician of both the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the World Academy of Sciences, and he is also the director of State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology. His research interests cover environmental science and toxicology and health research, involving chemical forms, analytical instruments, environmental processes, toxicology and health, and environmental applications and effects of nanotechnology.

We recently connected with Prof. Jiang to learn more about him, his research, and his hopes for the future of Environment & Health.

What does it mean to you to be the Editor-in-Chief of Environment & Health?

To be the Editor-in-Chief of Environment & Health (E&H) means a lot to me. In the past decades, we have witnessed a rapid growth in publications devoted to discovering the relationships between environmental exposure, human health, and the potential public health consequences. Therefore, we think it is very timely and important to launch a new journal to support the UN Sustainable Development Goals and help formulate policies to create a healthier world. I am excited to have such an opportunity to lead this new journal. At the same time, it also represents a great challenge for me. I will work with our editorial team to build Environment & Heath into a trailblazing journal with global influence.

What’s your vision for the journal, and how you hope the community will benefit from research published in Environment & Health?

Development and health are the eternal themes of human society. Climate change, biodiversity loss, and chemical pollution are the three major environmental crises. However, the relationship between environmental pollution and human health is still not fully understood, especially the long-term and chronic health risks caused by pollution.

Therefore, we need E&H to become a world-class home for impactful research on environmental health, especially work that does not fall within the scope of the existing environmental journals. I hope the research published in E&H will:

1. Arouse more attention from both academic and non-academic communities for the global health crises caused by environmental pollution;
2. Facilitate increasingly meaningful cross-disciplinary exchanges and collaborations.

Which of the UN Sustainable Development Goals would you most like the journal to support?

E&H has a broad scope covering diverse topics of environmental and health science. So, I think it can support multiple UN Sustainable Development Goals, such as “3: Good Health and Well-Being”, “6: Clean Water and Sanitation”, “11: Sustainable Cities and Communities”, “13: Climate Action”, “14: Life Below Water”, and “15: Life on Land”.

What are you currently working on? And what challenges are you hoping to solve?

My own research interests focus on environmental analysis, toxicology and health effects, including chemical speciation, analytical instruments, environmental process, toxicology and health risks, and the environmental impact of nanotechnology. We have done an over twenty-year study on persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and the discovery of new pollutants. Recently, my research group have focused on the development of new scientific instruments for environmental health research and risk assessment of new pollutants. We have invented a high-throughput multifunctional integrated toxicology analyzer (ITA), which can screen and identify pollutants with specific toxicity in complex samples. I hope our research can provide critical scientific evidence and support for the identification and control of environmental factors related to regional high-incidence diseases, which is still very challenging, especially in developing and underdeveloped regions.

Why is Environment & Health open access?

We make E&H open access so that anyone can read the papers published anytime and anywhere. This provides a fast, open, and widespread platform for scientists to come together to disseminate their work across the globe, which means more people can follow the latest work. This also makes it easier for policymakers to access and implement the fruits of scientific research. I think this is also very important for a new journal to strengthen the brand and make a greater impact.

As Editor-in-Chief of Environment & Health, what are you looking for in a paper?

The problems facing the environmental health discipline are complex and uncertain. Different regions and pollution levels can cause different types of health hazards, and therefore it requires different research paradigms and solutions. We are looking for papers that can help us better understand the underlying mechanisms and long-term, chronic health risk caused by pollution. We are also interested in the work on new technologies, new instruments, and new methods in the field of environmental health.

Why should people doing work in the field submit their next best manuscript to Environment & Health?

In my opinion, there are several good reasons for researchers to submit the next best manuscript to E&H:

1. High quality. The international Editors team and Editorial Advisory Board consisting of over 50 leading scientists in related fields are committed to ensuring that all manuscripts submitted to E&H receive the same efficient and rigorous peer review as all ACS journals, to ensure of the journal rapidly publishes work of high quality.
2. High impact. E&H will provide a fast, open, and widespread platform for the most cutting-edge, significant, and innovative research in the field of environmental health. Importantly, ACS is one of the most impactful publishing groups in the world, meaning that the papers published in E&H will have a great chance of being read by more researchers around the world and gaining more visibility.
3. Fast and fair peer review process. We will do our best to ensure a fast and fair peer review process. If the authors are not convinced by reviewer comments, we will be happy to consider an appeal. Note that authors who submit their manuscripts by April 30, 2024 may apply for an APC waiver if their paper is accepted after peer review.

What advice would you give to emerging researchers for their career development?

I am happy to give some advice to emerging researchers:

1. Do long-term and systematic studies. There is no shortcut in the way of scientific research. Some young researchers may choose ‘hot’ topics and publish many papers for quick success, but this may be less meaningful for our society and planet.
2. Keep thirsty for innovation, and always think about what is unknown and what is new.
3. Work as hard as you can.
4. Think big. As researchers in environmental health, we have the responsibility to help create “a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment”. I expect young scientists to have a global perspective and do more creative work to solve real problems.