Call for Papers: Wastewater-based Epidemiology to Assess Environmentally Influenced Disease

Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE), also known as wastewater and/or sewage monitoring, is a rapidly evolving scientific discipline that leverages community wastewater to understand population health in near real-time. This is accomplished by utilizing targeted analytical measurements to analyze human excreted biomarkers in composited wastewater that are indicative of various aspects of human health, behavior, exposure, and activity. Historically, WBE has been used as a beneficial public health tool for population-level illicit drug monitoring on an international scale. WBE has also been utilized to measure indicators of licit substance use (e.g., alcohol, nicotine, pharmaceuticals) as well as other facets of every day human activity and behavior (e.g., diet, caffeine, antimicrobial use, stress) to evaluate trends and complement public health monitoring systems. Most recently, WBE for SARS-CoV-2 monitoring of viral presence has proven early-warning capabilities, as well as the potential to reveal hotspots of infection.  Application for a range of populations and locations has established the inclusive and non-invasive benefits of WBE.

Exposure science is required to advance new surveillance, intervention, and preventive measures, as well as to provide an actionable source of information for decisionmakers and stakeholders.

The Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology (JESEE) publishes novel results and significant advances in exposure science and environmental epidemiology to understand human health impacts of range of environmental stressors.

As such, the Special Topic Editors,

  • Dr. Damià Barceló (The Catalan Institute for Water Research, Girona, Spain),
  • Dr Paloma Beamer (The University of Arizona),
  • Dr Devin A. Bowes (Boston University),
  • Dr Phil M. Choi (The University of Queensland), and
  • Dr Erin M. Driver (Arizona State University)

invite submissions for a forthcoming special issue on advancing the science for Wastewater-based Epidemiology to Assess Environmentally Influenced Disease.

Submissions to this special topic should focus on wastewater-informed population-level health assessments specific to environmental exposures including microbes, chemical pollutants, and other agents of public health interest. Relevant submissions include research articles reporting:

  1. Biomarker suites for population-level exposure assessment.
  2. Application of WBE to measure chemical and biological indicators of exposures and associated human impact and/or disease.
  3. Leveraging of wastewater-informed data to prompt near real-time, targeted interventions, assess efficacy, and create predictive models for future events.
  4. Application of WBE to support risk assessments and policy.

JESEE special focus issues are collections of articles on key topics identified by the editors. Articles are published online as they are accepted. Submission does not guarantee acceptance and all manuscripts will be privy to editorial discretion and peer review. For pre-submission inquiries, please contact the journal editorial office at jesse@us.nature.com.

Submissions should also:

  • Adhere to the JESEE Instructions for Authors
  • Be submitted to the journal on or before 30th April 2023
  • Include a note in the cover letter that the submissions is for the Wastewater-based Epidemiology to Assess Environmentally Influenced Disease special issue.

As a JESEE author you can expect the following:

  • Turnaround to first decision of 4-5 weeks
  • Full and swift indexing of content in Medline/PubMed
  • Article deposition to PMC in accordance with your funder mandates
  • Permanent viewing access to article for sharing with colleagues or on social media
  • Daily updated article-level metrics on your content
  • Wide exposure to professionals in a wide range of environmental and public health disciplines, as well as to membership of the International Society of Exposure Science (ISES).
  • Automatic entry for the annual ISES Award for Best JESEE Paper.

We look forward to seeing your work!