Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering

Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Title	Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Discipline	Civil engineering; geotechnical engineering; geoenvironmental engineering
Publisher	American Society of Civil Engineers
Country	United States
Frequency	Monthly
History	1975–present
Issn	1090-0241

Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the American Society of Civil Engineers that covers research in geotechnical engineering, geoenvironmental engineering, and related subfields. It serves as a forum for advances in soil mechanics, foundation engineering, earth structures, and environmental remediation, attracting contributions from authors affiliated with institutions such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Cambridge, Stanford University, Imperial College London, and Tsinghua University. The journal interfaces with practice and policy through connections to bodies like the Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, European Geotechnical Union, International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, and major engineering firms including Arup, Bechtel, WSP Global, and AECOM.

History

Established in the mid-1970s amid growing interest in soil stabilization and environmental protection, the journal succeeded earlier ASCE publications related to Foundation Engineering and Soil Mechanics and paralleled developments tied to events like the 1973 oil crisis and the rise of environmental regulation under the Clean Water Act. Its editorial stewardship has included editors affiliated with Columbia University, University of California, Berkeley, Delft University of Technology, ETH Zurich, and University of Tokyo, reflecting shifts in focus from classical geotechnics to contamination, waste containment, and sustainability influenced by conferences such as the International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering and the GeoCongress series. The period saw interaction with landmark projects and incidents—responses to the Loma Prieta earthquake, Northridge earthquake, Kobe earthquake, and failures such as the Niigata earthquake liquefaction informed methodological changes and publication priorities.

Scope and Topics

The journal publishes original research, case studies, and technical notes on topics spanning soil mechanics, foundation design, slope stability, earth dams, retaining structures, ground improvement, geosynthetics, and subsurface investigations. It addresses laboratory testing techniques used at facilities like the Geotechnical Engineering Center at MIT, numerical modelling approaches including finite element applications popularized at Stanford University and École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, and field methods applied in projects associated with Port of Rotterdam, Panama Canal expansion, Three Gorges Dam, and urban works in New York City and Shanghai. Geoenvironmental themes cover contaminant transport, landfill engineering, permeable reactive barriers, bioremediation linked to research at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and regulatory contexts influenced by Superfund actions and guidance from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Cross-disciplinary work connects to Hydrology, Seismology, Materials Science, Environmental Chemistry, and engineering education initiatives at institutions like Georgia Institute of Technology.

Abstracting and Indexing

The journal is indexed in major bibliographic databases and abstracting services such as Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar, with metadata integrated into platforms used by researchers at National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Department of Energy, United Nations Environment Programme, and universities including Purdue University and University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign. It appears in specialized indexes for civil engineering and environmental science alongside titles from publishers like Springer, Elsevier, Wiley, and Taylor & Francis, and is tracked for citation metrics by organizations such as Clarivate Analytics and Elsevier B.V..

Editorial Board and Publication Process

Editorial leadership typically comprises academics and practitioners from institutions like Northwestern University, University of Michigan, McGill University, Technical University of Denmark, and Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. The peer-review process follows double-blind or single-blind protocols common to journals overseen by societies including the American Society of Civil Engineers and mirrors standards advocated by bodies like the Committee on Publication Ethics and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors for transparency, conflicts of interest, and data availability. Submission workflows integrate manuscript handling systems used by publishers such as Atypon and ScholarOne, with editorial decisions informed by reviewers who are members of professional organizations including the Institution of Civil Engineers, Canadian Geotechnical Society, and Australian Geomechanics Society.

Impact and Reception

The journal is widely cited in research on foundation design, slope failure analysis, liquefaction assessment, and landfill engineering, influencing guidelines and standards produced by organizations such as American Concrete Institute, ASTM International, European Committee for Standardization, and national transport agencies like Transport for London and the Federal Highway Administration. High-impact articles have informed engineering practice in major infrastructure projects—referenced in technical reports from World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, and consulting studies by Jacobs Engineering Group. Its impact factor and citation counts are monitored by Clarivate Analytics and referenced in academic evaluations at universities such as University of Oxford and University of Melbourne.

Notable Papers and Contributions

Noteworthy contributions include seminal papers on soil-structure interaction, constitutive modeling of clays and sands, probabilistic seismic slope stability, and coupled hydro-mechanical-chemical processes, authored by scholars affiliated with University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, Stanford University, Tsinghua University, and Delft University of Technology. Influential case studies have analyzed failures and remediation in events like the Teton Dam failure aftermath, airport foundation projects at Heathrow Airport, urban tunnelling incidents in Madrid and Paris, and geotechnical responses to the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. The journal has published methodological advances that underpin contemporary practice, including advancements in centrifuge modelling developed at University of Tokyo and Cornell University and probabilistic frameworks applied in design codes by committees within ASCE and ISO.

Category:Civil engineering journals