Journal of the American Water Resources Association

Journal of the American Water Resources Association
Title	Journal of the American Water Resources Association
Discipline	Water resources, hydrology, environmental engineering
Abbreviation	JAWRA
Publisher	American Water Resources Association
Country	United States
History	1965–present
Frequency	Bimonthly
Issn	1552-2743

Contents

Journal of the American Water Resources Association is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the American Water Resources Association that presents research on hydrology, water resources management, and related applied sciences. The journal serves as a forum connecting practitioners and scholars from organizations such as the United States Geological Survey, Environmental Protection Agency, United Nations Environment Programme, World Bank, and academic institutions including Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, and University of California, Berkeley. Articles often address topics relevant to agencies and projects like the Bureau of Reclamation, Army Corps of Engineers, Mississippi River Commission, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and international initiatives such as Global Water Partnership.

History

The journal was established in 1965 by the American Water Resources Association during a period when institutions including the National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of the Interior, and regional entities like the Great Lakes Commission were expanding research on surface water and groundwater. Early contributors included researchers affiliated with Colorado State University, Princeton University, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and federal programs such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Soil Conservation Service. Over decades the journal reflected shifts in priorities from watershed-scale studies influenced by the Clean Water Act era to integrated water resources planning informed by findings from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and modeling tools developed at places like Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory.

The journal publishes original research articles, technical notes, and review papers covering topics such as hydrologic modeling, water quality assessment, groundwater-surface water interaction, watershed management, flood risk, drought resilience, and water policy analysis. Authors frequently cite methods and frameworks from institutions like International Water Management Institute, World Resources Institute, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, and modeling platforms developed at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and University of Washington. Subject matter ranges from case studies in river basins such as the Amazon River, Ganges River, Yangtze River, and Colorado River to applications in urban infrastructure projects in cities like Los Angeles, Tokyo, London, and Mumbai. Interdisciplinary linkages to climate science from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, ecological studies from the Smithsonian Institution, and public health work associated with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are common.

The journal is indexed in major bibliographic services and databases used by researchers at institutions such as Harvard University, University of Oxford, Columbia University, and University of Tokyo. Abstracting and indexing include listings in databases compiled by organizations like Clarivate Analytics, Scopus (Elsevier), and subject repositories utilized by scholars at California Institute of Technology and Imperial College London. Coverage facilitates discovery through library systems at the Library of Congress, national libraries of countries such as Canada and Australia, and university consortia supporting access to engineering and earth science literature.

The editorial board comprises scholars and practitioners from universities and agencies including University of California, Davis, Texas A&M University, University of Minnesota, U.S. Geological Survey, Environment Canada, and international partners like University of New South Wales and ETH Zurich. The journal employs a double-blind or single-blind peer review process aligned with standards used by journals from publishers such as Wiley-Blackwell, Springer Nature, and Elsevier. Editorial policies emphasize ethical research conduct consistent with guidelines from organizations like the Committee on Publication Ethics and professional societies including the American Geophysical Union.

Published bimonthly, the journal is produced under the auspices of the American Water Resources Association and distributed to members, academic subscribers, and institutional libraries at universities including Yale University and University of Cambridge. Article formats include full-length research papers, technical briefs, and special issues guest-edited in collaboration with centers such as the National Center for Atmospheric Research and international networks like the International Association of Hydrological Sciences. Access models combine subscription access and options for authors to make articles open access in line with policies from funders such as the National Institutes of Health and the European Commission.

Scholars citing work in the journal are affiliated with research centers such as Pew Research Center-linked studies on water policy, modeling groups at Princeton University and University of Colorado Boulder, and international projects funded by the World Bank and Asian Development Bank. The journal's influence is reflected in citation metrics used by academic evaluators at institutions like University College London and in applied outcomes informing agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency and regional water authorities in California, Brazil, and India. It is frequently referenced in bibliographies of textbooks and monographs from presses including Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, and Springer.