WASHINGTON, Aug. 11, 2016 – Geohealth is a rapidly emerging transdisciplinary field that supports the intersection of Earth and environmental sciences with human, agricultural, and environmental health. As a first step in its efforts to support and enable this emerging field, the American Geophysical Union (AGU) announced today the launch of its newest journal, GeoHealth.
The collaborative efforts between geoscientists, ecologists, and environmental and health professionals can influence global change in agricultural and ecological health and services, inform public health campaigns, and have direct benefits to human health and the environment. The discipline is expected to grow as geoscience research in environmental factors becomes increasingly important to understanding global and local issues related to health and the environment. Technological developments will also evolve the field. Integrating healthcare data with geospatial mapping technology to identify and understand environmental factors and health trends across certain geographies is just one example of geohealth’s many practical applications.
AGU and John Wiley & Sons, Inc., are launching a new open access peer-reviewed journal, GeoHealth. GeoHealth will cover the sciences that explore how natural disasters and hazards and environmental changes in the oceans, atmosphere, and on land, affect not only public health and disease but also agriculture and ecology. Topics will span global, regional, and local issues including air and water pollution, the use and impact of herbicides and pesticides, radiation, the impact of climate change, and resource use.
Rita R. Colwell has been appointed Founding Editor of GeoHealth and will steer the journal through its launch. Colwell is a Distinguished University Professor both at the University of Maryland at College Park and at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. She served as the 11th Director of the National Science Foundation and is a former president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Society for Microbiology.
In addition to the new journal, AGU is exploring a variety of other options to bring together and support the work of researchers in the geohealth space.
“Geohealth is an important field that has demonstrated Earth science’s contribution to positive health outcomes both for human and ecological health,” said Margaret Leinen, AGU President. “AGU looks forward to supporting the growth and recognition of geohealth as we partner with Wiley to provide a new platform for exploring, and ultimately encouraging, the collaborations between Earth scientists and health professionals. We also look forward to exploring all of the other ways that we can support and encourage development in this exciting new transdisciplinary field.”
“As its publishing partner, we are proud to have the opportunity to support AGU to expand its open access program with the launch of this fully gold open access journal, GeoHealth. Scientists’ efforts to understand and address current environmental and related health challenges will be well-served by platforms such as this which serve as a bridge across disciplines to solve global challenges,” said Colette Bean, Vice President & Society Publishing Director, Global Research at Wiley.
“I’ve spent much of my career focused on this broad and important intersection of different disciplines and seen first-hand the benefits and applications that Earth science and ecology can have on the health of environments and humans worldwide, and I’m excited to help AGU develop a new journal, GeoHealth, as part of a larger initiative to grow and showcase this science” said Rita R. Colwell. “Offering a high quality home that brings together these fields will serve to enrich and advance the science and provide broad impacts on a global scale.”
The new journal joins AGU’s portfolio of prestigious research publications that are governed by AGU’s rigorous peer review process. This includes the highly ranked Geophysical Research Letters and Earth’s Future—an innovative publication that features trans-disciplinary research, editorials, and essays emphasizing the Earth as an interactive, evolving system under the influence of the human enterprise—which was successfully launched in late 2013. As with AGU’s other open access journal’s GeoHealth will publish articles under the Creative Commons Attribution License enabling authors to be fully compliant with open access requirements of funding organizations where applicable. All articles will be deposited in PubMed Central immediately upon publication to comply with NIH mandates.
About American Geophysical Union
The American Geophysical Union is dedicated to advancing the Earth and space sciences for the benefit of humanity through its scholarly publications, conferences, and outreach programs. AGU is a not-for-profit, professional, scientific organization representing more than 60,000 members in 139 countries. Join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and our other social media channels.
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