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Natalie Kruse Daniels, director of the Environmental Studies Program at Ohio University’s Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service, was appointed as the inaugural editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American Society of Reclamation Sciences.
The American Society of Reclamation Sciences, or ASRS, is a national organization whose mission is to represent and serve a diverse international community of individuals involved in mineral extraction and disturbed ecosystem reclamation, the ASRS website states. The ASRS promotes the advancement of basic and applied reclamation science through research, technology and publications.
The society recently expanded its scope from mining and reclamation to reclamation sciences. A new publication, the Journal of the American Society of Reclamation Sciences , grew out of a previous publication titled the Journal of the American Society of Mining and Reclamation .
“[The previous journal] was self-published, and we're trying to build something that has a higher readership and a higher caliber of publication. [We’re] trying to raise the bar from what was done before,” Kruse Daniels said.
As an active member of ASRS, Kruse Daniels became aware of a new publication being assembled by the society.
“They solicited the membership for potential editors-in-chiefs and reached out to some of us to specifically ask us if we would be willing to put our hat in the ring,” she said.
Kruse Daniels said she believes her experience and expertise in reclamation sciences is what led to her being chosen for the position.
As the editor-in-chief, Kruse Daniels said she has begun the search for associate editors and an editorial board. She hopes to launch the journal’s first issue next year.
“There's a publishing company that we're going to contract with who will manage a lot of the paper submission … and some of the copy editing,” Kruse Daniels said. “A lot of [my job] is coordination and visibility and reputation because our goal here is to have a quality journal that people want to publish in and want to read.”
Kruse Daniels said the plan for the journal will be to have an issue a year with about a dozen articles.
“I'm looking forward to seeing the efforts come to fruition,” she said. “Reclamation sciences are something that we at the Voinovich School are central to, and it's part of our expertise in that field to be involved in the development of this journal. It is both an honor, but also shows the reputation that we have.”