2015 - All Press Releases

NPG partners with China’s Tongji University in publishing open access journal npj Pollution Control

 19 October 2015

Nature Publishing Group (NPG), part of Springer Nature, and Tongji University will partner to publish a new open access journal npj Pollution Control. Both partners today signed an agreement during a ceremony at the university’s campus. The journal will open for submissions in December 2015.

The journal aims to publish original, high quality research results and breakthroughs in a broad area of environmental science and engineering with relevance to prevention, control, monitoring and mitigation of environmental pollution, trying to address this global challenge spanning a number of disciplines.

Derk Haank, CEO of Springer Nature attended the signing ceremony and said: “Solving environmental problems relies heavily on science and technology. As China is enhancing efforts and investment to combat environment pollution, we are ready to offer timely support and insight through the launch of this unique journal in China. I am confident that npj Pollution Control will become one of the world’s leading journals in this area, fully backed by Tongji University and leveraging the resources and expertise of the two partners.”

The journal will place particular emphasis on providing original and innovative solutions to global environmental challenges involving climate change, impact of energy on the environment, large-scale urbanization, toxic waste, clean water, air pollution control, green manufacturing, and renewable energy, among others

Professor Gang Pei, President of Tongji University said: “We are pleased with the partnership with NPG which provides an international online platform to share knowledge and best research around the world. Recent years have seen a significant growth in the number of environment-related papers in China. As one of the first Chinese universities to initiate the education and research of environmental sciences, Tongji has made prominent progress in the development of the subject, achieving a bunch of original research results in pollution control and resource rescue. We are in the leading position among Chinese universities in publishing papers in this field in the world’s top-level journals, and among the top 1% most cited in ESI for this subject.”

npj Pollution Control is the third Nature Partner Journal to be launched in collaboration with an institution in China. Launched last spring as a new publishing program, Nature Partner Journals are a series of online open access journals published by NPG in collaboration with world-renowned international partners, highlighting NPG’s continued commitment to high quality open science.

Charlotte Liu, President of Springer Nature in Greater China said: “High quality and openness is increasingly valued by the Chinese science community and is exactly what has brought both sides together to disseminate the best quality research from China-based scientists through open access. For a journal with a dual focus on basic research and application, the open access model will ease global and interdisciplinary collaboration and boost its societal impact by extending its reach to a broad audience including policy makers."

Professor Jiang Bo, Vice President of Tongji University, said the journal will be instrumental in enhancing Tongji’s influence in the global research community while building up its research capability in environmental sciences. Professor Dai Xiaohu, Dean of the College of Environmental Science and Engineering stressed that the College would work closely with NPG towards the success of the journal, leveraging its strength in this subject.

Professor Zhang Weixian, director of the State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control, will be Co-Editor-in-Chief for the new journal. Having graduated with a PhD in Environmental Engineering from Johns Hopkins University, Professor Zhang focuses his research on chemical and biological transformation of environmental contaminants; he has an extensive publication record mainly in the field of environmental nanotechnology.

The agreement was signed on the first day of international Open Access Week as part of celebrations launched by Springer Nature, including seminars in Shanghai and Beijing. NPG is an early mover in embracing open access, and since its first fully open access journal was launched in 2005, it has built a portfolio of more than 80 journals with an open access option. As an open access journal, npj Pollution Control allows all research to be freely available to anyone upon publication. More information on the Nature Partner Journal programme can be found here.

ENDS

For more information contact:

Amy Bourke-Waite
Senior Communications Manager
Nature Publishing Group/Palgrave Macmillan
T: +44 (0)20 7843 4603 | M: +44 (0) 7703717212
E: a.bourke-waite@nature.com

Zhang Li - Corporate Communications Manager, Greater China
T: +86 21 2422 5047

E: li.zhang@macmillan.com

About Tongji University

With a history tracing back to 1907, Tongji University is one of the leading universities in China. The College of Environmental Science and Engineering of Tongji University is one of China’s first institutes for the education and research of environmental sciences. Currently, the college has two state-level key disciplines, namely, environmental engineering and municipal engineering (water supply and sewage), and a series of national research platforms, including the State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, Key Laboratory of Yangtze River Water Environment, UNEP-Tongji Institute of Environment for Sustainable Development, among others. The State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse was opened in 1995, and has consecutively passed multiple rounds of national assessment and renewal and is now one of the world’s top contributors to international standard research in environmental science and engineering.

About Nature Publishing Group (NPG)

Nature Publishing Group (NPG) is a publisher of high impact scientific information in print and online. NPG publishes journals, online databases and services across the life, physical, chemical and applied sciences.

Focusing on the needs of scientists, Nature (founded in 1869) is the leading weekly, international scientific journal. NPG publishes a range of Nature research journals and Nature Reviews journals, and a range of prestigious academic and partner journals including society-owned publications. Online, nature.com provides over 10 million visitors per month with access to NPG publications and services, including news and comment from Nature, and the leading scientific jobs board Naturejobs. Scientific American is at the heart of NPG's consumer media division, meeting the needs of the general public. Founded in 1845, Scientific American is the oldest continuously published magazine in the US and the leading authoritative publication for science in the general media. Together with scientificamerican.com and 14 local language editions around the world it reaches over 5 million consumers and scientists. Other titles include Scientific American Mind and Spektrum der Wissenschaft in Germany.

Throughout all its businesses NPG is dedicated to serving the scientific community and the wider scientifically interested general public. Part of joint venture Springer Nature, NPG is a global company with principal offices in London, New York, Shanghai and Tokyo, and offices in cities worldwide including Boston, San Francisco, Washington DC, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Cairo, Dubai, Delhi, Mumbai, Hong Kong, Melbourne, Osaka, Seoul, Barcelona, Madrid, Basingstoke, Heidelberg, Munich and Paris. For more information, please go to www.nature.com.

About Springer Nature

Springer Nature is a leading global research, educational and professional publisher, home to an array of respected and trusted brands providing quality content through a range of innovative products and services. Springer Nature is the world’s largest academic book publisher, publisher of the world’s highest impact journals and a pioneer in the field of open research. The company numbers almost 13,000 staff in over 50 countries and has a turnover of approximately EUR 1.5 billion. Springer Nature was formed in 2015 through the merger of Nature Publishing Group, Palgrave Macmillan, Macmillan Education and Springer Science+Business Media. Find out more: www.springernature.com