Editorial Excellence

Past Honorees

These exceptional editors performed in the top 10% of qualifying journals* based on data collected from the Journal Author Satisfaction survey. 

Throughout the year we invite journal authors to provide feedback on their publishing experience. In 2021 we reviewed the prior year's data to identify the journals that exemplified editorial excellence. The top percentile of journals was determined by taking the mean of authors ratings of two statements from a 5 point scale: strongly disagree (1), disagree (2), neutral (3), agree (4), strongly agree (5). 

Those statements are:

  1. "The editorial advice and comments throughout the process helped to improve the paper" 
  2. "The editors managed the peer review process well" 

We thank the exceptional editors, past and present, who contributed to these achievements, as well as all of our valued journal editors and board members, for their continued dedication to advancing research. The work, commitment, and passion brought to Springer Nature journals each day is greatly appreciated. 

The top 10% of qualifying journals

More than 88% of authors that responded to the Journal Author Satisfaction survey ‘strongly agreed’ or ‘agreed’ with the statements about the editorial experience at these journals.*


11467Frontiers of Physics

Kuang-Ta Chao

41742International Journal of Environmental Research

Mohammad H. Niksokhan, Mojtaba Ardestani

10964Journal of Youth and Adolescence

Roger J. R. Levesque

13563Mineral Economics

Linda Warell, Magnus Ericsson

11031Motivation and Emotion

Michael Richter

12310School Mental Health

Steven Evans

40561Smart Learning Environments

Ronghuai Huang, Kinshuk, Elliot Soloway, Nian-Shing Chen

We also thank these editors whose journals scored in the top 25%. 

Mathematics, Physical and Applied Sciences

  • Acta Geophysica: Gabriela Fernández Viejo, Michael Nones, Savka Dineva, Roksana Chmielowska, F. Ramón Zúñiga, Michał Malinowski, Theodore Karacostas, Eleftheria E. Papadimitriou
  • Acta Mathematica Hungarica: Andras Stipsicz, József Szabados 
  • Air Quality, Atmosphere & Health: Celia Alves, Frank J. Kelly
  • Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology: Gerhard A. Holzapfel
  • Bioresources and Bioprocessing: Jianhe Xu
  • Bulletin of the Iranian Mathematical Society: Majid Soleimani-damaneh
  • Carbonates and Evaporites: James W. LaMoreaux
  • Chemistry Africa: H. Frielinghaus, M. M. Chehimi, M. L. Efrit, Francis Verpoort, A. Soldera, Adel Megriche
  • Chromatographia: André M. Striegel, Roger M. Smith, Gabriela Massolini, Brett Paull, Gerhard K. E. Scriba
  • Colloid and Polymer Science: Christine M. Papadakis, Yu Zhu, Friedrich Kremer
  • Earth Science Informatics: Hassan A. Babaie
  • Environmental Processes: Vassilios A. Tsihrintzis
  • Frontiers of Mathematics in China: Kung-Ching Chang
  • Geomechanics and Geophysics for Geo-Energy and Geo-Resources: Herbert Huppert, P. G. Ranjith, JianChun Li, Heping Xie, Derek Elsworth
  • Granular Computing: Shyi-Ming Chen, Witold Pedrycz
  • Granular Matter: Heinrich Jaeger, Hans Herrmann, Stefan Luding
  • Ionics: Werner Weppner, Eric Wachsman
  • Iranian Polymer Journal: Mehdi Nekoomanesh Haghighi
  • Israel Journal of Mathematics: Daniel Kronberg, Michael Temkin, Eran London
  • Journal of Fixed Point Theory and Applications: Felix Schlenk
  • Journal of Grid Computing: Tamas Kiss, Peter Kacsuk
  • Journal of Iberian Geology: Javier Martín-Chivelet, José López-Gómez
  • Journal of Low Temperature Physics: Neil S. Sullivan, Jukka Pekola, Paul Leiderer
  • Journal of Ocean Engineering and Marine Energy: R. Cengiz Ertekin
  • Journal of Reliable Intelligent Environments: Juan Carlos Augusto, Antonio Coronato
  • Journal of Sedimentary Environments: Maria Virgínia Alves Martins 
  • Journal of the Australian Ceramic Society: Besim Ben-Nissan, Charles Sorrell, Pramod Koshy
  • Journal of Vibration Engineering & Technologies: C. Nataraj, J. S. Rao
  • Life Cycle Reliability and Safety Engineering: Michael Osterman, A.K. Verma, Prabhakar V Varde
  • manuscripta mathematica: Klaus Künnemann
  • Measurement Techniques: Vladimir Krutikov
  • Microgravity Science and Technology: Valentina Shevtsova
  • Modeling Earth Systems and Environment: Md. Nazrul Islam, Daisuke Kitazawa, Julian Aherne, Ruud J. Schotting
  • Multimedia Systems: Changsheng Xu
  • Nano Research: Jin Ren, Shoushan Fan, Yadong Li
  • Natural Resources Research: John Carranza
  • Nexus Network Journal: Michael J. Ostwald, Kim Williams
  • Process Integration and Optimization for Sustainability: Dominic C.Y. Foo, Raymond Tan, Santanu Bandyopadhyay
  • Qualitative Theory of Dynamical Systems: Jaume Llibre, Jaume Giné
  • Reaction Kinetics, Mechanisms and Catalysis: Gabor Lente
  • Research on Chemical Intermediates: Jinlong Zhang, Masakazu Anpo
  • Ricerche di Matematica: Francesco de Giovanni
  • Sādhanā: Jaywant Arakeri, R K Shyamasundar, KVS Hari
  • Solar Physics: Christina H. Mandrini, Inigo Arregui, Lidia van Driel-Gesztelyi, John Leibacher
  • The Journal of Geometric Analysis: Steven Krantz
  • Transactions of the Indian National Academy of Engineering: Amit Agrawal

Medicine and Life Sciences

  • Acta Diabetologica: Antonio Secchi, Massimo Federici, Massimo Porta
  • Acta Neurochirurgica: Tiit Mathiesen
  • Acta Parasitologica: Daniel Młocicki
  • Agroforestry Systems: Christian Dupraz
  • Amino Acids: Ellen I. Closs
  • Antonie van Leeuwenhoek: Mike Jetten
  • Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology: Christopher D. Metcalfe
  • Archives of Microbiology: Erko Stackebrandt
  • BioEnergy Research: Jerome Dumortier, Wilfred Vermerris, Héctor A. Ruiz
  • Brazilian Journal of Botany: Andre Simões, Diego Demarco
  • CardioVascular and Interventional Radiology: Klaus A. Hausegger
  • Cardiovascular Toxicology: Y. James Kang
  • Cell Stress and Chaperones: R William Currie
  • Cereal Research Communications: János Pauk, Andreas Börner
  • Coral Reefs: Morgan Pratchett
  • Current Genetics: Michael Polymenis
  • Ecological Processes: Jiaojun Zhu, Jiquan Chen
  • Endocrine Pathology: Ozgur Mete
  • Environmental Chemistry Letters: Eric Lichtfouse, Didier Robert, Jan Schwarzbauer
  • European Archives of Paediatric Dentistry: Nick Lygidakis
  • Experimental and Applied Acarology: Jan Bruin
  • Gastric Cancer: Yasuhiro Kodera, Giovanni de Manzoni
  • Histochemistry and Cell Biology: Jürgen Roth, Takehiko Koji, Douglas J. Taatjes, Michael Schrader
  • Horticulture, Environment, and Biotechnology: Doil Choi
  • Human Cell: Hiroaki Kataoka
  • Immunologic Research: Dieter Kabelitz, Nicola Bizzaro
  • In Vitro Cellular & Developmental Biology - Animal: Tetsuji Okamoto
  • Indian Journal of Microbiology: V.C. Kalia
  • Infectious Diseases of Poverty: Ayo MJ. Oduola, Tania Araujo-Jorge, George Fu Gao, Xiao-Nong Zhou, Shenglan Tang, Juerg Utzinger, Pin Yang, Edith Certain
  • Inflammopharmacology: Kim D. Rainsford, Phillip Berry
  • Intensive Care Medicine: Giuseppe Citerio
  • International Microbiology: José Berenguer
  • International Orthopaedics: Marius M. Scarlat
  • Journal of Cell Communication and Signaling: Andrew Leask
  • Journal of Consumer Protection and Food Safety: Marion Rukavina
  • Journal of Fluorescence: Chris D. Geddes
  • Journal of Plant Diseases and Protection: Gerd Stammler, Falko Feldmann
  • Journal of Plant Research: Maki Katsuhara
  • Journal of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition: María Luz Mora
  • Journal of Thrombosis and Thrombolysis: Richard Becker
  • Mammalian Biology: Heiko G. Rödel
  • Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Archives of Pharmacology: Roland Seifert
  • Neurotoxicity Research: Richard Kostrzewa
  • Oral Radiology: Junichi Asaumi
  • Physiology and Molecular Biology of Plants: N. Raghuram, Rana Pratap Singh
  • Plant Biotechnology Reports: In-Jung Kim
  • Plant Cell, Tissue and Organ Culture (PCTOC): Sergio J. Ochatt
  • Plant Foods for Human Nutrition: Octavio Paredes-López
  • Planta: Anastasios Melis, Dorothea Bartels
  • Rheumatology International: Armen Yuri Gasparyan
  • Sleep and Biological Rhythms: Kazuo Chin
  • The Cerebellum: Mario Manto
  • Tropical Plant Pathology: Emerson Del Ponte
  • Veterinary Research Communications: Fabrizio Ceciliani
  • Zoomorphology: Andreas Schmidt-Rhaesa

Humanities and Social Sciences

  • Asian-Pacific Journal of Second and Foreign Language Education: Xu Wen
  • Child & Youth Care Forum: Carl F. Weems
  • Computational Statistics: Philippe Vieu, Cathy W.S. Chen, Paulo Canas  Rodrigues
  • Early Childhood Education Journal: Patricia A. Crawford
  • Economic Change and Restructuring: George Hondroyiannis
  • Educational Studies in Mathematics: David Wagner, Susanne Prediger
  • English Teaching & Learning: Jun-Jie Tseng, Hsin-Chou Huang, Hsu Yueh-Kuei
  • GeoJournal: Barney Warf
  • Higher Education Policy: Jeroen Huisman
  • Innovative Higher Education: Claire Major
  • Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science: Jaan Valsiner
  • International Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique: Anne Wagner
  • Journal of Academic Ethics: Shiva Das Sivasubramaniam, Loreta Tauginiene
  • Journal of Business Ethics: Gazi Islam, Michelle Greenwood
  • Journal of Family Violence: Rebecca J. Macy
  • Journal of International Business Studies: Alain Verbeke, Anne Hoekman
  • Journal of Social and Economic Development: Meenakshi Rajeev, D. Rajasekhar, Kala Seetharam Sridhar
  • Journal of the Knowledge Economy: Elias G. Carayannis
  • Operations Management Research: Matteo Kalchschmidt, Daniel A. Samson
  • Population Research and Policy Review: Corey S. Sparks, Kara Joyner
  • Public Organization Review: Ali Farazmand
  • Reading and Writing: R. Malatesha Joshi
  • Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting: Cheng-Few Lee
  • TechTrends: Charles B. Hodges
  • Trends in Psychology: Angelo Brandelli Costa, Giuseppina Marsico
  • ZDM – Mathematics Education: Gabriele Kaiser

Open Access

  • Acta Neuropathologica Communications: Jeroen Hoozemans, Jason T. Huse
  • Acta Neuropathologica: Johannes Attems
  • Agriculture & Food Security: Fabio Santeramo
  • Annals of General Psychiatry: Maurizio Pompili
  • Annals of Microbiology:  Francesca Cappitelli
  • Beni-Suef University Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences: Mohamed Mahmoud Khedr, Osama Ahmed
  • Clinical Epigenetics: Lucia Altucci, Marianne Rots
  • Conflict and Health: Daniela Fuhr, Jonathan Polonsky
  • Egyptian Rheumatology and Rehabilitation: Sahar Ganeb, Mona Mansour
  • Environmental Sciences Europe: Henner Hollert
  • Journal of Big Data: Borko Furht, Taghi M. Khoshgoftaar
  • Middle East Fertility Society Journal: Mohamed Aboulghar
  • Tropical Medicine and Health: Masahiro Hashizume

*Qualifying Criteria: Only journals with an external editorial board that receive ten or more responses from published corresponding authors in 2021 were considered in the analysis. The journal also had to receive an overall satisfaction score of or over the mean average for the year. From this selection of journals the top performing journals were chosen based on their mean score for the two statements “The editorial advice and comments throughout the process helped to improve the paper" and "The editors managed the peer review process well", asked about on a 5 point scale: strongly disagree (1), disagree (2), neutral (3), agree (4), strongly agree (5).