Invigorating hydrological research through journal publications

Over the past five years, the editors of a number of journals in the discipline of hydrology have met informally to discuss challenges and concerns in relation to the rapidly changing publishing landscape. Two of the previous meetings, in Götenborg in July 2013 and in Prague in June 2015, were followed by joint editorials (Blöschl et al. 2014; Koutsoyiannis et al. 2016) published in all participating journals. A meeting was convened in Vienna in April 2017 [during the General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU)] that was attended by 21 editors representing 14 journals. Even though the journals are published in very different settings, the editors found common cause in a vision of the editor’s role beyond just that of gatekeeper ensuring high-quality publications, to also being critical facilitators of scientific advances. In that enabling spirit, we as editors acknowledge the need to anticipate and adapt to the changing publishing landscape. This editorial communicates our views on the implications for authors, readers, reviewers, institutional assessors, and the community of editors, as discussed during the meeting and subsequently