In October 2021, I was delighted to accept the invitation from the publishing Editor of the Journal, Ms. Petra van Steenbergen and SPRINGER NATURE to serve as an Editor-in-Chief for the Geotechnical and Geological Engineering Journal. I would like to thank Ms. van Steenbergen and the current Editors-in-Chief of the Journal, Professors David G. Toll and James Hanson, for the welcomes they extended to me.

Since 1983, the journal has been publishing articles on a diverse spectrum of geoengineering topics covering soil mechanics and soil engineering, rock mechanics and rock engineering, and engineering geology for the civil geotechnical, mining, and geological engineering fields. Going forward, the journal intends to expand the coverage on almost any topic in the aforementioned disciplines, aiming to achieve a balance between theory and practice. We plan to cover experimental, theoretical, analytical, numerical, statistical, probabilistic, and artificial intelligence research, as well as applications to the real world. In addition to individual research or state-of-the-art articles, the journal aims to publish several Special Issues to build collections of papers dedicated to the synthesis of important and emerging popular topics in the soil and rock engineering and geological engineering disciplines. I would like to cordially invite researchers to propose special issues on topics that they have the interest to explore their ideas further.

In 2022, the journal would like to take necessary action to prepare the journal for a successful application to get included in the SCI category among the geotechnical engineering journals. To achieve this, the journal plans to improve the number of citations received per published paper through more high-quality individual as well as special issue publications. Due to the popularity of the journal, the number of high-quality manuscripts submitted to the journal has been increasing lately. Therefore, starting in 2022, the publishing frequency of the journal will change from 8 to 12 issues.

The journal is currently implementing several steps to reduce the turnaround time between the submission and acceptance/rejection of the manuscripts. Steps include both accelerating the acceptance/declination response on the review invitations, and emphasis on timely completion of reviews if accepted. Reviewers’ support on this matter is greatly appreciated. Regarding English grammar refinement, if the authors doubt the English level of the manuscript, they are advised to get the manuscript revised by a native English writer before submitting it to the journal website.

With the help of the dedicated and efficient publishing staff and an eminent international editorial board listed on the journal’s website, we are fully focused on making Geotechnical and Geological Engineering one of the top journals in the Geotechnical Engineering field, providing articles with a good balance between theory and practice. We cordially invite potential authors from all over the world to submit their high-quality contributions to the journal to achieve this goal and look forward to growing the journal as we move into 2022.

Distinguished Professor Pinnaduwa H.S.W. Kulatilake, Ph.D., PE (Civil Engg.), F.ASCE, M.SME, M.Engg. Geology

Editor-in-Chief

Geotechnical and Geological Engineering