A meeting of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Sediment Research (IJSR) was held in Beijing, China on December 6, 2016. The meeting discussed how to increase the influence and reputation of the journal. Several of the Board members from China attended the meeting.

Prof. Duihu Ning, Deputy Director of the International Research and Training Center on Erosion and Sedimentation (IRTCES), gave an introductory address. He expressed gratitude to the Editorial Board members for their contributions to the journal, and especially to the previous Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Zhaoyin Wang and the current Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Hongwei Fang for their major efforts in supporting and promoting the journal.  Prof. Ning also expressed the hope that all Board members would continue to support the future development of the journal. In addition,   Prof. Ning indicated that, as the sponsor of the journal, IRTCES was looking for suggestions and advice to make the journal even better.

Prof. Hongwei Fang, the Editor-in-Chief, introduced a review of the status of IJSR in 2016. The journal had made significant progress last year: its influence and its Impact Factor were  gradually increasing, and the journal had received funding from the Project for Enhancing the International Impact of China STM Journals. However, several challenges existed for the further development of the journal: the percentage of accepted manuscripts was less than 10%, which was lower than normal; and the average turn-around time for a manuscript was nearly 2 years, which was too long and could result in the loss of high-quality manuscripts. Some active measures were being adopted to address these challenges. 揙verall, our goals are to increase the Impact Factor from 1.388 to 1.5 or even 2.0, to publish 60 to 80 papers every year, and to turn IJSR into a truly international journal.?said Prof. Fang. Prof. Yuehong Chen, the Editor-in Chief抯 Assistant, subsequently provided further information on the status of the journal in 2016.

Prof. Fujun Liang, Associate Editor of the Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering, was invited to give a keynote speech on the topic 揟o Learn from Nature?

The Editorial Board members had a wide-ranging and intensive discussion and brainstorming concerning new approaches to increasing the journal抯 influence and reputation. Each of the Board members gave his opinions and made various suggestions from different perspectives, regarding, for example, article types, journal scope and sponsors.