Background: the International Nitrogen Assessment (INA)
A core task of UNEP-CEH/GEF INMS is to bring together evidence from across the Project in the form of a global assessment of nitrogen, sources, flows impacts and solutions, including cost-benefit analysis, examination of barriers and opportunities and a synthesis of emerging messages from regional activities. This synthesis draws together outcomes from tools development (INMS Component 1), model application, scenarios, mitigation (Component 2), and regional demonstrations (Component 3). The outputs are expected to be important in helping raise global awareness (Component 4).
Outline negotiations with Cambridge University Press have provided the basis to publish a high impact volume in 2022, including costs to allow open access publication of the INA. It is anticipated to produce a volume of approximately 650 pages with circa 30 chapters, overall structured as 5 main parts.
Initial consultation meetings, at INMS-3, in Edinburgh April 2018, and INMS-4, in Nairobi April 2019, have been held with the wider INMS community, along with a summary of progress at INMS-5 held over Zoom in July 2020. The initial structure of the INA was also presented at the First e-briefing of the UN Environment Programme Working Group on Sustainable Nitrogen Management in June 2020. The process going forward has now been restructured in light of COVID-19.
Together with the INA chapters, the product will include a Technical Summary and Summary for Policy Makers, and other possible summaries (for Business, Civil Society, Schools), which are anticipated to be important in distilling key messages and for awareness raising.
You can read the draft outline of the INA that was presented to the UNEP Nitrogen Working Group in June 2020 here (please note that there have been slight modifications to the document since it was last presented):
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As a way to promote inclusivity, openness and shared expertise as the INA is developed, we are here inviting nominations for Peer Reviewers and Additional Contributing Authors.
Nature of the Roles
Contributing Authors are expected to contribute intellectually to the content of a chapter working with the other authors to improve the text ready for peer review and to revise it following peer review.
Peer reviewers will be expected to express interest in reviewing one or more of the INA chapters according to their expertise. When chapters are ready for peer review, they will be sent to reviewers who will have approximately 10 weeks (depending on the chapter's track) to provide a written report of the chapter.
Decisions whether to accept nominated Contributing Authors and Peer Reviewers will be made by the editors according to a) appropriate expertise of nominees, b) balance of expertise and contributions across the volume. Where nominations are accepted by the editors, but it is not ultimately possible for the expert to provide their author contribution / peer review, then the editors will necessarily adjust and reassign roles accordingly.
In addition to Nominated Peer Reviewers, advance drafts of the chapters will be made available on the INMS website to be password accessible for the wider INMS and developing UNEP Nitrogen Working Group community. This will allow the community to see the developing connections between chapters and provide additional comments. Further information will be shared at that time which can also serve to support the Nominated Peer Reviewers.
We highly encourage all qualified colleagues from our diverse communities to apply for these roles.
The deadline for applications is 21st January 2021 at 10:00 AM GMT.
Please do not hesitate to send any queries to inms@ceh.ac.uk
Thank you
