The 2024 Editorial Board Meeting and Annual Strategic Development Seminar of Sustainable Horizons, the first English academic journal of Eastern Institute of Technology, Ningbo (EIT), was successfully concluded at the institute. Chunmiao Zheng, Chief Editor of the journal and EIT Vice President, hosted the session.

As EIT's first English academic journal, Sustainable Horizons is a collaborative publication between EIT, the Chinese Society for Environmental Sciences, and the world's leading authoritative academic publishing group Elsevier. Vice President Chunmiao Zheng first extended a warm welcome to the editorial team members and detailed EIT's construction progress. This year marks a milestone in the history of Sustainable Horizons, as the journal was indexed in both EI (Engineering Index) and the Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI) of Clarivate, and will receive its first Impact Factor next year.

Chunmiao Zheng pointed out that university-run science and technology journals play a significant role in external academic exchanges, being important windows for promoting discipline development, cultivating scientific research talent, and transforming research results. As a small-yet-excellent and internationalized new type of research university with a high starting point, EIT always attaches importance to boosting the capability for original innovation. The thriving development of Sustainable Horizons cannot go without the efforts of the editors, editorial board members, and reviewers, as well as the support of the institute. It is hoped that the journal will continue to unleash its development momentum, and enhance its publication service and international competitiveness, to contribute to the construction and development of the EIT as a new-type research university.

During the themed discussion session, more than 140 editors and editorial board members from both domestic and international backgrounds engaged in heated discussions on various topics, including the core working mechanisms of the journal's editorial team, effective strategies for solicitation, deepening and expanding international cooperation, and innovative ideas for special issue planning. They also analyzed the current challenges facing the journal. Participating members jointly planned a clear roadmap and implementation strategies for future development of the journal, and proposed specific and constructive measures to further build and optimize the editorial board team.