Conversations in Water: Whose Knowledge Counts?

Water research has long been shaped by a narrow set of voices — typically Global North institutions, technical experts, and dominant scientific paradigms — while the knowledge of Indigenous communities, women, rural users, and other groups directly affected by water scarcity, pollution, and governance decisions is often sidelined or treated as anecdotal rather than evidence. Yet these communities frequently hold generations of situated knowledge about water systems that formal research overlooks.

This article collection invites opinion/perspective papers that interrogate who is currently driving the water research narrative, and why. We welcome perspectives on: which populations and demographics are underrepresented as knowledge-holders and co-researchers in water science; how power imbalances in funding, publishing, and academic gatekeeping shape whose findings count as “evidence”; the role of gender, indigeneity, class, and geography in determining research agendas; and what more inclusive, equitable models of knowledge production and co-production could look like in practice.

We are looking for provocative, concise Opinion or Perspective pieces that stake out a clear position and invite debate from researchers, practitioners, and community representatives across disciplines and geographies.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Community Case Study
• Conceptual Analysis
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Community Case Study
• Conceptual Analysis
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Policy Brief
• Review
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Water Justice, Water Governance, Indigenous Knowledge, Knowledge Co-Production, Community-Based Research, Gender And Water, Participatory Research, Water Equity, Global South, Marginalized Communities, Environmental Justice, Water Policy, Citizen Science

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.