Hongfeng Yang Appointed First Deputy Editor for SRL Journal

HONG KONG, China — Hongfeng Yang has been appointed as the first deputy editor-in-chief of the journal Seismological Research Letters (SRL), starting on December 1. The announcement was made by SRL Editor-in-Chief Allison Bent.

Yang, a professor in the department of Earth and environmental sciences at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, has been an associate editor for SRL since 2018. Bent expressed enthusiasm about Yang’s new role and praised his dedication and judgment during his time as an associate editor.

“I’m looking forward to working more closely with Hongfeng in his new role as deputy editor. The dedication, thoughtfulness, and good judgment he exercised as an associate editor will serve him well as deputy,” said Bent. She added that Yang has innovative ideas to help grow the journal.

Previously, Yang worked as an editor for Earthquake Science and served as an associate editor for Earthquake Research Advances. His editorial experience extends to several journals, including Tectonophysics, Earth and Planetary Physics, the Chinese Journal of Geophysics, and Earthquake Research.

Yang acknowledged the challenges facing the academic publishing landscape, particularly in engaging high-quality reviewers. “In my view, one of the key challenges is how to effectively engage and appropriately recognize high-quality reviewers,” he said. “Balancing reviewer motivation, author development, and audience expansion is essential for sustaining the journal’s impact.”

His research focuses on earthquake source physics, subduction zone dynamics, fault zone structure, and induced earthquakes. Yang is looking forward to receiving submissions that include “new observations and methods in seismology and applications of seismic and geophysics methods.”

Yang holds a B.S. and M.S. in geophysics from the University of Science and Technology of China and a Ph.D. in seismology from Saint Louis University. He is active in several professional organizations including the American Geophysical Union and the Seismological Society of China, where he is also the Solid Earth Section President-elect.