This is the first time 7 scientific papers on desalination from CWATER have earned this distinction out of the top most downloaded 25 papers, further reiterating the pioneering contribution by researchers from College of Engineering at Swansea University in membrane technology and water treatment. ScienceDirect offers journal articles and book chapters from more than 2,500 peer-reviewed journals and over 11,000 books.

Professor Hilal said: “The interest in desalination technologies is growing due to the fact that there is insufficient fresh water to meet the daily drinking and sanitation needs of all the earth’s inhabitants. Worldwide desalinated water supply must triple by 2020 to meet the demands of a growing human population. It is a fact now that desalination is a technology of choice, as the global water desalination market is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 9.5% over the next 10 years.

“We are delighted to know that our work is cited and downloaded by other researchers and industrialists in the desalination community. This truly reflects Swansea University’s internationally leading research in water and desalination technologies. We hope our findings play significant role in providing clean water to humanity as 780 million – approximately one in nine on the planet – lack access to an improved water source.”

He also added: “The papers downloaded on an international level by academics, researchers, industrialists and students reflect the importance of the research and the findings for other researchers and industrialists, and therefore their significance to scientific and industrial communities. The most downloaded status also demonstrates that desalination is generating substantial interest among the scientific and industrial communities and the public, strongly indicating that it could be a viable option to the world that is severely suffering from lack of fresh water.”

The seven papers were published in the international journal Desalination have made the following order within the top 25 most downloaded published papers. 

3. Nanofiltration membranes review: Recent advances and future prospects
A.W. Mohammad | Y.H. Teow | W.L. Ang | Y.T. Chung | D.L. Oatley-Radcliffe | N. Hilal
Desalination, Volume 356, 15 January 2015, Pages 226–254 (doi:10.1016/j.desal.2014.10.043)

4. Membrane distillation: A comprehensive review
Abdullah Alkhudhiri | Naif Darwish | Nidal Hilal
Desalination, Volume 287, 15 February 2012, Pages 2–18 (doi:10.1016/j.desal.2011.08.027)

5. Nano-enabled membranes technology: Sustainable and revolutionary solutions for membrane desalination?
P.S. Goh | A.F. Ismail | N. Hilal
Desalination, Volume 380, 15 February 2016, Pages 100–104 (doi:10.1016/j.desal.2015.06.002)

10. Membrane technology enhancement in oil–water separation. A review
M. Padaki | R. Surya Murali | M.S. Abdullah | N. Misdan | A. Moslehyani | M.A. Kassim | N. Hilal | A.F. Ismail
Desalination, Volume 357, 2 February 2015, Pages 197–207 (doi:10.1016/j.desal.2014.11.023)

11. Recent advances in the development of (bio)fouling resistant thin film composite membranes for desalination
N. Misdan | A.F. Ismail | N. Hilal
Desalination, Volume 380, 15 February 2016, Pages 105–111(doi:10.1016/j.desal.2015.06.001)

14. Recent trends in membranes and membrane processes for desalination
P.S. Goh | T. Matsuura | A.F. Ismail | N. Hilal
Desalination, available online 4 January 2016 (doi:10.1016/j.desal.2015.12.016)

24. Polymeric membranes incorporated with metal/metal oxide nanoparticles: A comprehensive review
Law Yong Ng | Abdul Wahab Mohammad | Choe Peng Leo | Nidal Hilal
Desalination, Volume 308, 2 January 2013, Pages 15–33 (doi:10.1016/j.desal.2010.11.033)

SciVerse ScienceDirect database is the measure of papers’ importance, with statistics on papers and how many times they are cited or downloaded by academics, researchers and industrialists across the world. The database also has full information about the authors in terms of their research fields and how many times their work is cited, to grade them accordingly in the H-index. Each academic and researcher around the world has a H-index number; the highest the H-index number, the more cited the work of the researcher.

Full information about the College of Engineering research can be found on (http://www.swansea.ac.uk/engineering/)

Full information about the Centre for Water Advanced Technologies and Environmental Research (CWATER) can be found on (http://www.swansea.ac.uk/cwater/