Wester, P.Daher, B.Cai, X.Nickum, J.E.Obani, PediStephan, R.M.2025-07-162025-07-222025-07-162025-07-222025Wester P, Bassel D, Cai X, et al (2025) Fifty years of excellence in water resources research: insights from the most cited articles per decade published in Water International [Editorial]. Water International. Accepted for publication.RMSID:25949https://bradscholars.brad.ac.uk/handle/10454/20527YesTo celebrate fifty years of Water International, this article presents fifty articles that have stood the test of time and have made significant contributions to the field of water resources knowledge. In particular, it identifies which articles received the most citations over the past fifty years, focusing on the top ten cited articles per decade published in Water International. This provides a basis for reflecting on the themes and topics that have been prominent in these pages, and whether any trends, discontinuities, or forever issues can be identified. Importantly, we do not use the citation scores as a proxy for research quality but rather to assess the relevance of the papers in the context of their overall contributions to the evolving water sustainability discourse at the global level. To bring it all together, we provide the twenty most cited articles of all time, together with abstracts, and provide some overall observations and thoughts about the future.enWater International (journal)Cited articlesInsightsWater resources researchEditorialhttps://doi.org/10.1080/02508060.2025.2533540Unspecified2025-07-16