Article types

Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts publishes:

  • Communications
  • Full papers
  • Perspectives
  • Critical reviews
  • Frontier reviews
  • Tutorial reviews
  • Comments/Replies
  • Highlights

Reviews & Perspectives are normally invited, however suggestions for timely Reviews are very welcome. Interested authors should contact the Editorial Office at espi-rsc@rsc.org with an abstract or brief synopsis of their intended Review.

See more information about these article types

Communications

These must report preliminary research findings that are novel and original, of immediate interest and are likely to have a high impact on the Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts community. Authors must provide a short paragraph explaining why their work justifies rapid publication as a communication.

Full papers

Original research papers on any of the subjects outlined in the scope section and related areas are encouraged and welcomed. All papers should give due attention to overcoming limitations and to underlying principles. All contributions will be judged on the following criteria.

  • Novelty and insight
  • Quality of scientific work and content
  • Clarity of objectives and aims of the work
  • Appropriateness of length to content of new science

Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts is not an archive for large data sets - such papers are not within the scope of the journal. Papers reporting local studies are also not acceptable; all papers should provide insights that go beyond those of the original local interest.

All reported measurements should have their uncertainties and limitations clearly stated. It should be emphasised that it is mandatory to justify and/or reference all claims regarding health impairments or toxic consequences.

Referees of papers submitted to the journal are also asked to comment on the appropriateness of any optimization and/or experimental design procedures used and the correctness of any statistical procedures applied for the evaluation of results. Descriptions of methods should be supported by experimental results showing accuracy, precision, sensitivity and selectivity.

If the paper presents analytical results, these should be qualified by inclusion of quality control data, including certified reference materials where appropriate, spike recoveries, blanks and other relevant information for validation of the presented results.

Referees also give consideration to whether the length of an article is commensurate with its interest to the scientific community. Papers that do not give due consideration to any/all of these topics may be rejected.

Perspectives

These may be articles providing a personal view of part of one discipline associated with Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts or a philosophical look at a topic of relevance. Alternatively, Perspectives may be historical articles covering a particular subject area or the development of particular legislation, technologies, methodologies or other subjects within the scope of the journal. 

Critical reviews

Critical reviews must be a critical evaluation of the existing state of knowledge on a particular facet of environmental science. They should be timely and provide insights based on existing literature. They should be of general interest to the journal's wide readership. All Critical reviews undergo a rigorous and full peer review procedure, in the same way as regular research papers.

Authors are encouraged to identify areas in the field where further developments are imminent or of urgent need, and any areas that may be of significance to the community in general. Critical reviews should not contain any unpublished original research.

Frontier reviews

These are shorter, more focused versions of Critical reviews on a well-defined, specific topic area covering approximately the last two-three years. Articles should cover only the most interesting/significant developments in that specific subject area.

The article should be highly critical and selective in referencing published work. One or two paragraphs of speculation about possible future developments may also be appropriate in the conclusion section.

Frontier reviews may also cover techniques/technologies that are too new for a Critical review or may address a subset of technologies available for a given area of research within the journal scope.

Frontier reviews should not contain unpublished original research.

Tutorial reviews

Tutorial reviews should provide an introduction and overview of an important topic of relevance to the journal readership. The topic should be of relevance to both researchers who are new to the field as well as experts and provide a good introduction to the development of a subject, its current state and indications of future directions the field is expected to take. Tutorial reviews should not contain unpublished original research.

Comments/Replies

Comments and Replies are a medium for the discussion and exchange of scientific opinions between authors and readers concerning material published in Environmental Science: Processes and Impacts.

For publication, a Comment should present an alternative analysis of and/or new insight into the previously published material. Any Reply should further the discussion presented in the original article and the Comment. Comments and Replies that contain any form of personal attack are not suitable for publication. 

Comments that are acceptable for publication will be forwarded to the authors of the work being discussed, and these authors will be given the opportunity to submit a Reply. The Comment and Reply will both be subject to rigorous peer review in consultation with the journal鈥檚 Editorial Board where appropriate. The Comment and Reply will be published together.

Highlights

These articles are written by our Highlights Editor on exciting work of relevance to the Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts readership. These articles do not undergo peer review.

Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts

Pre-submission queries please contact Neil Scriven, Executive Editor
Email:
Send us an email

Post-submission queries please contact Claire Darby, Editorial Production Manager
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