Science of the Total Environment
Science of the Total Environment is a weekly international peer-reviewed scientific journal that publishes original research on environmental processes, pollution impacts, ecosystems, and human-environment interactions, with an emphasis on interdisciplinary approaches to total environmental quality.[1] Established in 1972 and published by Elsevier, the journal covers topics including air, water, and soil contamination, toxicology, waste management, and sustainability strategies, aiming to advance empirical understanding of environmental degradation and remediation.[1] The journal has achieved prominence in environmental sciences, ranking first in Google Scholar metrics for the field with over 312 h5-index citations, reflecting its influence through high-volume publication of data-driven studies on global challenges like microplastics, heavy metal pollution, and climate-related ecosystem shifts.[2] Its 2024 impact factor stands at 8.0, supported by a CiteScore of 16.4, underscoring rigorous peer review and citation rates that prioritize empirical evidence over speculative modeling.[1] Notable contributions include analyses of anthropogenic pollutants in aquatic systems and evaluations of bioremediation techniques, which have informed policy and causal assessments of environmental causality.[1] Despite its stature, the journal has encountered challenges with peer review integrity, including instances where fabricated reviews using stolen identities compromised publication quality, prompting retractions and heightened scrutiny of submissions.[3] Elsevier's responses have involved retracting affected papers and implementing stricter verification, highlighting systemic vulnerabilities in high-throughput academic publishing that can amplify flawed causal claims if unchecked.[4] These episodes underscore the need for transparency in sourcing and validation, particularly in fields prone to data manipulation amid institutional pressures for output.Overview
Scope and Aims
Science of the Total Environment is an international multi-disciplinary natural science journal dedicated to publishing novel, hypothesis-driven research addressing the total environment, defined as the interfaces among the atmosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and anthroposphere, including their interactions and responses to global change.[5] The journal emphasizes interdisciplinary studies that elucidate environmental interconnections, prioritizing empirical field investigations and advances in methodologies or mechanistic understandings over purely theoretical or modeling-based work without validation.[5] It seeks contributions with broad scientific impact, focusing on the environment's relationship with humankind through rigorous, high-quality original research.[6] Key subject areas include air quality and its links to health or environmental outcomes; ecosystem services evaluated via life cycle assessments; ecotoxicology, eco-hydrology, and fate/transport of contaminants; environmental consequences of climate change, agricultural practices, energy production, urbanization, transportation, and waste treatment; as well as water quality, security, and remediation strategies.[5] The journal excludes submissions lacking novelty, those with limited relevance to environmental science, or studies confined to regional scopes without international implications.[5] Article formats encompass full research papers limited to 50 references, short communications for concise findings, letters to the editor, review articles up to 100 references, discussions, and contributions to special issues, all subjected to stringent peer review to ensure scientific validity and advancement.[5] In recent updates to its aims, the journal has reinforced its commitment to interdisciplinary environmental papers of high quality and broad impact, encouraging submissions that integrate natural, social, and applied sciences to address complex environmental challenges.[7] This scope positions Science of the Total Environment as a venue for hypothesis-testing work that informs policy and practice on anthropogenic influences and ecological resilience, while maintaining exclusions for descriptive or incremental studies without mechanistic insight.[5]Publication Details
Science of the Total Environment is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by Elsevier B.V., with issues released on a weekly basis.[1] The journal employs a hybrid publication model, allowing authors to choose between traditional subscription-based access or open access under a Creative Commons license, with an article processing charge of USD 4,150 (excluding taxes) for the latter option.[8] It holds International Standard Serial Numbers of 0048-9697 for print and linking purposes and 1879-1026 for the online edition.[8] The journal's editorial process features a 17% acceptance rate, with median times from submission to first decision averaging 5 days, to acceptance 90 days, and from acceptance to online publication 4 days.[8] Quantitative metrics include a 2023 Journal Impact Factor of 8.0 and a CiteScore of 16.4, reflecting its influence in environmental sciences.[8] It is indexed in major databases such as Scopus, Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE), and MEDLINE, facilitating broad discoverability of its content.[1]History
Founding and Early Development
Science of the Total Environment (STOTEN) was established in 1972 by Dr. Eric Hamilton, who became its founding Editor-in-Chief and led the journal for three decades until 2001.[9] The journal emerged in response to the expanding interest in environmental science during the late 1960s and early 1970s, adopting a broad, non-specialized scope to encompass interdisciplinary research on the total environment, including human interactions with natural systems.[9] Published by Elsevier, STOTEN aimed to fill a gap for comprehensive studies beyond fragmented disciplinary approaches prevalent at the time.[1] During its formative years, Hamilton guided STOTEN through economic downturns and shifts in environmental research priorities, prioritizing quality submissions amid growing global awareness of pollution and ecological issues.[9] The journal's early volumes focused on foundational topics such as trace metal pollution, atmospheric contaminants, and ecosystem responses, reflecting the era's emphasis on empirical data from field and laboratory studies. Initial publication rates were modest, building toward increased frequency as the field matured, with Hamilton's editorial vision establishing rigorous peer review standards that supported steady expansion.[9] STOTEN's early development under Hamilton's stewardship positioned it as a key outlet for multinational collaborations, drawing contributions from researchers addressing transboundary environmental challenges without ideological constraints, grounded in observable causal mechanisms. By the late 1970s and 1980s, the journal had solidified its role in documenting baseline environmental data, aiding causal analyses of anthropogenic impacts.[9]Expansion and Milestones
Following its founding, Science of the Total Environment (STOTEN) underwent substantial expansion in scope and output, evolving from a focus on core environmental compartments such as air, water, and soil pollution in specific locales to broader integration of exposure assessment, risk assessment and management, and environmental health impacts on humankind.[10] This broadening reflected the journal's adaptation to interdisciplinary demands in environmental science, incorporating human-environment interactions and policy-relevant analyses while maintaining emphasis on empirical, data-driven research.[1] Publication volume expanded dramatically amid rising global interest in total environmental dynamics, reaching over 7,500 articles annually by the 2020s, supported by a trans-disciplinary and international author base.[10] To manage this growth, the editorial team scaled to more than 50 dedicated editors, enabling efficient handling of submissions and peer review.[10] Citation metrics underscored this trajectory, with the journal's H-index attaining 399 by 2024, indicative of sustained influence across environmental disciplines.[11] Key milestones include a surge in impact factor, from 4.61 in 2018 to 10.753 in 2021, reflecting heightened visibility and citation rates before stabilizing at 8.0 in 2024.[12] [13] The journal marked its 50th anniversary in 2022—five decades since the first issue in May 1972—with curated article collections spotlighting high-impact papers by decade, such as those from 1982–1991 emphasizing risk frameworks and pollution controls.[10] These efforts highlighted STOTEN's role in advancing causal understandings of environmental stressors, with cumulative citations exceeding 464,000 by 2024.[12]Editorial Structure
Editors-in-Chief and Board
The Science of the Total Environment is overseen by four Co-Editors-in-Chief, each specializing in complementary areas of environmental science. Jay Gan, affiliated with the University of California, Riverside, United States, focuses on environmental chemistry, toxicology, and contaminant risk assessment. Philip Hopke, from the University of Rochester, United States, specializes in air pollutant source/receptor relationships and aerosol chemistry. Wei Ouyang, based at Beijing Normal University, China, emphasizes water environments, watershed management, and non-point source pollution. Elena Paoletti, at the Research Institute on Terrestrial Ecosystems in Florence, Italy, addresses air pollution, climate change, and plant ecosystems.[14] The editorial structure includes a Special Issues Editor, Paola Verlicchi from the University of Ferrara, Italy, responsible for overseeing themed collections. A Social Media Editor, Leilei Xiang from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, China, handles dissemination efforts. The board features 77 Associate Editors, 141 Editorial Board members, and a dedicated Early Career Editorial Board with 37 members, totaling 261 individuals across 37 countries. Representation is dominated by China (82 members), followed by the United States (39) and Italy (22), reflecting a concentration of expertise in high-volume research regions.[14] Gender distribution among responding members shows 71% men and 26% women.[14]| Co-Editor-in-Chief | Affiliation | Expertise Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Jay Gan, PhD | University of California, Riverside, USA | Environmental chemistry, toxicology, contaminant risk assessment |
| Philip Hopke, PhD | University of Rochester, USA | Air pollutant source/receptor relationships, aerosol chemistry |
| Wei Ouyang | Beijing Normal University, China | Water environment, watershed management, non-point source pollution |
| Elena Paoletti, PhD | Research Institute on Terrestrial Ecosystems, Florence, Italy | Air pollution, climate change, plant ecosystems |
Peer Review and Editorial Policies
Science of the Total Environment employs a single anonymized peer review process, in which reviewers are aware of author identities while authors remain unaware of reviewers' identities.[15] Upon submission, manuscripts undergo an initial editorial assessment for suitability, novelty, and alignment with the journal's scope before being assigned to a minimum of two independent expert reviewers.[15] Reviewers evaluate the scientific quality, methodology, originality, and relevance of the work, providing confidential recommendations to the handling editor.[16] The handling editor synthesizes reviewer feedback and may solicit additional opinions if needed before rendering a decision: accept, minor/major revision, or reject.[15] Authors receiving revision requests must address reviewer comments point-by-point and resubmit, potentially triggering further review rounds.[15] Editors recuse themselves from decisions involving conflicts of interest, such as authorship or close collaborations, ensuring independent handling.[15] The journal prohibits the use of AI tools in peer review to maintain human expertise and integrity.[15] Editorial policies adhere to Elsevier's Publishing Ethics framework, aligned with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines, emphasizing originality, proper attribution, and disclosure of competing interests by authors, editors, and reviewers.[17] Manuscripts must declare all funding sources and conflicts; undisclosed issues can lead to rejection or retraction.[15] Appeals of editorial decisions follow Elsevier's formal policy, limited to one per submission and requiring substantive new evidence.[18] For special issues, guest editors adhere to the same rigorous standards, with proposals vetted for alignment with priority topics like emerging pollutants and sustainability.[19]Research Focus and Content
Primary Disciplines Covered
Science of the Total Environment primarily encompasses interdisciplinary research within environmental science, emphasizing the interactions across the atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, lithosphere, and anthroposphere. The journal prioritizes studies that address the total environment, where living organisms, inanimate matter, and human activities interconnect, focusing on empirical investigations into environmental processes and human impacts.[20] Key disciplines include environmental pollution, covering air and water quality as well as contaminants such as nanomaterials and microplastics. Research in this area examines sources, transport, fate, and effects of pollutants across environmental compartments.[20] Toxicology and ecotoxicology form another core focus, involving risk assessments for human health and wildlife, including contaminant burdens in biota and stress ecology responses to pollutants.[20] The journal also highlights climate change impacts, such as those from global environmental shifts and extreme weather events on ecosystems and human systems. Hydrology-related topics, like eco-hydrology and groundwater hydrogeochemistry, integrate water cycle dynamics with ecological and chemical processes.[20] Biogeochemistry receives attention through studies on trace metals, organic compounds, and their roles in natural cycles, often linking geochemical transformations to broader environmental health. Additional emphases include ecosystem services valuation, remediation technologies, and innovative monitoring methods, with a preference for field-based, hypothesis-driven work demonstrating broad applicability over purely descriptive or localized analyses.[20]Methodological Approaches Emphasized
Science of the Total Environment prioritizes hypothesis-driven research that generates novel insights into environmental processes and human-environment interactions, explicitly seeking high-impact studies that test falsifiable predictions rather than descriptive or correlative analyses.[15] This approach aligns with the journal's multi-disciplinary framework, which integrates natural sciences across environmental compartments including the atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, lithosphere, and anthroposphere to elucidate causal mechanisms of change.[1] Empirical validation through rigorous experimentation or observation is required, with an emphasis on advancing mechanistic understanding over incremental findings.[15] Field-based methodologies are strongly favored, as they capture holistic, real-world dynamics such as pollutant dispersion, ecosystem responses, and anthropogenic influences that laboratory settings often oversimplify.[15] Laboratory experiments are accepted only when they introduce significant methodological innovations—such as advanced analytical techniques for trace contaminant detection—and demonstrate direct relevance to environmental scales, avoiding isolated or purely theoretical work.[15] Modeling efforts, including process-based simulations of environmental fate and transport, must be calibrated against field data and validated for predictive accuracy to ensure reliability in policy-relevant applications.[15] Interdisciplinary integration is a core emphasis, encouraging methods that bridge disciplines like ecotoxicology, hydrology, and atmospheric chemistry to address complex systems-level questions, such as multi-pathway pollutant cycling or climate-driven biodiversity shifts.[1] Emerging techniques, including remote sensing for landscape-scale monitoring, big data analytics for pattern detection in large datasets, and biomonitoring for bioaccumulation assessments, are highlighted for their potential to reveal understudied interactions.[15] These approaches support the journal's rejection of regionally confined or low-novelty submissions, favoring those with broad generalizability and robust statistical or experimental designs.[15]Impact and Metrics
Citation Metrics and Rankings
Science of the Total Environment has an impact factor of 8.0 as reported in the 2024 Journal Citation Reports (JCR) release.[12] Its five-year impact factor stands at 8.7, reflecting sustained citation influence over a longer period.[21] In environmental sciences, it ranks in the top quartile (Q1), specifically 39th out of 376 journals.[22] The journal's SCImago Journal Rank (SJR) for 2024 is 2.137, placing it in Q1 across categories such as environmental chemistry, health, toxicology, and environmental science (miscellaneous).[11] Its overall global ranking by SJR is 1271st.[23] The h-index is 399, indicating 399 papers with at least 399 citations each.[11] CiteScore, derived from Scopus data, is 16.4 for the latest available metrics, underscoring high citation rates relative to environmental engineering and related fields.[22] Historical impact factors show variability: 9.8 in 2022, 8.2 in 2023, and 8.0 in 2024, amid Elsevier's high-volume publication strategy which has drawn scrutiny for potential dilution but correlates with broad visibility.[12]| Year | Impact Factor | 5-Year Impact Factor |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 9.8 | - |
| 2023 | 8.2 | - |
| 2024 | 8.0 | 8.7 |