About the journal

UCL Open Environment is a fully open access, peer-reviewed journal committed to tackling environmental challenges through transparent, inclusive and multi-disciplinary publishing that showcases radical and critical thinking on real-world issues, with the overall aim of benefitting humanity.

We support researchers, practitioners, and policy professionals working across diverse environmental domains from Planetary Health and Public Health to Climate Science and Ecology and Biodiversity. Our publishing model is shaped by three principles: openness, fairness, and relevance to real-world impact.

 

  1. Aims and Scope
  2. What we publish
  3. Editorial process and Peer Review
  4. Acceptance criteria
  5. Open Access and Licensing
  6. Funding and Diamond OA – no article publication charges (APCs)
  7. Discoverability and Indexing
  8. Journal metrics
  9. Journal Details
  10. Contact and Community

 

Aims and scope

The journal welcomes submissions across all aspects of environment-related research and the generation of new knowledge. Articles will be judged on the merit and scientific validity (sound scholarship) of the work and the Editorial Board are inviting submissions from people at any research or knowledge-based organisations (including NGOs, Think Tanks, IGOs/UN) and at all career stages, including early career researchers, mid-career professionals, and senior scholars.

The journal’s scope includes environment-related studies linked to:

  1. Past, present, and future environmental processes and characteristics viewed from a theoretical, observational, or experimental perspective
  2. The planet’s environments, including those in which people live
  3. Interactions between the environment and people’s wellbeing and health, including the impacts and management of pollution or disease mediated via the environment
  4. Policies, decisions, behaviours, mechanisms, and approaches to the way the environment and its resources are managed, including those dealing with the evidence linked to global challenges such as Climate Change, Biodiversity Loss and overall Environmental Degradation as well as to international endeavours related to the One Health, Planetary Health/Limits and Sustainable Development
  5. Research methods and approaches, the development and management of databases and the development and work of networks.

 

We publish work within the inter- and multi-disciplinary knowledge space created by two axes, one spatial and one temporal:

Temporal: From the past (including what we can learn from the past) through to the present and out into the future (as far as we can make projections about the future), and;

Spatial: The global to local reach of societal challenges and the solutions that can help ensure that humanity can live within constraints of planetary systems.

 

We welcome work situated within and across disciplines, including submissions grounded in theoretical, observational or experimental approaches. Inter- and multi-disciplinary contributions are especially encouraged, though strong single-discipline articles that fall within scope may also be considered.

 

What we publish

We welcome a wide range of content formats, including:

  • Research articles
  • Systematic Reviews
  • Methodology articles
  • Commentaries
  • Research Protocols
  • Case studies

Our scope is deliberately broad to support the evolving ways in which environmental knowledge is produced and communicated – across disciplines, sectors and communities. The core themes of the journal have four dimensions that provide an indicative focus for submissions. The descriptions provided in the table, below, are designed to guide authors and are not exhaustive descriptors within the area of research. 

Core theme Cross cutting dimensions

Health & Human Wellbeing

  • Submissions may cover quantitative or qualitative aspects of human health and wellbeing where the environment is a factor in determining a measure of health or wellbeing at any level of biological organisation. Submissions may concern how impacts on people and populations might be reduced. Medical treatments per se are outside the scope of the journal. 
  • Examples of environmental factors affecting health or wellbeing include: Air Pollution (indoor and outdoor), Noise, Disease organisms (including their ecology in so far as it related to human interaction with the species), Weather, Climate, Urban or Rural Lifestyles, Urban or Rural Environments, Chemical Pollution

 

Ecology & Biodiversity.

  • Submissions may cover any aspect of human interactions with the biodiversity and ecology of species or plant or animal communities or planetary systems.  Discussion of ways in which habitats may be better managed for biodiversity are within the scope of the journal. Submissions that involve solely the biodiversity or ecology of species of communities or organisms are out of scope. 
  • Relevant human interactions include those that cause loss of habitat or biodiversity, or restore it, or that impact planetary systems (e.g, hydrology, climate, nutrient flows and fluxes, ocean circulation). Submissions linked to the effectiveness or operation of UN Conventions or EU regulations or other legal codes or cultural practices are within scope. Submissions addressing large scale human activities such as industrial or commercial ones (mining, agriculture, data processing, energy generation, transport) are within scope as is climate change and weather patterns.

Environmental policy.

  • All policy areas that concern any aspect of the environment or human impacts and interactions with it within scope of the journal as are legal aspects of public policy that arise from consideration of scientific aspects of the evidence base on which environmental policy has been established or challenged.  Studies of the policies, policy instruments and policy practices of the UN, the EU, nations, countries and urban and rural communities are thus of interest. 
  • Purely Social and Political policy studies are out of scope unless they contain or have drawn on a substantial body of scientific data or evidence. However, studies that address cultural aspects of biodiversity, planetary processes etc (e.g. humanity’s intangible heritage) are within scope provided there is a scientific foundation to the submission

Environmental Pollution.

  • Studies of aspects of environmental pollution that concern impacts on people or biodiversity in any part of the world and in any habitat. Submissions may cover pollution sources, pathways, targets and effects and new testing regimes where these have environmental relevance. All quantitative and qualitative measures of pollution or its impact are within scope.
  • Progress reporting on long-term and/or wide-ranging monitoring programmes would likely be within scope but isolated studies reporting, for example, chemical levels in one or more species at one location are unlikely to be considered.
  • Physical (e.g. sediment, noise) and chemical pollution (e.g. elements and their compounds, organic compounds) are all relevant to the journal.

Infrastructure & the Built Environment.

  • The theme considers the environmental performance and public health implications of buildings, transport, energy, and water infrastructure, alongside the role of low-carbon and nature-based solutions. It also addresses the vulnerability of the built environment to climate change and extreme events.
  • Submissions may explore how the planning, design, construction, and management of infrastructure and urban systems shape environmental sustainability, climate resilience, and human well-being. 

Energy & Decarbonisation.

  • Submissions may focus on the transition to low-carbon, sustainable energy systems that both mitigate climate change and support economic and social development. This theme considers renewable energy technologies, energy efficiency, storage solutions, smart grids, and the decarbonization of industrial, transportation, and urban systems.
  • Relevant research addresses the technical, environmental, and policy dimensions of energy transitions, including life cycle impacts, carbon accounting, energy justice, and pathways toward net-zero emissions.

Climate Change & Adaptation

  • Submissions may address ways in which Adaptation to climate change is being addressed by the UN, regions, nations, sub-national areas (such as US States or Mayoral Authorities), cities and urban areas and rural communities. This includes actions taken under any aspect of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change or the work of international bodies such as the IPCC, WHO or FAO.
  • Models or studies of the risks posed by climate change (e.g. overheating or flooding) or the additional risk posed by climate change (e.g. with respect to sea-level rise or coastal erosion) are within scope.
  • Models of climate change are only within scope for this part of the journal when they have been used to determine or examine adaptation pathways or establish the need for adaptation at a certain scale, or of a particular kind or at a particular time and place. 

Circular economy & Resource Efficiency

  • Submissions may focus on the sustainable management of resources—including energy, water, food, and materials—to minimize waste, reduce environmental impact, and advance a circular economy. The theme highlights strategies such as reuse, recycling, remanufacturing, and closed-loop production, along with the design of products, supply chains, and infrastructure that enable circularity.
  • Relevant research spans the environmental, economic, and social dimensions of resource efficiency. Topics may include material flow analysis, life cycle assessment, sustainable consumption, industrial ecology, and policy instruments that support and promote circular practices.

 

Author guidelines

 

Editorial process and Peer Review

We operate a two-stage model combining preprints and open peer review:

1. Preprint publication

  • Articles approved for peer review by the editorial board are published immediately as Preprints (under peer review).
  • These are citable and openly available to show the evolution of a manuscript under review.

 

2. Open peer review

  • Reviewer names and their reports are published online under the CC BY licence and with a DOI – these are citable and openly available alongside the preprint manuscript.
  • Authors' responses to peer reviews are posted online, when revised.
  • Most manuscripts require a couple of rounds of review due to their inter- and multi-disciplinary nature.

 

We aim to support a fair and open review process that improves the quality of submissions and enhances trust in published research.

Learn more about how it works:

How it works

 

Acceptance criteria

We assess submissions based on:

  • Relevance to our aims, scope and mission.
  • Clarity and soundness of argument and findings.
  • Evidence of new knowledge and meaningful contribution to the field.
  • Responsiveness to reviewer and Editorial feedback.

 

Submissions are unlikely to be accepted if they:

  • Are primarily commercial or self-promotional.
  • Contain excessive self-citation.
  • Lack clear conclusions or conceptual rigour.
  • Provide minimal updates on prior work.
  • Are not suitable for peer review due to clarity or fit with the journal.

 

Articles accepted for full publication will be those where the Editorial Board has received at least two favourable peer reviews and is satisfied that all reviewer and Editorial comments have been adequately addressed.

Experience suggests that few submissions are accepted after a single review round. The Editorial Board may decline a submission at any stage if reviewer concerns cannot be addressed to the Board’s satisfaction. In some cases, Editors may request revisions before peer review to support review effectiveness.

For more context, see this letter from the Editor-in-Chief.

 

Preprints

UCL Open Environment is happy to accept submissions of papers that have been loaded onto preprint servers or personal websites, have been presented at conferences, or other informal communication channels. These formats will not be deemed prior publication. Authors must retain copyright to such preprints and are encouraged to link any prior posting of their paper to the final published version within the journal, if it is editorially accepted. This will not affect the journals open peer review process.

Further information about self-archiving your article on preprint servers can be found on the UCL Press editorial policy pages:

Editorial policies

 

Open Access and Licensing

All content is published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence. This ensures:

  • Free access for readers worldwide.
  • Retention of copyright by authors.
  • Maximum flexibility for reuse, adaptation and sharing.

 

We follow the Budapest Open Access Initiative and are committed to author rights and open scholarship. Our Author Contributor Agreement outlines full terms for publication:

Author Contributor Agreement

 

Funding and Diamond OA – no article publication charges (APCs)

UCL Open Environment is a Diamond Open Access journal, meaning that UCL Press does not levy any Article-Processing Charges (APCs) for submission or publication.

UCL Press covers all the costs to publishing every article and publishing is free at every stage:

  • No submission fees
  • No peer review fees
  • No publication fees

 

This reflects our commitment to equity and non-profit publishing, especially for authors with limited funding or from underrepresented sectors.

 

Additional funding and support

The publication of this journal was supported by the Wellcome Trust.

 

Discoverability and Indexing

UCL Press works with subject specific indexers to deposit published articles in relevant repositories and search databases.

Published articles are indexed in major databases, including:

 

Preprints are also indexed in Google Scholar, Baidu, Dimensions and archived in Portico and CLOCKSS (for long-term preservation).

 

Journal metrics

We are committed to the responsible use of metrics and strongly encourage all readers, authors, reviewers, and Editors to read through our statement about the use of metrics across the journal, available online at https://journals.uclpress.co.uk/site/editorial_policy/#METRICS.

 

Citation metrics

  • Scopus CiteScore (2025 tracker) 3.0
  • Scopus SJR (2025) - Not yet released
  • Scopus SNIP (2025) - Note yet released

 

Journal Details

ISSN: 2632-0886
Publication frequency: Continuous (as and when ready)
Average time to publication: ~25 weeks

 

Published by

UCL Press, University College London (UCL)
Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK

journals.uclpress.co.uk

uclpressjournals@ucl.ac.uk

 

Contact and Community

We are a community-led journal. Whether you’re submitting, reviewing, or simply reading, we invite you to be part of our network.

For pre-submission enquiries:
uclopen.environment@ucl.ac.uk

 

Stay connected:

Bluesky: @ucloe.bsky.social‬

X/Twitter: @uclopen_env

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ucl-open-environment