ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY Editorial Policy Environmental Science & Technology reports on aspects of the environment and its control by scientific, engineering, and political means. Published monthly, ES&T is a unique source of information for scientific and technical professionals in a wide range of environmental disciplines. In its research section contributed material may appear as current research papers, research communications, and critical reviews. ES&Talso includes a "magazine" section (the "A" pages) that provides authoritative, up-to-date news and analysis of the major developments, events, and challenges shaping the field. The journal has been published since 1966 by the American Chemical Society. Central to the evaluation of all contributions is a commitment to provide the readers of ES&T with scientific information and critical judgments of the highest quality. All contributions are reviewed before publication. For the convenience of authors, the specific nature of each type of contribution is outlined below. Please note that authors are invited to submit articles with the understanding that articles will be prepared exclusively for ES&T. Contributions submitted to ES&T will be original works of the author(s) that have not been previously published or simultaneously submitted to another publication. Copyright of articles published in ES&ris transferred to the American Chemical Society by the author(s). When submitting a manuscript, include a signed copyright transfer form, a copy of which appears in this issue. The copyright transfer form and complete instructions for authors are also available over the Internet from acsinfo.acs.org, which can be accessed via gopher or anonymous ftp. Queries regarding the magazine section should be directed to the Managing Editor; those regarding the research section should be addressed to the Editor.
Magazine section A number of changes have been introduced this year in the magazine section of ES&T; several new features have been added and some familiar ones retired. These changes focus this section on presenting objective reports and analysis of the major advances, trends, and challenges in environmental science, technology, and policy for a diverse professional audience. Our goal is to promote interdisciplinary understanding among the many disciplines involved in environmental research and technology development.
Feature articles. ES&T features provide an in-depth, balanced examination of significant developments and issues affecting the environmental community. These articles probe timely topics from multiple perspectives—scientific, regulatory, and technical—to provide readers with an authoritative and up-to-date understanding of the subject. The writing style engages the interest of the nonspecialist. To ensure that ES&T presents broad coverage of the many fields within its scope, manuscripts are initially reviewed by the Managing Editor to determine how well they meet the editorial needs and focus of the publication. Contributors are encouraged to initially send to the Managing Editor a query letter that describes the scope and significance of the topic and includes a summary or outline of the proposed article. Manuscripts may undergo extensive revision by the author and editorial staff prior to publication. Final revisions are approved by the author. Features range in length from two to five published pages. The typical manuscript is 2500 words (including references) and includes a total of no more than five figures, photographs, or tables. Reference lists should be very selective (no more than 10 works). Send four copies of the doublespaced manuscript to the Managing Editor. Environmental Policy Analysis. A new section debuting in 1995, these contributed papers present original research in environmental management and policy analysis, especially at the interface where science and engineering influence and are influenced by public policy. Topics include risk assessment, retrospective analyses of current policies, pollution prevention and life cycle analysis, and international environmental trends. Contributions are peer reviewed. The format of these articles follows the general style of Research papers (abstract, introduction, discussion, and references). Articles are limited to five published pages (3500 words, including references; four figures or tables). Send four copies of the double-spaced manuscript to the Managing Editor. Research Watch. This new department presents brief summaries of significant results and findings recently published in the peer-reviewed literature. A limited number of specialists representing a wide range of disciplines from toxicology to environmental law are invited to contribute on a contractual basis. Contributors must be able to communicate the significance of new research to nonspecialists in a concise and readable style. If you are interested in contributing to Research Watch, send a CV and a list
of journals you read regularly to the Managing Editor. Correspondence. Readers are encouraged to comment on articles and issues discussed in the magazine and research sections or other significant issues facing the environmental community. Contributions are limited to 500 words and should be sent to the Managing Editor within two months of the date of publication of the original article. The authors of the original article will be allowed to reply provided they do so within two months.
Research section Current research papers. The research pages of £S&rare devoted to the publication of critically reviewed papers concerned with the fields of water, air, and waste chemistry, and with other scientific and technical fields that are relevant to the understanding and management of the water, air, and land environments. Contributed research papers, in general, describe complete and fully interpreted results of original research. ES&T seeks to publish papers of an original and significant nature. Originality should be evidenced by new experimental data, new interpretations of existing data, or new theoretical analysis of environmental phenomena. Significance will be interpreted with respect to the breadth of impact of the reported findings. Manuscripts reporting data of a routine nature that do not offer heretofore unavailable important information or do not substantially augment already available data will be declined publication in ES&T. The scope of the reported data in ambient monitoring studies should be such that broad conclusions applicable to more than the particular local scale are possible. All research articles emphasizing analytical methodology for air or water analysis must include substantial application to environmental samples. ES&T faces some overlap with other journals in this area, and articles that do not contain, in the editors' judgment, a significant emphasis on environmental analysis will be returned to the authors for submission elsewhere. Manuscripts should be prepared with strict attention to brevity. The vast majority of articles are expected to be fewer than 5 published pages. Processing time will be shortened if the editors do not have to return manuscripts to be condensed. Research Communications. Research Communications are short research reports describing results of unusual significance. The subject of the communication should be of such importance and
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the report of such quality that rapid pub lication is warranted. Communications are expected to be preliminary reports that will be followed by a more detailed publication. The communication should be no longer than two printed pages in cluding figures, tables, and references. Every effort should be made to keep the length substantially below this maximum, such as by avoiding a lengthy introduc tory section. The Experimental Section should be as brief as possible, giving only essential details. An abstract should be sent with the communication for publi cation in Chemical Abstracts but it will not be published in ES&T. See Current Research Author's Guide for directions for preparation of Abstract. Communications will be reviewed ex peditiously and published as rapidly as possible. To ensure prompt attention to their manuscript, authors should con sider sending Communications by fax to the ACS manuscript office (202-872-6325) or sending it by express courier. A fax number for return communications should be included, if available. If minor revisions are required, manuscripts will be returned to authors as expeditiously as possible and should be returned to ACS headquarters within two weeks. The need for major revision is just cause for rejection of the Communication. Critical Reviews. Critical Reviews are thoroughly documented, peer-reviewed assessments of selected areas of the envi ronmental science research literature for the purpose of identifying critical re search needs. Criteria for acceptability include current importance of the field under review, thoroughness of the litera ture coverage, clarity of text, and ade quacy of research need identification.
Peer Review ES&T stands out among American Chem ical Society journals in that it combines both a magazine and a journal. Only one other ACS publication, Analytical Chemis try, contains this combination. Because of the hybrid nature of our publication, it serves a large and diverse audience. Central to the evaluation of all contri butions to ES&T is a commitment to pro vide our readers with information of the highest quality. The publication seeks the most significant, original, and broadly applicable types of articles for its current research section and its section on policy analysis. In addition, the office of the Managing Editor in Washington seeks Feature articles that are also of the high
est quality. A vast number of persons re view original manuscript contributions and indicate in their evaluations the orig inality and validity of the work, as well as the appropriateness of the material for our publication. The Editor and Associate Editors, who are located at the University of North Carolina, the California Institute of Tech nology, EAWAG, Indiana University, the University of Iowa, and the University of Oklahoma, are fully responsible for all material published in ES&T. This policy is a general one applicable to all editors of ACS publications. The members of the Advisory Board are chosen by the editor to provide input to ES& Τ operation. The members are chosen to represent various constituent groups in the research and reader communities, and they serve three-year terms. Although the editors seek advice and help from individuals in the scientific community and from advi sory groups, it is ultimately the editors' responsibility to provide editorial direc tion, set editorial policies, and make indi vidual publication decisions. The Wash ington editorial staff handling the current research section assists the Associate Edi tors in the day-to-day operation of the peer review system. All editorial staff members have chemistry or related sci ence degrees. General guidelines and overall edito rial policies set by the editor form the basis for evaluating reviewers' comments on research articles.
The peer review process Each manuscript submitted to the cur rent research section is reviewed by a staff editor and, on the basis of its con tent, assigned to one of the associate edi tors or to the editor (hereafter called technical editor). The subject matter of the manuscript determines which editor will receive the file. The technical editor is responsible for the manuscript—in cluding choosing reviewers; evaluating the content of the paper; taking into ac count the comments of reviewers; and communicating ultimate acceptance or rejection to the corresponding author. The staff editor in Washington assists in this process by screening papers initially to determine whether they may fall out side of ES&T's scope, by monitoring the progress of the review process, and by carrying out a final check of accepted manuscripts for appropriate format and style. Reviewers are picked by the technical editors. Three reviewers are carefully se lected for each paper, based on the sub ject matter of the paper, the experts available in a given area, and the editorial
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staff member's knowledge of the habits of proposed reviewers. Thus, known slow reviewers are avoided when possible. Po tential reviewers for each paper are iden tified through various means, one of which may be a computer search of sub jects that reviewers have indicated are their areas of expertise. Reviewers are normally asked to respond within four weeks, and if they are late, reminders are sent. Late review notifications are gener ated and dispatched as fax messages on a weekly basis. Reviews are sent directly to the tech nical editor to whom the paper has been assigned. Reviews may be returned by fax, electronic mail, and regular mail. If the reviewers do not agree on the dispo sition of the paper, or if the technical and scientific strengths or shortcomings of the work have not been adequately ad dressed, additional reviewers may be se lected. The reviews (usually at least two) are used by the technical editor in mak ing the final decision about the disposi tion of the manuscript. Letters communi cating the decision proceed directly from the office of the technical editor to the corresponding author. If the technical editor has recommended revision of the manuscript, the staff editor goes over the paper carefully in a "pre-edit" check to aid the author in revising the manuscript.
Tips for authors • Prepare your paper with the audience of the publication in mind. Papers pre pared for other journals are likely to need some revision to make them suitable for ES&T. • Clearly state in the introduction the purpose of the work and put the work in perspective with earlier work in the area. This may appear obvious, but authors often fail to clearly state the purpose and significance of their work. • Write concisely. The vast majority of articles are expected to be fewer than five published pages (twenty to twenty-five word processor produced pages, double spaced with 12 point type). Long manu scripts are looked at much more closely and critically by both reviewers and edi tors and may be summarily rejected. Do not repeat information or figures or ta bles that have appeared elsewhere. Use illustrative data rather than complete data where appropriate. • Suggest names of possible reviewers for your paper. You may also suggest the names of persons whom you do not want to review the paper. The editors try to use at least one reviewer who has been sug gested by authors. This cannot be as sured, however, since specific reviewers may not be available or may already be overloaded.
