Editorial Policy
Environmental Science & Technology reports on aspects of the environment and its control by scientific, engineering, and political means. Contributed materials may appear as feature articles, critical reviews, current research papers, research communications, and correspondence. 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. For the convenience of authors, the specific nature of each type of contribution is outlined below. Feature articles. A manuscript submitted for publication as a feature article should present useful discussion and opinion on important research directions in environmental science; developing technology; environmental processes; and social, political, or economic aspects of environmental issues. Each manuscript undergoes review by qualified peers as well as by the editors for the purpose of balance and elimination of inappropriate bias. Review criteria include significance of the scientific issue or process described, quality and succinctness of the text, and identification of potential research needs. Strict requirements for documentation of results, completeness of data, and originality, such as those applicable to research manuscripts, are not included in the review criteria for feature articles. Four copies are required. Views. A manuscript submitted for publication as a view should be objective, not an advertisement for a product or method, and should comment on a timely event or development. Views are not news items, but insightful commentaries on timely environmental topics. The manuscript should be about 10oO words long. The manuscript will be reviewed by members of the ES&T advisory board or reviewers to judge the suitability of its publication in ES&T. Critical reviews. Critical reviews are thoroughly documented, peer-reviewed assessments of selected areas of the environmental science research literature for the purpose of identifying critical research needs. Criteria for acceptability include current importance of the field under review, thoroughness of the literature coverage, clarity of text, and adequacy of research need identification. Current research papers. The research pages of ES&T are 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. Environmental Science & Technology 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 environment a l 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 four 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 the report of such quality that rapid publication 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 including figures, tables, and references. Every effort should be made to keep the length substantially below this maximum, such as by avoiding a lengthy introductory section. The Experimental Section should be as brief as possible, giving only essential details. An abstract should be sent with the communication for publication 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 expeditiously and published as rapidly as possible. To ensure prompt attention to their manuscript, authors should consider sending Communications by FAX to the ACS manuscript office (FAX# 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. Correspondence is a significant comment on work published in the research section of ES&T. Comments should be received within six months of date of publication of the original article. The authors of the original article ordinarily will be allowed to reply. Send manuscripts to: Environmental Science & Technology, 1155 16th St., N.W., Washington, DC 20036. Address feature manuscripts to: Managing Editor; research manuscripts to Manager, Manuscript Office. Include a signed copyright transfer form, a copy of which appears in the January issue. Environ. Sci. Technol., Vol. 24, No. 1 , 1990 41
