Chemosphere

Chemosphere is an international journal designed for the publication of original communications on chemicals in the environment. Chemosphere, as a multidisciplinary journal, offers maximum dissemination of investigations related to environmental pollution including all aspects of the identification, quantification, behavior, fate, environmental toxicology, treatment, and remediation of contamination in the bio-, hydro-, litho- and atmosphere.

Chemosphere will publish:

• Original communications (research papers) describing important new discoveries or further developments in relevant fields of investigation

• Short communications

• Letters to the Editor

• Special, themed issues on relevant topics

All papers should demonstrate a high level of novelty, originality and uniqueness. The following sections and subject fields are included:

Environmental Chemistry

This section will publish manuscripts dealing with fundamental processes in the environment that are related to the behavior, fate, analysis, and alteration of organic and inorganic contaminants focused on the dynamics of contaminants in environmental compartments such as water, soil, sediment, particulate matter, organisms, consumer products, industrial products, dust and indoor/outdoor air. Only studies that are of significance to an international audience or lend themselves to interpretation at the global level should be submitted.

Topics of specific interest include, but not limited to, are:

• All aspects of emerging contaminants, persistent organic pollutants (e.g., PFAS, flame retardants, PCBs, dioxins, chlorinated paraffins), micro- and nanoplastics, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, other industrial chemicals, endocrine disruptors, etc.

• All aspects of trace metals, organometals, metalloids (e.g., arsenic) and radionuclides

• Environmental fate studies including transport, biodegradation, bioaccumulation, transformation and mineralisation of chemicals, deposition, atmospheric (photo)chemical processes, hydrolysis, redox processes and adsorption/desorption

• Novel environmental analytical methods

• Environmental modelling and quantitative structure-activity relationships to study fate and environmental dynamics

• Monitoring studies presenting new strategies, reports of novel contaminants, findings or interpretations of interest for an international readership

• Passive sampling (in air and water)

• Non-target and suspect screening

• Effect-directed analysis

• Natural marine toxins

• Cyanotoxins

• Nanopolymers, nanocomposites

• Air pollution (contaminants in air, particulate matter and NOx, SOx, ozone)

• Sensors (only if related to measuring environmental contaminants)

Not considered for publication are: studies on (micro)organisms, monitoring studies based on standard methodology, and/or only of regional importance, bibliometric reviews, studies dealing with nutrients in agricultural ecosystems, pesticide application studies, plant physiology studies, studies on improvement of fertilizers and crops, 3D-printing, antibiotic resistance (unless connected to exposure), noise, global warming, CO2 storage, oil and gas exploration, energy production, hydrogen production, smoking, plant science, forestry, agriculture, occupational health, production of green products, biomedical applications, fish farming and purely analytical methodology studies.

Environmental Toxicology and Risk Assessment

The section on Environmental Toxicology and Risk Assessment covers all aspects of toxicology, i.e., the science of adverse effects of environmental contaminants on living organisms including humans, and the scientific risk assessment.

Topics of specific interest include, but not limited to, are:

• Adverse effects of contaminants in aquatic and terrestrial organisms

• Epidemiological studies on effects of chemicals in humans

• Biochemical studies related to mechanisms of adverse effects

• Toxicokinetics and metabolic studies on contaminants related to adverse effects

• Development and validation of testing methods based on living organisms or biological materials

• Adaptation

• Human biomonitoring

• Elucidation of mechanisms of toxic effects

• DNA and protein adducts

• In vitro assays and omics techniques

• Phytotoxicity

• Effects of nanomaterials, nano- and microplastics

Not considered are studies on biochemical effects of chemicals non-relevant to toxicology and studies reporting associations between contaminants and health effects without a clear understanding of the link between exposure to the contaminants and the observed health effects.

Treatment and Remediation

This section deals with papers about technologies that manage and/or reduce environmental contaminants, including reuse and recycling processes. The technology must be beyond a basic laboratory study or have obvious implications for current or potential treatment or remediation technologies and, for example, for any advanced oxidation process, the intermediates and/or the extent of mineralization of the targeted compound(s) and wastes must be quantified.

Topics of specific interest include, but not limited to, are:

• Advanced water and wastewater treatment processes and sludge management

• Produced water

• Drinking water

• Incineration

• Remediation including bio/phytoremediation employing new strategies

• Hydraulic fracturing

• Use of biochar amended soil to bind (e.g., herbicides)

• Nanotechnology

• Advanced oxidation processes

• Photolysis/photocatalysis and electrochemical and photo-assisted electrochemical methods

• Sonolysis/sonocatalysis

• Mechanochemical destruction (MCD)

• Natural treatment systems (riverbank filtration and aquifer recharge/recovery)

• Characterization of natural and effluent organic matter

• Technologies for recycle/reuse (e.g., of microbial fuel cell techniques)

• Gasification/pyrolysis for biomass-to-energy and energy recovery from waste streams

Not considered are studies that focus solely on the synthesis of new materials to be used in wastewater purification or remediation. Studies focusing on the removal of single contaminants are often less interesting for publication.