The Royal Society of Chemistry’s environmental science and sustainability journals are delighted to announce our new themed collection dedicated to advancing the science and application of alternatives to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).
This exciting new cross-journal collection aims to build on the growing momentum in the development of PFAS-free chemistries and materials, providing a central platform for the latest research, insights, and innovations in this critical area and seeks to uncover new opportunities in this evolving field that support the transition away from PFAS. It is Guest Edited by Dr Alan Taylor (TWI, UK), Professor Manish Tiwari (UCL, UK), Professor Ian Cousins (Stockholm University, Sweden), Dr Romain Figuiere (Stockholm University, Sweden) and Professor Mohamed Ateia (Rice University, USA.)
We invite you to submit your latest research in this area to one of the participating journals: Environmental Science: Advances, Environmental Science: Atmospheres, Environmental Science: Nano, Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology, Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts and RSC Sustainability. The breadth of the subject requires that we focus on particular key topics to facilitate the most effective communication between researchers and to aid the wider community in finding key information relating to the most recent developments. The collection will therefore focus on the following topics:
- Development of PFAS-free alternative chemistries, materials and technologies
- Applications of Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) principles
- Compilations of various PFAS alternatives for specific use cases
- Testing of performance and safety of alternatives
- Alternatives’ assessment (including performance, hazard assessment and lifecycle assessment)
- Circular economy approaches
- Global perspectives on alternatives
Central to this collection is the examination of the relationship between functional behaviour and industrial relevance and the environmental impacts of alternatives to PFAS. It is expected that this journal collection will help to identify and disseminate best practice in the adoption of Safe and SSbD principles to prevent regrettable substitutions whilst also facilitating the reduction in the discovery-to-deployment times for PFAS alternatives.
These ambitions are considerable and challenging and so both reflect the nature of the topic and the need for a dedicated journal collection.
The submission deadline for this collection is 30th April 2026. Check out the open call here.
If you are interested in contributing to this collection, please contact the editorial office of your preferred journal and we will set up a bespoke submission link for you to use to prepare your submission. Alternatively, upon submission mention that your work is a contribution to the PFAS alternatives collection in the “Themed issues” section of the submission form and add a “Note to the Editor” that this is from the Open Call.
Please note that whilst we welcome submissions to the above journals, we are unable to guarantee peer review or eventual acceptance in your chosen journal. The Editorial Office reserves the right to check suitability of submissions in relation to the scope of the collection. All manuscripts will be subject to the journal’s usual peer review process. If a submission is not found to be suitable for the chosen journal, we will endeavour to find the most suitable home within our portfolio of journals.
