Environmental Science: Advances Blog

This themed collection showcases the latest research in Environmental Science: Advances on the influence of local sources versus long-range transport of organic contaminants in the Arctic.

Guest Edited by Derek Muir, Cynthia de Wit, Roland Kallenborn and Katrin Vorkamp, this exciting collection features reviews, case studies and primary research which seek to improve our understanding of the effect of organic contaminants in the Arctic environment. As the Arctic continues to experience rapid environmental change, understanding the sources and movement of contaminants is increasingly important for assessing their impacts on Arctic ecosystems.

Ongoing legacy contamination from a military radar station in Iceland: a case study

María J. Gunnarsdottir Environ. Sci.: Adv. (2024) 3 (7): 972–982.

Dioxins in the Arctic: local sources vs. long-range transport

Ling Gou et al. Environ. Sci.: Adv. (2024) 3 (11): 1552–1563.

Wet wipes in untreated wastewater are a source of litter pollution to the arctic marine environment – a case study on the loads of litter and microplastics in wastewater effluents in Greenland

Lis Bach et al. Environ. Sci.: Adv. (2025) 4 (2): 223–234.

Local sources versus long-range transport of organic contaminants in the Arctic: future developments related to climate change

Derek Muir et al. Environ. Sci.: Adv. (2025) 4 (3): 355–408.

Impact of wildfires on the drinking water catchment for the capital area of Iceland – a case study

María J. Gunnarsdottir et al. Environ. Sci.: Adv. (2025) 4 (4): 606–618.

On thin ice – a review of multi-level governance regarding Chemicals of Emerging Arctic Concern (CEAC)

Emily Cowan et al. Environ. Sci.: Adv. (2025) 4 (4): 584–594.

Do Arctic local sources of pollution influence the exposure of ringed seals (Pusa hispida) analyzed in contaminant monitoring programs?

Magali Houde et al. Environ. Sci.: Adv. (2025) 4 (7): 990–1013.

The status of domestic wastewater treatment in the Arctic

Pernille Erland Jensen et al. Environ. Sci.: Adv. (2025) 4 (9): 1373–1402.

Industrial and public infrastructure as local sources of organic contaminants in the Arctic

Roland Kallenborn et al. Environ. Sci.: Adv. (2026) 5 (2): 304–347.

Local sources vs. long-range transport of current-use flame retardants at Nuuk, Greenland – results from model calculations

Katrin Vorkamp et al. Environ. Sci.: Adv. (2026) 5 (9): 2226–2240.

We hope you enjoy this collection of articles. If you have any questions about this themed collection, or about Environmental Science: Advances, please reach out to our editorial office.

Research into the extraction and recycling of materials and minerals for batteries is crucial for protecting our environment and to promote sustainable resource use. Understanding the environmental impacts and challenges associated with these activities, such as health implications for local populations exposed to air and water pollution, biodiversity loss from mining and recycling activities, and the distinct environmental effects of deep-sea versus land-based mining, can support with the development of sustainable and more efficient practices. Guest-edited by Jennifer Dunn (Northwestern University) and Juliana Segura-Salazar (The University of Queensland), this gold open-access themed collection highlights the environmental impact of mining and recycling of minerals and metals from batteries, also publishing papers at the social-environmental science interface. Please enjoy the articles in the collection below.

Sustainable copper mining: a pathway to emission reduction through renewable energy Mohsen Rabbani, Sima Nikfar, Seyedkamal Mousavinezhad, Sheida Nili, Ario Fahimi, Carl Nesbitt, Ehsan Vahidi* Environ. Sci.: Adv. (2025) 4 (7): 1035–1044, DOI: 10.1039/d5va00043b
	Life cycle inventory data for critical mineral mining: recommendations and new U.S. data compendium Jenna N. Trost, Daniel Zitomer, Natalia Gutiérrez Rodríguez and Jennifer B. Dunn* Environ. Sci.: Adv. (2026) 5 (2): 522–533, DOI: 10.1039/d5va00188a
Process intensification by resonant vibratory mixing for samarium–cobalt magnet leaching with deep eutectic solvents Zainab Nasrullah*, Frank Agyemang, Mehran Saddat, Richard LaDouceur Environ. Sci.: Adv. (2026) 5 (2): 510–521, DOI: 10.1039/d5va00283d
	Energy, greenhouse gas, and water life cycle analysis of synthetic graphite anode production in the United States Ramsharan Pandey, Ulises R. Gracida-Alvarez, Rakesh K. Iyer and Jarod C. Kelly* Environ. Sci.: Adv. (2025) 4 (12): 2055–2068, DOI: 10.1039/d5va00171d
Lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide particles cause developmental neurotoxicity in Caenorhabditis elegans Roi Faroud Lopez, Javier Huayta, Gordon D. Z. Williams, Sarah A. Seay, Pooja D. Lalwani, Sasha N. Bacot, Avner Vengosh, Joel N. Meyer* Environ. Sci.: Adv. (2025) 4 (11): 1767–1781, DOI: 10.1039/d5va00103j
	Comparative analysis of systematic variations in life cycle analysis of lithium-ion batteries for automotive applications  Siddharth Shukla*, Kang Shen, Rakesh K. Iyer, Jarod C. Kelly  Environ. Sci.: Adv. (2026) 5 (8): 1878–1893, DOI: 10.1039/d5va00190k

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.

Environmental Science: Advances is pleased to present a new themed collection on the topic of Environmental Photocatalysis in the context of Carbon Neutralisation.

Despite decades of development, photocatalytic technology still has many key scientific problems to solve, including the bottleneck of large-scale application in environmental pollution control, the utilisation efficiency of sunlight, the selectivity of products in photosynthesis and so on.

Guest Edited by Liwu Zhang, Zhenfeng Bian, Hiromi Yamashita, and Jonathan Bloh, the work in this collection seeks to address some of these challenges.

Read the full collection online.

It includes:

Critical Review

Advancements in visible light-driven micro/nanomotors for photodegradation of environmental pollutants

Vanessa R. Ferreira and Manuel Azenha, Environ. Sci.: Adv., 2024, 3, 1474-1499

Paper

Optimizing the electronic configuration of h-BN for boosting the photocatalytic transformation of acid gases under visible light

Can Yang, et al, Environ. Sci.: Adv., 2024, 3, 97-108

Paper

Surface etching to tune the behaviours of photogenerated charges on a decahedron BiVO₄ crystal for efficient photocatalysis

Feng Pan, Rengui Li, et al, Environ. Sci.: Adv., 2023, 2, 1189-1195

Paper

Study of the different morphologies of Zn_0.5Cd_0.5S for photocatalytic H₂ production

Xiuzhen Zheng, Shifu Chen, et al, Environ. Sci.: Adv., 2023, 2, 721-730

Paper

Crystal phase engineering SiC nanosheets for enhancing photocatalytic CO₂ reduction

Zizhong Zhang, et al, Environ. Sci.: Adv., 2023, 2, 132-139

Paper

Sequencing batch photocatalytic H₂O₂ production over a magnetic resorcinol–formaldehyde polymer for on-site water purification by UV light irradiation

Mingce Long, et al, Environ. Sci.: Adv., 2023, 2, 98-106

We hope you find these articles interesting. Please contact the editorial office if you have any questions about this themed collection or Environmental Science: Advances.

We invite you to contribute to our new collection aiming to highlight the environmental impact of mining and recycling of minerals and metals from batteries.

Research into the extraction and recycling of materials and minerals for batteries is crucial for protecting our environment and to promote sustainable resource use. Understanding the environmental impacts and challenges associated with these activities, such as health implications for local populations exposed to air and water pollution, biodiversity loss from mining and recycling activities, and the distinct environmental effects of deep-sea versus land-based mining, can support with the development of sustainable and more efficient practices.

For more information on the collection, which closes for submissions on 30 May 2025, see our open call for papers.

When you publish with Environmental Science: Advances you can:

• Put your trust in both our rigorous peer review process and fast times to publication.
• Expect your work to be promoted through our journal social media (@EnvSciRSC and LinkedIn)
• Be confident of a global audience for your work. This means that dissemination of this work will likely go beyond chemists and reach a broader audience.

Environmental Science: Advances is a gold open access journal and covers advances in all areas related to environmental sustainability. Authors are welcome to submit original research as a Communication, Full Paper or Review article. Please contact the editorial office to register your interest or for more information. Alternatively, you can submit a manuscript below.

Manuscripts should be submitted via the Royal Society of Chemistry’s online submission service and the Editorial Office informed by email. Please state the code “VABatMat25” in the “Comments to the Editor” submission question when you submit your manuscript, to indicate that this is a submission for the themed collection. The Editorial Office reserves the right to check suitability of submissions in relation to the scope of the collection and inclusion of accepted articles in the collection is not guaranteed. All manuscripts will be subject to the journal’s usual peer review process. Accepted manuscripts will be added to the online collection as soon as they are online and will be published in a regular issue of Environmental Science: Advances.

Environmental Science: Advances is pleased to announce a new themed collection on Soil Protection and Regeneration that is now open for submissions.

Guest Edited by co-Editors-in-Chief Kevin Jones and Célia Manaia, this collection aims to update recent developments in soil science, soil-dependent ecosystem services, and the impacts and potential barriers of soil in the face of pollution and climate change. The collection seeks contributions from a variety of fields, including but not limited to agro-food/agro-forestry, botany, chemistry, geology, hydrology, and more.

Topic include, but are not limited to:

• Soil quality standards and objectives
• Soil health- definition and enhancement
• Practical management of soils
• Remediation and recovery of damaged and polluted soils
• The role of soil microbial ecology
• Managing soil carbon and nutrients for sustainable soil systems
• Soil-dependent ecosystem services
• Integration of different trophic levels in soil and potential threats
• One soil, multiple habitats and functions
• Managing and protecting soil interfaces
• Anthropogenic soils

We can consider review articles as well as original research. Contributions from policy and industrial viewpoints are also welcome.

The submission deadline for this collection is 1st March 2025.

If you have suitable work you would like to be considered for this collection, you can submit an article through our submissions portal. If you have any queries, please contact the editorial office at esadvances-rsc@rsc.org, where a member of our team will be happy to help.

Towards the end of 2023, Clarivate announced their annual list of Highly Cited Researchers.

Each of the recipients has authored multiple highly cited papers which rank in the top 1% of citations for their field.

Of those, co-Editor-in-Chief Célia Manaia has received the award for Highly Cited Research in the field of Environment and Ecology in 2021, 2022, and now, 2023.

To celebrate this recognition, she has shared the following quote:

“It’s good to know that our work is appreciated and useful to our colleagues. Research on antimicrobial resistance and its impact on the environment has grown and become more visible over the past decades, thanks to excellent contributions from researchers around the world.  This is one of those occasions when you realise that doing research means working in a huge, global community.

My advice to young researchers is never to work for rankings or metrics, but always to do your best, with honesty, creativity and integrity, and to fall in love with what you do every day, from the simplest to the most sophisticated.“

Célia Manaia, co-Editor-in-Chief, Environmental Science: Advances

We are excited to announce a themed collection published in Environmental Science: Advances arising from the 5th Annual RE:BORDER conference taking place on October 24.

This issue will bring together a comprehensive collection of articles covering fundamental and applied research related to water challenges in the border region and coastal areas. Primary topics of interest include water pollution, agricultural water use, water reuse, and the impacts of climate change on watersheds.

Truly interdisciplinary, our journal welcomes research from all fields related to the environmental sciences, global environmental change, and sustainability science. Studies that advance our understanding of the physical environment, environmental health, and environmental sustainability, as well as those at the environmental and social science interface, are particularly welcomed.

Submission Deadline: 30 April 2024

Article Processing Charges (APCs): APCs are waived on all submissions until mid-2024.

Contact: To express an interest in contributing, please contact Jon Ferrier in the RSC editorial office at ESAdvances-rsc@rsc.org.

Submitting an article: Please visit the journal submission platform at https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/va. All submitted manuscripts must include an Environmental Significance Statement (120 words maximum) that sets the work in a broader environmental science context.

We hope that you will consider contributing your research to this collection.