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Environmental Research Letters (ERL) is an open access journal from IOP Publishing (ISSN 1748-9326). This guide answers the questions researchers most often ask about it, states what IOP’s own pages do and do not say about each, and shows where to check the figures that change. Facts below were read on IOP’s journal and author-support pages on 2026-11-07.
What is Environmental Research Letters?
Environmental Research Letters is a journal published by IOP Publishing and labelled open access on its IOPscience page. IOP describes it as committed to “the rapid publication of concise, timely, impactful, interdisciplinary research.” It is the flagship of IOP’s Environmental Research series, and its Volume 1 appears in the archive for 2006. IOP’s author-support page calls it a “high-impact, open-access journal intended to be the meeting place of the research and policy communities,” with an audience that includes scientists, economists, engineers, social scientists, the public sector and civil society.
The word “Letters” points to the journal’s emphasis on concise, timely papers. For the general meaning of the term, see the dictionary entry for research letter. IOPscience lists research articles (letters), review articles and accepted manuscripts, and mentions topical reviews, prospectives and focus collections.
Is Environmental Research Letters a peer-reviewed journal?
Yes, in the sense that IOP’s journal page reports editorial timing for both stages of the process: a median of 4 days from submission to first decision before peer review, and 49 days after peer review. IOP’s author guidance also says manuscripts are judged on scientific merit, regardless of whether gold open access is requested. The pages read do not state whether review is single or double anonymous, so this guide does not assert a model. For background on how review models differ, see peer review.
What is the acceptance rate for Environmental Research Letters?
IOP’s journal and author-support pages do not publish an acceptance rate. Any percentage you see elsewhere is not an IOP-stated figure, and this guide gives none. What IOP does publish are the decision-speed medians above, which describe timing, not the share of papers accepted.
Is Environmental Research Letters Q1?
Quartiles are not assigned by the journal. They are assigned per subject category by indexers such as SCImago and Journal Citation Reports, and a journal can sit in different quartiles in different categories and years. IOP’s page does not state a quartile. To answer the question, open the journal’s entry in SCImago or JCR, choose the subject category you care about, and note the year. The guide to looking up a journal’s impact factor walks through the lookup.
Impact factor and other metrics
On 2026-11-07 the IOPscience journal page displayed an impact factor of 5.4 and a CiteScore of 9.3, without a stated year. Metrics are republished each year, so confirm the current value and its reporting year on IOP’s page or the indexer’s own page before citing it. IOP’s journal page does not list an article processing charge or an indexing list.
How to submit: format and length
IOP’s author-support page for the journal sets out the following, as read on 2026-11-07:
- Confirm the journal’s originality, preprint and ethics policies before submitting.
- Prepare a single PDF with figures embedded. Line numbers are added automatically.
- Keep the abstract normally to 300 words or fewer, in a font of at least 12 pt.
- Size figures to 8.5 cm or 15 cm wide.
- Include acknowledgements covering conflicts of interest, funding and grant numbers.
- Use the “Submit an article” link on the journal page, and have ORCID iDs, keywords and funder details ready.
- Title any supplementary files in 30 characters or fewer and describe each in 30 words or fewer. Files are limited to 50 MB each and 150 MB combined.
On length, IOP states no fixed limit for ERL on that page and points authors to the journal’s “About the journal” information; longer articles may be considered if justified. The sign-in sits under the “Login” menu on IOPscience, and “Track my article” is on the journal page. For general advice on fitting a paper to a limit, see manuscript word count limits.
Strengths and limits of this journal for your paper
- Strength: IOP reports a median of 4 days to first decision before peer review, which is useful if timeliness matters.
- Strength: open access, with an explicit audience that includes policy readers.
- Limit: the format favours concise, interdisciplinary work; IOP lists no fixed length limit, so fit is judged against the journal’s scope.
- Limit: the 49-day median after peer review is a median, not a guarantee for any single paper.
Where to check each question yourself
| Question | What IOP’s pages state | Where to verify |
|---|---|---|
| Peer review | Decision medians before and after peer review; review model not stated | IOPscience journal page |
| Acceptance rate | Not published | The journal’s editorial office |
| Quartile | Not stated | SCImago or JCR, by category and year |
| Impact factor, CiteScore | 5.4 and 9.3 displayed on 2026-11-07 | IOPscience journal page; indexer pages |
| Length and format | No fixed limit; abstract normally 300 words or fewer | IOP author-support page |
Alternatives
Two other environmental-research venues have CASRAI profiles. This table compares only what does not change from year to year; scope wording, metrics, review model and fees should be read from each journal’s own page before you compare venues.
| Journal | Publisher | CASRAI profile | Check on the journal’s own page |
|---|---|---|---|
| Environmental Research Letters | IOP Publishing | This guide | Scope, decision medians, metrics, article limits |
| Environmental Science and Technology | American Chemical Society | Environmental Science and Technology | Scope, open access options, metrics, review model |
| Chemosphere | Elsevier | Chemosphere | Scope, open access options, metrics, review model |
Related journal profiles
Journals can also be removed from indexes; the reasons are covered in why journals get delisted from Web of Science.
Frequently asked questions
What are environmental research letters?
The phrase usually refers to the journal Environmental Research Letters, published by IOP Publishing. IOP describes it as devoted to rapid publication of concise, timely, interdisciplinary research.
Is Environmental Research Letters open access?
IOPscience labels it open access. Manuscripts are judged on scientific merit regardless of any gold open access request, per IOP’s author guidance.
What is the Environmental Research Letters word limit?
IOP states no fixed length limit for ERL on its author-support page. The abstract is normally 300 words or fewer.
Sources
- IOP Publishing, Environmental Research Letters journal page, iopscience.iop.org/journal/1748-9326, read 2026-11-07.
- IOP Publishing, author support for Environmental Research Letters, publishingsupport.iopscience.iop.org/journals/environmental-research-letters/, read 2026-11-07.
