Environmental Science & Technology Guide

Short answer

Environmental Science & Technology (ES&T) is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published semimonthly by the American Chemical Society (ACS) that evaluates research through a single-anonymized peer review system and is indexed in MEDLINE, PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus.

Published continuously since 1967, Environmental Science & Technology covers environmental chemistry, environmental microbiology, pollution remediation technologies, and environmental policy analysis. It is published under ISSN 0013-936X (print), ISSN 1520-5851 (electronic), CODEN ESTHAG, and the NLM title abbreviation Environ Sci Technol. In analytical laboratory workflows, researchers frequently rely on protocols documented in ES&T alongside standard testing methods such as laboratory environmental monitoring and calibration procedures verified through an ISO 17025 calibration certificate interpretation guide.

How ES&T’s peer review works

The American Chemical Society operates Environmental Science & Technology under a single-anonymized (single-blind) peer review model. Reviewers know the identities and institutional affiliations of the submitting authors, while reviewer identities remain strictly anonymous throughout evaluation and following publication.

ACS enforces institutional policies to safeguard reviewer confidentiality. Editorial staff neither confirm nor speculate upon referee identities, and authors are prohibited from contacting assigned reviewers. Initial manuscript submissions are assigned to an Associate Editor or Senior Editor who conducts an initial assessment of topical scope, novelty, and analytical quality. Manuscripts that report routine monitoring, lack mechanistic insight, or omit quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) data are subject to editorial rejection without external review. Submissions that satisfy initial standards are dispatched to two or more independent external peer reviewers who assess methodology, interpretation, and scientific rigor.

What is peer reviewed and what is not

Not every article published in Environmental Science & Technology undergoes external peer review. The journal publishes distinct article categories with varying evaluation requirements governed by the ACS author guidelines:

Research Articles: Primary empirical and theoretical reports capped at 7,000 words. Research Articles require a structured 150–200 word abstract, a mandatory Table of Contents (TOC) graphic, robust QA/QC metrics, and explicit uncertainty analyses. All Research Articles undergo full external peer review.
Policy Analysis: Articles exploring the bridge between environmental science, engineering, and regulatory policy, capped at 7,000 words. These manuscripts undergo full external peer review.
Critical Reviews: Comprehensive evaluations of published literature addressing emerging environmental hazards or remediation technologies, subject to full external peer review.
Viewpoints: Opinion-driven commentaries capped at 1,000 words and 5 references. Viewpoints provide scientific perspective on timely issues but cannot present new primary scientific data. They are evaluated internally by at least two members of the ES&T editorial leadership team and are not subject to external peer review.
Editorials: Policy statements authored by journal editors to outline editorial standards or journal milestones; these do not undergo external peer review.
Additions and Corrections: Formal technical corrections (errata and corrigenda) detailing revisions to previously published articles, reviewed directly by the handling editor.
Letters to the Editor: Brief commentaries discussing specific published articles (capped at 500 words), evaluated by editorial staff.

Indexing and recognised lists

Official status across recognized bibliometric indexes and databases includes:

MEDLINE / PubMed: Fully indexed for MEDLINE under NLM ID 0213155, with coverage extending continuously from 2001 (volume 35, issue 1) to the present, indexed with Medical Subject Headings (MeSH).
Web of Science: Indexed in the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE) within the Environmental Sciences category.
Scopus: Indexed continuously under publisher American Chemical Society.
Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ): Environmental Science & Technology is not listed in the DOAJ because it operates primarily as a hybrid subscription journal rather than a pure open-access venue. Authors may publish individual articles with immediate open access under Creative Commons licensing via ACS AuthorChoice, as outlined in our overview of open access publishing models.
Crossref and OpenAlex: Crossref records confirm more than 63,800 registered DOIs under the journal’s ISSNs. OpenAlex records (source ID S13479253) document over 71,000 indexed publications, more than 4.3 million total citations, and an h-index of 599.

How to check a specific article yourself

Researchers and laboratory auditors can verify the publication authenticity and review status of an ES&T article using four verification steps:

Verify the Crossref DOI: Check that the article carries a legitimate DOI with the ACS registrant prefix (10.1021/acs.est.). Resolving the identifier through the official Crossref DOI directory verifies the publisher and canonical article metadata.
Confirm MEDLINE Indexing via PubMed: Enter the article title into PubMed to verify it carries a valid PMID and lists the official journal abbreviation Environ Sci Technol.
Identify the Article Section: Check whether the manuscript is classified as an externally peer-reviewed “Research Article”, “Policy Analysis”, or “Critical Review”, or as an editorially assessed “Viewpoint” or “Editorial”.
Audit Analytical Validation and QA/QC Data: Inspect the Experimental section and Supporting Information to confirm stated limits of detection (LOD), calibration blank determinations, and instrument precision measurements.

Controversies and retractions

The American Chemical Society is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and adheres to international editorial standards regarding post-publication corrections. In cases where methodological inaccuracies, calculation errors, or data irreproducibility compromise scientific validity, ES&T issues formal correction notices.

When substantial errors undermine an article’s primary conclusions, formal retractions are issued in coordination with the authors and their institutions. Each retraction notice receives a unique DOI, links directly to the original article, and is publicly recorded in Crossref metadata and indexed within the Retraction Watch database.

Frequently asked questions

What does environmental science and technology do?

Environmental Science & Technology publishes peer-reviewed research advancing fundamental scientific knowledge and engineering solutions for environmental problems. The journal investigates chemical processes, water treatment technologies, atmospheric pollution, biogeochemical cycles, and ecotoxicology to support sustainable environmental management.

What are the author guidelines for the ES&T journal?

The author guidelines for ES&T require Research Articles to stay within a 7,000-word limit, include a structured 150–200 word abstract, provide a mandatory Table of Contents (TOC) graphic, and document comprehensive quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) data. Submissions must adhere to ACS formatting standards and must be submitted through the ACS Paragon Plus submission system.

What college is environmental science in at Virginia Tech?

At Virginia Tech, academic programs in environmental science are housed in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (within the School of Plant and Environmental Sciences) and the College of Natural Resources and Environment. This university degree program is distinct from Environmental Science & Technology, which is an international research journal published by the American Chemical Society.

Is environmental science & technology a good journal?

Environmental Science & Technology is widely regarded as a leading international journal in environmental chemistry and engineering. Published by the American Chemical Society since 1967, it maintains strict single-anonymized peer review standards, is indexed in MEDLINE, Web of Science, and Scopus, and holds an h-index exceeding 590 with over 4 million citations recorded in OpenAlex.

Sources

National Library of Medicine (NLM) Catalog, “Environmental science & technology” (NLM ID 0213155, ISSN 0013-936X, electronic ISSN 1520-5851): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nlmcatalog/0213155 (checked 2026-11-08)
OpenAlex Bibliographic Source Record S13479253, “Environmental Science & Technology”: https://api.openalex.org/sources/S13479253 (checked 2026-11-08)
Crossref Journal Record for ISSN 0013-936X (American Chemical Society): https://api.crossref.org/journals/0013-936X (checked 2026-11-08)
American Chemical Society (ACS) Publications, “Author Guidelines: Environmental Science & Technology”: https://publish.acs.org/publish/author_guidelines?coden=esthag (checked 2026-11-08)
Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), Publisher Member Practices: https://publicationethics.org/ (checked 2026-11-08)