Journal of Environmental Management Guide

The Journal of Environmental Management (Print ISSN: 0301-4797, Electronic ISSN: 1095-8630) is an international peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Elsevier. Established in 1973, it serves as a leading research forum dedicated to environmental systems management, sustainable resource utilization, and the implementation of practical solutions for environmental quality improvement.

For environmental scientists, engineers, policy analysts, and research administrators, navigating journal scope requirements is critical to avoiding desk rejections. The journal specifically requires that all published research present a clear, transferable contribution to environmental decision-making, management practice, or policy design, distinguishing it from purely descriptive surveys or narrow laboratory experiments.

What It Is

The Journal of Environmental Management is a multidisciplinary research journal that bridges the gap between environmental science and actionable management practice. Indexed in major bibliographic databases including MEDLINE, Web of Science, and Scopus, the publication features original research articles, comprehensive review articles, and targeted short communications across environmental technology, ecosystems, and policy interfaces.

Unlike basic scientific periodicals that catalog descriptive observations without operational conclusions, this journal demands that authors explicitly answer how their findings guide remediation programs, resource management strategies, or regulatory policy. Digital versions of all articles receive a permanent Crossref DOI and are disseminated globally through ScienceDirect.

Publisher, Scope, and Topic Coverage

The journal is published by Elsevier BV (originally founded under Academic Press imprint in London and New York in 1973). Editorial oversight is conducted by international Co-Editors-in-Chief—Dr. Raf Dewil (KU Leuven, Belgium), Dr. Jason M. Evans (Stetson University, United States), and Dr. Lixiao Zhang (Beijing Normal University, China)—supported by subject-matter associate editors and an international editorial board.

The journal’s topical scope encompasses several core operational pillars:

• Environmental Analysis and Assessment: Quantitative methodologies including Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), material flow analysis (MFA), carbon footprint accounting, and environmental risk assessment.
• Waste Management and Valorization: Treatment, recycling, circular utilization, and valorization of municipal, industrial, agricultural, and hazardous solid wastes and wastewater effluents.
• Environmental Technologies and Ecosystem Restoration: Engineered interventions and nature-based solutions applied to air pollution control, water and wastewater purification, and soil decontamination.
• Natural Resource Management and Conservation: Integrated watershed management, forestry and land use optimization, ecological conservation, and coastal ecosystem governance.
• Environmental System Modeling and Optimization: Mechanistic and computational modeling tools supporting environmental planning, resource allocation, and mitigation design.
• Environmental Law, Policy, and Social Governance: Socio-economic evaluations, regulatory instrument assessment, compliance frameworks, and stakeholder engagement in sustainability planning.

A critical editorial criterion governs field studies and localized monitoring: case studies are accepted only when authors articulate broadly transferable methodology, generalizable conclusions, or international implications. Papers presenting purely local descriptive data without wider applicability are declined prior to formal peer evaluation.

Editorial Workflow and How to Submit

Submissions to the Journal of Environmental Management are managed through Elsevier’s web-based Editorial Manager platform. The journal follows a rigorous, single-blind peer review process where manuscripts undergo preliminary editorial screening followed by technical evaluation by two or more independent reviewers. Authors preparing submissions should follow this systematic workflow:

1. Scope Alignment Check: Audit your draft to confirm that the abstract, introduction, and conclusion directly discuss management, policy, or operational implications. Verify that the research moves beyond raw data collection to address environmental decision-making.
2. Select Submission Route via Editorial Manager: Navigate to the official Editorial Manager portal for the journal (hosted under the jema prefix). Register or log in with your institutional credentials or verified ORCID identifier.
3. Prepare File Under “Your Paper Your Way”: For initial peer-review consideration, Elsevier allows submission of the manuscript as a single editable document (Word or PDF) including all text, figures, and tables, provided continuous line numbering is applied throughout the text.
4. Draft Required Metadata and Declarations: Prepare a structured abstract (150–250 words), 3 to 5 core highlights (strictly capped at a maximum of 85 characters per bullet, including spaces), and mandatory declaration files including a CRediT author statement, funding sources, and conflict of interest disclosures.
5. Nominate Reviewers and Upload Files: Enter prospective peer reviewers possessing subject-matter expertise without direct institutional or collaborative conflicts of interest. Upload the manuscript file, graphical abstract (if applicable), and supplementary files.
6. Complete Submission Verification: Inspect the automatically assembled PDF proof within the system, confirm all author names and affiliations match the text, and submit the paper to the editorial office for initial screening.
7. Respond to Revisions: If invited for revision, provide a point-by-point response letter detailing modifications alongside a marked version of the revised manuscript.

To understand the broader platform infrastructure hosting this journal, consult our detailed analysis on ScienceDirect peer-reviewed status.

Citation Metrics and Indexing Status

The Journal of Environmental Management maintains high visibility across global scholarly indexing services. Its bibliometric indicators reflect sustained citation frequency across environmental engineering and sustainability literature:

• Web of Science / Journal Citation Reports (JCR): Clarivate lists the journal in the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE), where its Journal Impact Factor consistently ranks in the upper tier (Q1 quartile) of Environmental Sciences.
• Scopus CiteScore: Scopus tracks the publication with a CiteScore generally positioned between 11.4 and 14.4, reflecting heavy citation volume from engineering and applied environmental titles.
• SCImago Journal Rank (SJR): SCImago records an SJR of approximately 1.92, ranking the journal as Q1 across Waste Management and Disposal, Environmental Engineering, Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law, and Medicine (miscellaneous).
• NLM MEDLINE: Fully indexed in MEDLINE / PubMed (NLM Unique ID: 0401664; Medline TA: J Environ Manage) under the broad subject category Environmental Health.
• Bibliographic Output: Crossref records over 30,800 registered DOIs for the title, with annual outputs exceeding 3,800 articles in 2024 and 4,600 articles in 2025. OpenAlex catalog records document an h-index of 330 and over 1.3 million total citations.

The journal operates under a hybrid publishing model. Authors may publish under the standard subscription route with zero author-facing fees, or choose gold open access upon acceptance by paying an Article Publishing Charge (APC) established by Elsevier at $3,750 USD (or €3,510 EUR / £3,000 GBP, subject to regional tax and institutional transformative agreements). Authors selecting subscription publication retain self-archiving rights for their author accepted manuscript following publisher embargo guidelines.

Strengths and Limitations

Evaluating the advantages and trade-offs of submitting to or consulting the Journal of Environmental Management helps researchers align their publishing goals:

Strengths

• Established Scholarly Authority: Continuous publication since 1973 with high recognition across academic departments, regulatory agencies, and municipal environmental offices.
• Diverse Methodological Breadth: Welcomes interdisciplinary tools ranging from Life Cycle Assessment and geographic information systems to environmental economics and policy evaluations.
• Hybrid Flexibility: Offers a fee-free publication path for unfunded researchers alongside gold open-access options supported by major institutional read-and-publish agreements.
• Global Readership: ScienceDirect hosting delivers broad institutional reach to universities, research centers, and international development agencies.

Limitations

• High Desk-Rejection Rate for Descriptive Work: Manuscripts lacking clear management policy conclusions or presenting localized data without global relevance face immediate editorial decline.
• Substantial Article Publishing Charge: For authors required by funder mandates to publish open access, the $3,750 USD APC represents a significant cost in the absence of institutional waivers.
• Large Issue Volumes: Publishing several thousand papers annually means individual articles require proactive dissemination to achieve field visibility amid extensive competing literature.

Comparison with Related Environmental Journals

Authors selecting an outlet for environmental research frequently compare the Journal of Environmental Management against peer publications. The table below highlights key operational differences:

Journal Title	Publisher	Primary Scope Focus	Publishing Model	Best Fit For
Journal of Environmental Management	Elsevier	Practical environmental management systems, waste valorization, environmental assessments, and policy links.	Hybrid (Subscription or $3,750 APC)	Applied environmental interventions, LCA/EIA assessments, and actionable environmental management frameworks.
Journal of Cleaner Production	Elsevier	Cleaner production systems, circular economy, industrial ecology, and sustainable technological innovation.	Hybrid	Engineering and technological transformations aimed at industrial resource efficiency and waste minimization.
Environmental Management	Springer Nature	Ecological management, conservation biology, public lands stewardship, and environmental impact governance.	Hybrid	Ecology-focused resource management, conservation initiatives, and socio-ecological system stewardship.
Science of The Total Environment	Elsevier	Comprehensive environmental chemistry, atmospheric science, ecotoxicology, and environmental health across spheres.	Hybrid	Fundamental and applied investigations tracing pollutants across interconnected atmospheric, aquatic, and terrestrial systems.
Environmental Science & Policy	Elsevier	Interface of environmental science, regulatory policy, international agreements, and governance structures.	Hybrid	Direct policy design, international environmental treaties, institutional governance, and decision-maker surveys.

For additional considerations on evaluating publisher models and editorial rigor, see our guide on peer-reviewed journal evaluation.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Journal of Environmental Management impact factor?

The Journal of Environmental Management maintains a Web of Science Journal Impact Factor typically ranging between 8.0 and 9.2 (Clarivate JCR, Science Citation Index Expanded), placing it in the Q1 quartile of the Environmental Sciences subject category. Citation metrics update annually in June.

What is the difference between CiteScore and Impact Factor for this journal?

CiteScore is calculated by Scopus (Elsevier) based on a four-year citation window for documents indexed in Scopus, where the journal achieves scores between 11.4 and 14.4. The Journal Impact Factor is calculated by Clarivate over a two-year citation window for journals indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection.

Is the Journal of Environmental Management an open access journal?

The journal operates as a hybrid publication. Authors can publish free of charge under standard subscription access, or choose gold open access by paying an Article Publishing Charge of $3,750 USD upon manuscript acceptance. Many academic institutions have transformative agreements that cover these fees.

What causes immediate desk rejections at the Journal of Environmental Management?

The most common reasons for desk rejection without external peer review include: lack of clear management or policy application, purely localized descriptive surveys without transferable lessons, routine environmental characterizations, and failure to comply with the 85-character limit on manuscript highlights.

What submission system does the journal utilize?

Manuscript submissions, peer review, and editorial communications are conducted through Elsevier’s Editorial Manager platform (accessible via the journal’s official ScienceDirect landing page).

Sources

• Elsevier ScienceDirect: Journal of Environmental Management Aims, Scope, and Guide for Authors (checked 2026-11-07). URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/journal-of-environmental-management
• OpenAlex Bibliographic Catalog: Journal of Environmental Management Source Record S44455300 (checked 2026-11-07). URL: https://openalex.org/S44455300
• Crossref Metadata API: Journal Record 0301-4797 (checked 2026-11-07). URL: https://api.crossref.org/journals/0301-4797
• US National Library of Medicine (NCBI): NLM Catalog Record 0401664 for Journal of environmental management (checked 2026-11-07). URL: https://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/esummary.fcgi?db=nlmcatalog&id=401664
• SCImago Journal & Country Rank: Journal of Environmental Management Profile and Quartile Indicators (checked 2026-11-07). URL: https://www.scimagojr.com/