About Sustainability Science and Technology

Sustainability Science and Technology is an interdisciplinary, open access journal dedicated to advances in science, technology, and engineering that can contribute to a more sustainable planet. It focuses on breakthroughs in all science and engineering disciplines that address one or more of the three sustainability pillars: environmental, social and/or economic. All papers published in the journal must demonstrate potential to deliver sustainable impact, relative to the state of the art.

The journal is a unique melting pot for researchers across chemistry, physics, materials science, all engineering disciplines and environmental science, and aims to support the global transition to a more sustainable future by connecting academic research with industry, NGOs and policy makers. The journal also welcomes submissions in an equitable manner from social and economic sciences that cover the economic cost (and value) of sustainability as well as its benefits (or drawbacks) to society as they relate to sustainable products, technologies, or mechanisms.

Sustainability Science and Technology particularly welcomes research that aims to address one or more of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Authors are encouraged to make explicit reference to how their work links to the SDGs in their abstract and cover letter. Authors are encouraged to recognise that, while green and sustainable are often used interchangeably, green is not always sustainable. The journal thus focuses beyond the definition of green chemistry which promotes products and processes of environmental wellbeing.

The scope of the journal includes, but is not limited to:

Planetary boundary of natural resources that govern safe operating space for humanity

• Examples include air and soil pollution; technologies to combat climate change; critical raw materials and nutrients; emerging contaminants, their toxicity and remediation; freshwater and saltwater use, depletion and pollution.

Sustainable production and consumption of goods

• Bio, organic and inorganic synthesis; energy generation; infrastructure; product and process design, use, disposal/decommission and recycling.
• Examples include biorefineries; built environment; carbon capture, conversion and storage; energy carriers and energy harvesting; electronics production and decommissioning; food and agricultural systems and technology; pharmaceutical synthesis and end-of-life; plant and biota nutrients; waste reduction and utilisation.

Equitable distribution of goods and services

• Examples include logistics and supply chain management; systems engineering; life cycle assessment; predictive computing; circularity of (bio)economy and systems design.

Poverty and human wellbeing

• Technologies, processes and products that drive reduction in poverty, and educational and gender inequality, within and between communities and countries.

Inclusive and interdisciplinary: connecting researchers from across science, technology, and engineering, united in a shared vision to create a more sustainable planet by addressing the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Community-led: guided by a diverse editorial board, creating a unique, equitable platform for the dissemination of sustainability research globally.

A home for novel ideas: new and innovative article types that respond to the needs of the community, providing authors at all stages of their career with the freedom to choose a format that best presents their work.

Removing barriers to publication and readership: all article publication charges will be waived for the first three years, ensuring maximum visibility of research through open access publication at no cost to authors.

Society-owned: As the publishing arm of the Institute of Physics, 100% of our profit goes towards public and scientific good.

Sustainability Science and Technology welcomes submissions of the following article types:

• Papers: Articles of unlimited length that report quality original research with conclusions representing a significant advance in the field.
• Letters: Outstanding concise articles, reporting important, new and timely developments. These articles should be deserving of priority review, and you are required to upload a justification statement along with your submission. As a guide, Letters should not generally be more than eight journal pages (or around 4500 words) in length.
• Topical Reviews: Written by leading researchers in their fields, these articles present the background to and overview of a particular field, and the current state of the art. Topical review articles are normally invited by the Editorial Board.
• Special issue papers: Research papers published as part of a guest-edited collection centred around an emerging and highly topical field.
• Roadmaps: Broad, multi-author reviews in which leaders in the field discuss the latest developments and future research directions.
• Perspectives: Commentaries on the impact of previously published work, or authoritative discussions on the future direction of a field, that are of notable interest to the community.
• Technical Notes: Brief, methods-based articles of a more technical nature, which make a useful and novel addition to the literature.
• Tutorial articles: Step-by-step explorations of the latest methodologies, providing readers with a hands-on understanding of the techniques driving innovation in the field.
• Comments and Replies: Comments on, or criticisms of, work previously published in the journal. The authors of the original article will be invited to submit a reply.

Sustainability Science and Technology has no subscription charges and the costs of publication are fully funded by article publication charges (APCs).

As part of our commitment to open science, IOP Publishing is covering the APC for all articles submitted to the journal until the end of 2026. The list prices shown below will not be charged if your article is accepted for publication.

From January 2027, the following APC will apply:

*excluding VAT where applicable

**eligibility criteria can be found here

APCs only apply to articles accepted for publication; there are no submission charges.

There are no other charges for publishing in Sustainability Science and Technology.

Paying for open access

Various discounts, waivers and funding arrangements are available to support our authors. Visit our Paying for open access page for further details.

We work with our authors to help make their work as easy to discover as possible. Articles published in Sustainability Science and Technology will be available in relevant indexing services and databases when appropriate.