Author Guidelines
Everything you need to prepare, submit and publish a manuscript in Green and Sustainable Environments, in four steps.
Before you begin
Check that your work fits the journal, pick the right article type, and read the policies every submission must meet.
Aims & scope
Green and Sustainable Environments publishes science, engineering and policy research on pollution, water, waste and resources, with particular attention to tropical and rapidly developing regions, where technology and governance together determine environmental outcomes. Studies may be grounded in a single place, but they must show what their findings mean beyond it.
Manuscripts outside this scope are returned without review. If you are unsure, email the editorial office with a short abstract before submitting.
Choosing a section
The journal is organized in four sections. Choose the one that matches the question you answer, not the technique you used. If two sections fit, name your preference in the cover letter and the editors will place it.
| Section | What it publishes |
|---|---|
| Treatment and Resource Recovery | Processes and materials that remove, destroy or recover contaminants and resources from water, wastewater, soil, air and solid waste. |
| Contaminants: Occurrence, Fate and Risk | The sources, transport, transformation and risks of emerging contaminants, microplastics, metals and other pollutants. |
| Environmental Monitoring, Spatial Analysis and Data Science | Sensors, remote sensing, GIS, modelling and data-driven analysis that answer environmental questions.Transferability statement required |
| Sustainable Systems and Circular Economy | Life cycle, material-flow and circular-economy assessment of production, consumption and waste systems, including carbon accounting and mitigation.Transferability statement required |
Each section also lists the manuscripts it returns without review — adsorption studies missing kinetics, models without validation, life cycle assessments without a functional unit, and so on. Read your section before you write: see journal sections.
Whichever section you submit to, the editors read every manuscript against three questions before it goes to review:
- The problem. Which pollution, water, waste or resource problem does the work address? A manuscript with no such problem at its centre is outside the scope of the journal, however sound the research is.
- What transfers. What holds beyond the study site and the study period? State it in one or two sentences, both in the cover letter and in the Discussion or Conclusions. It is welcome everywhere and required where the sections say so.
- The scale of the claim. Are claims about performance, cost or policy supported by data at a matching scale? Bench-scale results do not support full-scale cost claims, and a single jurisdiction does not support a general policy recommendation.
Local studies, transferable findings
Studies based on a single site or region are welcome when the authors state which class of settings the site represents and which findings are expected to transfer to comparable settings elsewhere. Manuscripts that describe local conditions without such a statement will be returned without review.
Article types
Word limits are counted from the abstract to the end of the main text, including figure captions and table titles. References, title page, graphics, tables and back matter are excluded. Manuscripts over the limit are returned before review; a request to exceed it must be argued in the cover letter.
| Type | Word limit | Abstract | TOC graphic | What it is for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Research Article | 7,000 | 150–200 | Required | Original research expected to have a definable impact on the field covered by Green and Sustainable Environments. |
| Review | 10,000 | 150–200 | Required | Thoroughly documented, forward-looking assessment of an area. Simple literature surveys are not accepted; contact the editor before writing. |
| Perspective | 4,000 | 150–200 | Required | Focused personal review of a field that assesses progress and identifies the research needed to advance it. |
| Short Communication | 3,000 | 150–200 | Required | Preliminary but original findings of broad significance that merit rapid publication. Routine data are not accepted. |
| Policy Analysis | 7,000 | 150–200 | Required | Evaluation of environmental regulations, risk-based priorities or market-based instruments, resting on quantitative or systematically gathered evidence. Opinion and advocacy pieces belong under Perspective. |
| Letter to the Editor | 500 + 250 for references | None | None | Comment on an article published in the journal within the last twelve months, raising substantive scientific questions. The original authors are invited to reply. |
| EditorialBy invitation | — | None | None | Invited contributions by editors or guest authors on topics of current interest. |
Policies & declarations
Every manuscript must include the following statements before the reference list. Missing statements delay editorial assessment.
Prepare your manuscript
Start from the journal template. Accepted manuscripts are typeset to the journal's house style, so keep formatting simple and focus on structure, clarity and complete reporting.
Templates & file formats
Use the template so that artwork and tables sit close to where they are discussed, which makes review easier. Submit the manuscript as a single PDF with figures and tables embedded — reviewers read it in the browser — plus the graphical abstract and each figure as separate files. Writing in Word? Export to PDF; you may add the .docx as the editable source. Writing in LaTeX? Upload the compiled PDF; the source ZIP can come now or with the revision, when it is required.
Format & layout
Article structure
Manuscripts follow the component order below. A separate Conclusions section is not used.
Figures & tables
- Minimum 300 dpi colour, 600 dpi greyscale, 1200 dpi line art
- Single column 8.5 cm wide, or double column 10.6–17.8 cm; lettering no smaller than 8 pt
- 1–4 closely related panels, labelled (a), (b)…; caption below, keys in the artwork
- Do not rely on colour alone; colour is published at no charge
- Graphical abstract: single frame, legible at 8.5 × 4.75 cm
- Editable tables, numbered consecutively, brief title above
- Details in footnotes, not in the title; no merged or split cells
- Use a table only when data cannot be presented clearly in the text
- Tables supplement the text and figures, never duplicate them
References
Number references in order of first appearance and cite them as superscript numerals. Give the article title, journal, all authors ("et al." after the tenth), year, volume, pages and DOI. Avoid citing work that has not been peer reviewed and avoid excessive self-citation. Examples:
Journal article
(1) Author, A. A.; Author, B. B.; Author, C. C. Title of the Article. J. Abbrev. 2024, 12 (3), 45–67. https://doi.org/10.xxxx/xxxxx
Book chapter
(2) Author, A. A. Chapter Title. In Book Title; Editor, E. E., Ed.; Publisher: City, 2023; pp 100–150. https://doi.org/10.xxxx/xxxxx
Dataset or preprint
(3) Author, A. A. Dataset Title; Zenodo, 2024. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.xxxxxxx
Supporting Information
Detail that supports but is not essential to the main narrative goes in the Supporting Information, submitted with the manuscript and published free of charge. Add a one-line, non-sentence description of each file with its type before the Acknowledgments, for example "Additional characterisation data, XRD patterns and FTIR spectra (PDF)". Data, code and protocols must be deposited in a public repository such as Zenodo, Figshare, Dryad or OSF and cited by DOI in the Data Availability Statement.
Submit & peer review
Submissions go through the Revise Submit portal. Use the checklist to avoid the most common reasons a manuscript is returned before review.
Submission checklist
Cover letter
A cover letter must accompany every submission. Many manuscripts are declined by the editor without external review, so use the letter to make the case: why the work is novel, scientifically sound and relevant to the journal. It must also list the authors and affiliations, give the title, confirm that the work is original and not under consideration elsewhere, disclose any preprint or thesis with its DOI, justify any request to exceed the word limit, and name at least four potential reviewers with institutional email addresses and no conflict of interest.
State in one or two sentences what your findings mean beyond your study site and period: which class of settings the site represents, and which results are expected to transfer. It is required in Environmental Monitoring, Spatial Analysis and Data Science, Sustainable Systems and Circular Economy and Policy Analysis, and welcome in every other section. Repeat it in the Discussion or Conclusions.
Peer review process
Submit online
Upload your files through the submission portal. You will receive a manuscript ID by email.
Editorial assessment
The Editor-in-Chief screens for scope, novelty, data quality, length limits, language and figure quality, and runs a similarity check. Manuscripts that do not meet these expectations are declined without external review.
Single-blind peer review
Typically two to three independent reviewers evaluate originality, validity, significance and suitability for the journal. Reviewer identities are not disclosed to authors.
Decision
Accept, minor revision, major revision, or reject, with the reviewers' comments and the editor's summary.
Decisions, revisions & appeals
A revised manuscript must include a point-by-point response that quotes each reviewer comment before the reply, plus a marked-up copy uploaded for review only. Revisions are due by the date given in the decision letter; a manuscript not revised by then is withdrawn and any later version is handled as a new submission. Authors who believe a decision was made in error may appeal once, in writing, to the Editor-in-Chief.
After acceptance
What happens between acceptance and publication, and what you can do with your article afterwards.
Production & proofs
Accepted manuscripts are copy-edited and typeset to JATS XML. The corresponding author receives page proofs by email and is responsible for returning corrections within 48 hours; extensive changes, including to the title or author list, need the editor's approval. Articles appear Online First with a DOI within a few working days of corrected proofs, then are assigned to the next issue.
Publication fee & licence
Corrections, retractions & sharing
Errors of consequence found after publication are corrected through an Addition or Correction, requested by the authors or the editor and linked to the original article via Crossmark. Serious concerns follow COPE guidance for expressions of concern and retractions. You may share the published version anywhere immediately, deposit it in any repository, and reuse figures in later work with attribution.
Ready to submit?
Download the template, run through the checklist in Step 3, then upload your manuscript to the submission portal.