40 years of Chemistry and Ecology

This year, 2022, marks the 40th Anniversary of the journal ‘Chemistry and Ecology’, which in 1982 published the first issue as ‘Chemistry in Ecology’. When 20 years ago a new Editor in Chief was appointed, the main target of the journal was to widen its visibility and to acquire the impact factor. These results were achieved and during the last 10 years, Chemistry and Ecology has constantly expanded its visibility in the international community and, coherently, has increased its Impact Factor (source ISI-Web of Science), attracting and growing number of submissions from several academia and research institutes worldwide. The papers published in Chemistry and Ecology are becoming an important reference for research based on multi-disciplinary approaches in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems dealing with environmental pollution, ecotoxicology, environmental biotechnology and biogeochemistry. The Journal is also experiencing an enormous increase in flow of manuscripts and more than 600 papers have been published 10 years with 10 issues per year. In addition, Chemistry and Ecology continues to publish also specific issue on emerging topics, such as the SI dedicated to the ABBaCO project and entitled: Multidisciplinary approach to the characterisation of marine coastal areas subjected to chronic industrial contamination. The manuscripts’ flow has also increased over time reaching more than 280 submissions per year, while having space only for 60 publications per year. According to the journal procedure and the policy of Taylor & Francis group, each issue has been published online once completed (ca 6 papers) and hard copies of the journal are now published in two volumes collecting the issues 1–5 and 6–10, to reduce the impact of the Journal production and management on the environment. Some papers resulted highly cited. These manuscripts covered various topics, from the bioremediation solutions, the application of new environmental biotechnologies [1–13], the ecotoxicological research on aquatic and terrestrial organisms [14–18], the assessment of different pollution sources along with the biological responses [19–37], and the organic matter diagenesis and biogeochemical cycles in all ecosystems [38–44]. These results are due to its growing international credibility, the engagement of a growing number of authors (more than 2500 in the last 10 years have published in Chemistry and Ecology), the contribution of the Editorial staff and Editorial board, and of the >1600 reviewers that have dedicated their time to support the growth of Chemistry and Ecology in the last 10 years. We will continue in this direction, guaranteeing the full respect of equity and accessibility of the journal, the gender balance, fair and robust review process, and the support to young and emerging scientists all over the world, independently from the prestige of their institution, giving voice to all Authors with an original vocation to publish their original results from all over the world.