UCL Open Environment is pleased to announce a 2025 CiteScore of 4.0 following indexing in Scopus last year. Researchers publishing in the journal will be indexed automatically in Scopus, in addition to the list of other indexers, including PMC.

Scopus, a leading abstract and citation database by Elsevier, serves as a key indicator of a journal’s quality and impact within the academic community. In 2025 127 new journals were added to the Scopus index, including UCL Open Environment. This is the latest in many achievements UCL Open Environment has reached in our vision to becoming a reliable resource for the global scientific and scholarly community.

Highly cited articles in the journal indicate research trends in the scholarly community and the 2026 CiteScoreTracker for UCL Open Environment demonstrates key research areas for the year ahead. Read our top cited articles here.

“The achievement of a CiteScore of 4.0 and our inclusion in Scopus marks an important milestone for UCL Open Environment. It reflects the dedication of our editorial board, authors, reviewers and readers, who have helped establish the journal as a trusted platform for rigorous, impactful and openly accessible research. We are proud to support an open access publishing model that makes vital environmental research available to researchers, policymakers and communities worldwide.”
-Prof Aiduan Borrion, Editor-in-Chief

UCL Open Environment is committed to using its position, unique strengths and principles to develop and disseminate original knowledge, not only for its own inherent value, but also to address the significant challenges facing the world today and those that will arise in the future.

We believe that the future of scientific and scholarly pursuit is best served by an open science agenda and fully open access publishing because knowledge should be accessible to all.

We'd like to thank our editorial board, led by Prof Dan Osborn and Prof Aiduan Borrion, for working to bring you high-quality articles from leading researchers worldwide. We also thank authors, reviewers and readers for their continued support.

It is our hope that more contributors throughout the world will take up this opportunity to publish their research in UCL Open Environment.

Read more about the journal at https://journals.uclpress.co.uk/ucloe/.

UCL Open Environment is a fully open access, non-commercial journal committed to solving environmental challenges through collaborative, inclusive and interdisciplinary research. We connect academics, practitioners, policymakers and community groups worldwide – united by a shared commitment to equity, transparency and scientific progress.

Highly cited articles

• A short history of the successes and failures of the international climate change negotiations

  View article
  Research article
  Authors: Maslin, Mark; Lang, John; Harvey, Fiona
  2023
  Abstract: The last 35 years have been a period of intense and continuous international negotiations to deal with climate change. During the same period of time humanity has doubled the amount of anthropogenic carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. There has, however, been progress and some notable successes in the negotiations. In 2015, at COP21 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, 196 countries adopted the Paris Agreement stating that they would limit global temperatures to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and would pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. The first review of the Paris Agreement was at COP26 in Glasgow with many countries pledging to go to net zero emissions by the middle of the century. But currently these pledges, if fulfilled, will only limit the global average temperature to between 2.4°C and 2.8°C. At COP27 in Egypt the core agreements from the Glasgow Climate Pact were maintained and countries finally agreed to set up a loss and damage facility – although details of who will provide the finance and who can claim are still be to be worked out. This article reviews the key moments in the history of international climate change negotiations and discusses what the key objectives are for future COP meetings.

  
  

• Airborne bacterial species in indoor air and association with physical factors

  View article
  Research article
  Authors: Madsen, Anne Mette; Moslehi-Jenabian, Saloomeh; Frankel, Mika; White, John Kerr; Frederiksen, Margit W.
  2023
  Abstract: The aim of this study is to obtain knowledge about which cultivable bacterial species are present in indoor air in homes, and whether the concentration and diversity of airborne bacteria are associated with different factors. Measurements have been performed for one whole year inside different rooms in five homes and once in 52 homes. Within homes, a room-to-room variation for concentrations of airborne bacteria was found, but an overlap in bacterial species was found across rooms. Eleven species were found very commonly and included: Acinetobacter lowffii, Bacillus megaterium, B. pumilus, Kocuria carniphila, K. palustris, K. rhizophila, Micrococcus flavus, M. luteus, Moraxella osloensis and Paracoccus yeei. The concentrations of Gram-negative bacteria in general and the species P. yeei were significantly associated with the season with the highest concentrations in spring. The concentrations of P. yeei, K. rhizophila and B. pumilus were associated positively with relative humidity (RH), and concentrations of K. rhizophila were associated negatively with temperature and air change rate (ACR). Micrococcus flavus concentrations were associated negatively with ACR. Overall, this study identified species which are commonly present in indoor air in homes, and that the concentrations of some species were associated with the factors: season, ACR and RH.

  
  

• Africa and climate justice at COP27 and beyond: impacts and solutions through an interdisciplinary lens

  View article
  Research article
  Authors: Williams, Jhénelle; Chin-Yee, Simon; Maslin, Mark; Barnsley, Jonathan; Costello, Anthony et al
  2023
  Abstract: Climate justice is not just a financial transaction to protect the environment. It needs to be seen as the protection of the most vulnerable in society after centuries of resource exploitation. African countries disproportionately face impacts of climate change on their environments, their economies, their resources and their infrastructure. This leads to greater vulnerability and increased exposure to the negative effects of a changing climate. In this article, we highlight the importance of climate justice and its role within the United Nations negotiations, and ultimately in concrete action. We discuss current climate impacts across key sectors in the African region, with a focus on health, infrastructure, food and water scarcity, energy and finance. All sectors are affected by climate change. They are interconnected and under threat. This triggers a ripple effect, where threats in one sector have a knock-on effect on other sectors. We find that the current set of intergovernmental institutions have failed to adequately address climate justice. We also contend that a siloed approach to climate action has proven to be ineffective. As we head towards the next set of negotiations (COP27), this paper argues that the economic and social conditions in Africa can be addressed through financial and collaborative support for adaptation and localised solutions, but that this will only be achieved if climate justice is prioritised by the decision makers. This needs to include a global-scale transition in how climate finance is assessed and accessed. Climate justice underpins real, effective and sustainable solutions for climate action in Africa.

  
  

• Climate change awareness and risk perceptions in the coastal marine ecosystem of Palawan, Philippines

  View article
  Research article
  Authors: Alcantara, Lutgardo B.; Creencia, Lota A.; Madarcos, John Roderick V.; Madarcos, Karen G.; Jontila, Jean Beth S. et al
  2023
  Abstract: Understanding coastal communities’ awareness and risk perceptions of climate change impact is essential in developing effective risk communication tools and mitigation strategies to reduce the vulnerability of these communities. In this study, we examined coastal communities’ climate change awareness and risk perceptions of climate change impact on the coastal marine ecosystem, sea level rise impact on the mangrove ecosystem and as a factor affecting coral reefs and seagrass beds. The data were gathered by conducting face-to-face surveys with 291 respondents from the coastal areas of Taytay, Aborlan and Puerto Princesa in Palawan, Philippines. Results showed that most participants (82%) perceived that climate change is happening and a large majority (75%) perceived it as a risk to the coastal marine ecosystem. Local temperature rise and excessive rainfall were found to be significant predictors of climate change awareness. Sea level rise was perceived by most participants (60%) to cause coastal erosion and to affect the mangrove ecosystem. On coral reefs and seagrass ecosystems, anthropogenic drivers and climate change were perceived to have a high impact, while marine livelihoods had a low impact. In addition, we found that climate change risk perceptions were influenced by direct experiences of extreme weather events (i.e., temperature rise and excessive rainfall) and climate-related livelihood damages (i.e., declining income). Climate change risk perceptions were also found to vary with household income, education, age group and geographical location. The results suggest that addressing poverty and effectively communicating climate change risks can improve climate change awareness and risk perceptions.

  
  

• Decolonising Canadian water governance: lessons from Indigenous case studies

  View article
  Research article
  Author: McKibbin, Corey
  2023
  Abstract: Meaningful lessons about decolonising water infrastructure (social, economic and political) can be learned if we scrutinise existing governance principles such as the ones provided by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development in 2021’s Principles on Water Governance. Instead of using only Western frameworks to think about policy within Indigenous spheres of water, sanitation and hygiene, the Government of Canada can look to Indigenous ways of knowing to complement their understanding of how to govern areas of water, sanitation and hygiene efficiently. In this paper, the term Indigenous encompasses First Nations, Inuit and Métis populations. This paper is presented as a step out of many towards decolonising water governance in Canada, and is intended to show that it is necessary to make space for other voices in water governance. By highlighting the dangers in the case studies, three lessons are apparent: (1) there needs to be an addition of Indigenous Two-Eyed Seeing in water governance; (2) Canada must strengthen its nation-to-nation praxis with Indigenous communities; and (3) there needs to be a creation of space in water, sanitation and hygiene that fosters Indigenous voices. This is necessary such that there can be equal participation in policy conversations to mitigate existing problems and explore new possibilities.

  
  

UCLOE Open Environment CiteScore CiteScore2025