PLOS Water

Aims & Scope

PLOS Water is an open-access journal that brings together research relevant to the study of water for people and planet.

Our broad scope brings together diverse water research communities to promote multidisciplinary research and facilitate collaboration between the interconnected fields of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and water resources.

PLOS Water publishes primary research conducted in a transparent, ethically and methodologically rigorous manner that contributes to the base of academic knowledge on a diverse range of water-related topics.

These areas include water treatment, contamination, purification, quality, consumption, recycling, scarcity and supply, conservation, infrastructure, technology and engineering, applied governance and policy, equity, access, and environmental impacts, as well as ecosystem approaches, socio-behavioral, and economic studies relevant to these areas.

All researchers who play a role in this global issue — including academics, government agencies, professional and community organizations, engineers, and water professionals — are encouraged to submit their research to the journal.

We consider articles reporting primary research performed in a variety of settings and welcome laboratory, field, and computational work as well as systematic reviews, replication studies, and negative or null results.

Metrics & Ranking

Abstracting & Indexing

Journal is indexed in leading academic databases, ensuring global visibility and accessibility of our peer-reviewed research.

• Scopus
• Google Scholar
• Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)

Subjects & Keywords

Journal’s research areas, covering key disciplines and specialized sub-topics in Environmental Science, designed to support cutting-edge academic discovery.

Licensing & Copyright

This journal operates under an Open Access model. Articles are freely accessible to the public immediately upon publication. The content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), allowing users to share and adapt the work with proper attribution.

Copyright remains with the author(s), and no permission is required for non-commercial use, provided the original source is cited.

Policy Links

This section provides access to essential policy documents, guidelines, and resources related to the journal’s publication and submission processes.

• Aims scope
• Homepage
• Oa statement
• Author instructions
• License terms
• Review url
• Board url
• Copyright url
• Plagiarism url
• Preservation url
• Apc url
• License

Plagiarism Policy

This journal follows a plagiarism policy. All submitted manuscripts are screened using reliable plagiarism detection software to ensure originality and academic integrity. Authors are responsible for proper citation and acknowledgment of all sources, and any form of plagiarism, including self-plagiarism, will not be tolerated.

For more details, please refer to our official: Plagiarism Policy.

APC Details

The journal’s Article Processing Charge (APC) policies support open access publishing in Environmental Science, ensuring accessibility and quality in research dissemination.

This journal requires an Article Processing Charge (APC) to support open access publishing, covering peer review, editing, and distribution. The current APC is 2,496.00 USD. Learn more.

Explore journals without APCs for alternative publishing options.