Four months have now passed since the launch of the first issue of Energy & Environmental Science and the time has come to look back on the past work which has been poured into the journal. Issues 1, 2, 3 and 4 have published excellent articles from some of the most renowned scientists in the field such as an Opinion Article about energy and environmental challenges from Raymond L. Orbach who is the Under Secretary for Science at the U.S. Department of Energy. 

Other papers published so far include hot research topics such as solar water-splitting from Wolfgang Lubitz et al at the Max Planck Institut für Bioanorganische Chemie. David Heldebrant and his group from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory reported on hydrogen storage applications while sequestration of atmospheric CO₂ was a paper by R. Lal at Ohio State University. 

But the question is: how do Energy & Environmental Science readers rate the journal? 
This is what some of the most renowned scientists in the field had to say: "Energy & Environmental Science will provide the leading scientific problems of the next few decades and the RSC has once again shown its leadership by founding the first major journal in this area", commented Professor Robert H. Crabtree, Yale University, USA. 

Dr Rajendra Pachauri, Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) noted " . . .I think the [journal's] focus . . . will be of great value as it would be a major contribution to the creation of knowledge and the production of an area of literature where we still need an enormous amount of expansion and improvement..." 

With such comments under the belt, the editorial team is looking forward to working with the community on forthcoming issues of Energy & Environmental Science and invite readers to register for free access to the journal.