Call for Papers: Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Discovery of Drinking Water Disinfection Byproducts

Disinfection byproducts (DBPs) are formed during the drinking water disinfection process through the reaction of disinfection chemicals with natural organic matter and other substances. The result is the production of hundreds to thousands of byproducts in drinking water, often with toxic properties, many of which remain unidentified, uncharacterized, and unregulated. Understanding their formation mechanisms and health effects is key to implementing more effective ways to reduce their presence and protect human health.

To mark the 50th anniversary of the first discovery of disinfection byproducts, Environmental Science & Technology (ES&T) and Environmental Science & Technology Letters (ES&T Letters) are inviting the latest advancements in this research field to form a new Special Issue. Impactful, broad and interdisciplinary new studies investigating disinfection byproducts are encouraged, involving chemistry, toxicology, engineering, epidemiology, and risk assessment. Studies may include disinfection byproducts from water reuse, new water treatment approaches, and the investigation of biological disinfection byproducts (e.g. reaction with DNA, RNA, proteins, etc.)

Topics include, but are not limited to:

• Identification of new DBPs in drinking water, swimming pools, or wastewater
• Formation mechanisms of DBPs
• DBPs from new treatment processes
• DBPs formed in water reuse
• New biological DBPs
• Toxicology of DBPs
• Epidemiologic studies of DBPs
• Risk assessment for new DBPs

Submit your manuscript by August 1, 2025.

Organizing Editors

Susan D. Richardson, Executive Editor, ES&T
University of South Carolina, United States

Xingfang Li, Guest Editor
University of Alberta, Canada

Jon Martin, Associate Editor ES&T Letters
Stockholm University, Sweden

William Mitch, Guest Editor
Stanford University, United States

Xiangru Zhang, Guest Editor
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, China

Xin Yang, Guest Editor
Sun Yat-sen University, China

Baiyang Chen, Guest Editor
Harbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen), China

Yang Pan, Guest Editor
Nanjing University, China

Wei Wang, Guest Editor
Zhejiang University, China

Mengting Yang, Guest Editor
Shenzhen University, China

Huiyu Dong, Guest Editor
Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China

Jiafu Li, Guest Editor
Soochow University, China

Submission Information

We welcome submissions for this Special Issue through August 1, 2025. For more information on submission requirements and article types available for each journal, please visit the ES&T Author Guidelines or the ES&T Letters Author Guidelines pages.

Accepted manuscripts for consideration in this Special Issue will include all manuscript types available in the journal. Papers accepted for publication for this Special Issue will be available ASAP (as soon as publishable) online. After all submissions have been published, they will then be compiled online on a dedicated landing page to form the Special Issue. Manuscripts submitted for consideration will undergo the full rigorous peer review process expected from ACS journals.

Open access: There are diverse open access options for publications in American Chemical Society journals. Please visit our Open Science Resource Center for more information.

How to Submit

• Log in to the ACS Publishing Center.
• Select the "Journals" tab.
• Choose either ES&T or ES&T Letters.
• Click "Submit."
• Select your manuscript type, and, under "Special Issue Selection," choose “Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the discovery of drinking water disinfection byproducts."

If you have any general questions regarding submission to this Special Issue, please contact the managing editor (managing.editor@est.acs.org).

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