Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP), a journal previously published by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), is now part of the American Chemical Society’s portfolio of publications.
“EHP has long been recognized as a global leader in its field, publishing rigorous, multidisciplinary research at the intersection of environment and human health,” Sarah Tegen, senior vice president and chief publishing officer at ACS Publications, says in an email. “With a 50-year legacy and an Impact Factor of 9.8, EHP is a natural fit for our portfolio and our mission to advance the broader chemical and health sciences.”
Funding for the monthly journal was cut in April 2025, and the last issue under NIEHS was published in June. To minimize disruption, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the parent agency of NIEHS, decided to donate the journal to a nongovernmental publisher through the Federal Surplus Property Program. The NIH officially transferred EHP to ACS, a federally chartered nonprofit and eligible recipient, at the end of 2025 after reviewing the society’s proposal, which included a plan to safeguard the journal’s future.
“With a 50-year legacy and an Impact Factor of 9.8, EHP is a natural fit for our portfolio and our mission to advance the broader chemical and health sciences.”
Sarah Tegen, senior vice president and chief publishing officer, ACS Publications
This type of government transaction is a first for ACS Publications. “We see the choice to transfer the journal to us as a reflection of the trust placed in ACS to uphold the journal’s integrity and to support its future development,” says Emma Hennessey, publisher and senior director of global editorial strategy, ACS Publications. “Its addition strengthens ACS’ portfolio in environmental health and further broadens it into the medical space; it allows ACS to serve a scientific community in need.”
Hennessey has described the situation as bittersweet, acknowledging how challenging and sad it was for journal editors and the environmental health community when the cuts were originally announced. Joel D. Kaufman, who will remain in his post as EHP’s editor in chief, recalled an outpouring of concern about its fate, even from authors whose papers had been rejected in the past. “It occupies a special place for most in the environmental health sciences,” Kaufman says.
During the proposal process, ACS reached out to numerous EHP authors, reviewers, and editors to help determine if ACS would be the best home for it, Hennessey tells C&EN. “The responses were overwhelmingly positive,” she says. “We heard from many about the importance of EHP and how its pause in publishing has left a void in the field of environmental health. We were glad to find that the community favorably views the journal joining the ACS Publications portfolio, and that sentiment helped make our decision.”
Any researcher who publishes in the environmental health field is welcome and encouraged to submit work to this journal, Hennessey says. ACS plans to reopen manuscript submissions to EHP as soon as practically possible and to begin publishing early this year. In the coming months, the community can also expect to see EHP’s previously published content available alongside all ACS journal content.
In addition to new ownership, another expected change will be the journal moving from Diamond to Gold Access in 2027. “Both open-access models make content freely available to readers,” Hennessey says. “The key difference is in how costs are covered: Gold open-access journals typically cover costs through institutional open-access agreements or article publishing charges paid by authors, while the costs of operating Diamond open-access journals are typically covered by alternative sources, such as a society or, in the case of EHP, through federal funding.”
Understanding that changing from Diamond to Gold open access may pose a barrier for some authors, ACS Publications will fully waive all publishing costs for manuscript submissions to EHP through the end of 2026, Hennessey says. “ACS hopes this approach will give authors time to adapt and build confidence in the journal’s future under the new model.”
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