Academic Journal
Q1Lancet Planetary Health
About Lancet Planetary Health
Lancet Planetary Health is a scholarly journal published by Elsevier B.V.. SCImago 2025 places it in Q1 with an SJR of 4.577 and an H-index of 106.
Its listed coverage is 2017-2026 and its research categories include Health Policy (Q1); Health (social science) (Q1); Medicine (miscellaneous) (Q1); Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health (Q1). The 2025 dataset reports 168 documents and 5562 citations across the latest three-year reporting window.
The Lancet Planetary Health is a leading open-access journal that focuses on the connections between human health and the state of the natural environment. Published by The Lancet, one of the world’s most prestigious medical publishers, The Lancet Planetary Health plays a vital role in advancing research and policy at the intersection of environmental science, public health, and sustainability.
Understanding The Lancet Planetary Health
Launched in 2017, The Lancet Planetary Health is part of the growing field of planetary health, which emphasizes that human well-being is closely tied to the health of Earth's natural systems. This innovative journal is dedicated to publishing high-quality, peer-reviewed research that explores how global environmental changes—such as climate change, pollution, biodiversity loss, and land degradation—affect human health.
By bridging environmental science and medical research, the journal provides a platform for interdisciplinary studies that can inform both public policy and clinical practice.
Key Focus Areas of The Lancet Planetary Health
The journal covers a broad range of critical topics, including:
-
Climate Change and Health: How rising temperatures, extreme weather events, and changing ecosystems influence disease patterns and public health outcomes.
-
Food Systems and Nutrition: Research on sustainable agriculture, food security, and the health impacts of dietary changes.
-
Air and Water Pollution: Studies that examine how exposure to pollutants affects physical and mental health.
-
Urbanization and Infrastructure: Exploring how urban planning and development affect environmental sustainability and human well-being.
-
Infectious Diseases and Ecosystems: Understanding how human encroachment into natural habitats increases the risk of zoonotic disease outbreaks.
Why The Lancet Planetary Health Matters
As the world faces complex and interconnected crises—from global warming to pandemics—The Lancet Planetary Health provides essential insights to guide evidence-based solutions. Its research supports the development of policies that promote environmental sustainability while protecting public health.
This journal is especially important for achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly:
-
SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being
-
SDG 13: Climate Action
-
SDG 15: Life on Land
Who Should Read The Lancet Planetary Health?
The journal is a must-read for:
-
Public health professionals
-
Environmental scientists
-
Medical researchers
-
Policy makers
-
Urban planners
-
Academics and students in global health and sustainability fields
Whether you are working in healthcare, academia, government, or non-profit organizations, The Lancet Planetary Health offers the latest, most relevant research to support informed decision-making.
Journal Metrics
Metrics can change by reporting year. Verify time-sensitive values with the publisher or indexing service.
Aims & Scope
The Lancet Planetary Health is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal that explores the vital relationship between human health and the Earth's natural systems. As part of the renowned Lancet family of medical journals, its scope is broad, multidisciplinary, and global in reach. The journal is committed to publishing high-quality research that addresses some of the most pressing challenges facing humanity and the planet today.
What Is the Scope of The Lancet Planetary Health?
The core scope of The Lancet Planetary Health lies in planetary health—a field that recognizes that human health and the health of our environment are deeply interconnected. The journal seeks to publish work that explores how global environmental change impacts health outcomes, social systems, and health equity.
Key areas within the journal’s scope include:
1. Climate Change and Health
One of the most urgent topics covered by the journal is how climate change affects health. This includes research on heat-related illnesses, the spread of vector-borne diseases like malaria and dengue, food insecurity due to climate disruption, and mental health impacts from climate anxiety and displacement.
2. Pollution and Environmental Degradation
The Lancet Planetary Health publishes studies on the health effects of air, water, and soil pollution. This includes the impact of industrial emissions, microplastics, water contamination, and exposure to hazardous chemicals—issues that disproportionately affect vulnerable communities.
3. Food Systems, Nutrition, and Agriculture
The journal explores how agricultural practices, food supply chains, and dietary trends influence both the environment and human nutrition. It supports research on sustainable diets, food security, and agricultural resilience in the face of climate change.
4. Urban Health and Sustainable Cities
Urbanization is a major global trend, and the journal covers how city planning, transportation, green spaces, and infrastructure design can promote health while reducing environmental footprints.
5. Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
Another key focus is the role of biodiversity in maintaining healthy ecosystems that provide services essential for life—such as clean air, fresh water, and disease regulation. The journal investigates how biodiversity loss increases human exposure to new diseases and disrupts ecological balance.
6. Social Justice and Health Equity
Environmental issues often have the greatest impact on marginalized populations. The journal emphasizes equity, social determinants of health, and the need for policies that protect the most vulnerable. This includes Indigenous perspectives, environmental justice, and global governance.
7. Policy and Governance
The Lancet Planetary Health is also a platform for analysis of policy initiatives, legal frameworks, and international agreements that affect environmental and human health outcomes.
Recent Research Articles
Latest publications matched automatically by ISSN.
Impacts of climate-driven yield changes on the affordability of healthy diets: a modelling study
Yongye Jiang, Bo Fu, Philippe Ciais, Jonas Jägermeyr et al.
2026-09 · DOI: 10.1016/j.lanplh.2026.101519Exploring China’s Clean Air Act and associated cardiovascular disease risk: a prospective, quasi-experimental, and causal inference modelling study
Dong Sun, Xia Meng, Jingcen Hu, Canqing Yu et al.
2026-09 · DOI: 10.1016/j.lanplh.2026.101513From population to individual: advocating personalised digital tools for heat-health early warning in a changing climate
Peng Du, Jingwei Zhang, Yirong Liu, Can Zhang et al.
2026-09 · DOI: 10.1016/j.lanplh.2026.101511Special Economic Zones, Casinos and the Threat of Zoonotic Diseases
Georgina Kenyon
2026-09 · DOI: 10.1016/j.lanplh.2026.101533Oil and gas well development and coccidioidomycosis risk in Kern County, CA, USA: a case-crossover study
Lisa I Couper, David J X González, Simon K Camponuri, Amanda K Weaver et al.
2026-09 · DOI: 10.1016/j.lanplh.2026.101521Direct and spillover hospitalisation patterns during climate hazards across regions of different health-system resilience levels in China: a nationwide retrospective analysis
Teng Wang, Hanxu Shi, Yujie Shi, Peng Wang et al.
2026-09 · DOI: 10.1016/j.lanplh.2026.101512Planetary Health Research Digest
Cahal McQuillan
2026-08 · DOI: 10.1016/j.lanplh.2026.101528Bundibugyo virus disease in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda: moving from outbreak response to planetary health preparedness
Alimuddin Zumla, Francine Ntoumi, Jean-Jacques Muyembe-Tamfum, Jean B Nachega et al.
2026-08 · DOI: 10.1016/j.lanplh.2026.101508Development, implementation, and evaluation of a Planetary Health menu in a Canadian hospital: an experimental study
Annie Lalande, Elaine Eppler, Tiffany Chiang, Liena Pow et al.
2026-08 · DOI: 10.1016/j.lanplh.2026.101483Enhancing remote biosecurity assessment capacity through cloud-based sequencing in Antarctica
Scott JC Pallett, Louise D Emmerson, Jesus Rodriguez-Manzano, Matthew Cavuto et al.
2026-08 · DOI: 10.1016/j.lanplh.2026.101523Indigenous Peoples’ Health: Reflections from the 25th annual meeting of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
Liz Willetts
2026-08 · DOI: 10.1016/j.lanplh.2026.101520Mitigating the effects of air pollution on cardiovascular diseases: community-based interventions for risk monitoring and communication
Kiran Bam, Rajshree Thapa, Shiva Raj Mishra, Muideen T Olaiya et al.
2026-07 · DOI: 10.1016/j.lanplh.2026.101499Radical, transformative, or decolonial? A systematic review of The Lancet Planetary Health’s progress on embracing Indigenous Peoples’ knowledge systems
Kathryn Stone, Jeremy Perkins, Sarah Plank, Nicole Bates-Eamer et al.
2026-07 · DOI: 10.1016/j.lanplh.2026.101476Investigating the relationship between urban woodland improvements and mental health in Scotland: a natural experiment using linked longitudinal national administrative datasets
Scott Ogletree, Antonio Ross-Perez, Tom Clemens, Jamie Pearce et al.
2026-07 · DOI: 10.1016/j.lanplh.2026.101503Mechanisms underpinning flourishing at the interface of humans and other natural entities: an umbrella review
Shannon Maloney, Thomas Henning, Haiou Zhu, Benjamin Martin et al.
2026-07 · DOI: 10.1016/j.lanplh.2026.101450Growth dependence of welfare states: a semi-systematic review of drivers and policy responses
Milena Büchs, Tuuli Hirvilammi, Thomas Webb, Dario Leoni et al.
2026-07 · DOI: 10.1016/j.lanplh.2026.101491Food system contributions to future planetary boundary transgressions: a multiscale modelling assessment of scenarios
Hermen Luchtenbelt, Jonathan C Doelman, Hester Biemans, Astrid Bos et al.
2026-07 · DOI: 10.1016/j.lanplh.2026.101492A new normal?
The Lancet Planetary Health
2026-07 · DOI: 10.1016/j.lanplh.2026.101530Planetary Health Research Digest
Cahal McQuillan
2026-07 · DOI: 10.1016/j.lanplh.2026.101504The GHEMMS checklist: design, conduct, and reporting guidance for studies modelling climate mitigation actions and their health cobenefits
Tamzin Reynolds, James Milner, Hugh Sharma Waddington, Blanca Anton et al.
2026-07 · DOI: 10.1016/j.lanplh.2026.101474Reviews
Community Reviews
Version History
April 22, 2025 at 2:32 pm
April 22, 2025