Call for Papers

Call for Papers for the special issue on:
"Carbonaceous Aerosols in the Atmosphere"

Manuscript Submission Deadline: January 31, 2024

Free publication for accepted papers submitted by November 30, 2023

Carbonaceous aerosols are a major component of fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) and have attracted considerable attention due to their effects on air quality, visibility, radiation budget, precipitation, and human health. However, the current understanding of carbonaceous aerosols is limited, especially with respect to their climate and health impacts. Black carbon (BC) particles are mainly generated from incomplete combustions and strongly absorb sunlight uniformly. BC has recently emerged as a major contributor to global climate change. Brown carbon (BrC, from primary combustion and secondary formation processes, has much more complex optical characteristics. BrC shows strong light absorption at shorter wavelengths, but this can diminish over time due to atmospheric bleaching. Both BC and BrC significantly contribute to the total aerosol absorption as well as to the net aerosol radiative forcing over a local-regional-global basis. Moreover, OC (along with its many subsets such as primary or secondary OC, water-soluble OC, HULIS, PRLIS, etc.) and BC affect regional air quality and human health. Understanding the burden, morphology, chemistry, dynamics, optical properties, transformation, aging processes, and life cycle of carbonaceous aerosols emitted from various combustion sources and formed through numerous mechanisms is a complex task that needs extensive research.

To update our current understanding and knowledge of carbonaceous aerosols in various regions of the world, and to better understand their impacts on the radiation budget, climate, public health, and the environment, Aerosol and Air Quality Research (AAQR) is calling for papers to a special issue with the theme “Carbonaceous Aerosols in the Atmosphere”. This special issue invites manuscripts mainly focusing on carbonaceous aerosols in the atmosphere including their climate impacts and the effects on public health, air quality, and solar radiation at local, regional, and global scales. Subject areas pertaining to carbonaceous aerosols may include, but are not limited to:

Observations, monitoring, and measurement protocols
Sources, emission inventories, and modeling studies
Physicochemical characterization and source apportionment
Application of carbon isotopes
Optical properties of BC and BrC and the associated radiative forcing
Interaction with meteorology and precipitation
Impacts on human health, air quality, environment, and economic burden
Control policy and mitigation strategies

All high-quality Letter to the Editors, Data Reports, Technical Notes, Review Articles, and Original Research Papers relevant to this theme are welcome. Manuscripts will undergo a rigorous but accelerated review. The deadline for manuscript submission is January 31, 2024. All accepted manuscripts will be published on-line immediately and collected in a virtual issue. AAQR is an open access journal supported by the publication fee charged to the corresponding author of accepted papers, but for this Special Issue, the publication fee will be waived for accepted papers that were submitted by November 30, 2023. AAQR focuses on aerosols and air quality and is indexed in SCI with an Impact Factor of 4.0 in 2022 Journal Citation Reports. The Guidelines for Authors for submitting a manuscript can be found on the AAQR website.

If there are any questions, please feel free to contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Guest Editors:
Shantanu Kumar Pani (National Central University, Taiwan; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
Cheng Wu (Jinan University, China; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
Neeraj Rastogi (Physical Research Laboratory, India; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
Chunmao Zhu (Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Japan; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
Dimitris G. Kaskaoutis (National Observatory of Athens, Greece; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)