We are proud and delighted to announce the launch of the latest section in Frontiers in Psychology: Environmental Psychology. This section will be led by Specialty Chief Editor Prof. Patrik Sörqvist, former Chair of the International Commission of Biological Effects of Noise (ICBEN) team 4, and specialist in the interactions between environmental factors, noise, auditory perception, selective attention, cognition and action.

Mission statement:

The section publishes experimental, theoretical and applied studies of psychological processes engaged in encounters between people and the built and natural environment. It covers all aspects of human behavior and mental life in relation to the sociophysical environment, whether considered as ambient environmental factors (e.g., noise, temperature, lighting), specific behavior settings (e.g., schools, offices, hospitals), the basic infrastructure of everyday life (e.g., energy and transportation systems), or in a broader sense, with regard to landscape and the relationship between built and natural aspects of human environments.

Human behavior and mental life include, but are not limited to, perception and cognition, emotion, stress and mental fatigue, and social interactions, as manifest in covert and overt behavior. In brief, this Specialty Section of Frontiers in Psychology provides an outlet for researchers addressing many of the classical concerns of environmental psychology.

The Specialty Section will consider thematic collections devoted to specific research topics in people-environment relations. Articles will be selected on the basis of their scientific quality and degree of theoretical and empirical innovation. The Specialty Section is managed with the support of the Swedish Area Group in Environmental Psychology.

Regarding his vision for this Specialty Section, Prof. Sörqvist states:

“I hope this specialty section will function as a vehicle for scientists to communicate their research in relation to the great challenges of the modern society, people-environment interactions and the classic questions in the field of environmental psychology with regard to the effects of the built and the natural environment on people. T__he specialty section should be a place for scientific debate where the criteria for publication are soundness, scientific standard and degree of innovation, but not likability. Researchers should feel free to report, express and discuss empirical findings and opinions as long as they are rigorous; channeled through publication forms not available in any other environmental psychology outlet. The Frontiers’ publication platform with article types like original research, opinion and hypothesis and theory provides an excellent opportunity for scientific debate about the fundamental mechanisms of psychological phenomena which I hope authors will exploit for empirical, theoretical and conceptual development of our field”.

Environmental Psychology has recently published the Grand Challenge Article, a paper outlining the Chief Editor’s perspective on the challenges and future developments within this field. With an already strong Editorial Board which is consistently expanding, Environmental Psychology is now ready to welcome submissions.