Carbonsphere launches for carbon science and net-zero solutions

Tsinghua University Press is pleased to announce the launch of Carbonsphere, a new open-access, peer-reviewed journal dedicated to carbon science, technology, and policy. Sponsored by Qinghai University and Tsinghua University and published by Tsinghua University Press, the journal creates a new interdisciplinary platform for research spanning natural systems, engineered systems, and human systems. Carbonsphere is led by Editor-in-Chief Zhu Liu, with Hans Joachim Schellnhuber serving as Honorary Editor-in-Chief.

Carbonsphere is designed to connect carbon research across scales, from cellular processes to planetary dynamics, and across contexts, from fundamental discovery to real-world implementation. The journal brings together science, engineering, policy, and society, with the goal of fostering evidence, tools, and solutions for a just and sustainable net-zero future. By linking the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities, Carbonsphere opens a new forum for interdisciplinary collaboration in one of the most urgent fields of our time.

“Carbon is the basic element of life,” Zhu Liu writes in the founding editorial of Carbonsphere. He describes the journal as one that “launches to illuminate and steward this micro-to-macro continuum,” and as “a shared platform across science and engineering, and the natural sciences and the humanities/social sciences, to co-create evidence and solutions for a just net-zero future.” This vision positions Carbonsphere as more than a venue for publishing carbon-related studies. It establishes the journal as a platform for connecting discovery, innovation, governance, and societal transition.

The journal welcomes research across the full spectrum of carbon science and its applications, including carbon in nature and technology, Earth system carbon cycle dynamics, climate change and human impacts, carbon accounting and net-zero transitions, carbon materials, carbon in energy systems, carbon policy and governance, and digital and data-driven approaches for carbon research. It also encourages work that moves from mechanisms to models, from prototypes to policy, and from research to practice.

Carbonsphere publishes Original Research, Review Article, Perspectives, Short Communication, and Letter to the Editor, while also prioritizing Data & Software Articles, Design & Prototypes, Methods, and Bench-to-Policy contributions. With an emphasis on rigorous peer review, transparent reporting, reproducibility, and data and code sharing, the journal aims to build an open and trustworthy publishing space for researchers, engineers, practitioners, and policymakers alike.

The launch of Carbonsphere brings together the strengths of three major institutions. Qinghai University has developed into a teaching and research university with strengths in engineering, agriculture, medicine, management, economics, science, and law. Founded in 1911, Tsinghua University is one of China’s leading comprehensive research universities, with broad strengths across science, engineering, humanities, medicine, economics, management, education, and the arts. The journal is published by Tsinghua University Press, a major academic publisher in China and an active participant in the international scholarly publishing community.

About Carbonsphere

Carbonsphere is an open-access, peer-reviewed journal dedicated to carbon science, technology, and policy across natural, engineered, and socio-economic systems. Sponsored by Qinghai University and Tsinghua University, published by Tsinghua University Press, and distributed through SciOpen, the journal aims to foster interdisciplinary research and actionable solutions for a just and sustainable net-zero future.

About Qinghai University and Tsinghua University

Qinghai University is a teaching and research university in western China with strengths in engineering, agriculture, medicine, management, economics, science, and law. Founded in 1911, Tsinghua University is one of China’s leading comprehensive research universities and is internationally recognized for excellence in education, research, and innovation across a wide range of disciplines.

About SciOpen

SciOpen is the platform through which Carbonsphere is distributed and accessed by readers and authors worldwide. The platform supports journal hosting, article discovery, and submission services to enhance the visibility and accessibility of scholarly content. Carbonsphere is published by Tsinghua University Press, a major academic publisher in China and an active participant in the international scholarly publishing community.