Oxygen: Highlights from the Journal to Mid-2025

As aerobic organisms, we cannot live without molecular oxygen (O₂), but we also have to work hard to live with it. As stated by Nick Lane, “Oxygen is unique” [1] (p. 158), which makes it interesting. Hence, a journal that is dedicated to oxygen is very appropriate.

The journal Oxygen had its inaugural issue in 2021. Now, in 2025, we have arrived at Volume 5, Issue 2. Over that time, there have been 115 papers published. More importantly than that, 2025 sees the journal being indexed by Scopus (Elsevier) and Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI)—Web of Science (Clarivate Analytics). The journal has a CiteScore of 8.4. This is a good achievement that not only acknowledges the journal’s standing, but should also enhance its publicity and reach, encouraging more researchers to consider using Oxygen for the dissemination of their data and ideas. Of course, it should be mentioned that Oxygen is a companion journal of Antioxidants [2], and is part of the Journal Cluster of Chemical Reactions and Catalysis [3], which includes journals such as Catalysts, Chemistry, Molecules, Reactions, and Sustainable Chemistry.

Oxygen levels in the atmosphere were extremely low over 2 billion years ago [4] and then rose relatively quickly, reaching approximately 21% today. Therefore, organisms have had to deal with what Lane describes as “the first great pollutant” [1] (p. 173). Molecular oxygen is relatively reactive, being a free radical—it has two unpaired electrons—but it is well known that O₂ is readily converted to a group of compounds referred to as reactive oxygen species (ROS). It has long been recognised that the presence of ROS can be detrimental to other biological molecules, including proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids, such as DNA, which can lead to disease states [5], and that antioxidants are needed to maintain healthy life in an oxygen-rich environment [6]. However, this does not prevent the use of hyperbaric chambers for the treatment of certain ailments [7] where the presence of too much O₂ can be dangerous [8]. A dearth of oxygen is not good, either, and much work over the years has been dedicated to hypoxia in biological systems [9]. Of particular interest is how ROS and other small reactive molecules are used positively in biology to control cell function [10].

At its initiation, I was honoured and delighted to be asked to be Editor-in-Chief. However, I am a biologist, and much of the work on oxygen falls well outside of the field of biology. In fact, my role allows me to learn much about other topics, which is always a pleasure. Of course, the science of oxygen is not limited to biology; its reactivity and forms are of interest in their own right (e.g., [11]). Oxygen is also directly or indirectly involved in many industrial processes, including in the treatment of waste [12], in the steel industry [13], and in energy industries [14].

So, what has Oxygen, the journal, covered in the last four years? Here is a pick of some of the papers that caught my eye, but I apologise to anyone who feels that their work was overlooked here.

Although the first two articles published by Oxygen were written by me, as EiC, to kick off the journal, the first contribution was from Japan, by Linsheng Wang on sulphide- and oxide-based solid-state batteries (Contribution 1). This already highlighted the interest in oxygen-based chemistry outside the field of biology. A paper that also caught my eye in the first volume was by Kostas Eleftheratos and colleagues, who looked at the levels of ozone over Athens over a sixteen-year period (Contribution 2). The most recent paper published in Oxygen was on sperm quality, oxidative stress, and decreases in sperm DNA damage, authored by Oumaima Ammar and colleagues from Tunisia and Italy (Contribution 3). This paper also picked up a theme seen earlier in Volume 2, where Simone Cilio et al. examined the benefits of the use of antioxidants in the management of male infertility (Contribution 4). There have been some very interesting papers between the first and latest issues.

Some of the papers have revisited aspects of the fields in which they sit. Igor Lavrinenko et al. (Contribution 5) focused on a modified Hill equation, for example, which can be used to create an oxygenation curve for haemoglobin. Klemens Hocke (Contribution 6) discussed oxygen in the Earth System, saying that “The global evolution, distribution, and trends of atmospheric oxygen are discussed.” Perhaps related to this was the paper by Konstantinos Kourtidis and Michel Vorenhout, which discussed the influence of the electric field of the atmosphere with the redox potential measured in the soil (Contribution 7). Neil Blackstone explored the relationship between ROS and reactive sulphur species, asking whether they were “Partners in crime” (Contribution 8). Related to this, Gaetana Napolitano et al. discussed “The Ambiguous Aspects of Oxygen” (Contribution 9). Oxygen would welcome papers that challenge any current thinking, as long as it is argued in a robust and evidence-based manner.

Many of the papers published in Oxygen so far would be classified in the biological arena. There are too many to mention them all, but a few will show the breadth of the articles available. In Volume 1, there was a review on hypoxia by Helen Rinderknecht and colleagues (Contribution 10) discussing how hypoxic conditions can be obtained in experimentation, which will be of use to anyone wishing to study this phenomenon. More recently, Francesca Cascone et al. examined increased oxygen, reviewing hyperbaric oxygen therapy following head and neck surgery (Contribution 11). Staying with the theme of therapeutics, Nguyen et al. (Contribution 12) discussed oxidative stress from mitochondrial activity in brain injury.

It was not just human biology that featured, either, with Borchardt et al. (Contribution 13) examining the electron transport chain—where the terminal electron acceptor is oxygen—in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Moving to plants, a study by Yoshio Nosaka focused on artificial photosynthesis, a process that could bring much promise for the future (Contribution 14). Wheat grown under flooding stress was the focus of the work by Setsuko Komatsu et al. (Contribution 15), a subject which may become ever more relevant as we battle global climate change.

Crossing the divide between technology and biology is always of interest. Amisha Parekh et al. (Contribution 16) explored the use of the citrus-based treatment of implants, which, as they say, will become increasingly more in demand as the age of populations continues to rise. In fact, there have been a number of papers with a focus on plant extracts and their uses, for example, in the food industry (Contribution 17) or as possible pharmaceuticals (Contribution 18). On a related topic, Ekaterina Yurchenko investigated how fungal extracts could target the Keap1/Nrf2 antioxidant system (Contribution 19), which has implications for the control of oxidative stress and cell damage. Oxygen even went into space, with a study focusing on crops that generate oxygen and antioxidants that may be useful in the future (Contribution 20).

There have also been studies examining the history of oxygen-based topics. A 250-year history was covered in the second volume (Contribution 21), while Asuncion Rocher and Philip Aaronson wrote a paper on the thirty-fifth anniversary of K⁺ channels in O₂ sensing (Contribution 22). Looking back at the progress of a topic can be of interest, often showing how research does not always follow a clear path but spins off on tangents along the way. It can also remind us that some ideas are older than they may seem at first, with much earlier research on a topic being forgotten. A look back at some of the work at the end of the eighteenth century can be fascinating, for example, in (Contribution 23).

The most cited paper in Oxygen so far was “RONS and Oxidative Stress: An Overview of Basic Concepts” by Ana Karina Aranda-Rivera et al. (Contribution 24). This was a review of the role of ROS and reactive nitrogen species (RNS) and their influence on oxidative stress. The second most cited article, by Antony V. Samrot et al. (Contribution 25), concentrated on nanoparticles, which are an interesting concept for the delivery of a range of chemicals, including for agriculture and medicines [15].

It is expected that Oxygen will go from strength to strength. It currently has two Special Issues running: the first is “The Contribution of Oxidation Reactions to Non-Enzymatic Browning” [16], edited by Sascha Rohn and Clemens Kanzler, and the second is the third volume of “Feature Papers in Oxygen” [17], which hopes to attract a range of papers on oxygen, following the success of the previous volumes [18,19].

It is hoped that this quick tour of some of the papers that have been published in Oxygen over the last four years will not only impress the fact that oxygen really is a unique and interesting element or molecule, but also persuade you to follow the future publications that will appear in this journal, and to perhaps encourage you to submit your own work, whether that is primary data, a review, or an opinion piece.