Scientific publications in the peer-reviewed open literature are a major output of research and a key mechanism in the dissemination of knowledge. This report examines the publication record of selected subject categories with strong links with the environmental sciences in the Institute for Scientific Information database. UK publications and citations are compared with the world output and that from a number of overseas countries. A standard set of measures is used to look at the number of papers produced, their impact and the extent of collaboration between UK scientists and colleagues in industry and overseas. UK environmental science emerges as a mature research system with strength across many disciplines and impact levels above the world average. However, for a number of the fields examined, the priority given by the UK to the environmental sciences within its overall science programme appears to be lower than that given by other countries. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.