《生物降解》發表關于天然微生物株、微生物組合或重組生物體對化學品或廢物的生物轉化、礦化、解毒、回收、改良或處理的論文、評論和微型評論。涵蓋范圍廣泛的主題，包括生物降解途徑的生物化學;生物降解生物的遺傳學與重組生物降解生物的研究生物降解微生物群落的分子生物學研究增強自然發生的生物降解性能和活性。生物降解和生物轉化技術在土壤、水、污水、重金屬和放射性核素、有機鹵素、高cod廢物、直鏈、支鏈和芳香烴等方面的新應用;覆蓋范圍擴展到設計和擴大實驗室工藝和生物反應器系統。還提供了關于廢物生物處理的經濟和法律方面的文件。“廢物處理”的論文可望包含以下一項或多項的新內容:(a)微生物學、(b)分子生物學、(c)生物化學、(d)生態學或(e)工程學。簡單地報告一個新的隔離或流程，該流程執行與其他流程多次報告相同的操作是不夠的。

Biodegradation publishes papers, reviews and mini-reviews on the biotransformation, mineralization, detoxification, recycling, amelioration or treatment of chemicals or waste materials by naturally-occurring microbial strains, microbial associations, or recombinant organisms.Coverage spans a range of topics, including Biochemistry of biodegradative pathways; Genetics of biodegradative organisms and development of recombinant biodegrading organisms; Molecular biology-based studies of biodegradative microbial communities; Enhancement of naturally-occurring biodegradative properties and activities. Also featured are novel applications of biodegradation and biotransformation technology, to soil, water, sewage, heavy metals and radionuclides, organohalogens, high-COD wastes, straight-, branched-chain and aromatic hydrocarbons; Coverage extends to design and scale-up of laboratory processes and bioreactor systems. Also offered are papers on economic and legal aspects of biological treatment of waste."Waste treatment" papers are expected to contain something novel as regards to one or more of the following: (a) microbiology, (b) molecular biology, (c) biochemistry, (d) ecology, or (e) engineering. The simple reporting of a new isolate or process that does the same thing as reported many times by others is not sufficient.