"Spotlight on EMF Research" presents recent publications (original articles or reviews) on all frequency ranges (0-300 GHz) from the disciplines of epidemiology, biology, dosimetry/exposure and biophysics. We, the researchers of the Competence Centre for Electromagnetic Fields (KEMF) at the BfS, want to help decision-makers, scientists and the interested professional public to better understand the results of the publications discussed in order to evaluate their significance for radiation protection. The content is addressed to an expert audience and other specifically interested parties.

However, the individual “Spotlight on EMF Research” contributions do not constitute a risk assessment, as such an assessment is always based on the entirety of the available evidence, and not just on individual publications.

We continuously search the following databases for relevant, newly published articles: EMF-Portal, PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus.

We select articles

• because of the high quality and significance of the scientific work,
• because of the low significance and, at the same time, high potential to be misunderstood,
• because the results are unexpected,
• because the subject matter evokes public interest, or
• because the topic is directly related to a BfS research focus.

Scientific discourse depends on publications and we appreciate every publication as a contribution to this discourse. We know first-hand how time-consuming it is to publish one's own scientific work, and we feel great appreciation for all scientific contributions, even if we sometimes do not follow the authors' conclusions or assessments.

Each Spotlight, as we call the individual contributions, contains brief background information on the question of the publication from the point of view of the BfS, the results and discussion from the point of view of the authors, and finally, an assessment and comment by the BfS. New Spotlights are announced with a short preview here on the BfS website, which contains a link to the PDF file in our online repository DORIS.

All Spotlights are categorized so that you can easily find all of our featured publications on a topic. Just click on the categories linked below, where we use the most common terms.

We categorize according to the frequency of exposure:

• static and low frequency fields (low frequency)
• intermediate frequency fields
• radiofrequency field
• across frequencies

and according to the type of study:

• epidemiological studies, i.e., observational human studies (epidemiology)
• experimental human studies (human study)
• experimental animal study (animal study)
• plant studies
• in vitro studies, i.e. cell studies
• dosimetry and exposure studies (dosimetry/exposure)
• theory and molecular mechanisms
• Reviews and overviews (review)

In addition, you will find literature recommendations for what we consider to be other interesting publications that meet our criteria. These are, for example, published comments, reports and statements from other authorities or committees, or our own publications. For these, there is only a short note with a link to the original work.

Depending on the publisher and publication model, scientific articles may or may not be read free of charge. If an article is not freely available, you can contact e.g., the nearest university or city library. There, you also have access to literature databases which are, in some cases, subject to charge. In many cases, a not yet peer-reviewed preliminary version of an article is available on so-called preprint servers, i.e. arxiv for physics and biorxiv for biology.

The Spotlights are successively posted here and in DORIS. Every three months, an overview of all scientific publications, from which the Spotlights were selected, is compiled. This overview (in PDF format) is also sorted according to the categories specified above, and you can search it for recent publications that have not been discussed here. If you would like to receive the regular overview by e-mail, please send us an e-mail to spotlight@bfs.de.

Your opinion is important to us! It can help us to improve our services, both in terms of topics covered and selection of publications, regarding the comprehensibility of our content.

Please send us your opinion to spotlight@bfs.de.

The more specific your feedback, the more helpful it is to us. If you are referring to a specific Spotlight, please include the title and number.

The Spotlight Team

Each "Spotlight on EMF Research" article is authored by an experienced interdisciplinary team of radiation protection specialists at the BfS. Every article is prepared by at least two professionals and subsequently reviewed by at least one additional person. Currently, the team consists of the following individuals (in alphabetical order):