Journal of Sustainability

About the Journal

The Journal of Sustainability publishes research that provides practical advice for businesses, policymakers, and civil society to accelerate the transition toward a more sustainable world. We align with the Brundtland Commission’s definition of sustainability, focusing on development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Specific subject areas include, but are not limited to:

Sustainable business models, sustainable start-ups, sustainable business model experimentation
Dynamic capabilities for sustainability transitions
Sustainable supply chains, reverse logistics
Sustainability policies and governance
Barriers and enablers to sustainability
Sustainability transition theory and sustainable development
Social, environmental, and economic impacts of sustainability
Sustainable rebound effects
Sustainable degrowth
Sustainability terminology and definitions

And more…

Any disciplinary approach is welcome. Any methodological approach is welcome.

Publication Formats and Content

Articles published in the Journal of Sustainability aim to be particularly succinct to reach both academic and practical audiences. Accordingly, no article published in this journal exceeds 6,000 words, and every article in the Journal of Sustainability must include practical implications. The following types of articles are published in the journal:

Research article: Standard research papers of 3,500 – 6,000 words in length, excluding tables, illustrations, and references.

Review: Articles which summarize the state-of-the-art sustainability research in a particular sub-field. Narrative reviews, meta-syntheses and meta-analyses are considered. 4,500 – 6,000 words in length, excluding tables, illustrations and references.

Perspective: Papers in an “op-ed” style that share a particular perspective on a sustainability-related topic. Usually 800-1,000 words excluding tables, illustrations, and references.

Any article published in the Journal of Sustainability is accompanied by an abstract that is ca. 150 words. Suggested structure of Research articles and Reviews: Introduction, theoretical framing, methods, results, discussion, recommendations. There is no suggested structure for Perspectives.

We encourage you to publish any original data that your article is based on alongside your article.

Formatting and Content Guidelines for Authors

Publication Fees

The Journal of Sustainability aims to be a low-cost publisher. Concretely, we aim to undercut the Article Processing Charges (APC) of comparable sustainability-related academic journals (such as MDPI’s Sustainability) by 80%. This article processing charge is to cover the costs of peer review, copy-editing, typesetting, long-term archiving, and journal management.

Our current publication charges for authors (applicable only upon acceptance of their article after peer review):

– Research article: 511 EUR
– Review article: 511 EUR
– Perspective: 511 EUR

Discounts are possible for students publishing their research with us, for independent scholars and/or authors from the Global South as well as any other authors from groups that are typically marginalised in the academy. Discounts are currently provided on a case-by-case basis.

We kindly ask you to reach out to our editorial team to discuss further details: [email protected]

Peer-Review

This journal operates a double-blind peer-review process. All contributions will be initially assessed by an editor for suitability for the journal. Papers deemed suitable are then sent to a minimum of one independent expert reviewer to assess the scientific quality of the paper. They will provide a review following our Review Guide.

Reviewers are encouraged to submit their review within fourteen days upon receipt of the paper. We are the very first academic journal, as far as we are aware, that pays an honorarium to its reviewers. Authors are asked to revise their paper, if possible, within fourteen days. The Journal of Sustainability considers iteration as central to hone the quality of academic work. Multiple rounds of review are thus possible and, in our view, also desirable. We encourage authors to already publish their work in preprint servers such as SocArXiv, while it is under review with the Journal of Sustainability.

We evaluate submitted manuscripts based on their methodological rigor and high ethical standards, regardless of perceived novelty. Accordingly, we publish works that are replication studies as well as studies that report negative and null results. Overall, the aim of the Journal of Sustainability is to help authors to improve their manuscript so that it becomes publishable in a respected academic outlet. Accordingly, the Journal of Sustainability is not a gatekeeper to publishing sustainability research, but an ally to those dedicated to sustainability scholarship and practice. Articles are published once accepted. This also includes articles that are part of a special issue.

For questions about the editorial process, please contact:
[email protected]

Ethics Statement

Open Access:

The Journal of Sustainability applies the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license to works we publish. Under this license, authors agree to make articles legally available for reuse, without permission or fees, for virtually any purpose. Anyone may copy, distribute, or reuse these articles, if the author and original source are properly cited.

Transparency:

We design and communicate our publishing processes in a transparent manner, so that editors, authors, peer reviewers and readers can gain a clear understanding of what collaboration with the Journal of Sustainability entails. We are committed to ensuring that all the decisions made by editors, authors and peer reviewers are fully informed.

Extended Ethics Statement

Indexing

The Journal of Sustainability has just launched the indexing process with the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), Web of Science (WoS), Scopus, and Google Scholar databases. Additional indexing will follow in the next couple of months.