Journal of Sustainability

About The Journal

The Journal of Sustainability publishes research that provides practical insights for businesses, policymakers, and civil society to accelerate the transition toward a more sustainable world. Aligned with the Brundtland Commission’s definition, we focus on development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The journal publishes two formal issues per year along with special issues coordinated by guest editors. Accepted articles are published continuously online on a rolling basis to ensure timely dissemination. 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…

All disciplinary and methodological approaches are 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, articles published in this journal can only exceed 6,000 words when this is necessary for the quality of the manuscript, 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 empirical or theoretical research papers, typically between 3,500 and 6,000 words in length. This word count excludes tables, illustrations, and references.

Review:
Narrative reviews, meta-analyses, or meta-syntheses that summarise the current state of research within a specific area of sustainability. These are generally between 4,500 and 6,000 words, excluding tables, illustrations, and references.

Perspective:
Concise opinion/commentary pieces that present a particular viewpoint on a sustainability-related issue in an op-ed style. These articles are usually between 800 and 1,000 words, excluding tables, illustrations, and references.

An article published in the Journal of Sustainability must be accompanied by an abstract that is approximately 150 words. Suggested structure of Research articles and Reviews includes: introduction, theoretical framing, methods, results, discussion, and 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.

All articles will be published using British English spelling

Formatting Information 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: 580 EUR
– Review article: 580 EUR
– Perspective: 480 EUR

VAT note: All fees are stated net. 19% VAT applies to payments made by individuals.
For institutional payments, VAT is charged where legally required. EU institutions with a valid VAT ID are invoiced under the reverse-charge mechanism.

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, and requests must be submitted before or at the time of submission. All articles are published as open access under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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

Peer-Review

The Journal of Sustainability employs a double-blind peer-review process, ensuring that both authors and reviewers remain anonymous throughout the evaluation. An editor will initially assess all contributions for suitability for the journal. Papers deemed suitable are then sent to a minimum of two independent expert reviewers to assess the scientific quality of the paper. They will provide a review following our Review Template.

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. Honoraria are paid out in sync with the journal’s issue releases—approximately every six months—and include all reviews completed during that period, regardless of whether the reviewed paper is ultimately published. 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 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 rigour 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 improve their manuscripts so that they become 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]

Indexing

The Journal of Sustainability has been accepted for Scopus as of 8 February 2026. Google Scholar typically indexes articles within a week of publication. The journal is also indexed and validated in OpenAIRE and the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). Inclusion in Web of Science (WoS) is currently under evaluation.

Publishing Schedule

The Journal of Sustainability publishes accepted manuscripts on a rolling basis and assigns them to either a regular issue or a designated special issue. Regular issues are finalised twice per year on June 30 and December 31. Special issues follow flexible timelines and display an expected closure date; they may be finalised after a subsequent regular issue. There is no fixed limit on the number of articles included in either regular or special issues.

Formatting

The Journal of Sustainability follows a “Your Paper, Your Way” policy: no specific formatting is required at submission. If your manuscript is accepted, we’ll typeset it according to the journal’s style. For further formatting information, see our Formatting Information for Authors.

Ethics Statement & Guidance

Key links to our policies and role-specific guidance are below.

Guidance by Role

Responsible Research Assessment

JoS endorses the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) and evaluates research on its own merits rather than journal-based metrics.
Read our statement: DORA endorsement at JoS.