Social Innovations Journal

Special Issue 2023

Submission Window | July 14 - September 20

Start of Peer Review | September 20

Revised Manuscripts Due | November 13

Publication Date | December 14

The conference proceedings will be published in the Transformations Community’s third annual special issue of the Social Innovations Journal, a practitioner-oriented peer-reviewed journal (see our previous issues 2021 and 2022). The Social Innovations Journal chronicles innovative ideas and initiatives focused on sustainability, showcasing real-world experiences, meticulous research, and best practices from the innovators themselves. 

Given the wide scope and practitioner orientation of this journal, we encourage you to submit your work in the format that would best communicate your ideas to the Transformations community, many of whom are transdisciplinary transformations practitioners whose work combines participatory diagnosis of systems challenges, knowledge co-production, and collective action. This may include thought pieces, reflections on practice, research papers, and/or guidance for community engagement strategies.

Associate Editors

Felix Beyers - Research Institute for Sustainability

Anja Bless - University of Technology Sydney

Andrew Gaines - Inspiring Transition

Rita Golstein - Israel Democracy Institute

Flavia Guerra - United Nations University

Adam Hejnowicz - Newcastle University

Johan Holmén - Chalmers

Anne Leitch - Griffith University

Gilles Marciniak - Future Earth

Robson Mukwambo - Rhodes University

Claudia Munera - Environmental Futures at CSIRO

Constance Perrin-Joly - IFSRA, Institute for Social Research in Africa

Glory Dee Romo - University of the Philippines

Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors must check off compliance with the following items:

  • The submission is not before another journal for consideration

  • Submit an abbreviated author bio for each author. The bio can contain weblinks

  • Include an abstract (200-300 words or so) and 4 keywords

  • All images include a suggested caption and photo credit information

  • Acknowledgments and funders noted at the end

  • If reprinted with permission, note this in acknowledgments

  • Include a bibliography

  • Where available, URLs for references have been provided

Author Guidelines

Please follow these guidelines to prepare your submission for the Social Innovation Journal - if you have any questions about the process, email Shane Casey or Bruce Goldstein.

  • Your article can include elements that are reprinted from another publication, provided you note this source in the acknowledgments.

  • Your peer review draft can contain any author-identifying information because we are not conducting a blinded peer review.

  • We’ll provide guidance on how to respond to peer review when we return the draft to you. Excerpts reprinted from other publications will not be peer-reviewed. 

  • You can provide illustrations (such as a photo) that will serve as a visual introduction or tables or graphs to help illustrate a major point and to break up the text.

Article Formatting Guidelines

General

  • All text is single-spaced, 12-point font, Times New Roman unless otherwise noted

  • SIJ uses the Chicago Manual of Style

Title & Authors

  • Include an article title in bold

  • List full author names together on a single row in bold, each author comma separated

  • Below the author row, a bulleted list of each author's full title, affiliation, and organization 

    • Title, Affiliation/Department, Organization/University

  • Below the list of titles, identify a single corresponding author and email

    • This line is only 10-pt font

Body

  • Section titles are bolded

  • Use italics rather than underlining (except with URL addresses)

  • Paragraphs are separated by a space, NOT indented

  • All illustrations, figures, and tables are placed in line with the text rather than appended

  • Define acronyms the first time they appear

    • Define trade or sector-specific terminology to ensure that your article is reader-friendly

    • Keep in mind you are writing to a broad audience including international readers

  • We do NOT publish footnotes. We publish endnotes. 

  • We do NOT publish sidebars to article content.

  • Live hyperlinks are embedded in the text, NO raw URLs

  • Indented bullet points follow this format, How to Punctuate Bulleted and Numbered Lists

Bibliography

  • Cite all sources using Chicago MLA Style Guide. 

    • Note that we may be able to use another citation format if it is infeasible to change. Contact Bruce about this to confirm

Article Submission

Articles are to be submitted through the platform OpenWater

*Note that the SIJ header will be added by editors.