Boundary Organizations & Sustainability
A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2020) | Viewed by 3649
Special Issue Editor
2. Department of Sociology and Social Geography University of Oslo Blindern, 0317 Oslo, Norway
Interests: boundary organizations; science–policy interactions; scientific collaboration in sustainability science; scientific creativity and the social conditions, roles, and relationships that lead to the successful transfer; use of scientific information to improve environmental policy and decision making
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Boundary organizations are formal organizations designed to mediate between the science and policy communities and bridge their diverse purposes, incongruent values, and potential mutual incomprehension so that science and policy can mutually inform one another. They do so by bringing together researchers and policy makers, creating accountabilities and incentives between them, and facilitating the creation of boundary objects that enable researchers and policy makers to coordinate their work despite their divergent perspectives. Whereas boundary organizations were originally conceptualized in relation to technology transfer offices, they have become an increasingly common means of linking scientific research to environmental policy, advancing sustainability, and helping to tackle “wicked problems”. However, despite substantial research and investment in creating boundary organizations for sustainability, systematic knowledge about how their activities are shaped by different types and qualities of social interaction, the broader organizational and socio-political environments in which they are embedded, and power relationships among actors within them is meager.
For this Special Issue, we invite articles that analyze the social organization of boundary organizations aimed at promoting environmental sustainability. We are particularly interested in articles that utilise fresh conceptual approaches to understand boundary organizations, that examine boundary organizations in new social contexts or in relation to new environmental issues, and that are developing new concepts, methods, and metrics for analyzing boundary organizations to determine the conditions under which they can be made most effective. Cross-case comparative studies of boundary organizations are particularly welcome.
Dr. John N. Parker
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- Boundary organizations
- boundary objects
- science-policy interactions
- collaboration
- environmental management
- environmental policy
- science-policy interactions
- co-production
- knowledge utilization
- knowledge transfer
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.
