Challenges in Sustainability | 2014 | Volume 2 | Issue 1 | Pages 28‒29

DOI: 10.12924/cis2014.02010028

Editorial

Challenges in Sustainability: Another Brick in the Wall

Barry Ness

1,

* and José A. F. Monteiro

2

1

Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies (LUCSUS), P.O. Box 170, 22100 Lund, Sweden

fruitful start. A variety of quality research articles, edi-

torials and notes have been published on a range of

themes and topics, including sustainability governance

[1], improved cookstoves [2,3], the potentials of 3-D

printing in the global South [4], and the need for con-

siliences between the natural and social sciences and

the humanities [5], to name just a few. Furthermore,

despite the journal's short history, we are pleased

with its high visibility, where numerous articles have

been viewed or downloaded over 1200 times since

Editor-in-Chief, Jürgen Kropp, for his work in estab-

lishing and placing the journal on a solid footing for

the future. Much of the success can also be attributed

to the diverse, but impressive, editorial group with

competencies in a multitude of sustainability-relevant

areas, nor must we forget the devoted managerial

and administrative staff at the journal. Thank you all!

work diligently to place CiS at the forefront of sus-

tainability knowledge dissemination, not as a highbrow

and inaccessible outlet for academic research and

discourses on sustainability; our intentions, rather, are

to promote the journal as an innovative forum for

cutting-edge research, opinions and notes on sustain-

ability (science).

The first step in this process is an updated

and scope

changing nature and the

on topic areas. Furthermore, we will work to promote

CiS as a novel instrument for the promotion of al-

ternative forms of knowledge dissemination, e.g.,

short films [3], forms that are likely to catch the

attention of the new generation of savvy multimedia

consumers and decision-makers, both in- and outside

of academia.

© 2014 by the authors; licensee Librello, Switzerland. This open access article was published

under a Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).

role in science by creating a network for the cir-

culation of information. However, in the digital era,

the traditional network can actually work against the

exchange of information by means of high subscrip-

tion rates and pay-per-view barriers. As one reaction,

a boycott against Elsevier was started in 2012; it now

counts roughly 15000 scholars [7].

Open access publishers have increased in number

rapidly, contributing to the free-availability of know-

ledge. Nevertheless, the open access system has an

by scholars and their institutions. Our membership

program allows us to keep the decision of publication

from any economic pressure, and we rely on our edi-

torial team of experts to take decisions impartially.

Our system also benefits the authors, since the annual

membership fee covers multiple submissions. We aim

at working closely together with scientists and experts

outside academia, creating and establishing this

community-based channel of science dissemination

and advocacy, postulating solutions towards a more

[2] Lee CM, Chandler C, Lazarus M, Johnson FX.

Assessing the Climate Impacts of Cookstove Projects:

Issues in Emissions Accounting. Challenges in

Sustainability. 2013;1(2):53–71.

[3] Ness B, Akerman A. Publishing Sustainability

Research Visually: A film about the Opportunities and

Challenges of a Rural Entrepreneurship Initiative in

Kenya. Challenges in Sustainability. 2013;1(2):80–81.

[4] King DL, Babasola A, Rozario J, Pearce JM.

Mobile Open-Source Solar-Powered 3-D Printers for

from: http://www.librelloph.com/challengesinsustain-

ability/about/editorialPolicies#focusAndScope.

[7] The Cost of Knowledge. Available from:

http://thecostofknowledge.com/.

[8] Bohannon J. Who's Afraid of Peer Review?.

Science. 2013;342(6154):60–65.

[9] Beall J. Scholary Open Access. Critical analysis

of scholary open-access publishing. Available from:

http://scholarlyoa.com/.