The Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences (JESS) is the flagship journal of the Association for Environmental Studies and Sciences (AESS) and a leading venue for interdisciplinary environmental scholarship.

JESS publishes research, reviews, perspectives, pedagogical innovations, and practice-oriented contributions that address the interconnected environmental, social, economic, cultural, and political dimensions of sustainability challenges. We are particularly interested in scholarship that bridges disciplinary boundaries and advances understanding of relationships among people, environments, technologies, institutions, and social-ecological systems.

Environmental challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, resource insecurity, environmental injustice, urbanisation, digital transformation, and sustainability transitions require approaches that integrate diverse forms of knowledge. JESS therefore welcomes contributions from the natural sciences, social sciences, humanities, environmental professions, policy communities, Indigenous knowledge holders, and practitioners.

The journal seeks scholarship that not only advances knowledge but also informs policy, education, governance, and societal action. We encourage submissions from diverse geographic regions and perspectives, including work that amplifies voices and experiences historically underrepresented in environmental research and practice.

Through rigorous peer review and a commitment to interdisciplinarity, JESS aims to advance innovative, inclusive, and impactful environmental scholarship for a rapidly changing world.

JESS welcomes high quality submissions from environmental scholars and practitioners from across the globe. These contributions must explicitly involve interdisciplinary methods, content, and/or pedagogy, and clearly identify how the work contributes to environmental research, policy-making, advocacy, education, theory, or related activities. The editors encourage clear writing and straightforward organization and discourage the overuse of disciplinary jargon. Since the readership of JESS is interdisciplinary, the main ideas of articles should be comprehensible to nonspecialists. While we are open to a variety of types of work, JESS is not the right fit for everything. We receive a large number of submissions each year and only publish a small number that align with our aims and scope and meet the journal’s standards of quality.

We do not publish the following article types: technical reports; literature reviews that lack a specific method or systematic approach; articles with a single, disciplinary focus; and engineering, modeling, and other highly technical articles that do not substantially engage with interdisciplinary research methods, theories, or topics. In your cover letter, please describe the specific ways in which the work engages with interdisciplinary environmental research or pedagogy. Manuscripts submitted to the journal should not be under simultaneous consideration by any other journal or have been published elsewhere in any form.

The journal provides several submission categories, described below. Word count specifications are not inclusive of references, tables, figures, or abstract text.
 

• Research and Theory (5000-8000 words): research or work  that contributes to new knowledge or our collective understanding of environmental issues. Articles should connect directly to the journal’s aims and scope .
• Review Articles (<6000 words): methodologically rigorous reviews of extant literature addressing topics germane to the interdisciplinary environmental studies and sciences, such as meta-analyses or systematic analyses. We do not accept Review Articles that lack a specific method or systematic approach. 
• Research Brief (< 5000 words): a concise description of current or in-process interdisciplinary environmental research or related activities. For example, Research Briefs could include a  policy analysis, methodological innovation, or mid-course reflection on a research project. 
• Practitioner Voices (3000-5000 words): a contribution focused on any aspect of practice, including but not limited to reports on interdisciplinary courses or programs in higher education and advocacy or policy work. Rigorously conceptualized educational research projects should be submitted to the Research and Theory category.
• Opinion/Editorial Articles (<3000 words): essays addressing issues and events related to environmental studies and sciences. Essays should present a carefully reasoned and informed discussion with a point of view interesting and accessible to readers. Topics may involve any academic disciplines or discipline combinations, relate to contemporary or past environmental issues and events, and encourage discussion.
• Book Reviews (<3000 words): concise reviews of newly published books or extended essays combining a review of several books with a discussion of issues raised by the collective publications.
• Letters (<1000 words): communications relating to significant issues for readers, which can concern previously published journal material.