To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the creation of the Society for Conservation Biology's Social Science Working Group (SSWG), Conservation Biology seeks to publish a special issue aims to reflect critically on the application and integration of the social sciences into conservation science and practice.
Conservation Biology: Call for abstracts for a special issue on Trends and Future Directions in the Conservation Social Sciences
Articles in the issue will have a prospective stance or examine past contributions and trends in the conservation social sciences through empirical investigation, synthesis, narrative review, or theoretical integration. Key topics of interest include (1) the growing role of the social sciences in the study and practice of conservation across biodiversity challenges, geographic regions, and time; (2) the development of thematic interests within the study and practice of conservation social science, including drivers and outcomes in terms of regional and global conservation, (3) potential gaps or drawbacks associated with the direction and predominance of the field's growth; (4) successes and challenges in the integration and application of the social sciences into conservation, including challenges related to inter- and transdisciplinarity; and (5) reflexive forecasting of gaps, trends, and contributions of the social sciences to conservation science and practice.
Examples of submissions that are in scope include:
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Bibliographic studies or trends assessment of social science articles and conference talks over time;
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Analyses of the factors that have enabled the social sciences to be integrated into conservation projects (this could be based on key informant interviews, practitioner surveys, etc.);
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Career and educational trends in conservation, including a review of required skills in advertised positions;
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Description (?) or application of methods that introduce emerging social science tools and techniques newly being applied in conservation settings.
Deadline for abstract submission: 20 December 2023
Submit an abstract by email to the Guest Editors - ConSocSci (at) gmail (dot) com by 20 December 2023. Abstracts will be evaluated for relevance to the issue theme and appropriateness for publication in Conservation Biology. Authors will be notified in January 2024, and the deadline for full manuscript submission will be at the end of April 2024.
Abstract Requirements
Abstracts should be no longer than 300 words and include the (tentative) title and article type (Contributed Paper, Review, Essay, Conservation Practice and Policy, Conservation Methods, or Diversity – for details on article types, see here; please note we are not accepting Book Reviews or Letters for this Special Issue). Abstracts should include background contextualising the work and provide a succinct description of the methods, principal results, and major inferences. In addition, abstracts should clearly indicate how the paper aligns with the focus of the special section as well as the aims and scope of Conservation Biology.
Please note: Conservation Biology is a hybrid journal. Open-access charges apply to those choosing this option. Standard page charges can be waived if there is financial need (corresponding author must be an SCB member). For additional advice, author instructions and guidelines, please contact Guest Editor Ans Vercammen - a.vercammen (at) uq (dot) edu (dot) au.