International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education: A Comprehensive Overview

Introduction

The International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education (IJSHE) is a fully-refereed academic journal dedicated to exploring sustainability issues within higher education institutions worldwide. This article provides a comprehensive overview of the journal, encompassing its aims, scope, target audience, and contributions to the field. The issue of sustainability in a higher education context is, to some extent, a recent theme. Since over 600 universities worldwide have committed themselves to sustainability by signing international agreements and conventions such as the Bologna Charter, The Halifax Declaration, the Talloires Declaration and the Copernicus Charter for Sustainable Development, the journal provides a vital outlet for this emerging research field.

Aims and Scope

The journal aims at addressing environmental management systems (EMS), sustainable development and Agenda 21 issues at higher education institutions worldwide. It intends to act as an outlet for papers dealing with curriculum greening and methodological approaches to sustainability. In addition, the journal shall report on initiatives for environmental improvements at universities, disseminate case studies, projects and programs with consideration of market opportunities, cost savings and the increased competitiveness that self-regulatory mechanisms such as environmental auditing and EMS bring to universities. The journal will also serve to foster information exchange with respect to pilot projects on transport, recycling, waste management, analysis of legislation and appraisals of the impacts of regulations, among other topics.

IJSHE welcomes original research articles, reviews, case studies, and theoretical papers that address a wide range of topics within the field of higher education, including but not limited to:

Teaching and Learning Innovations: Pedagogical approaches, curriculum design, technology-enhanced learning, and student-centered methodologies.
Institutional Development: Leadership, governance, policy-making, and strategic planning in higher education institutions.
Student Experience: Student engagement, retention, diversity, equity, inclusion, and support services.
Globalization and Internationalization: Cross-border education, international collaborations, and the impact of globalization on higher education.
Quality Assurance and Accreditation: Standards, assessment, and accountability in higher education.
Research and Scholarship: The role of research in higher education, academic publishing, and knowledge dissemination.
Workforce Development: Alignment of higher education with labor market needs, employability, and skills development.
Sustainability in Higher Education: Environmental, social, and economic sustainability initiatives within academic institutions.
Emerging Trends: The impact of artificial intelligence, digital transformation, and other technological advancements on higher education.

Other themes associated with the above or emerging ones will also be considered.

Target Audience

The journal will be of special interest to higher education institutions. Target groups of the journal are university administrators (e.g. Rectors, Vice-Chancellors, Presidents and Principals), Professors/Assistant Professors, Lecturers/Senior Lecturers and other members of staff (e.g. research fellows, research associates, adjuncts) working with environmental matters. In addition, staff working in estate departments and other members of staff (at universities and colleges) in charge of health and safety, water and electricity consumption and transport policies among others, will find IJSHE of interest. Since over 600 universities worldwide have committed themselves to sustainability by signing international agreements and conventions such as the Bologna Charter, The Halifax Declaration, the Talloires Declaration (signed to date by over 270 colleges and universities worldwide) and the Copernicus Charter for Sustainable Development (signed to date by over 240 European universities), this journal will be of special interest to them.

Read also: PIC: Your Path to Higher Education

Key Topics Covered

IJSHE addresses a wide array of topics relevant to sustainability in higher education. These include:

Environmental Management Systems (EMS)

The journal explores the implementation and effectiveness of EMS within universities. This includes examining how universities can integrate environmental considerations into their operations and management practices, leading to improved environmental performance. National legislation in countries such as the United States, UK and Sweden, plus current European legislation (e.g. European Environmental Management Systems, ISO 14001, etc) will encourage universities to be more pro-active in relation to environmental affairs and curriculum greening. The UK Toyne Report, which requires universities to publish environmental policies and the EMAS regulations, which compel European universities to green their campuses and produce environmental statements, are some examples of the challenges now facing institutions of higher education.

Sustainable Development and Agenda 21

IJSHE provides a platform for discussing the broader implications of sustainable development within the context of higher education. This encompasses how universities can contribute to achieving the goals outlined in Agenda 21, a comprehensive plan of action adopted by the United Nations to promote sustainable development globally.

Curriculum Greening

A core focus of IJSHE is on the integration of sustainability principles into university curricula. The journal features papers that explore innovative approaches to curriculum design, pedagogical methods, and the development of sustainability-focused courses. The green curriculum significantly influences environmental values orientation and pro-environmental behaviors, leading to positive effects on various dimensions of sustainability. The result suggests that implementing a GC positively influences environmental orientation, pro-environmental behavior and various dimensions of sustainability.

Methodological Approaches to Sustainability

IJSHE publishes research that examines various methodological approaches for assessing and promoting sustainability in higher education. This includes exploring the use of life-cycle assessments, environmental audits, and other tools to measure and improve the sustainability performance of universities.

Read also: USA Degree Programs

Initiatives for Environmental Improvements

The journal reports on practical initiatives undertaken by universities to improve their environmental performance. This includes case studies of successful projects related to transport, recycling, waste management, and energy conservation.

Case Studies, Projects, and Programs

IJSHE disseminates case studies, projects, and programs that highlight innovative approaches to sustainability in higher education. These examples provide valuable insights and lessons learned for other institutions seeking to implement similar initiatives.

Market Opportunities and Cost Savings

The journal considers the economic aspects of sustainability, including market opportunities and cost savings associated with environmental improvements. This helps universities understand the financial benefits of adopting sustainable practices.

Competitiveness through Self-Regulatory Mechanisms

IJSHE explores how self-regulatory mechanisms, such as environmental auditing and EMS, can enhance the competitiveness of universities. This includes examining how these mechanisms can improve a university's reputation, attract students, and enhance its overall performance.

Pilot Projects on Transport, Recycling, and Waste Management

The journal serves as a platform for sharing information about pilot projects focused on sustainable transport, recycling programs, and waste management strategies within universities.

Read also: Undergraduate Admissions at Oxford

Analysis of Legislation and Regulations

IJSHE provides analysis of relevant legislation and regulations related to environmental management and sustainability. This helps universities stay informed about legal requirements and best practices.

Impacts of Regulations

The journal assesses the impacts of environmental regulations on higher education institutions. This includes examining how regulations affect university operations, costs, and sustainability efforts.

Education for Sustainable Consumption (ESC)

This paper aims to propose and evaluate an innovative approach to education for sustainable consumption (ESC) which empowers teenagers and young adults to improve sustainable consumption competences. This approach combines pedagogical learning approaches such as real-world learning (e.g. experiential learning and research-based learning) with transformative and transdisciplinary research approaches (i.e. Through a transdisciplinary research design, the authors explore if real-world experiments (RWEs) offer a suitable approach for sustainable consumption education at schools. RWEs are a research approach for knowledge production, aiming to go beyond temporary interventions, to establish semi-permanent spaces for sustainability transformation and reflexive learning.

Contributions to the Field

IJSHE has made significant contributions to the field of sustainability in higher education by:

Providing a Dedicated Outlet

IJSHE is the first scholarly publication to specifically address the need for the dissemination of information on sustainability matters at higher education institutions. The journal fills a critical gap by providing a dedicated outlet for researchers and practitioners to share their work and insights. Current journals are either focusing on sustainable development per se, or on higher education generally. There are no specific fully-refereed outlets to date, to disseminate the broad body of work and knowledge currently available on sustainability in a higher education context.

Fostering Information Exchange

The journal fosters information exchange among researchers, practitioners, and policymakers interested in sustainability in higher education. This promotes collaboration and the sharing of best practices.

Promoting Research and Innovation

IJSHE encourages research and innovation in the field of sustainability in higher education. By publishing cutting-edge research, the journal helps to advance knowledge and drive progress in this important area.

Informing Policy and Practice

The journal informs policy and practice by providing evidence-based insights and recommendations for improving sustainability in higher education. This helps universities make informed decisions and implement effective sustainability initiatives.

Supporting Global Sustainability Efforts

By focusing on sustainability in higher education, IJSHE supports global efforts to achieve sustainable development. The journal contributes to creating a more sustainable future by promoting sustainability within universities and beyond.

Editorial Information

Editor: Professor Walter Leal Filho coordinates various European projects on environmental communication and teaches environmental communication and education issues at universities in Europe, Africa and Asia. He is the editor of the journal, âEnvironmental Management and Heath,â the âEuropean Environmental Education Newsletterâ and the series âEnvironmental Education, Communication and Sustainability,â with publications in English and German.
Deputy-Editor: Richard Clugston, Ph.D.
Books Editor: Mark Starik, Ph.D.

Publication Details

The International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education has been publishing since 2000 till date. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education is published Quarterly. The publisher of the International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education is Emerald Group Publishing Ltd.. pISSN number is 1467-6370 for International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education.

Submission Guidelines

Authors submitting to IJSHE are expected to adhere to strict ethical guidelines. Any manuscript you submit to this journal should be original. That means it should not have been published before in its current, or similar, form. Exceptions to this rule are outlined in our pre-print and conference paper policies. If any substantial element of your paper has been previously published, you need to declare this to the journal editor upon submission. Please note, the journal editor may use Crossref Similarity Check to check on the originality of submissions received.

If you have written about a company/individual/organisation in detail using information that is not publicly available, have spent time within that company/organisation, or the work features named/interviewed employees, you will need to clear permission by using the consent to publish form; please also see our permissions guidance for full details. If you have to clear permission with the company/individual/organisation, consent must be given either by the named individual in question or their representative, a board member of the company/organisation, or a HR department representative of the company/organisation.

For all research involving human participants, you must ensure that you have obtained informed consent, meaning that you must inform all participants in your work (or their legal representative) as to why the research is being conducted, whether their anonymity is protected, how their data will be stored and used, and whether there are any associated risks from participation in the study; the submitted work must confirm that informed consent was obtained and detail how this was addressed in accordance with our policy on informed consent. Where appropriate, you must provide an ethical statement within the submitted work confirming that your research received institutional and national (or international) ethical approval, and that it complies with all relevant guidelines and regulations for studies involving humans, whether that be data, individuals, or samples.

Prior to article submission, you need to ensure youâve applied for, and received, written permission to use any material in your manuscript that has been created by a third party.

Article files should be provided in Microsoft Word format. Articles should be between 6000 and 8000 words in length. This includes all text, for example, the structured abstract, references, all text in tables, and figures and appendices. Please allow 280 words for each figure or table.

All submissions must include a structured abstract, following the format outlined below. These four sub-headings and their accompanying explanations must always be included: Purpose, Design/methodology/approach, Findings, Originality. The maximum length of your abstract should be 250 words in total, including keywords and article classification.

Open Access Options

All our journals currently offer two open access (OA) publishing paths; gold open access and green open access. If you would like to, or are required to, make the branded publisher PDF (also known as the version of record) freely available immediately upon publication, you can select the gold open access route once your paper is accepted. If youâve chosen to publish gold open access, this is the point you will be asked to pay the APC (article processing charge). This varies per journal and can be found on our APC price list or on the editorial system at the point of submission. Your article will be published with a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 user licence, which outlines how readers can reuse your work.

Alternatively, if you would like to, or are required to, publish open access but your funding doesnât cover the cost of the APC, you can choose the green open access, or self-archiving, route. As soon as your article is published, you can make the author accepted manuscript (the version accepted for publication) openly available, free from payment and embargo periods.

tags: #international #journal #of #sustainability #in #higher