SST does not charge fees to either reader or author.
Small States & Territories (SST) is a scholarly, open-access journal dedicated exclusively to the study of the nature and workings of small sovereign states (however defined) and non-sovereign territories, including the comparison between the two. With a world system with only a few 'large states', and over a hundred subnational jurisdictions spread over all continents and oceans – from Abkhazia to Zanzibar, and from Åland to Wallis and Futuna – there is no shortage of subject matter for the journal.
The ISSN (International Standard Serial Number) for SST is: 2616-8006.
SST encourages a truly pluri-disciplinary approach to the study of small jurisdictions. Nevertheless, we also recognise the added relevance of specific disciplinary foci in the social sciences. Amongst these: geography, political science, economics, education, governance, international relations, public administration, international law and development studies.
All manuscripts that pass screening are then rigorously peer-reviewed, typically by at least two reviewers, operating in ‘double blind’ mode. Additional reviewers may be called upon if the results of the reviewing process are inconclusive.
All manuscripts that are received are first screened by the Executive Editor to confirm their suitability and ‘goodness of fit’ with SST’s mandate and formatting criteria. The results of this review are communicated rapidly – within a few days – to the manuscript authors.
SST has its institutional home at the Islands & Small States Institute (ISSI) of the University of Malta, in Malta (itself a small state). ISSI has been operating for 30+ years and is the only university unit in the world to offer a PhD programme (by research) in islands and small state studies.
SST is endorsed by the Network of Universities of Small Countries and Territories (NUSCT), following its inaugural meeting in Andorra on March 2, 2018.
SST is committed to the principles of open access (OA) publishing, as outlined in the IFLA Statement on Open Access to Scholarly Literature and Research Documentation (2003). Open Access benefits researchers and learners by equalizing access to research information and facilitating scholarly communication.
Like other Diamond Open Access journals, Small States & Territories is an academic-led and academic-owned publishing initiative. From its origins in 2018, Small States & Territories journal charges no fees to either reader or author. It proudly joins the community of Diamond Open Access journals, and is likewise committed to free knowledge availability and transfer. It supports the development of non-commercial or community-driven forms of open-access publishing. Small States & Territories supports the Action Plan for Diamond Open Access (2022), intended to further develop and expand a sustainable, community-driven Diamond OA scholarly communication ecosystem.
Small States & Territories is also a libre journal. This means that its content is not just free to read, but the work is openly licensed (through the use of a Creative Commons license), so that barriers to re-use are removed, while respecting the customary rights of authors. Thus, text that appears in SST can be freely copied in any medium or format, as long as it is not changed and properly cited, with a suitable attribution to its author and SST.