Small States & Territories Journal

Call for papers

Call for papers

Call for Papers: SST 8(1), May 2025

Cultural Heritage, Territory and Climate Resilience in
small island states and territories

A special section to appear in: Small States and Territories, 8(1), May 2025

Guest Editors: Stefano Moncada and Pedro Pombo

Islands and Small States Institute, University of Malta, Malta

Small island states and territories are particularly vulnerable to adverse impacts of climate change. However, insular and small states’ cultural heritages and local knowledge systems, intimately connected with the environment, are often absent in discussions regarding climate resilience.

While climate change impacts cultural and natural landscapes, traditional heritages and vernacular knowledges may provide answers to sustainable futures through established cultural systems, especially by integrating ecological preservation with socioeconomic development. However, there seems to be scarce evidence of such interactions in the existing body of knowledge, especially in the context of small states and territories, where the literature has focused more on models and solutions at a higher scale, often distant from where communities live.  

Small States & Territories journal (SST) invites contributions for a special section on Cultural heritage, territory and climate resilience, exploring the links between natural and cultural landscapes, vernacular knowledges and climate resilience, with a focus on small island states and territories. This includes, but is not limited to, the following themes:

  • heritage and climate resilience
  • cultural landscapes as heritage ecologies
  • vernacular knowledge systems and environmental conservation
  • climate change impacts on cultural heritage
  • traditional cultural attachments to landscape and sustainable development
  • histories of cultural and heritage circulations
  • imaginaries of sustainable futures in small island states and territories
  • disappearing and artificial territories.

We are interested in empirical research contributions that utilize a variety of research methods (qualitative, quantitative and mixed-methods). In all these contributions, authors must engage directly with the implications of small insular state (or territory) size and scale.

To be eligible for consideration, please submit an abstract of a maximum of 300 words to Guest Editors, Dr Stefano Moncada at stefano.moncada@um.edu.mt and Dr Pedro Pombo at pedro.sobral-pombo@um.edu.mt. The abstract should include the author(s) name, affiliation, the title of the proposed study, up to five keywords, and the corresponding email address. All manuscripts will be rigorously peer-reviewed.

All details regarding the SST house style can be found at: www.um/edu.mt/sst  

Important dates
Abstract submission deadline: 15 March 2024
Deadline for notification of acceptance/rejection of abstract: 1 April 2024
Deadline for complete draft submission to Guest Editors: 15 July 2024
Publication (Online; Open Access): May 2025

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Small States & Territories (SST) invites authors to submit manuscripts to be considered for publication, including for special sections. 

More details in the 'calls for papers' below.

Public Administration and Crisis Governance in Small States

We live in an era of complex policy challenges and ongoing crises, some of them even overlapping. Crises are situations in which governments and public administrations must (re-)act under conditions of uncertainty, urgency and perceived threat. Recent examples include the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the cost-of-living crisis, or natural disasters. Small states are especially vulnerable to crises because of their exposure to external factors and because problems can escalate quickly on a small scale. How do small states’ public administrations tackle such challenges? 

Against this backdrop, Small States & Territories (SST) calls for the submission of manuscripts to a special section on ‘Public Administration and Crisis Governance in Small States’ to appear in Vol. 7, No. 2 (November 2024).

We expect crisis governance to have special characteristics in small states. While previous research has already identified special characteristics of public administrations in small countries, we know little about how these special traits play out in the context of crisis. For instance, small countries are characterized by limited resources and constraints on specialization, smaller numbers of actors, and more informal working procedures. What are the implications of these traits for managing complex policy challenges and emerging crises?

The articles in the special section could explore, for example:

  • How are crises managed by small public administrations?
  • Who are the key actors and how are their relations managed, e.g. do we see more centralized or networked crisis governance?
  • What issues arise from informal and flexible problem-solving, e.g. with regard to the transparency and accountability of public crisis decision-making?
  • How is knowledge / expertise produced and used in crisis governance?
  • What role do other countries play in small states' crisis governance, e.g. as blueprints or cooperation partners?
  • How are future-looking or uncertainty-embracing approaches implemented in small public administrations, e.g. policy experiments or policy pilots?

Manuscripts that are comparative in approach are particularly welcome.

The special section editors (Külli Sarapuu and Marlene Jugl) invite interested authors to send an abstract of around 300 words to: sst@um.edu.mt by 8 September 2023. The authors should note that – due to the aim to publish in November 2024 – the deadline for the submission of full manuscripts is 9 January 2024.

About the journal: Launched in 2018, Small States & Territories (SST) has its institutional home at the Islands and Small States Institute of the University of Malta. All articles published in SST are rigorously peer-reviewed. 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. SST is a Diamond Open Access journal, with no processing charges or fees.

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Security Challenges of Small States

In the shadow of great power rivalry, small states face a myriad of security challenges that stretch their limited resources, and may threaten their sovereignty and territorial integrity. Frequently lumped together in broadly defined regions, a single-country perspective on international, regional, and national security remains an under-investigated subject; as is a ‘small state’ approach to shared challenges. From diverse lenses of security approaches, Small States & Territories journal is proposing a special section in its Volume 7, No 1 (May 2024) issue on the Security Challenges of Small States, offering researchers and practitioners a unique platform to present and discuss a wide spectrum of security challenges and possible solutions. This includes, but is not limited to, the following themes:

  • Crime and transnational criminal organizations
  • Migration and human trafficking
  • Small arms and drugs trafficking
  • Health security
  • Law enforcement agencies
  • Private security companies
  • Environmental security
  • Gender-based violence
  • Terrorism and counterterrorism
  • Security of sea lines of communication
  • Humanitarian interventions
  • Ethnic violence
  • Energy security

We are interested in empirical research contributions that utilize a variety of research methods (qualitative, quantitative and mixed-methods). In all these contributions, authors must engage directly with the implications of small state (or territory) size and scale.

To be eligible for consideration, please submit an abstract of a maximum of 300 words to Guest Editor, Dr Michal Pawinski at michal.pawinski@sta.uwi.edu  and copy Co-Guest Editors, Dr Randy Seepersad at randy.seepersad@sta.uwi.edu and Dr Annita Montoute at annita.montoute@sta.uwi.edu . The abstract should include the author(s) name, affiliation, the title of the proposed study, up to five keywords, and the corresponding email address. All manuscripts will be rigorously peer-reviewed.

Important dates
Abstract submission deadline: 30 April 2023
Deadline for notification of acceptance/rejection of abstract: 12 May 2023
Deadline for complete draft submission to Guest Editors: 30 September 2023
Publication (Online; Open Access): May 2024

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About the Journal

Launched in 2018, Small States & Territories (SST) has its institutional home at the Islands and Small States Institute of the University of Malta, Malta. All articles published in SST are rigorously peer-reviewed. 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. There are no costs for authors or readers.


https://www.um.edu.mt/sst/callforpapers/