Cities and Climate Change: PLOS Climate’s first Call for Papers

UPDATE: The submission deadline for our Cities and Climate Change call for papers has been extended to 23 September 2022!

It has been almost a year since PLOS Climate first opened for submissions, and during that time the journal has been on an amazing journey. Working closely with our global editorial board, we have been developing projects and policies, and making ever more connections with contributors and collaborators across the world.

With the journal up and running and publishing content, we are now turning our attention to some of the most pressing issues and dialogues in climate research and policy, with the aim of providing a much-needed transdisciplinary venue for original research, reviews and opinions on these topics. In pursuit of this goal, this week we are excited to launch PLOS Climate‘s first ever call for papers, on the theme of “Cities and Climate Change“. This call for papers will result in a Collection- curated by PLOS Climate Section Editors- that will draw together research on all aspects of urban climate change mitigation, adaptation and resilience, covering topics including emission reductions, energy systems, technological solutions, green infrastructure, urban planning and design, policy, social justice and public health.

“The Glasgow COP in 2021 saw critical progress in realizing key goals in response to climate change,” says PLOS Climate Editor-in-Chief Emma Archer, Professor at the University of Pretoria. “However, we see continuing evidence of vulnerability to climate change all around us. Cities are particularly vulnerable to climate change, yet also sites of great potential in terms of both adaptation and mitigation. For example, green urban areas can provide multiple benefits in climate adaptation and mitigation, including mediating the effects of extreme heat.”

“Cities are demographic, socio-economic and infrastructure hotpots where key battles have to be fought on the path to deep decarbonization, as well as addressing the risk-exposure and vulnerability to the impacts of climate change to more than 55% of the world’s population,” says PLOS Climate Section Editor Shobhakar Dhakal, Professor at the Asian Institute of Technology, who will help curate the Collection. “To support climate actions, we need a strong, Open Access knowledge base, which PLOS Climate is committed to providing.”

PLOS Climate will be announcing further calls for papers on a range of cross-cutting topics later in 2022; watch this space for announcements!

In the meantime, you can find all the information about our “Cities and Climate Change” call for papers here. The deadline for submission is 12th August 2022. We look forward to receiving your submissions for peer review!