Journal Forum Sociológico has an open call for papers on the scope of a special issue about local knowledge and small-scale communities throught the social sciences perspectives on sustainability. The issue, edited by Joana Sá Couto, Cristiano Pereira and Júlio Sá Rêgo, aims to focus on the importance of local and/or small-scale community knowledge in relation to everyday life and its elements, in the management of natural resources and its need to be valued at a political level.

Guest editors

• Joana Sá Couto, Anthropologist and PhD candidate in the Climate Change and Sustainable Development Policies Programme (ICS-UL, Portugal). She works on the local knowledge of fishing communities and sustainability. ORCID: 0000-0001-9841-4727
• Cristiano Pereira, Anthropologist and PhD candidate in the Anthropology: Politics and Images of Culture and Museology Programme (ISCTE-IUL / NOVA FCSH, Portugal). He dedicates his research to "chegas de bois" in the north of Portugal, particularly in the municipality of Montalegre. ORCID: 0000-0002-8689-1451
• Júlio Sá Rêgo, PhD in Anthropology. Specialising in intangible cultural heritage and sustainable development, he explores the potential of local knowledge to respond to current sustainability challenges. ORCID: 0000-0001-9247-2600

Presentation

In the Anthropocene, more and more challenges are jeopardising our daily way of life. We're talking about environmental, economic, political, and social challenges that directly or indirectly alter the day-to-day lives of humans and non-humans alike. These challenges have shown that the way we relate to the environment/nature crucially dictates the survival of ways of life, in a context of growing uncertainty about what the future holds for us as a human species. At local level it is possible to find strategies to mitigate these challenges, characterised by processes of adaptation, resistance, and resilience.

This special issue focuses on the importance of local and/or small-scale community knowledge in relation to everyday life and its elements, in the management of natural resources and its need to be valued at a political level. However, this knowledge, which some may consider to be lay knowledge, is difficult to translate for political decision-makers. In this sense, it is also important to reflect on the role of the social sciences, and anthropology in particular, in this process and its dialogue with transdisciplinarity.

Considering these aspects, we invite the submission of scientific articles that consider different case studies, but also theoretical and methodological works, seeking to contribute in an organised way to the debate on how local knowledge and the Social Sciences can enable more sustainable ways of life.

This special issue will be published online in the journal Forum Sociológico in 2025.

Submission of papers

Original proposals for scientific articles written in Portuguese, English, Spanish and French will be accepted.

All article proposals, both review and empirical, must be sent in their complete version by email (.docx format) to Forum Sociológico (forum@fcsh.unl.pt) with the title of the special issue in the subject field and

by May 31, 2024.

Before submitting a proposal to the journal within the scope of this special issue, all authors must

• be aware of the policies, editorial procedures and rules for the preparation and submission of texts, published in particular on the pages Rules for the Submission of Originals and Declaration of Ethics and Good Practices;
• have participated substantially in the work;
• have identified all the sources of funding for the research carried out;
• obtain all the necessary authorisations and licences for reproduction, publication and dissemination in open access (rights to use images or other third-party material, etc.), assuming responsibility for indicating the respective credits in the work and any charges that may be incurred.), taking responsibility for indicating the respective credits in the work and any costs associated with obtaining them and exempting the journal and CICS.NOVA - Interdisciplinary Centre for Social Sciences of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities of NOVA University Lisbon from any responsibility in this regard;
• taking final responsibility for the content and statements made in the text.

For more information, click here.

Evaluation

The Editorial Board reserves the right to publish/not publish submitted manuscripts, and informs the authors of its decision. The decision is supported by an evaluation process of the manuscripts based on a blind peer-review system, carried out in two consecutive steps :

1. Manuscripts are submitted to an initial assessment by the Editorial Board, which decides on the manuscript’s submission to the following step of the process, i.e. on the submission to peer review. This decision is made taking into consideration criteria of relevance, interest and quality, as well as defined criteria according to the journal’s editorial policy and guidelines for authors.

2. The selected manuscripts in the first step are submitted to detailed evaluation by anonymous reviewers through a double-blind peer review system. The reviews resulting of this process will be the base for the final decision on the manuscript’s publication by the Editorial Board.

The Editorial Board sends the blinded reviews to the authors and may suggest revisions, according to the recommendations made by the reviewers. A new evaluation of the revised paper may also be necessary in order to make the final decision on its publication.

When manuscripts submitted to the second step of evaluation are rejected, Forum Sociológico will inform the authors of the reasons for this decision, generally sending the reviewers’ opinions to the authors.

The Editorial Board is responsible for the final decision, according with the referees’ reviews and the journal’s editorial policy.

Authors are fully responsible for the published manuscripts.

Editorial Board

• Ana Alexandre Fernandes (Editor in Chief), PhD, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal | ORCID
• Beatriz Padilla, PhD, University of South Florida, USA | ORCID
• José Carlos Marques, PhD, Instituto Politécnico de Leiria, Portugal | ORCID
• Luciana Andrade, PhD, Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais, Brazil | ORCID
• Maria João Bárrios, PhD, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal | ORCID
• Patrícia Pereira, PhD, Instituto Politécnico de Leiria, Portugal | ORCID
• Renata Sá Gonçalves, PhD, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Brazil | ORCID
• Silvia Gomes, PhD, University of Warwick, England | ORCID