Call for Papers

Journal of Circular Economy Innovations
P-ISSN: 3117-5953
E-ISSN: 3117-5961

The Journal of Circular Economy Innovations invites researchers, academics, professionals, policymakers, industry specialists, and interdisciplinary scholars to submit original manuscripts that advance knowledge and practice in the circular economy and related areas of sustainable resource use.

The journal welcomes research that moves beyond general sustainability discussion and makes a clear scholarly contribution to circularity. Submissions may address theoretical development, empirical investigation, technological innovation, organizational transformation, policy and governance, resource efficiency, circular business practices, sustainable production and consumption, material recovery, and other approaches that contribute to the transition from linear systems toward more circular and regenerative models.

The journal particularly encourages work that combines academic rigor with meaningful environmental, economic, technological, industrial, policy, or societal relevance.

Areas of Interest

Submissions may address, but are not limited to, the following areas:

  • Circular economy theory, concepts, and analytical frameworks

  • Circular economy indicators, metrics, and assessment methods

  • Circular business models and organizational transformation

  • Resource efficiency and resource productivity

  • Waste prevention, reduction, reuse, recycling, and recovery

  • Waste valorization and secondary-resource utilization

  • Industrial symbiosis and closed-loop production systems

  • Sustainable production and consumption

  • Circular manufacturing and remanufacturing

  • Product-life extension and durability strategies

  • Repair, refurbishment, reuse, and reverse logistics

  • Circular supply chains and sustainable procurement

  • Sustainable materials and material substitution

  • Eco-design, circular product design, and design for disassembly

  • Life-cycle thinking and life-cycle assessment

  • Material-flow analysis and resource-flow management

  • Sustainable packaging and circular packaging systems

  • Construction, demolition waste, and circular built environments

  • Circular cities, urban metabolism, and municipal resource systems

  • Circular approaches to water, energy, and material management

  • Bioeconomy, biomass utilization, and regenerative resource systems

  • Circular agriculture and sustainable food systems

  • Digital technologies supporting circular economy transitions

  • Artificial intelligence and data analytics for resource optimization

  • Internet of Things applications in circular production and supply chains

  • Blockchain, traceability, and digital product information

  • Industry 4.0 and smart circular manufacturing

  • Sharing, access-based, and product-service systems

  • Consumer behavior and participation in circular systems

  • Social innovation and inclusive circular-economy models

  • Circular economy policy, regulation, and governance

  • Extended producer responsibility and product stewardship

  • Economic instruments supporting circular transitions

  • Circular economy finance, investment, and organizational strategy

  • Environmental and socioeconomic impacts of circularity

  • Corporate circularity strategies and performance assessment

  • Small and medium-sized enterprise transitions toward circular practices

  • Developing-economy perspectives on circular transformation

  • Interdisciplinary research with a substantive circular-economy contribution

Manuscripts addressing adjacent sustainability topics should demonstrate a clear and direct relationship to circular-economy principles, processes, measurement, implementation, or outcomes.

Types of Scholarly Contributions

The journal welcomes appropriately designed scholarly contributions such as:

Original Research Articles • Review Articles • Systematic Reviews • Meta-Analyses • Case Studies • Conceptual Papers • Methodological Studies • Policy and Governance Analyses • Short Communications • Research Notes • Technical Studies • Perspective Articles

Authors should select the manuscript type that accurately reflects the research design, evidence base, methodology, and scholarly contribution of the work.

Empirical research should not be presented as completed real-world research when its findings are based entirely on hypothetical, illustrative, synthetic, or simulated data. Where such methods are used, their nature should be disclosed clearly in the manuscript.

Editorial Assessment and Peer Review

Every manuscript submitted to the Journal of Circular Economy Innovations undergoes an initial editorial assessment before external review. The editorial team evaluates whether the submission falls within the journal's aims and scope, presents an identifiable scholarly contribution, satisfies basic manuscript requirements, and provides sufficient methodological and ethical information for further consideration.

Manuscripts may also be examined for originality, inappropriate textual overlap, duplicate or redundant publication, authorship concerns, citation irregularities, data-related issues, and other matters relevant to research integrity. Similarity-detection software may be used as an editorial aid where appropriate; similarity results are interpreted in context rather than treated as an automatic determination of plagiarism.

Manuscripts considered suitable for external evaluation proceed through the journal's double-blind peer-review process, under which author identities are concealed from reviewers and reviewer identities are not disclosed to authors. The journal seeks independent expert assessment appropriate to the subject and methodology of the manuscript. Reviewer recommendations inform editorial decision-making, while final publication responsibility remains with the journal's authorized editorial leadership.

What Reviewers Consider

Depending on the nature of the submission, peer review may consider:

  • relevance to the journal's aims and scope;

  • originality and scholarly significance;

  • clarity of the research problem;

  • adequacy of research objectives or questions;

  • engagement with relevant scholarly literature;

  • appropriateness of the research design;

  • methodological transparency;

  • quality and reliability of data analysis;

  • validity of results and interpretations;

  • consistency between evidence and conclusions;

  • transparency concerning limitations;

  • ethical conduct and research integrity;

  • quality of tables, graphs, and supporting materials;

  • relevance to circular-economy scholarship; and

  • theoretical, technological, environmental, economic, policy, or societal contribution.

Claims concerning sustainability, circularity, resource savings, environmental benefits, carbon reduction, waste reduction, or improved system performance should be proportionate to the methodology and evidence presented.

Editorial Decision Categories

Following editorial and peer-review evaluation, manuscripts may receive one of the following decisions:

Accept — the manuscript is considered suitable for publication subject to applicable editorial and production requirements.

Minor Revision — limited modifications or clarifications are required before further consideration.

Major Revision — substantial methodological, analytical, conceptual, reporting, or presentation issues must be addressed.

Reject — the manuscript is unsuitable for publication or contains concerns that cannot reasonably be resolved through revision.

A request for revision does not constitute acceptance or guarantee subsequent publication.

Submission and Publication Workflow

The journal follows a structured editorial pathway:

1. Manuscript Submission
The author submits the manuscript and required supporting information through the journal's submission system.

2. Administrative Screening
The submission is checked for completeness and basic compliance with journal requirements.

3. Editorial Assessment
Scope, scholarly suitability, manuscript quality, research integrity, and applicable ethical information are assessed.

4. Originality and Integrity Review
Potential textual overlap and other publication-integrity concerns may be evaluated where appropriate.

5. Double-Blind Peer Review
Suitable manuscripts are referred to independent subject or methodological experts.

6. Editorial Decision
The editor considers the manuscript, reviewer reports, and applicable scholarly and ethical considerations.

7. Author Revision
Where revision is requested, authors respond to reviewer and editor comments and submit an appropriately revised manuscript.

8. Final Editorial Evaluation
The revised manuscript is assessed to determine whether outstanding scholarly and editorial requirements have been satisfactorily addressed.

9. Production and Proof Preparation
Accepted manuscripts proceed through copyediting, metadata verification, formatting, and applicable production processes.

10. Online Publication
The final article is published as part of the journal's scholarly record and made available under the journal's open-access arrangements.

Open Access and Publication Charges

The Journal of Circular Economy Innovations operates on an open-access basis so that published scholarly content can be accessed without subscription-based barriers.

The journal currently charges no article processing charge (APC). Authors are not required to pay submission, peer-review, processing, or publication fees. Editorial decisions are based on scholarly and ethical considerations and are independent of financial payment.

Publication Schedule

The journal maintains separate registered publication frequencies for its print and online editions:

Edition ISSN Publication Frequency
Print Edition 3117-5953 Monthly
Online Edition 3117-5961 Quarterly

For the electronic journal website, the principal publication schedule is Quarterly, corresponding to four regular online issue periods:

  • January–March

  • April–June

  • July–September

  • October–December

Accepted manuscripts are assigned to an appropriate issue following completion of peer review, editorial evaluation, revision, and production requirements. Publication frequency does not influence the scholarly decision concerning a manuscript.

Author Responsibilities Before Submission

Before submitting a manuscript, authors should ensure that:

  • the work is original and accurately reported;

  • the manuscript is not simultaneously under consideration by another journal;

  • all listed authors have made appropriate scholarly contributions and approved the submitted version;

  • authorship and institutional affiliations are reported accurately;

  • all sources have been acknowledged appropriately;

  • research methods and analytical procedures are described transparently;

  • data and results have not been fabricated, falsified, or misleadingly manipulated;

  • required ethics approval and informed consent have been obtained and reported where applicable;

  • relevant funding sources are disclosed;

  • conflicts of interest are declared;

  • data availability information is provided where relevant;

  • permissions have been obtained for third-party copyrighted material where required;

  • any material use of artificial intelligence tools is disclosed in accordance with the journal's AI Usage Policy; and

  • the manuscript complies with the journal's Author Guidelines and applicable publication-ethics policies.

Submission of a manuscript indicates that the authors accept responsibility for the accuracy, integrity, and scholarly content of the work.

Research Transparency

Authors are encouraged to provide sufficient information to permit informed evaluation of their research. Where applicable, manuscripts should describe data sources, sampling or selection procedures, analytical methods, software, computational models, assumptions, limitations, and validation procedures.

Research involving proprietary, confidential, personal, commercially sensitive, or restricted data should clearly disclose applicable limitations on data access without violating lawful confidentiality or privacy obligations.

Studies involving life-cycle assessment, material-flow analysis, circularity measurement, resource-efficiency evaluation, or computational modeling should report relevant assumptions, system boundaries, data sources, and methodological choices sufficiently clearly to support interpretation.

Manuscript Preparation

Authors should prepare submissions in clear, professional academic English and ensure consistency in terminology, citations, tables, figures, references, and research reporting.

The manuscript should present a well-defined research problem and should clearly explain its contribution to circular-economy knowledge or practice.

Authors are encouraged to review the journal's:

  • Author Guidelines

  • Manuscript Submission Guidelines

  • Publication Ethics

  • Peer Review Policy

  • Plagiarism Policy

  • Authorship Criteria

  • Conflict of Interest Policy

  • AI Usage Policy

  • Research Data Sharing Policy

  • Data Availability Policy

  • Copyright and Licensing Policy

before completing a submission.

Submission Window

Manuscripts may be submitted throughout the year for editorial consideration.

Submission does not guarantee external peer review, acceptance, or publication. Each manuscript must successfully complete the applicable editorial, scholarly, ethical, peer-review, revision, and production requirements.

Submit Your Manuscript

Researchers whose work falls within the journal's aims and scope are invited to submit their manuscripts through the official online submission system of the Journal of Circular Economy Innovations.

Authors should ensure that the submission is complete and prepared in accordance with the current journal guidelines before uploading manuscript files.

Questions concerning manuscript preparation, submission procedures, or journal policies may be directed to the journal through its official Contact page.

The Journal of Circular Economy Innovations welcomes responsible, methodologically sound, and academically meaningful research that contributes to understanding and advancing circular-economy transitions across industries, institutions, communities, technologies, and policy environments.