Great news from IJC! First, we are delighted with our current issue, which is coming out in the next week. In this, you will find 6 new research articles covering commons issues in a wide variety of localities using a range of methodological approaches from experimental economics to ethnography and several stops in between. There are also two special features. One is the initial forays of a new meta-analysis research program – the Social-Ecological Systems Meta-Analysis Database – that attempts to operationalize the SES Framework of Elinor Ostrom. This includes 5 case study analyses that utilize the database and framework, as well as a comparative piece across the variety of cases studied. The other special feature, led by Tim Moss, is on the Spatialities of the Commons, and consists of 4 studies that explicitly address spatial research in the study of the commons, an under-researched area of the field. We think that this issue is another strong example of the excellent work being done by scholars of the commons, which leads to my next point.
The journal has recently received its first impact factor (a measure reflecting the average number of citations to recent articles published in the journal) from ISI, calculated at 1.538. We are elated with this score for a young journal that has only recently been recognized by ISI. In the Environmental Studies category, we rank 38th out of 96. Again, we see this as validation of the great work being done. We hope that this recognition will help establish a virtuous cycle in which the journal continues to improve!!
With that in mind, a huge public thank you to all of our readers, authors, and reviewers!
michaelschoon 