Author resources · draft guidance
Guide for Authors
Evidence for governing, delivering and scaling sustainability.
Editorial fit: four dimensions
1. Sustainability system
Define the system, policy, technology, programme or intervention, and the problem it addresses.
2. Implementation
Explain how it is adopted, delivered, institutionalised, replicated or scaled.
3. Governance
Analyse policy, finance, accountability, institutional and organisational mechanisms shaping performance.
4. Verified outcomes
Report evidence of performance, trade-offs, failures, uncertainty or transferable lessons.
Not every dimension needs equal emphasis; a sustainability topic alone is not sufficient. Governance and/or implementation must connect to evidence and transferability.
Article preparation formats
| Format | Indicative word count | Editorial contribution |
|---|---|---|
| Implementation Evidence | 6,000–9,000 | Intervention delivery, mechanisms, context and outcome evidence |
| Policy-to-Performance | 6,000–9,000 | Policy or regulation linked to implementation and verified results |
| Scale-Up Study | 6,000–9,000 | Replication, diffusion, institutionalisation and transfer |
| Failure & Learning | 5,000–8,000 | Rigorously evaluated underperforming or stalled interventions |
| Verification & Assurance | 5,000–8,000 | MRV, audit, traceability and performance verification |
| Systems Governance Research | 6,000–9,000 | Governance theory or empirical study of sustainability systems |
| State-of-the-Art Review | 8,000–12,000 | Critical synthesis and a defensible research agenda |
| Methods / Data / Tool | 4,000–7,000 | Validated, reusable implementation methods or datasets |
| Perspective / Debate | 2,000–4,000 | Evidence-led discussion, normally invited or pre-agreed |
The formats provide preparation guidance. Requirements and word ranges are governed by the current author instructions.
Preparing your submission
- Write in clear academic English, normally in Word; LaTeX may be accepted if the selected submission platform supports it.
- Provide a separate title page with all authors, affiliations, corresponding author and ORCID details.
- Provide an anonymised manuscript suitable for double-anonymous review, including anonymised document metadata, and separate identity-bearing files.
- Normally use a structured abstract up to 250 words (Purpose, Method, Findings, implications, originality) and 5–8 keywords.
- Include an Implementation Significance statement and discuss limitations, uncertainty and transferability.
- Provide CRediT, funding, competing interests, ethics/consent, data/code/materials availability and generative-AI-use declarations.
- Provide high-resolution figures with captions below and numbered tables with headings above, both cited in the text.
- Harvard author–date is the reference style illustrated in these materials; the original template also permits consistent initial reference formatting.
Pre-submission checklist
- Implementation/governance nexus and measurable outcome evidence are explicit.
- Original contribution and international transferability are explained.
- Methods are transparent and findings respect the limits of evidence.
- All authors consent to the submitted manuscript and authorship order.
- Declarations, citations, figures and copyright permissions are complete.
- Blinded files contain no author-identifying details.
- Originality and non-concurrent submission are confirmed.
Source: JSGI Guide for Authors (8 pages) and JSGI ASPG Manuscript Template (2 pages), provided to support author manuscript preparation.