ISSN

not available (PRINT)
3078-2260 (ONLINE)

Focus and scope

The Journal of Interdisciplinary Ethical Research aims to provide a global platform for the dissemination of a wide spectrum of research data and proposed solutions within its stated mandate. Therefore, it will be devoted to the examination of ethical issues that arise in any of the different academic fields of study. Interdisciplinarity requires that researchers within different academic disciplines should launch themselves from a common research springboard, so to speak, from where they can present new knowledge horizons and offer solving perspectives on specific ethical challenges. However, individual researchers can submit interdisciplinary ethical research conducted on their own, although the former is preferred. In other words, both group and individual interdisciplinary ethical research are welcome. The Journal of Interdisciplinary Ethical Research will add academic value, locally and globally, with its different points of departure deeply embedded in justice, truth, accountability, inclusivity, and human dignity.

From a mainly qualitative methodological perspective/approach, this journal will demonstrate that ethics requires analytical thinking and critical scholars who in an existentially and emancipatory way can help make the world a more flourishing, decent, and humane place in which to live. It will challenge conventional boundaries and will respond to and reflect on the rapidly changing global knowledge economy in this regard. The journal’s publication criteria will therefore be based on rigorous research, accountable methodologies and novel findings based on sound ethical standards.

Articles from all academic disciplines within the scope of the journal will be considered. Contributions will not be confined to a specific region or continent, for the aim is to engage with worldwide issues, challenges and problems including possible themes such as poverty; hunger; education; gender equality; inequality and unemployment; climate change; the green economy; violence; art; sexuality; morality; imagination; creativity; consciousness; journalism; medicine; and artificial intelligence.

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

The journal, in terms of its focus and scope, and, by extension, by the articles that are published in it, aims to respond to the following SDGs:

• Goal 1: End poverty in all its forms everywhere.
• Goal 2: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.
• Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.
• Goal 4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.
• Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.
• Goal 6: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.
• Goal 8: Promote sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.
• Goal 10: Reduce inequality within and among countries.
• Goal 11: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable.
• Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.
• Goal 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas, and marine resources for sustainable development.
• Goal 15: Protect, restore, and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.
• Goal 16: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions at all levels.
• Goal 17: Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development.

SDGs must be problematised from an ethical perspective – in other words, critiques against the way that development is defined and socially constructed, must be unpacked.

Historic data

AOSIS launched the Journal of Interdisciplinary Ethical Research in 2024. The power of interdisciplinary interaction and cross-border research cannot be overestimated. The journal focusses on researchers entering uncharted territory and on experimental work that has the potential to break new ground. The crossing of boundaries is also related to certain traditional barriers between disciplines, which can have a fragmenting effect on the search for new knowledge. Often the most interesting discoveries and developments are to be found in the gaps between disciplines. Furthermore, the complexity of contemporary reality makes a single-discipline approach increasingly untenable. This journal is unique in that it caters for all disciplines and tries to develop a new interdisciplinary approach. Instead of relying on generalists, it seeks the leading specialists in a specific field, but who could share their research and work together with scientists in other fields. Crossing boundaries also implies a certain “democratisation” of the academic process and research outcomes.

Publication frequency

The journal publishes one issue each year. Articles are published online when ready for publication and then printed in an end-of-year compilation. Additional issues may be published for special events (e.g. conferences) and when special themes are addressed.

Types of articles published

Read full details on the submissions guidelines page.

Open access

This is an open access journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is in accordance with the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI) definition of open access. Learn more about the journal copyright, licensing and publishing rights.

Review process

The journal has a double-blinded peer review process. Manuscripts are initially examined by the editorial staff and are sent by the Editor-in-Chief to two expert independent reviewers, either directly or by a Section Editor. Read our full peer review process.

Marketing

AOSIS has a number of ways in which we promote publications. Learn more here.

Membership

AOSIS is a member and/or subscribes to the standards and code of practices of several leading industry organisations. This includes the Directory of Open Access Journals, Ithenticate, Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association, CrossRef, Portico and the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Learn more here.

We are working closely with relevant indexing services to ensure that articles published in the journal will be available in their databases when appropriate.

The full text of the journal articles is deposited in the following archives to guarantee long-term preservation:

• AOSIS Library
• Portico
• South African Government Libraries

AOSIS is also a participant in the LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe) initiative. LOCKSS will enable any library to maintain their own archive of content from AOSIS and other publishers, with minimal technical effort and using cheaply available hardware. The URL to the LOCKSS Publisher Manifest for the journal is, https://ethicalresearchjournal.org/index.php/jier/gateway/lockss. Please inform us if you are using our manifest as we would like to add your name to the list above.

A journal's Impact Factor was originally designed in 1963 as a tool for libraries to compare journals, and identify the most popular ones to subscribe to. It was never intended to measure the quality of journals, and definitely not the quality of individual articles.

The Impact Factor is a journal-level measurement reflecting the yearly average number of citations of recent articles published in that journal. It is frequently used as a proxy for the relative importance of a journal within its field; journals with higher Impact Factors are often deemed to be more important than those with lower ones. Therefore, the more often articles in the journal are cited, the higher its Impact Factor.

The Impact Factor is highly discipline-dependent due to the speed with which articles get cited in each field and the related citation practices. The percentage of total citations occurring in the first two years after publication varies highly amongst disciplines. Accordingly, one cannot compare journals across disciplines based on their relative Impact Factors.

We provide several citation-based measurements for each of our journals, if available. We caution our authors, readers and researchers that they should assess the quality of the content of individual articles, and not judge the quality of articles by the reputation of the journal in which they are published.