Editor-in-Chief needed for
Environmental Sociology
Deadline
About the role
Environmental Sociology is currently recruiting for an Editor in Chief as the current Editor in Chief will be stepping down at the end of 2025. This role is a great opportunity for an academic or team of academics with strong track records in environmental sociology and the commitment, drive and ability to help develop the journal. As part of this role, you will be responsible for the oversight and administration of a rigorous and proper peer review process that delivers an agreed amount of content of suitable scope and quality within an agreed publication timeframe.
Joining Environmental Sociology as Editor in Chief means connecting with a group of highly committed scholars who work closely together to promote scholarship in this interdisciplinary area of research. Joint or team application for the role of Editor in Chief are encouraged.
About the Journal
Environmental Sociology is dedicated to applying and advancing the sociological imagination in relation to a wide variety of environmental challenges, controversies and issues, at every level from the global to local, from ‘world culture’ to diverse local perspectives. As an international, peer-reviewed scholarly journal, Environmental Sociology aims to stretch the conceptual and theoretical boundaries of both environmental and mainstream sociology, to highlight the relevance of sociological research for environmental policy and management, to disseminate the results of sociological research, and to engage in productive dialogue and debate with other disciplines in the social, natural and ecological sciences.
Environmental Sociology is the official journal of the International Sociological Association’s Research Committee on Environment and Society (RC24). The successful candidate or team will be, or become, members of RC24.
For more information on RC24, please visit https://www.isarc24.org/
Key Skills and Attributes
The new Editor in Chief will:
- Work with the current Associate Editors and the Editorial Board to maintain and enhance the Journal’s quality and reputation internationally;
- Be responsible for soliciting and encouraging submissions to the journal;
- Identify suitable peer reviewers, making publication decisions about submissions following peer review, and ensuring that authors receive a first decision on their submissions within three months on average;
- Receive and process submissions through double-blind peer review using the Journal’s ScholarOne Manuscripts website (including initial editorial screening for suitability, assigning papers to other members of the editorial team if and as appropriate, selecting and inviting peer reviewers, managing correspondence with reviewers where necessary, making decisions on submissions). Familiarity with ScholarOne will be an advantage;
- Ensure that all authors and reviewers adhere to the Journal’s Code of Publishing Ethics;
- Collaborate with the Journal’s Editorial Board and adapt its composition as necessary in line with the editorial strategy for the Journal;
- Collaborate closely with RC24 and Routledge, Taylor & Francis to develop the editorial strategy and direction of the Journal.
Routledge, Taylor & Francis currently provide editorial assistant support to assist with the administrative aspects of managing a journal’s ScholarOne Manuscripts website, including checking all necessary files and information have been submitted, correspondence with authors and reviewers as required on technical aspects of submitting and reviewing, and sending accepted manuscripts into our production system.
The role will formally begin from 1 January 2026. It is envisaged that the successful candidate will benefit from a handover period with the outgoing Editor in Chief, Professor Stewart Lockie.
Interviews are expected to be held in September 2025.
Tentative schedule -
Interviews and appointment of new Editor in Chief: October 2025
Handover period: October-December 2025
New Editor in Chief in place: from 1 January 2026.
Application instructions
Applications should include your CV and a Cover Letter. Your Cover Letter should speak to the following:
- What you think you bring to the Journal as Editor in Chief
- How you would work in partnership with the Associate Editors and the Editorial Board
- For joint or team applications, detail on how the roles and responsibilities of Editor in Chief shall be shared
- What you see as key future developments in environmental sociology and how you might help the Journal develop in these areas
- How you would work to help attract a range of high-quality submissions
- Your approach to working with authors, including those less well-represented in academia
For any questions or the role profile, please contact Erato Basea, erato.basea@tandf.co.uk.
Did you know?
Joining a Taylor & Francis journal as an Editor or Board member brings many personal and professional benefits.
Find more roles in your subject area with our Editor Recruitment search tool.
The journal is committed to ensuring diversity, equity and inclusion within its editorial team and decision making processes. All applications will be treated as strictly confidential, and each will be judged on its merits without bias for seniority of institutional affiliation. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion, or religious creed, mental or physical disability, medical condition, genetic information, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, military or protected veteran status, citizenship, or other protected characteristics.