Journal of Cognition and Development

The Journal of Cognition and Development invites abstracts for submission to a Special Issue on Child Development and Climate Change. The unprecedented nature of climate change offers major challenges to children’s development and to psychological research. The wide-ranging, global implications are difficult to grasp and anxiety-provoking. We invite abstracts for papers that will address these challenges, with a focus on children and adolescents.

Examples of topics appropriate for this issue:

• The understanding of the causes of climate change by children and/or youth.
• The understanding of the long-term consequences of climate change by children and/or youth.
• The impact of climate change on cognitive development and education in children and/or youth.
• The impact of climate change on emotional development and well-being in children and/or youth.
• Intervention strategies aimed at helping children and/or youth cope with their anxieties about climate change and/or increase their sense of efficacy.
• Intervention strategies aimed at helping children and/or youth prepare for, adapt to and/or recover from climate-related disasters and slower-acting climate impacts.
• The measurement and promotion of a sense of connectedness to nature and the planet by children and/or youth.
• Studies of children and/or youth from populations with distinctive cultural beliefs, practices, or vulnerabilities with respect to environmental protection and climate risk.

Contributions from authors studying the impact of climate change in the Global South are especially welcome.

Submissions do not need to include original empirical data, although these are welcome. Theoretical papers, meta-analyses, and narrative reviews are also welcome.

Author guidelines

• Prospective authors should prepare a 1000-word abstract, describing the specific ways their proposed manuscript will advance conversations about climate change and child development. It is not necessary in the abstract to describe well-known literature on the topic.
• The abstract should include at the top of the document: Tentative title, author names and affiliations, and the corresponding/contact author’s email address.
• Please save the document in .docx format with the contact author’s name as the first word in the filename (e.g., “Harris-et-al-climate-abstract.docx”).
• We encourage inclusive authorship practices that incorporate local participants as collaborators and authors.
• Only one submission per author will be considered.

• Submission of 1000-word abstract: May 31, 2024. Please send your abstract by email to [email protected] . Please be sure it includes at the top of the document the tentative title, author names and affiliations, and the corresponding/contact author’s email address. It should be saved in .docx format with the contact author’s name as the first word in the filename (e.g., “Harris-et-al-climate-abstract.docx”).
• Abstracts will be evaluated after the deadline to ensure a balance of authors, populations, and topics.
• Invitation of submission of full manuscripts for peer review: June 30, 2024
• Deadline for submission of full manuscripts: December 31, 2024.
• Invited manuscripts will go through the usual peer review process.

The special issue is scheduled for publication in 2026 but papers may be available online earlier, as they are accepted and copyedited

Instructions for AuthorsSubmit an Article