Ethics and Social Welfare

This special issue of Ethics & Social Welfare focuses on ethical concerns, dilemmas, and case studies related to climate and environmental justice, with submissions from the Global South and Indigenous communities especially encouraged. Social work and social welfare have increasingly recognized interconnections among professional practice, climate change, and environmental justice. The negative impacts of the climate crisis and other environmental hazards disproportionately impact marginalized communities moreso than others. Questions of who is most affected, how we know this, what interventions are or should be undertaken, and by whom, raise ethical questions and dilemmas with social welfare implications related but not limited to:

• Whose voices and experiences are centered in climate and environmental justice efforts?
• How is knowledge about disparities related to climate and environmental justice generated, held by, or shared with communities themselves?
• When, how, and by whom should climate mitigation strategies (e.g., renewable energy technologies) be pursued, if they too are inherently extractive?
• How are adaptation and loss and damage debates centered in the international climate discourse? What are the ethical dimensions thereof?
• Which community, program, or policy change strategies are pursued, and at what scale, when so many lives and dimensions of well-being are at stake?
• Who is carrying the burden of adaptation, mitigation, and response efforts to address climate and environmental injustice?
• What are the gender dimensions and manifestations of climate and environmental injustice?

We invite a range of contributions from academics, practicing social workers, community members, and co-authored teams from such groups that especially draw out and highlight the ethical dimensions and social welfare implications of climate and environmental justice issues. Contribution types include, but are not limited to:

• Theoretical or conceptual papers
• Empirical research
• Policy analyses
• Case studies of specific ethical dilemmas and their resolution
• Practitioner or community member perspectives

Theoretical, conceptual, empirical, and policy papers should have a maximum of 8,000 words. Case studies and perspectives should have a maximum of 3,000 words. Word limits are inclusive of references, footnotes, and endnotes. Book reviews may also be considered upon invitation from the editors. The guest editors welcome suggestions for specific books to review aligned with the special issue’s aims and objectives.

Abstract Submission
Potential contributors should submit an abstract of up to 500 words on or before February 1, 2024, to Dr. Nicole Mattocks at [email protected]. Abstracts should include:

• Name, affiliation, and email of author(s)
• Contribution type
• For Theory, Case Studies, or Perspectives:
  • Purpose
  • Supporting Detail or Description
  • Conclusions
  • For Empirical or Policy Analyses:
  • Purpose
  • Methods
  • Results
  • Conclusions

The guest editors will review abstracts and notify authors by March 15, 2024, whether they are invited to submit a paper for the special issue.

Special Issue Timeline
•Abstracts due: February 1, 2024
•Notification of paper invitation: March 15, 2024
•Papers due: August 15, 2024
•Reviewer feedback provided to authors: October 15, 2024
•Revised papers due: December 15, 2024, with final revisions and edits after this date, if required for publication
•Rolling online publication: January 2025, onward
•Special issue publication: February 2025, onward

Instructions for AuthorsSubmit an Article