Abstracts Submission

During the last decades, shipping decarbonization has become a critical issue in the fight against climate change. The need for the maritime industry to shift to low and zero-carbon technologies and fuels to reach climate neutrality and align with the Paris Agreement goals, along with the constant growth of global trade, presents a major challenge that can only be addressed by combining bold regulatory action, industry collaboration, and major investments. In this direction, in July 2023, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) adopted a revised greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions strategy (2023 IMO GHG Strategy), which includes a commitment to reach net-zero GHG emissions from shipping “by or around, i.e., close to 2050” and interim checkpoints for 2030 and 2040. Since then, the IMO has worked on the adoption of a new GHG policy to meet these goals. In April 2025, the IMO reached a significant milestone in this process, as it approved the IMO Net-Zero Framework. The IMO Net-Zero Framework includes both a technical measure (the GHG fuel standard) and a GHG pricing element, and aspires to reach climate goals through the provision of economic incentives for the stimulation and acceleration of investments in renewable marine fuels. If adopted in Autumn 2026, it will become the key global policy driving shipping decarbonization in the coming decades. The recent postponement of the decision to adopt the framework is a testament to the difficult political circumstances for its adoption.

This thematic issue explores the relevance of the IMO Net-Zero Framework for shipping decarbonization at the global, regional, and national levels. We welcome articles that analyze the IMO Net-Zero Framework from the perspective of:

• Environmental effectiveness: effectiveness in reducing GHG emissions from shipping; co-benefits, e.g., in terms of development benefits related to the production and distribution of alternative bunker fuels; and potential co-harms, e.g., environmental risks related to the production and use of alternative bunker fuels.
• Interaction with EU policies and national efforts to decarbonize shipping (e.g., interactions with national action plans or sub-global policies aimed at decarbonising international shipping, such as the EU ETS and FuelEU Maritime).
• Relevance for ports and green corridors, including analyses of barriers to supplying alternative fuels or safety-related concerns.
• Economic impacts on states and the shipping industry, including effects on GDP, trade patterns, and food security.
• The just and equitable transition in the shipping sector, including the need for training and re-training the maritime workforce, seafarers' well-being, and diversity.
• Alternative fuels and other zero and near-zero-emission technologies, such as analyses of the fuels and technologies that the IMO Net-Zero Framework will incentivise.

This thematic issue will be multidisciplinary, drawing on perspectives from law, economics, policy, political science, and sociology.

Authors interested in submitting a paper for this issue are asked to consult the journal's instructions for authors and submit their abstracts (maximum of 250 words, with a tentative title) through the abstracts system (here). When submitting their abstracts, authors are also asked to confirm that they are aware that Ocean and Society is an open access journal with a publishing fee if the article is accepted for publication after peer-review (corresponding authors affiliated with our institutional members do not incur this fee).

Readers across the globe will be able to access, share, and download this issue entirely for free. Corresponding authors affiliated with any of our institutional members (over 90 institutions worldwide) publish free of charge. Otherwise, an article processing fee will be charged to the authors to cover editorial costs. We defend that authors should not have to personally pay this fee and encourage them to check with their institutions if funds are available to cover open access publication costs. Further information about the journal's open access charges can be found here.

The aim of this thematic issue is to gain a better understanding of how and why compellence is used in the maritime sphere today. Building on coercion literature, we examine case studies in which state or non-state actors use compellence to influence the behaviour of another state or non-state actor, focusing on cases in which the compeller uses violence, aggression, or the threat of violence. By examining case studies from different parts of the world, we aim to gain better insights into the use of compellence at sea and to identify on what levels compellence in the maritime sphere works. By embedding the case studies in a common theoretical framework, the thematic issue also aims to contribute to the wider coercion literature, which focuses largely on land-based conflicts, and the more specialised literature on maritime coercion. Focusing on current maritime conflicts, the thematic issue will provide insights into how, if, and perhaps why compellence works in today’s maritime environment. 

Authors interested in submitting a paper for this issue are asked to consult the journal's instructions for authors and submit their abstracts (maximum of 250 words, with a tentative title) through the abstracts system (here). When submitting their abstracts, authors are also asked to confirm that they are aware that Ocean and Society is an open access journal with a publishing fee if the article is accepted for publication after peer-review (corresponding authors affiliated with our institutional members do not incur this fee).

Readers across the globe will be able to access, share, and download this issue entirely for free. Corresponding authors affiliated with any of our institutional members (over 90 institutions worldwide) publish free of charge. Otherwise, an article processing fee will be charged to the authors to cover editorial costs. We defend that authors should not have to personally pay this fee and encourage them to check with their institutions if funds are available to cover open access publication costs. Further information about the journal's open access charges can be found here.

The blue economy and blue growth have emerged globally as dominant policy frameworks promoting economic development through the sustainable use of ocean and coastal resources. While these paradigms promise innovation, prosperity, and climate resilience, growing empirical evidence shows that many blue economy initiatives have also generated profound social, environmental, and governance challenges. These include resource commodification, displacement of coastal communities, labor exploitation, environmental degradation, and widening socio-economic inequalities—dynamics increasingly conceptualized as blue injustice.

At the same time, the emerging concept of blue justice offers an alternative narrative that centers on human rights, social equity, community participation, and environmental stewardship within ocean governance. This thematic issue of Ocean and Society aims to critically examine how blue economy strategies are reshaping societies, livelihoods, institutions, and power relations across diverse geographical contexts. It seeks to move beyond growth-focused narratives by foregrounding justice, governance, and lived social realities in ocean-based development.

We invite interdisciplinary contributions from the marine social sciences, political economy, environmental justice, maritime governance, development studies, maritime law, marine policy, and sustainability science. Submissions may address theoretical foundations of blue justice, governance and regulatory frameworks, impacts on coastal and small-scale fishing communities, labor conditions and gender dimensions, port-city relations, tourism pressures, environmental pollution, and comparative national and regional blue economy policies. Contributions on community resistance, participatory governance, and alternative pathways for inclusive and equitable ocean development are especially encouraged.

By bringing together critical perspectives from both the Global North and South, this thematic issue seeks to advance a more socially accountable and ethically grounded understanding of the ocean economy. It aims to inform scholarship, policy debates, and practical interventions toward building truly inclusive, just, and sustainable ocean futures.

Authors interested in submitting a paper for this issue are asked to consult the journal's instructions for authors and submit their abstracts (maximum of 250 words, with a tentative title) through the abstracts system (here). When submitting their abstracts, authors are also asked to confirm that they are aware that Ocean and Society is an open access journal with a publishing fee if the article is accepted for publication after peer-review (corresponding authors affiliated with our institutional members do not incur this fee).

Readers across the globe will be able to access, share, and download this issue entirely for free. Corresponding authors affiliated with any of our institutional members (over 90 institutions worldwide) publish free of charge. Otherwise, an article processing fee will be charged to the authors to cover editorial costs. We defend that authors should not have to personally pay this fee and encourage them to check with their institutions if funds are available to cover open access publication costs. Further information about the journal's open access charges can be found here.