Abstracts Submission

This thematic issue will address the emergence of alternative fuels, new energy sources, and new technologies that can help the shipping industry reach net-zero emissions by mid-century. The topic arises from the International Maritime Organization's (IMO) 2023 Strategy for Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Shipping which set the goal for the industry to achieve net-zero emissions by or around 2050. While new fuels, energy sources, and technologies have been tested, achieving this ambitious goal requires a rapid energy transition within the maritime sector. Although significant efforts have been made in this direction, there is still a long way to go to reach the ultimate goal.

In this context, the thematic issue focuses on emerging fuels, energy sources, and technologies currently being considered, tested, and implemented in the maritime sector. This makes the issue both timely and relevant, offering valuable insights into cutting-edge scientific advancements, best practices, pilot projects, and empirical evidence.

Through this thematic issue, we expect to receive manuscripts presenting the latest theoretical and practical research on the adoption of new fuels, energy sources, and technologies. We also expect papers that explore the key drivers and barriers to their adoption and that propose actionable pathways for their commercial deployment. As the issue of maritime decarbonization encompasses environmental, economic, social, and political dimensions, the thematic issue will welcome studies covering all aspects of a green and just transition.

By bridging academic, industrial, social, and policy perspectives, this thematic issue will support informed decision-making and contribute to the global effort to decarbonize maritime transportation from an academic and practical perspective.

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.

Important notice: This thematic issue will be published in two parts with differing deadlines for each part, but will remain as one thematic issue.

As oceans and societies reliant on the ocean economy face mounting pressires, it is increasingly clear that current models of ocean development rooted in economic growth are neither sustainable nor just. The dominant “blue growth” paradigm, which seeks to expand ocean-based industries under the guise of sustainability, often sidelines social and ecological justice in favour of profit and productivity. This special issue will explore what lies beyond blue growth, focusing instead on pathways that centre human and ecological wellbeing, justice, long-term resilience, decolonial perspectives, and degrowth, in coastal and oceanic contexts. Papers are invited that critically examine how emerging concepts such as blue degrowth, post-growth governance, and the wellbeing economy can inform a new paradigm for ocean sustainability.

We invite interdisciplinary contributions, from across the social sciences, humanities and environmental sciences, especially those that interrogate and move beyond blue growth, incorporate Global South views, indigenous scholars and research at the intersection of marine governance, wellbeing and socio-ecological transformation. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Blue degrowth and post-growth marine economies: exploring limits to growth in the ocean economy and the potential for degrowth for fostering equity and sustainability.
• Alternative metrics of wellbeing and success in coastal regions: developing new indicators rooted in quality of life, ecosystem health and cultural values.
• Just transitions for fisheries, shipping, and marine tourism: analysing how livelihoods and labour can be restructured for justice and sustainability.
• Ocean governance rooted in care, reciprocity and communing: reimagining governance models that prioritise relational ethics, stewardship and community agency.
• Indigenous and local knowledge systems in marine stewardship: valuing traditional ecological knowledge and indigenous governance as vital components of ocean sustainability.
• Social dimesnions of marine protected areas and conservation: examining equity, access and participation in marine spatial planning and biodiversity conservation.
• Degrowth narratives in ocean climate adaptation and mitigation: unpacking how degrowth principles can inform equitable responses to climate impacts in marine and coastal zones.
• Transforming finance and investment for regenerative ocean futures: investigating how capital can be redirected towards regenerative models that support community-led, socially-equitable and ecologically sound practices.
• Regenerative business models and ownership structures: exploring coopeative, commons-based, or mission-driven enterprises that challenge profit-maximising logics and align with long-term ocean health and community resilience. 

We welcome empirical studies, conceptual papers, case studies and collborative commentaries.

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.