Posted on 02 Aug 2016
The Centre for Security Governance (CSG) is pleased to announce it has acquired Stability: International Journal of Security & Development, a leading open-access journal focusing on security and development challenges in fragile, failed and conflict-affected states (FFCAS).
Stability helps to connect policymakers, practitioners, academics and others with timely, peer-reviewed research on a wide range of issues related to stabilization, peacekeeping, state building, crime and violence prevention, development cooperation and humanitarian action. All articles, commentaries and practice notes published by Stability are freely accessible and widely disseminated in academic, policy and practitioner networks. Stability is dedicated to providing a vehicle for academics and researchers based in FFCAS to publish their work.
Stability will now be the flagship publication of the CSG, a non-profit think tank dedicated to the study of security and governance transitions in FFCAS. Based in Canada, the CSG maintains a global, multi-disciplinary network of researchers, practitioners and academics engaged in international security and development issues. The CSG’s core mission is to enhance the efficacy of donor assistance and support to FFCAS through world-class research.
Founded by Dr. Robert Muggah, Steven A. Zyck and Dr. Mark Downes in 2012, Stability has evolved into a premier international relations journal that is widely read in academic, policy and practitioner circles. Meant to be accessible to a wide and diverse audience, the reach and impact of Stability is impressive by any standard. In just three years, it has published 174 articles, 13 special collections, and numerous data visualizations. In 2015, the journal topped half a million article views and downloads. The journal’s innovative, open access publishing approach has, with support from Ubiquity Press, become a model for other open access journals in the social sciences and humanities.
Dr. Mark Sedra, the CSG’s executive director, will assume the role of Stability’s editor-in-chief and lead its dynamic team into the next stage of the journal’s development. The CSG hopes to expand the reach and impact of Stability in the coming years and cement its place as the ‘go-to’ open-access journal on security and development. The CSG’s commitment to innovation and research excellence will extend to Stability, as it seeks to explore new topics, challenge accepted orthodoxies and develop new research tools and products.
To stay updated on the latest news surrounding Stability, we invite you to subscribe to the journal’s newsletter.
Posted on 26 Jan 2016
Stability provides an ideal medium to disseminate the results of research projects/programs, conferences, workshops, academic collaborations, practitioner programs, policy reviews etc. We accept proposals on a rolling basis.
Stability charges a modest fee to fund special collections, which can be fast-tracked if circumstances require. All special collections are assigned a special editor who will oversee the editorial and publication process. For more information, please contact: mark.sedra@stability journal.org
Posted on 26 Jan 2016
Help keep Stability free and open access by making a donation to the operator of the journal, The Centre for Security Governance (CSG). The CSG is a non-profit, non-partisan think tank and registered charity based in Ontario, Canada. The CSG receives no core financial support from any government. We rely primarily on one-time grants from foundations and limited fees from special collections and advertising. Unlike other journals that charge considerable subscription fees to libraries and individuals, Stability must rely on the generosity of charitable foundations and individual readers.
We need your support to keep publishing high quality research and retain our open-access approach. Donations from as little as $20 will enable Stability to continue to produce world class research that can lead to improvements in security and development programming in fragile, failed and conflict-affected states around the world.
By clicking the “donate now” button you will directed to the CSG’s charitable donation portal, administered by CanadaHelps. Select Stability as the fund your donation will support, ensuring that the entirety of your donation will be directed to support Stability. As a registered charity in Canada, Canadian donors will receive a one-time tax credit for their donations. Thank you for your support!
Posted on 26 Jan 2016
Over the course of the past two decades, interventions to end conflicts, prevent conflict recurrence and foster peace have been launched across the world. These have involved transitional administrations in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo and Timor-Leste as well as efforts aimed at countering insurgencies and gang violence in Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Colombia, Chechnya, Mexico and elsewhere. Research, policymaking and programming in this area has been on the rise. It has brought together militaries, multilateral institutions, national aid agencies, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), international financial institutions, regional development banks, charities, the private sector and others.
While initially viewed as a form of international intervention in developing countries, many have come to recognise that stabilisation has long applied to national authorities attempting to combat organised crime and extend their authority in weakly-governed parts of their cities and countries, including in developed nations. This recognition has helped demonstrate the need for anthropologists, sociologists, criminologists, legal professionals and psychologists to enter into discourses such as stabilisation along with their colleagues in political science, international relations, economics and development studies.
This fusion of academic fields and the linking of international and national policymaking provide a tremendous opportunity for genuinely interdisciplinary research which directly applies to communities of policy and practice. Until this point, research into stabilisation and the nexus of security and development, broadly defined, has been fragmented across several journals and has often been published according to timelines that do not reflect the needs of policymakers and practitioners. Scholarly journals looking at these issues have published excellent research, though ensure a timeline publication process has not necessarily been prioritised. Evidence gathered in mid-2011 may not make its way into print until the end of 2012 or, likely, later. It would take longer still for this research to makes its way into policy and practitioner discourses.
Stability overcomes these limitations by:
Unlike a number of open-access journals focused upon security studies and international development, Stability has not been established to feature the research of any particular institution, military, donor agency or company. It is supported by a wide range of institutions and is genuinely independent. The editors and peer reviews evaluate submissions strictly according to the quality of the research and the relevance of the findings to interventions in conflict-affected contexts.
Scope of The Journal
Stability welcomes articles from a range of disciplines, including political science, development studies, international relations, sociology, criminology, anthropology, psychology and the law, among others. The journal focuses upon stabilisation through international missions as well as by governments within their own territories. This may include crime prevention efforts or counter-narcotics strategies insofar as they include a range of means and tactics (e.g., coercive force, diplomacy, communications, humanitarian or development assistance, etc.). However, for demonstration purposes, the following topics appear relatively regularly:
Many other topics will be considered for publication. If you are uncertain as to whether your research would match this journal’s criteria, please contact the editors.
Article Types
Stability primarily publishes research articles but also features shorter “practice notes” and “commentaries” insofar as they are well informed, critical and contribute to knowledge and thinking in a useful manner.
In order to ensure a smooth and quick peer-review, editing and publishing process, authors must adhere to all basic rules of grammar and to Stability’s style guide. The full style guide is available online.
Submitting Your Article
Authors should submit manuscripts online. Your submission must include an abstract (150-250 words), a brief biography for each author (not to exceed 100 words each) and complete contact details for the (one) corresponding author. All identifying information will be removed from the article before it enters the peer-review process.
Posted on 01 Jan 2016