Focus and Scope

 Ecozon@ is a journal devoted to the relatively new field of literary and cultural criticism called ecocriticism. Ecocriticism can be broadly defined as the study of the representations of nature in cultural texts, and of the relationship between humans with other earth beings and their environment as seen in cultural manifestations. Ecozon@ is one of the very few academic journals specifically devoted to ecocriticism, an exponentially growing field, akin to the more recently developing area of environmental humanities, and the only one to accept submissions in several languages.

Its principal aim is to further the study, knowledge and public awareness of the connections and relationship between literature, culture and the environment. As a virtual space, it provides a site for dialogue between researchers, theorists, creative writers and artists concerned with and by the environment and its degradation. Its pages are open to contributions on all literatures and cultures, but its special mission is to reflect the cultural, linguistic and natural richness and diversity of the European continent.

Research contributions are subject to double-blind peer review, and are accepted in five languages (English, Spanish, French, German and Italian), in order to increase visibility and broaden the participation of scholars who are not part of the English-speaking world. Ecozon@, in addition to publishing original research articles, also publishes book reviews which are peer reviewed and creative writing and visual arts which are reviewed by the editorial board. Publication is open to scholars and creators interested in ecocriticism from around the world. We recommend membership of EASLCE to our contributors and readers, but it is not a requirement for either.

Ecozon@ is currently indexed in MLA, OAI, DOAJ, ERIH PLUS, Latindex, Dialnet, EBSCO, CROSSREF, and EBUAH, the institutional repository of the University of Alcalá.

Section Policies

REGULAR SECTIONS (and current editors)

General Section

Editors

• Heather Sullivan
• Madeleine Hugai, assistant

Open Submissions      Indexed          Peer Reviewed

Creative Writing and Arts

Editors

• Elizabeth Tavella

Open Submissions      Indexed      Peer Reviewed

Book Reviews

Editors

• Maria Isabel Perez Ramos
• Sean Matharoo, assistant

Open Submissions      Indexed      Peer Reviewed

THEMED SECTIONS

New Ecocritical Perspectives: European and Transnational Ecocriticism 1.1 (Inaugural Issue)

Editors

• Carmen Flys Junquera
• Axel Goodbody
• Imelda Martin Junquera

Open Submissions Indexed          Peer Reviewed

Greening across Borders: the Natural Environment in a Globalized World 1.2.

Editors

• Guest Editor: Christa Greve-Volpp
• Carmen Flys Junquera
• Axel Goodbody
• Margarita Carretero González

Open Submissions Indexed          Peer Reviewed

Literary Landscapes and the National Imaginary 2.1.

Editors

• Guest Editor:José Manuel Marrero Henríquez
• Carmen Flys Junquera
• Axel Goodbody
• Imelda Martin Junquera

Open Submissions Indexed          Peer Reviewed

Ecospirit: Religion and the Environment 2.2.

Editors

• Guest Editor:Franca Bellarsi
• Carmen Flys Junquera
• Axel Goodbody
• Margarita Carretero Gonzalez

Open Submissions Indexed          Peer Reviewed

Writing Catastrophes: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Semantics of Natural and Anthropogenic Disasters 3.1.

Editors

• Guest Editor:Gabriele Durbeck
• Carmen Flys Junquera
• Axel Goodbody
• Imelda Martin Junquera

Open Submissions Indexed          Peer Reviewed

The Invention of Eco-Futures 3.2.

Editors

• Guest Editor:Ursula Heise
• Carmen Flys Junquera
• Axel Goodbody
• Margarita Carretero González

Open Submissions Indexed          Peer Reviewed

Green Countercultures 4.1.

Editors

• Guest Editor: Peter Mortensen
• Carmen Flys Junquera
• Axel Goodbody
• Imelda Martin Junquera

Open Submissions Indexed          Peer Reviewed

Mediterranean Ecocriticism 4.2.

Editors

• Guest Editor: Serenella Iovino
• Carmen Flys Junquera
• Axel Goodbody
• Margarita Carretero González

Open Submissions Indexed          Peer Reviewed

Translating Environmental Humanities 5.1.

Editors

• Guest Editor: Carmen Valero-Garcés
• Carmen Flys Junquera
• Axel Goodbody
• Imelda Martin Junquera

Open Submissions Indexed          Peer Reviewed

Northern Nature 5.2.

Editors

• Guest Editor: Werner Bigell
• Carmen Flys Junquera
• Axel Goodbody
• Diana Villanueva-Romero

Open Submissions Indexed          Peer Reviewed

European New Nature Writing 6.1.

Editors

• Guest Editors: Anna Stenning and Terry Gifford
• Carmen Flys Junquera
• Axel Goodbody
• Diana Villanueva Romero

Open Submissions Indexed          Peer Reviewed

 

Artistic Ways of Understanding and Interacting with Nature 6.2.

Editors

• Guest Editor: José Maria Parreño
• Carmen Flys Junquera
• Axel Goodbody
• Diana Villanueva Romero

Open Submissions Indexed          Peer Reviewed

Animal Humanities 7.1.

Editors

• Guest Editors: Deborah Amberson and Elena Past
• Carmen Flys Junquera
• Axel Goodbody
• Imelda Martin Junquera

Open Submissions Indexed          Peer Reviewed

Urban Ecologies 7.2.

Editors

• Guest Editor:Catrin Gersdorf
• Carmen Flys Junquera
• Axel Goodbody
• Diana Villanueva Romero

Open Submissions Indexed          Peer Reviewed

South Atlantic Ecocriticism 8.1 

Editors

• Guest Editors: Luis Prádanos and Mark Anderson 
• Carmen Flys Junquera
• Axel Goodbody
• Lorraine Kerslake

Open Submissions Indexed          Peer Reviewed

Green Computer and Video Games 8.2.

Editors

• Guest Editors: Alenda Chang and John Parham
• Carmen Flys Junquera
• Axel Goodbody
• Diana Villanueva Romero

Open Submissions Indexed          Peer Reviewed

Population, Ecology and the Malthusian Imagination 9.1.

Editors

• Guest Editors: Hannes Bergthaller and Margarita Carretero González
• Carmen Flys Junquera
• Axel Goodbody
• Lorraine Kerslake

Open Submissions Indexed          Peer Reviewed

Mythology and Ecocriticism: A Natural Encounter 9.2.

Editors

• Guest Editors: Imelda Martin Junquera and Francisco Molina-Moreno
• Carmen Flys Junquera
• Axel Goodbody
• Diana Villanueva Romero

Open Submissions Indexed          Peer Reviewed

Toward an Ecopoetics of Randomness and Design 10.1.

Editors

• Guest Editors: Franca Bellarsi and Judith Rauscher
• Carmen Flys Junquera
• Axel Goodbody
• Lorraine Kerslake

Open Submissions      Indexed          Peer Reviewed

Ecological In(ter)ventions in the Francophone World 10.2.

Editors

• Guest Editors: Anne Rachel Hermetet and Stephanie Posthumus
• Carmen Flys Junquera
• Axel Goodbody
• Diana Villanueva Romero

Open Submissions      Indexed          Peer Reviewed

Cultures of Climate 11.1.

Editors

• Guest Editors: Eva Horn and Solvejg Nitzke
• Carmen Flys Junquera
• Axel Goodbody
• Lorraine Kerslake

Open Submissions      Indexed          Peer Reviewed

2020 Ecocriticism: In Europe and Beyond 11.2. (Anniversary Issue)

Editors

• Axel Goodbody, Carmen Flys Junquera and Serpil Oppermann
• Diana Villanueva and Lorraine Kerslake

Open Submissions      Indexed          Peer Reviewed

Going Green in the EFL Classroom 12.1.

Editors

• Guest Editors: Claudia Deetjen and Christian Ludwig
• Carmen Flys Junquera
• Heather Sullivan
• Gala Arias

Open Submissions      Indexed          Peer Reviewed

Eco-Georgics: From Antiquity to the Anthropocene 12.2.

Editors

• Guest Editors: Philipp Erchinger, Sue Edney and Pippa Marland
• Carmen Flys Junquera
• Heather Sullivan
• Gala Arias

Open Submissions      Indexed          Peer Reviewed

Hip Hop Ecologies 13.1.

Editors

• Guest Editors: Timo Müller and Alain-Philippe Durand
• Carmen Flys Junquera
• Heather Sullivan
• Gala Arias

Open Submissions      Indexed          Peer Reviewed

The Postcolonial Nonhuman 13.2.

Editors

• Guest Editors: Erin James, Cajetan Iheka and Juan Ignacio Oliva
• Carmen Flys Junquera
• Heather Sullivan
• Gala Arias

Open Submissions      Indexed          Peer Reviewed

Gardening (against) the Anthropocene 14.1.

Editors

• Guest Editors: Catrin Gersdorf, Catriona Sandilands
• Giulia Disanto, assistant
• Carmen Flys Junquera
• Heather Sullivan
• Gala Arias
• Beatriz Martin, assistant

Open Submissions      Indexed          Peer Reviewed

Contemporary Collapse: New Narratives of the End 14.2

Editors

• Guest Editors: Sara Bédard-Goulet, Christophe Premat
• Vanesa Roldan, assistant
• Carmen Flys Junquera
• Heather Sullivan
• Gala Arias
• Beatriz Martin, assistant

Open Submissions      Indexed          Peer Reviewed

Plant Tendrils in Children's and Young Adult Literature 15.1

Editors

• Guest Editors: Melanie Duckworth, Lykke Guanio-Uluru, Antonia Szabari
• Sofie Schrey, assistant
• Carmen Flys Junquera
• Heather Sullivan
• Gala Arias
• Beatriz Martin, assistant

Open Submissions      Indexed          Peer Reviewed

Disruptive Encounters. Concepts of Care and Contamination Out of Control 15.2

Editors

• Guest Editors: Solvejg Nitzke, Svenja Engelmann-Kewitz, Kirsten Jüdt
• Vanesa Roldán Romero, assistant
• Carmen Flys Junquera
• Heather Sullivan
• Margarita Carretero-González
• Gala Arias
• Beatriz Martin, assistant
• Clara Contreras Ameduri, assistant

Open Submissions      Indexed          Peer Reviewed

 

Peer Review Process

 The articles found in the special focus and general sections are double blind peer reviewed by international external reviewers. Generally each article is submitted to 2 reviews and often, when in doubt, a third review is requested. Reviewers are asked to evaluate the originality of the argument, its strength, coherency and grasp of previous critical literature on the topic, the methodology used and its clarity, as well adequate referencing. The reviewing process for the first decision may take 3-4 months, and may be affected by an additional round of reviews. Final acceptance is usually notified between 6-9 months after submission.  Book reviews are also peer reviewed. Reviewers are acknowledged in the Autumn issue each year.

Detailed Reviewer Guidelines can be found here.

 

Open Access Policy

Ecozon@ is published according to the Green Open Access scheme, in which both publication and access to full papers is free. We provide immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. 

 

 Archiving

This journal utilizes both the LOCKSS  and CLOCKSS systems to create a distributed archiving system among participating libraries and permits those libraries to create permanent archives of the journal for purposes of preservation and restoration. Moreover, the University of Alcalá institutional repository also archives the journal as well as the hosting service of Proeditio.

 

Publication Frequency

This journal is published twice a year, in Spring (May 1st) and Autumn (November 1st).

 

Publisher

Ecozon@ is published by the University of Alcalá.

 

Sponsors

Ecozon@ is sponsored by the European Association for the Study of Literature, Culture and Environment (EASLCE), and the Ecocritical Research Group, GIECO and Franklin Institute, both at the University of Alcalá.

• Instituto Franklin - Universidad de Alcalá
• EASLCE
• GIECO--Ecocritical Research Group

The journal does not accept any advertising nor undertakes any direct marketing other than publishing CFPs for special issues and divulging related research interests.

Journal History

Ecozon@ was founded in 2010 as a joint initiative of GIECO (Ecocritical Research Group in Spain) and EASLCE (European Association for the Study of Literature, Culture and Environment) and is published by the University of Alcalá as of 2014. 2014 also marked a significant change from a small Advisory board, mostly of EASCLE members, to a large internationally reputed and interdisciplinary Advisory Board.

The founding editorial board consisted of Carmen Flys (Editor in chief), Axel Goodbody (Associate Editor), Imelda Martin and Margarita Carretero-González (Managing Editors), Isabel Hoving (Creative Writing and Arts Editor), Hannes Bergthaller (Book Review Editor) and Irene Sanz (Secretary). In our fifth year, 2014, Margarita Carretero-González and Isabel Hoving were substituted by Diana Villanueva and Serenella Iovino, respectively. At the same time, Roman Bartosch joined the team as Assistant Editor. At the end of 2016, Imelda Martin and Roman Bartosch stepped down and Lorraine Kerslake came on board as Managing editor. Ecozon@ also expanded the number of assistant editors to four, one for each language: Margot Lauwers, Louise Squire, Christopher Schliephake and Adele Tiengo. In 2018 we welcomed Damiano Benvengu as the new Creative Writing and Arts Editor as Serenella Iovino stepped down. In 2019, Hannes Bergthaller,who has been with Ecozon@ since its founding as Book Review Editor, stepped down and Astrid Bracke and M. Isabel Perez joined the board as the book review editor and assistant editor, respectively. With the Autumn Issue of 2020 Ecozon@ celebrated its tenth anniversary with a special issue of essays and a new  design for the homepage. Coinciding with this anniversary, our founding Associate Editor, Axel H. Goodbody stepped down as well as Managing Editors Diana Villanueva and Lorraine Kerslake, Assistant Editor Christopher Schliephake and Book Review Editor, Astrid Bracke. Heather Sullivan joined the editorial team as Associate Editor, Gala Arias as Managing Editor, M. Isabel Perez took over as Book Review Editor with Sean Matharoo as Assistant. As of 2022, Ecozon@ has a Twitter account, run by Assistant Editor Alejandro Rivero,   while Damiano Benvengu stepped down as Creative Arts Editor, substituted by Elizabeth Tavella. Recently, Giulia Disanto, Sofie Schrey, Madeleine Hugai, Vanesa Roldan, Laura op de Beke and Beatriz Lindo have joined us as Assistant Editors. In 2024 Clara Contreras joined us as Production Editor and Sara Familiar and Xiana Sotelo as Assistant Editors, while Laura op de Beke stepped down. And very importantly, in June 2024, during the EASCLE conference, Margarita Carretero, one of our founding Managing Editors, was acclaimed as the future Editor in Chief when Carmen Flys steps down in 2025.