Working papers series

The inaugural working papers series hosted by the DKU Center of Climate and Sustainability seeks submissions of original research works in line with the NRI’s thematic areas. Accepted papers will be open-access publications issued at the NRI DKU’s website dedicated to the dissemination of research to interested academic and scientific community and broader audience. Each paper will be assigned separate DOI followed by a discrete appearance date and tailored announcement and dissemination.

Aim and scope

Authors are invited to submit research works examining climate, energy, water resources, land and agriculture, sustainable logistics and other areas relevant to the thematic scope of the series. Working paper series seeks research evidence about new scientific inventions and novel ways of applications of scientific discoveries in the above-mentioned areas, as well as an important account of functioning,  contextualization and customization of both novel and existing application of science as pertinent to countries in Central Asia. 

Core themes

  • Water 
  • Energy
  • Landscape/Agriculture
  • Sustainable Mobility/ Resource-saving production logistics

Editors

  • Editor –in-Chief: Dr. Barbara Janusz-Pawletta, Vice-rector for International Cooperation, UNESCO Chair Holder in Water Management in Central Asia at Kazakh-German University (Deutsch-Kasachische Universitat). Research interest: water governance
     
  • Dr. Iskandar Abdullaev, Deputy Director Two (CAREC Institute, Urumqi, PRC)
  • Dr. Kristina Toderich, PhD, Specially Appointed Associate Professor, Tottori University International Platform for Dryland Research and Education, Japan  
  • Dr.-Ing. Tobias Reggelin, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Institute of Logistics and Material Flow Engineering (ILM), Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg
  • Dr. Hans Holzhacker, Chief Economist at CAREC Institute. Research interests: water/energy: agreements between upstream and downstream countries and potential cross-country investment in hydro-generation (e.g. Uzb in the Kyrgyz Republic, Rogun in Tajikistan), electrical grid, investments in alternative energy projects including hydrogen. Sustainable mobility: issues of transcontinental rail traffic through Central Asia (and rail versus road or air)
  • Dr. German Trofimov, Kazakh German University 
  • Dr. Ankit Garg, Associate Professor of Shantou University, China. Research interests: water, landscape/agriculture and sustainable materials in geo- environmental infrastructure 
  • Dr. rer. nat. Gerd Schmidt, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Germany
  • Dr. rer. nat. Peter Liebelt, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg Institute for Geosciences, Germany  

 

Scientific Managing Editor: Altynai Yespembetova

 

Working paper form and concept:

The exact structure and allocation of sections are at the author’s discretion. It is, however, required that each submitted working paper contains a clear statement of research question and goals, a conceptual framework and analytical framework, description of method and data,  a narrative explanatory to an author’s argument or proposed evidence, analysis of results/findings. Content-wise, an author can choose to explain and provide evidence of validation of own invention or analyze specific ecological and/or socio-economic improvements following from an application of own inventions or those well-established and being widely circulated. 

Research rigor requirement:

The invited working papers are viewed as work-in-progress nearing completion, hence all research works should possess scientific research rigour.  Namely, every submission should contain a clear and concise account for the level of theorizing, method used and what kind of data / materials has informed the analysis. Work based on positivist and social constructionist ontologies are welcome. Description of crude data and/or audit records of each research stage is encouraged whenever it contributes to a better auditability and evaluation of authors’ claim, and does not exceed 10000-word count. The expected minimum of a submission is 5000 words. Acknowledging that practical application of science takes on inter- and multidisciplinary character, it is required for authors to be consistent with theoretical and conceptual inventory of terms taken place in a similar kind of research. Authors should briefly outline a chosen research paradigm in the introductory section of a working paper. 

Peer-review process:

All submissions will undergo a blind review by the editorial board and external reviewers. Research should not have been published previously in any indexed form and authors should make a clear disclaimer if the ideas or parts of the working papers have been presented elsewhere. The editorial board retains the final decision on whether a submission satisfies originality requirement to be published in the working paper series.

 

Submission fees

None

 

Website:  https://dkuccswp.com/

 

Papers submission:

 

List of the papers.

Contacts: 

Altynai Yespembetova,
DKU CCS Working Papers Series Manager
Email: wp_series@dku.kz
Address: 050010 
Pushkin str. 111, 
Almaty,
Kazakhstan