Elsevier’s Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability Contributes to Global Sustainability Policy

Journal’s special issue dedicated to new policy briefs on sustainability discussed at Planet under Pressure Conference

Amsterdam, March 26, 2012 – Elsevier today published a special issue of its journal Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability.The issue publishes papers on the topics of several policy briefs that are on the agenda of the annual United Nations Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development: energy, food and water security, green economy, health and well-being. The publication of the special issue ties in with the Planet under Pressure Conference, starting today in London, where each of the policy briefs are presented and discussed.

A key feature of these policy briefs is the need for an interconnected approach to addressing global environmental and sustainability challenges. Papers published in the special issue of Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability provide a rigorous scientific basis for the policy briefs and are well-supported by references to the multidisciplinary scientific literature. The issue additionally includes a series of papers describing major developments and findings of various international global change programs, thus providing key knowledge and backing for topics discussed at the Planet under Pressure Conference.

At the Planet under Pressure Conference significant findings from various research programs will be presented to scientists, world leaders, policy makers, journalists and the general public, who are all also expected to participate in the key UN-event RIO+20, to be held from 20-22 June in Rio de Janeiro.

“Many of the research papers published in our special issue have provided key contributions to the research programs discussed at the Planet under Pressure Conference,” said Professor Rik Leemans, Editor of Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability. “All papers take a very interdisciplinary and forward thinking approach. They give a glimpse of future research results that are relevant for achieving global sustainability.”

Philippe Terheggen, Senior Vice President Science & Technology Journals at Elsevier, adds, “A substantial part of Elsevier’s publications consist of focused issues highlighting specific societal or scientific themes. The global environmental challenges we face are an example of such a societal issue, one which needs to be addressed in a coordinated effort. With the publication of the special issue of Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability we are pleased to be able to contribute to the sharing of knowledge on the topic. It is a great example of cross disciplinary science and constructive academic discussion, supporting decision makers in their choices for future generations.”

Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability’s special issue is Volume 4, Issue 1 – selected pp. 1-158 - February 2012 and is now available online for free on SciVerse ScienceDirect.

About Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability
Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability aims to address all the economic, social, technological and institutional aspects related to the challenge of environmental sustainability by focussing on integration across academic disciplines and insights with implications for societal practices and processes.

Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability aims to stimulate scientifically grounded, interdisciplinary, multi-scale debate and exchange of ideas. It will contain polished, concise and timely reviews and opinions. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability (COSUST) will serve as an invaluable source of information for researchers, lecturers, teachers, professionals, policy makers and students.

For more information on this award,
please contact the ProSPER.Net-Scopus Award Secretariat at: ysa@ias.unu.edu 
or Elsevier, Ms Linda Kwok at L.Kwok@elsevier.com.

About ProSPER.Net

The network for the Promotion of Sustainability in Postgraduate Education and Research (ProSPER.Net) is a network of several leading higher education institutions in Asia and the Pacific that have committed to work together to integrate Sustainable Development into postgraduate courses and curricula. Member institutions involved have strong education and research programmes in sustainable development and related fields. www.ias.unu.edu/efsd/prospernet

About SciVerse Scopus

Covering the world’s research literature, SciVerse Scopus is the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature and quality Web sources with smart tools to track analyze and visualize research. SciVerse Scopus was designed and developed with over 500 users and librarians internationally. Its unique database contains abstracts and references from nearly 18,000 titles from more than 5,000 international publishers, ensuring broad interdisciplinary coverage. In addition, Scopus not only offers users citation information about the articles covered, but also directly integrates Web and patent searches. Direct links to full-text articles, library resources and other applications like reference management software, make Scopus quicker, easier and more comprehensive to use than any other literature research tool. For more information about Scopus please visit www.info.scopus.com.

In October 2008, the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) announced it would use Scopus Custom Data for its research, analysis and benchmarking work due to its broad international coverage, clean flexible data and advanced features. Australian Research Council (ARC) selected Scopus to provide citation information for the Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) initiative Cluster One evaluation. And of the top fifty universities, as ranked by Time Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings, 50% of them depend on Scopus and the percentage increases each year.

About Elsevier
Elsevier is a world-leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. The company works in partnership with the global science and health communities to publish more than 2,000 journals, including The Lancet (www.thelancet.com) and Cell (www.cell.com), and close to 20,000 book titles, including major reference works from Mosby and Saunders. Elsevier’s online solutions include ScienceDirect (www.sciencedirect.com), Scopus (www.scopus.com), Reaxys (www.reaxys.com), MD Consult (www.mdconsult.com) and Nursing Consult (www.nursingconsult.com), which enhance the productivity of science and health professionals, and the SciVal suite (www.scival.com) and MEDai’s Pinpoint Review (www.medai.com), which help research and health care institutions deliver better outcomes more cost-effectively. A global business headquartered in Amsterdam , Elsevier (www.elsevier.com) employs 7,000 people worldwide. The company is part of Reed Elsevier Group PLC (www.reedelsevier.com), a world-leading publisher and information provider, which is jointly owned by Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV. The ticker symbols are REN (Euronext Amsterdam), REL (London Stock Exchange), RUK and ENL (New York Stock Exchange).

About Alexander von Humboldt Foundation

The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (www.humboldt-foundation.de) supports the ProSPER.Net-Scopus Young Scientist Award in Sustainable Development by providing a Humboldt Research Fellowship and additional benefits to the award winners. The Humboldt Research Fellowships allow them to come to Germany to work on a research project they have chosen themselves together with a host and collaborative partner in a German institution for a period of six to eighteen months. To ensure a maximum value of the research stay the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation will provide the awardees with assistance in finding an appropriate host institution. This should be facilitated by an optional travel to Germany beforehand to meet possible host institutions. The approval of a scientist in Germany to host the award winner is a precondition being awarded the Humboldt Research Fellowship for experienced researchers. Once a Humboldtian, always a Humboldtian. Even after research fellows initial stay in Germany has come to an end, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation maintain close links with them by providing a comprehensive alumni sponsorship programme.