Deadline for proposals: 30 November 2026
Regional Studies, Regional Science (RSRS) is the Regional Studies Association’s fully open access journal. It includes a section for Early Career Papers, where PhD students and early career researchers can publish short articles and reach a wide audience.
Of the RSA journals, only RSRS has a mentored Early Career Section. If your proposal is selected, one of the section editors will work with you to develop your article into a publishable paper and guide you through double-blind peer review.
Who are the Early Career Papers Editors?
- Danny Prabowo Soetanto, University of South Australia, Australia
- Chandrima Mukhopadhyay, UN-Habitat, India
- Jesús Peiró-Palomino, University of Valencia, Spain
The editors invite proposals for short articles of up to 5,000 words that use empirical data and have a strong regional dimension. Articles should clearly present their research questions and results, whether preliminary or final.
- Any discipline: we welcome work from any discipline within regional studies or regional science, with any geographical focus.
- A flexible view of “regional”: this can mean anything from trans-national spaces with fuzzy boundaries to clearly defined sub-national areas.
- Global South: the editors particularly welcome submissions from the Global South.
- Room to develop: the section exists to support early career authors. If your work shows promise but isn’t ready yet, the editors may invite you to resubmit in a later round.
Who can submit
Authors and co-authors must be PhD students, or early career researchers who completed their PhD within the last five years. You do not need to be an RSA member to send a proposal. If your proposal is selected for the mentored section, though, every author must be or become an RSA member before submitting the full manuscript.
Why publish with RSRS?
This is your chance to publish early in your career in a high-impact, fully open access journal with a wide readership. Article Publishing Charges (APCs), normally payable for papers published in RSRS, will be waived for those who are accepted by this Early Career Papers mentored route to publication. Find out about publishing open access in RSA journals here.
How to apply
Send your extended abstract by 30 November 2026. To submit a paper proposal or for further information regarding any of the above-mentioned points, please contact: Danny Soetanto at danny.soetanto@adelaide.edu.au
Watch: writing and publishing in RSRS
The Early Career Papers Editors recently ran a professional development webinar on publishing regional-scale research in RSRS. They covered:
- what makes work a good fit for the journal
- how peer review works
- the range of data types, methods and analytical approaches the journal publishes, with examples
Speakers:
Jesús Peiró-Palomino, EC Papers Editor, University of Valencia, Spain
Yi Liu, RSRS Editor-in-Chief, Sun Yat-sen University, China
Chandrima Mukhopadhyay, EC Papers Editor, UN-Habitat, India
Danny Soetanto, EC Papers Editor, University of South Australia
Chair: Lavanya Gupta, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, India
Introduced by Marcus Atkinson, RSA
▶ Watch the recording