Call for Papers: Multidisciplinary Approaches to Climate Change: Is Interdisciplinary Dialogue Possible in Climate Studies? - Volume 7 Issue 1 (2026): February

Climate change creates a wide range of research areas in the social sciences, from economic analysis of greenhouse gas mitigation to the structure of international negotiations, from the adaptation and resilience of cities to climate impacts to water and food policies. Although the triadic division of physical sciences, impacts, adaptation and mitigation in the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) assessment reports continues to dominate climate research, the multidimensional impacts of climate change and the complexity of solutions cause the studies carried out within the framework of a single discipline to remain limited.

Accelerating climate change is no longer only a scientific issue, but also a social, economic and political crisis that requires crossing traditional boundaries in different fields of science. Due to its multidimensional causes, impacts, and potential consequences, new directions and issues emerge, and climate change leads to new questions through multidimensional approaches. Especially in the age of poly crisis that signals to multiple crises such as climate change, migration, economic breakdown, political instability, and political conflicts, multidimensional perspective of climate change is necessary to investigate. This has made the climate crisis an increasingly distinctive theme for communication and cultural studies, as well as for literature, art, philosophy, and other humanities.

While natural sciences and engineering studies continue to dominate climate research in Türkiye, the number of studies contributing to climate change research in a wide range of fields, from political science to economics, sociology to psychology, educational sciences to other social sciences and humanities, is increasing. New research questions in different fields have started to become more visible. Developments such as the acceleration of Türkiye’s energy transition, the increasing importance of green economy and sustainability approaches in various sectors, the ratification of the Paris Agreement and taking a more active role in international negotiations create new research areas and collaborations for academic production in this field. This issue of Reflektif Journal of Social Sciences, addresses the question "Multidisciplinary Approaches to Climate Change: Is Interdisciplinary Dialogue Possible in Climate Studies?" and seeks to bring researchers working in different disciplines of social sciences.

In this context, diverse questions are considered important within the scope of the issue, revealing the multidimensional effects of climate change with multidisciplinary approaches. Studies that uncovers Türkiye’s position in international climate policies together with economic policies and political regime debates, that do not consider policies for energy transformation independent from the problems of the education and research environment in universities, and that can relate the development of urban climate policies to the form of politics, voting behavior and social dynamics are among main subjects within the the issue. It also aims to include studies that directly link adaptation to climate change in agriculture, water policies, the transformation of the rural labor force and the problems of labor. Theoretical debates, scientific concepts, and methodological dilemmas arising from the dialogueical dilemmas of different disciplines are also among the topics. Concepts such as climate justice, just transformation, resilience, and urban resilient landscapes are among the critical issues that can be highlighted in this context.

Our call for papers on climate change-related topics such as mitigation, adaptation, economics, international policies, social movements, communication and ethics is aimed at studies that transcend the boundaries of a single discipline and are prepared from multidisciplinary perspectives. We would also like to include contributions from these disciplines, with a special emphasis on research in the humanities, literature and arts.

Issue Editors: Ümit Şahin, Eda Acara

Deadline for article submissions: November 1, 2025