Sustainabiity magazine has called for the monograph “Research Contributions to the Social Development of Under-Served Communities” with guest editor Ramon Flecha. The call can be consulted below.


Different regions around the world face serious and enduring problems, ranging from natural disasters triggered by climate change to armed conflicts, famines, or economic hardship that force people to leave their countries in search for security and a better life. All of us are exposed to these problems, but under-served communities are the most vulnerable, poorly-equipped to successfully navigate these socio-economic, political, or environmental hazards.

A required dimension of global social development is the advancement towards the development of these under-privileged communities. Advancing sustainably in this direction requires promoting that these citizens are both individually and collectively protagonists of their own lives. To do this, vulnerable communities not only need scientific evidence that enables this in an efficient way, but also need to have a voice in the creation of such knowledge. International research programs like Horizon Europe (European Framework for Research and Innovation) already include the co-creation of scientific knowledge by researchers and citizens as a priority.

Framed in this context, this Special Issue will particularly pay attention to the analysis of the current evolution of the above-mentioned global societal challenges, discussed in the light of transformative approaches. In this sense, besides expecting analytically robust descriptions of these situations, evidence about those actions and strategies that are taking place on the ground and contributing to overcoming them by movements, organizations, governments, companies, or other types of institutions are especially welcomed.

Some of the topics to be considered are the following:

  • New racism emerging in the context of COVID-19.
  • Refugees and displacement in the Middle East region, challenges and opportunities for social inclusion encountered in host societies, and the case of unaccompanied refugee minors.
  • Social and cultural dynamics of the sexual harassment of teenagers through the Internet and social media.
  • Persisting patterns of exclusion and marginalization of the Roma people in Europe, and especially the double exclusion faced by Roma women in both women’s movements and in the scientific literature.
  • Human trafficking and the strategies implemented on the ground to prevent and stop it.
  • Child abuse and neglect, particularly mechanisms to identify and prevent situations within educational centers.
  • Discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
  • Trends and patterns of homelessness, particularly its public health dimension.

Prof. Dr. Ramon Flecha
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI’s English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.