Life Cycle Thinking and Circular Economy for Sustainable Industrial Production
A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2026
Special Issue Editors
Interests: sustainability; industrial ecology; life cycle assessment; life cycle costing; social life cycle assessment; sustainable tourism; circular tourism; agri-food
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: social organizational life cycle assessment; social life cycle assessment; supply chain management; decision support tools; decision-making process
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The United Nations has assumed a leading role in advancing global sustainability through the establishment of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Similarly, the European Union has designated the transition toward a Circular Economy (CE) as a strategic priority, thereby demonstrating a coherent and long-term vision for achieving sustainability. Originating from the theoretical framework of Industrial Ecology, the Circular Economy paradigm seeks to maximise the retention of value in products, materials, and resources within the economic system for the longest possible duration, whilst simultaneously minimising waste generation as well as environmental impact.
Furthermore, the concept of life cycle thinking (LCT), which takes into consideration the entire life cycle of a good or a service, aims at promoting all pillars of sustainability via three ISO-standardised methodologies: life cycle assessment (LCA) for the environmental pillar, life cycle costing (LCC) for the economic pillar, and social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) for the social pillar.
With the need to promote sustainability becoming ever more important and current, many challenges may arise regarding how to identify synergies among CE, LCT, and sustainable development. This Special Issue aims at collating the knowledge obtained so far on these issues by including case studies and literature reviews within various key industrial sectors as well as at taking a glimpse of the future by identifying the key aspects and methodological challenges that such synergies may entail.
Dr. Ioannis Arzoumanidis
Dr. Manuela D’Eusanio
Guest Editors
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 submissions that pass pre-check are 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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
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 2400 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.
Keywords
- sustainability
- industrial ecology
- circular economy
- life cycle thinking
- life cycle assessment
- life cycle costing
- social life cycle assessment
- case studies
- methodological challenges
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.
