Digitalization and Circular Sustainability Development
A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 May 2026 | Viewed by 5360
Special Issue Editors
Interests: sustainability; community- and service-learning; disruptive technologies
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The accelerating wave of digitalization offers transformative opportunities and complex challenges for the development of circular sustainability. As global demands for resource efficiency, waste reduction, and sustainable consumption intensify, digital technologies such as AI, IoT, blockchain, big data analytics, and digital platforms are reshaping circular economy practices. This Special Issue invites submissions of interdisciplinary contributions exploring how digitalization can foster, accelerate, or hinder the transition to a circular, sustainable future. We welcome original research, case studies, conceptual papers, and critical reviews addressing the following topics:
- AI, IoT, and digital twins for optimizing resource loops, circular manufacturing, and waste minimization.
- Blockchain for achieving transparent supply chains and circular value networks.
- Digital platforms enabling sharing economies, product–service systems, and reverse logistics.
- Big data analytics for resource efficiency and sustainable consumption patterns.
- Digital monitoring systems for circular material flows and extended product lifecycles.
- Consumer engagement with circular practices via digital interfaces.
- Policy, governance, and ethical issues, including data privacy and digital divides.
- The unintended consequences of digitalization in circular sustainability.
- Case studies of digital solutions applied in sectors such as manufacturing, agriculture, or energy.
Submissions should provide novel theoretical insights, conceptual frameworks, empirical evidence, or practical applications, bridging the fields of technology, economics, environmental science, and policy.
Dr. Wee Meng Eric Lee
Dr. Arif Perdana
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
- circular economy
- sustainability
- resource efficiency
- waste reduction
- artificial intelligence
- Internet of Things
- blockchain
- big data analytics
- technology
- innovation
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