WASD produces various publications, to spread information all over the world, and to promote its aims and activities through various other partners. WASD publications are developed to provide an overview of Sustainable Development (SD) and why it is important and to provoke forward thinking on the development of a more coherent approach to solving global problems related to sustainability. In doing so, a holistic approach is used to critically examine the inter-relationship between the natural, the governmental, the economic and the social dimensions of our world and how science and technology can contribute to solutions. And although science, technology and SD are the main focus of our publications, there is no limit as to the articles/chapters that will be considered.
The journal publishes original papers, review papers, conceptual papers, technical reports, case studies, conference reports, management reports, book reviews, notes, commentaries, and news. IJSR particularly encourages papers that significantly bring new knowledge to the area both for academics and practitioners.
Special Issues devoted to important topics about Sudan will occasionally be published. IJSR is intended to benefit ordinary people, students, academics, professionals, researchers, policymakers, businesses, etc from both Sudan and the rest of the world with the best available scientific evidence, to enable better understanding of the different opportunities and challenges facing Sudan.
Today, countries are increasingly judged by whether they are information-rich or information-poor. There is a growing literature in the Sudan and about Sudan but it is fragmented and often restricted to sector applications or to specific interests. It is therefore difficult for decision-makers in Sudan to access systematic information about the potential applications that are being developed and implemented and to consider how they could be applied to meet Sudan’s own development needs.
Unlike many other developing countries in the world, there has been a growing interest in Sudan and its culture over the past few years. Sudan is strategically very important as it is the largest country in Africa and 9th largest in the world and has also boasted the ‘largest farm in the world’ in the Gezira Irrigated Cotton Scheme. Sudan’s vast plains were seen by development experts as a potential ‘bread-basket’ – either for Africa or for the Arab World across the Red Sea.
Also, although the majority of Sudanese (80%) depend on agriculture, oil is considered one of the main Sudanese exports, particularly during the last fifteen years, providing revenues of millions of US dollars a day. However, the recent Darfur conflict, the aftermath of two decades of civil war in the south and the lack of basic infrastructure in large areas have kept much of the population at or below the poverty line for years despite rapid rises in average per capita income. What happens in Sudan will therefore have direct and indirect effects all over the region and that is why Sudan is rarely out of the headlines in all international news.
Sudan, like much of the rest of the developing world, has toyed with and abided by various approaches or strategies to achieve SD without reaping any significant socio-economic benefits. There are clearly opportunities for academic and research institutions in Sudan to contribute more effectively towards achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and SD. Sudanese universities and research institutions are therefore under increasing governmental pressure to make direct, visible, and relevant contributions to SDGs and SD strategies.
At all levels and on all scales of endeavour, the role of universities and research institutions is crucial to resolve the economic, social and environmental problems that make current development paths unsustainable. Sudanese universities and research institutions can make a leading contribution to tackling major problems such as: fighting disease; overpopulation and urbanization; the digital/information divide and the impacts of information technology systems on world financial markets; coping with climate change; confronting the water crisis; defending the soil; preserving forests, fisheries and biodiversity; trade in biotechnological products; and building a new ethic of global stewardship.
There is no limitation on the papers/topics that will be considered by IJSR. Papers can address topics theoretically or empirically through either a descriptive or critical approach. Suitable topics include but are not limited to:
- Agribusiness, agrimarketing and agrieconomics
- Animal production, research and technology
- Agricultural sciences, research and technology
- Accounting, finance and banking
- Best practice in the promotion of technologies
- Business ethics, values and social responsibility and management
- Circular economy
- Corporate governance and strategy
- Development of research methods, validation of measures and calibration
- Education
- Environmental issues and environmental challenges for business and management
- Engineering, industry and manufacturing
- Evaluation of effectiveness of public health programmes or interventions
- Food hygiene, quality assurance and control
- Food irradiation and genetic modified food
- Food and nutrition policies; legislation, regulation and enforcement
- Food security policies
- Future trends in intermodal transportation
- Globalisation
- Government involvement in transportation development
- HACCP, hazard detection and analysis and good manufacturing practices
- Health protection; control of communicable and non-communicable diseases
- Health service effectiveness, management and re-design
- Human nutrition and health sciences
- Human resource management
- Innovation and diffusion
- Information and communication technologies, information systems/technology and e-commerce
- Informal sector
- Industrial engineering and management
- Infrastructure development, maintenance, and upgrade
- Intelligent transportation systems
- Investment and trade
- Impacts and challenges of AIDS, malaria and other chronic problems
- Medical and biomedical sciences and research
- Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
- Marketing and enterprise
- Nutrition and public health
- Operations and production management
- Project management
- Public health nutrition: practice and impact
- Public health, health promotion and diseases prevention
- Public health policy and comparisons
- Public policy and administration
- Pharmaceutical sciences and technologies
- Pipeline operations
- Privatisation
- Research and development
- Railroad development and involvement in intermodal transportation
- Sustainable development strategies
- Sustainable food production systems
- Supply chain management and logistics
- Strategic management and planning
- Science, technology and innovation
- Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs)
- Security of the transportation system
- Transportation planning
- Technology transfer and commercialisation
- Travel, transportation and tourism
- UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
- Water, energy and climate change
- Veterinary sciences and research