About This Journal
Aims and Scope
Transforming Communities (TC) is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal from the Transforming Communities Institute at Utah State University that publishes community-based research and practice knowledge on complex social problems as well as innovative solutions and new advancements to address community challenges. Our mission is to connect researchers, practitioners, and community rights holders and stakeholders in their efforts to improve community well-being.
Transforming Communities aims to
- Disseminate all forms of research (i.e., traditional, assessment, evaluation) conducted in, with, and by communities that increase knowledge of, potential solutions to, and change processes for social issues that impact communities.
- Share evidence-driven practices and meaningful processes that facilitate community-led change in formats that are useable, jargon-free, and accessible to a broad audience.
- Provide a publishing space for community research partners that welcomes multidisciplinary academic research, student publications, and non-traditional forms of scholarship.
- Prioritize community-based and community-engaged research that addresses the needs of historically marginalized and oppressed populations.
Land Acknowledgement
As a land-grant institution, Utah State University campuses and centers reside and operate on the territories of the eight tribes of Utah, who have been living, working, and residing on this land from time immemorial. These tribes are the Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Indians, Navajo Nation, Ute Indian Tribe, Northwestern Band of Shoshone, Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah, San Juan Southern Paiute, Skull Valley Band of Goshute, and White Mesa Band of the Ute Mountain Ute. We acknowledge these lands carry the stories of these Nations and their struggles for survival and identity. We recognize Elders past and present as peoples who have cared for, and continue to care for, the land. In offering this land acknowledgement, we affirm Indigenous self-governance history, experiences, and resiliency of the Native people who are still here today.
The Transforming Communities Institute (TCI) is housed on the Logan main campus of Utah State University. We recognize that Utah State University in Logan resides on the ancestral, traditional, and contemporary lands in the Sihivigoi (Willow Valley) of the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation. The university resides on land ceded in the 1863 Treaty at Fort Bridger and other lands within our state. Today we recognize Utah’s eight federally recognized Native nations, historic Indigenous communities in Utah, Indigenous individuals and communities past and present. In offering this land acknowledgement, we affirm Indigenous sovereignty, history, and experiences.
For more information on USU land acknowledgement as part of USU’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Initiative, please visit https://www.usu.edu/president/initiatives/land-acknowledgment/.
Publication Frequency
TC publishes one to two issues per year. Submissions to the journal are accepted on a rolling basis. New publications are immediately available on the journal’s website.
Open Access Policy
TC is an open-access journal. We believe that new research should be easily accessible and widely shared to facilitate use by researchers, practitioners, and community rights holders and stakeholders working toward community well-being in diverse fields. All TC publications are available for immediate open access on the journal website without any fees to authors or readers. TC archives all publications and issues on the journal’s website. Public archiving is provided by Utah State University’s Institutional Repository and the Internet Archive.
Open Peer Review
TC uses an open peer review process to support transparency and collaboration among authors, reviewers, and editors. Reviewer identities are disclosed with the published work. Reviewers and authors may choose to disclose their identities during the peer review process provided certain criteria are met. For more information about the open peer review process at TC, please refer to the Open Peer Review Procedures.