Call for Papers for Special Issue in Regional Science Policy & Practice (RSPP)

Title: "The future of Cohesion"

1. Aim of the special issue

The Special Issue will take inspiration from the experience stemming from the reflections and policy recommendations by the High-Level Group discussed in their report on the Future of Cohesion, situated within the broader debate about the EU's post-2027 budget. These deliberations are already underway and, crucially, the European Commission is now proposing what may be the most profound transformation of European policies in over half a century.

At the heart of this transformation lies a thorough rethinking of Cohesion Policy itself. This could push the EU into uncharted territory: What does a stronger focus on competitiveness mean for regional balance? Can cohesion still serve as the glue that binds diverse regions and peoples together? The Special Issue aims to provide a timely and critical reflection on these questions, offering informed perspectives that can influence both the current discourse and policy direction.

2. Length of contributions

The editors are aiming for papers with a maximum length of 8,000 words, including references.

3. Review process

As with all academic submissions to the journal, the process will involve peer review. Each paper will be sent to at least two anonymous reviewers. If the reviews are favorable, authors will be asked to make revisions in line with the feedback before final acceptance.

This ensures that the Special Issue maintains high scholarly standards and remains impactful both within and beyond academia.

4. Open access and fees

Regional Science Policy & Practice is a gold open access journal. This guarantees free access for all readers but does involve a publication fee, typically covered by academic institutions.

5. Deadlines

The submission portal (https://www.editorialmanager.com/rspp) will accept submissions to this special issue from Oct. 20, 2025 until Jan. 31, 2026. When submititng your paper to the special issue, please prepare a submission letter clearly stating that your work is meant to be evaluated for this collection. Should a cover letter be missing, the submission will be treated as a regular one.

6. Editors of the Special Issue

The Special Issue will edited by Prof. Andrés Rodríguez-Pose, Chair of the Group of high-level specialists on the future of Cohesion Policy. Prof. Rodríguez-Pose is the Princesa de Asturias Chair and a Professor of Economic Geography at the London School of Economics. He is the Director of the Cañada Blanch Centre LSE and was Head of the Department of Geography and Environment between 2006 and 2009.

He has been President of the Regional Science Association International (RSAI) (2015-2017) and served as its Vice-President in 2014. He was also Vice-President (2012-2013) and Secretary (2001-2005) of the European Regional Science Association.

He is a part-time Professor of Innovation at the Centre for Innovation Research, University of Stavanger (Norway). He has been visiting professor at several higher education institutions, including the College of Europe (Belgium), the University of Cambridge (UK), the University of Hannover (Germany), the University of Split (Croatia), and the Autonomous University of Madrid (Spain).

He has a long track record of research in regional growth and inequality, fiscal and political decentralization, institutions, discontent and populism, innovation, migration, and development policies and strategies. This research is widely cited in academic circles. In the 2021 Stanford/Elsevier list of the 2% most cited scientists (which identifies close to 200,000 researchers across all areas of science), he was among the 0.1% of researchers across all academic disciplines. He was ranked first worldwide in the field of urban and regional planning by scholarly citations in 2020. He also appears on Clarivate's Web of Science 2020 and 2021 lists of Highly Cited Researchers.

Prof. Rodríguez-Pose will be joined as internal editor by the Editor in Chief of Regional Science, Policy & Practice, Prof. Andrea Caragliu. Andrea Caragliu is Associate Professor of Regional and Urban Economics at Politecnico di Milano since 2018. He holds a Ph.D. in Spatial Economics, VU University Amsterdam, 2015, and a Ph.D. in Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, 2010. The dissertation has been awarded the Merit Prize of the EU Committee of the Regions Prize for the Best Doctoral Dissertation and Diploma d’Onore AISRe for the best doctoral dissertation in Regional Science “Giorgio Leonardi” 2010.

Between 2019 and 2024 he acted as Executive Director of the Regional Science Association International, for which he previously edited the Newsletter. Besides acting as Editor in Chief of Regional Science, Policy & practice, he is also Associate Editor for Plos ONE. Since 2025, he coordinates the Ph.D. program in Architecture, Built Environment, and Constriction Engineering at Politecnico di Milano.