Journal of Cleaner Production (journal-of-cleaner-production)
Journal positioning
The Journal of Cleaner Production (JCLP) is the Elsevier journal for cleaner production,
sustainability, and the transition to sustainable systems — cleaner technologies and
processes, circular-economy strategies, sustainability assessment (including life-cycle
assessment), and corporate and industrial sustainability. Its defining expectation is a
cleaner-production or sustainability-transition contribution with transparent method:
a study that demonstrably reduces environmental burden or advances sustainable practice,
with explicit assumptions, system boundaries, and data sources. Relative to Resources,
Conservation & Recycling, JCLP is broader — it spans technology, management, policy, and
assessment rather than focusing on material/waste circularity. A descriptive case study with
opaque LCA assumptions or no generalizable cleaner-production insight is a weak fit. This
skill is a fit / venue-selection / re-framing tool. It does not replace the journal's
current author guidelines. Before submitting, re-check the live JCLP submission guidance.
When to trigger
- The author names the Journal of Cleaner Production and wants a fit/framing check for a
cleaner-production or sustainability paper.
- An LCA, cleaner-technology, or corporate-sustainability study must be re-framed around a
generalizable cleaner-production contribution.
- The author is deciding between JCLP and Resources, Conservation & Recycling, or between JCLP
and a broader sustainability-science venue.
- The author needs JCLP's methodological-transparency bar (LCA assumptions, system boundaries)
and desk-reject heuristics.
Scope & topic fit
- Cleaner technologies and processes that reduce emissions, energy, water, or material use at
the source, with quantified environmental benefit.
- Sustainability assessment: life-cycle assessment, life-cycle costing, environmental and
integrated assessment, and footprint analyses with transparent methodology.
- Circular-economy strategies and sustainable production–consumption systems at process,
product, organization, or system level.
- Corporate, industrial, and supply-chain sustainability: management practices, eco-innovation,
and sustainability governance with evidence-based analysis.
- Sustainability transitions, policy instruments, and behavioral or socio-technical change
toward cleaner systems.
- Methods and frameworks for evaluating cleaner production when validated and generalizable
beyond a single case.
Method & evidence bar
- The contribution must show a cleaner-production or sustainability advance, with results
that transfer beyond a single descriptive case.
- LCA and assessment studies require explicit goal and scope, system boundaries, functional
unit, inventory data sources, allocation choices, and impact-method selection.
- Transparency and reproducibility are central: assumptions, data quality, and limitations
must be stated, and key results tested for sensitivity.
- Quantitative environmental, economic, or social outcomes should be benchmarked against a
meaningful baseline (conventional process or status quo), not asserted.
- Management, policy, and survey studies need defensible design, representative data, and
appropriate statistics, with theory grounding where relevant.
- Modeling and scenario work must justify scenario choice and report uncertainty.
Structure & house style
- Standard research-article format; the journal also publishes reviews and shorter formats —
re-check current article types and length on the live guide.
- The introduction must state the cleaner-production/sustainability gap and the generalizable
contribution, not merely that a case is interesting.
- Methods must make the assessment reproducible — for LCA, report boundaries, functional unit,
inventory, and impact method; for empirical work, report data and analysis fully.
- Figures and tables should be decision-relevant (impact contributions, scenario comparisons,
sensitivity ranges), with detailed inventories and assumptions in SI.
- Graphical abstract and highlights are expected; re-check current specifications on the live guide.
Official-submission checklist
- Before giving submission-ready advice, read
../../resources/source-basis.md and
../../resources/official-source-map.md; start from the Elsevier anchors, then cite the
current Journal of Cleaner Production page you checked.
- Search the live site for "Journal of Cleaner Production guide for authors" and follow the current Elsevier version.
- Re-check article types, length, abstract, and graphical-abstract/highlights requirements.
- Confirm LCA/assessment reporting expectations (goal/scope, boundaries, functional unit, inventory, impact method).
- Re-check data-availability, inventory/data-table deposition, and supplementary-data policy.
- Re-check competing-interests, funding, author-contribution, and AI-use disclosure, and open-access terms.
- If the live official instructions conflict with this skill, the official instructions win.
Pre-submission self-check
Common desk-reject triggers
- A single descriptive case study with no generalizable cleaner-production contribution.
- LCA with undefined system boundaries, functional unit, or inventory, and no sensitivity analysis.
- "Sustainability" framing with no quantified environmental, economic, or social outcome.
- Benefit claims with no baseline comparison or an unfair strawman baseline.
- Management/policy/survey work with weak design or non-representative data.
- Scope mismatch: a pure process-engineering or pure economics paper with no cleaner-production/sustainability advance.
Re-routing decision
- Material-flow / waste / recycling circularity is the core →
resources-conservation-and-recycling.
- Cleaner-production critical synthesis rather than primary data →
trends-in-food-science-and-technology (food) or annual-review-of-environment-and-resources (environment).
- Pollutant emission/impact measurement focus →
environmental-pollution.
- Engineering/technology-of-treatment emphasis →
environmental-science-and-technology.
- Broad solutions/sustainability-science framing →
nature-sustainability.
Output format
[Fit] High / Medium / Low (one-line reason)
[Target] Journal of Cleaner Production
[Topic tags] <2–3 closest cleaner-production/sustainability topics>
[Cleaner-production contribution] <the generalizable advance beyond the case>
[Method/transparency] <are boundaries/assumptions/inventory explicit and sensitivity-tested?>
[Top risk] <the single most likely reason for rejection>
[Official items to re-check] <article type / LCA reporting / highlights / data policy / disclosures>
[Re-route suggestion] <if not a fit, a better-matched venue>