To: Professor Erling Berge
Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Erling.Berge@...

Dear Professor Berge,

Congratulations to you and your team of volunteers on launching the journal
focused on the study of "commons":

International Journal of the Commons (IJC)
http://www.thecommonsjournal.org/index.php/ijc/index

". . . dedicated to furthering our understanding of institutions for use
and management of resources that are (or could be) enjoyed collectively."

I find the mission statement quite meaningful and exciting. It is exciting
not only because the topic is timely, but also because it aspires to tackle
forms of variability potentially beyond the remit of classical scientific
research (e.g., variability in the /enjoyment/ of resources and in
/decisions/ and /actions/ within institutions). To develop our
understanding of this topic, we are going to need innovative forms of
inquiry, capable of accommodating such variability and facilitating the
development of exemplary institutions.

Best wishes for this noteworthy journal. And thank you for making it
open-access.

Yours sincerely,

DP
--
Journal of Research Practice (JRP)
http://jrp.icaap.org/
Editors:
D. P. Dash, PhD
Héctor R. Ponce, PhD
--

Copy: "Research_Practice" Forum (for information)

International Journal of the Commons (IJC)

Focus and Scope

The International Journal of the Commons is devoted to understanding and
improving institutions for the management of resources that are (or could
be) held or used collectively. Many will refer to such resources and their
systems of usage as 'commons'. The environment may be the natural world
used by humans or it may be the social realities created by humans, such as
the Internet as a commons. The journal aims at forming a forum for
researchers working on resources that can be or are used and managed
collectively. The journal was set up on the initiative of the International
Association for the Study of the Commons. The editors of the IJC welcome
contributions from all scientific disciplines, from practitioners and
policy makers. Submissions will be judged upon their quality, methodology,
approach and suitability for the journal.

Mission statement

The International Journal of the Commons (IJC) is a new journal set-up by
the International Association for the Study of the Commons (IASC). As an
interdisciplinary peer-reviewed open-access journal, the IJC is dedicated
to furthering our understanding of institutions for use and management of
resources that are (or could be) enjoyed collectively.

Using resources collectively is often believed to be problematic. In
pratice however, there are many cases to be found of situations where
common pool resources are used in a sustainable way. In this journal we
want to offer room to both sides of the debate, and we hope our
interdisciplinary approach will contribute to creating a more balanced view
of how common pool institutions actually work. . . .