Call for Papers — Special Issue Active Ageing Revisited: Critical Social Perspectives on the 25th Anniversary of the WHO's "Active Ageing: A Policy Framework" AIS – Acciones e Investigaciones Sociales | Planned publication: Autumn 2027

2026-05-04

The year 2027 marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the World Health Organization's landmark report Active Ageing: A Policy Framework (WHO, 2002). This special issue of AIS – Acciones e Investigaciones Sociales invites contributions that critically revisit the concept and policy uses of active ageing from the perspectives of critical social gerontology and the social sciences. We welcome theoretical reappraisals, empirical studies, and policy analyses that interrogate the gap between optimistic ageing narratives and the lived realities of older people across diverse social, economic, and cultural contexts, with particular attention to inequality, social justice, and citizenship.

The special issue is linked to the UNITA Starting Grant project Active Ageing at 25: Lessons, Policies, and Pathways Forward (AA@25). Submissions are accepted in Spanish, English, or French.

How to submit

Abstracts (max. 500 words) should be sent by e-mail to fmarcaletti@unizar.es and ais@unizar.es by 31 July 2026. Abstracts must include the title of the proposed paper, authors and affiliations, and the main expected contributions and their relevance to the special issue theme. Authors of accepted abstracts will be invited to submit full manuscripts (max. 6,000 words, excluding abstract, references, and appendices) through the Papiro-OJS platform by 31 December 2026, using the AIS official template and following APA 7th edition guidelines. There are no article processing charges (APCs). Full author guidelines are available at: https://papiro.unizar.es/ojs/index.php/ais/en

Key dates

  • Abstracts: 31 July 2026
  • Notification of acceptance: 30 September 2026
  • Full papers: 31 December 2026
  • Peer-review process: January–April 2027
  • Final decisions and revised manuscripts: May–July 2027
  • Planned publication: October 2027

Editors

Francesco Marcaletti (Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain); Rosa Marina Afonso (Universidade da Beira Interior, Portugal); Maria Laura Parisi (Università degli Studi di Brescia, Italy); Sorin Drugau (Universitatea Transilvania din Brașov, Romania).

Enquiries: fmarcaletti@unizar.es