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

• The cleaner-production/sustainability advance is generalizable beyond a single case.
• LCA/assessment reports goal/scope, system boundaries, functional unit, inventory, and impact method.
• Assumptions, data quality, and limitations are explicit and tested for sensitivity.
• Outcomes are benchmarked against a meaningful baseline, not asserted.
• Empirical/management/policy components have defensible design and representative data.
• Highlights, graphical abstract, and reproducible methods are prepared per the live guide.

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>