Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue invites theoretical and empirical contributions to develop the idea of “online community sustainability.” Online communities, from groups on social networks, to neighborhood online groups, to online communities of practice, have become a de facto part of our lives. However, despite their extensive success stories and their impact in society, many of them face a number of challenges, particularly with respect to sustainability. Different notions of sustainability refer to, but are not limited to, avoiding resources at risk of being depleted or irreparably damaged, and maintaining, without interruptions or weakening over time, the methods and processes to achieve these goals and their potential implications. The goal of this Special Issue is to explore the topic of online communities and sustainability and answer questions such as:

• What is a sustainable online community?
• How do online communities relate to sustainability?
• Can sustainability of online communities be modeled?
• What resources can be endangered by online communities?
• What are the challenges different online communities face to sustain their members and activities over time?
• What is the relationship between an online community and its impact within and beyond the people who form the community?

The Special Issue aims to extend the rich literature of studies of online communities, including online production communities, online social support communities, and hyperlocal online communities, with a focus on the issue of their relationship to sustainability. Further, it aims to bring together researchers from the broader set of disciplines researching issues of sustainability and resilience in general, and community sustainability and resilience specifically. Such broad participation can support better understanding of the issues of sustainability within the context of online presence and participation.

Dr. Rosta Farzan
Dr. Amy Babay
Dr. Claudia López
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• member retention
• sustainable flow of content
• community impact
• hyperlocal communities
• defining and modeling sustainability