Call for papers! Special Issue on The Playful Leader.
Posted by Andrew Walsh on 2025-06-20
The Playful Leader
Playful attitudes, approaches and activities in leadership and management
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Call For Papers for a special issue of Journal of Play in Adulthood
Guest Editors: Rosie Jones and Andy Walsh
Theme: The Playful Leader: Playful attitudes, approaches and activities in leadership and management.
Leadership can refer to formal or informal leadership experiences or positions.
Some suggested subthemes
· Managing others in the workplace
· Using play to encourage creativity or problem solving
· Playful management or leadership training
· Models or discussions of what it means to be a playful leader or manager
· Developing playful teams
· Being a playful agitator – encouraging playfulness outside formal structures
· Playful leadership outside formal roles – playfully influencing your communities
Instructions for authors
We invite you to submit a paper within the theme by 1st December 2025. Please contact the editors (andywalsh999@gmail.com) if you want to check if your proposed paper is within the theme, or for any other queries. All papers will be peer reviewed after submission. We may also ask authors to anonymously review other papers submitted.
Outline timetable
Submission of papers – by 1st December 2025
Reviews done – by 2nd Feb 2026
Initial revisions – by 4th March 2026
Further reviews and revisions if necessary – by 3rd May 2026
Copyediting, typesetting etc – June 2026
Expected publication – July / August 2026
Article length
Typically 5000-8000 words for academic articles (including references), but if you wish to submit something less conventional and more playful, please ask in advance. If you wish to submit something that is less academic, as more of a thought piece perhaps, or a playful provocation, please ask as we may consider it for a non-peer reviewed section of the journal. The full articles should adhere to the submission guidelines and processes outlined here:
https://www.journalofplayinadulthood.org.uk/submissions/
Copyright information
The Journal of Play in Adulthood makes content available on an open access basis, with the default of a CC-BY 4.0 licence. Authors retain their own copyright of submitted material, simply licencing the journal to publish. No fees are charged to read, or to publish in, the journal.