(Re)Connect. (Re-)Establish a bond.
To connect is an integral part of the human experience. We are social, connected, beings. The unparalleled events of 2020 have made this even more evident --- they have forced us to disconnect from life as we knew it and to (re)connect to history, nature, people, ourselves, and forgotten practices. This has weakened and strengthened our established bonds, while creating new ones. Ultimately, it revealed how dependent we are on our connections.

Researchers and scientists are constantly trying to understand the ways in which different phenomena connect with one another --- this is the ultimate goal of research. More than that, we long to find ways to understand substantial connections: Scientists have been searching for a Theory of Everything; the Six Degrees of Separation Hypothesis has been part of our collective imaginaries for decades; and the Internet of Things aims to eventually interconnect (most if not all of) our everyday objects.

In academia, there are strong movements towards (re)connecting. Interdisciplinarity has gained traction, as it connects disciplines for the purpose of reconnecting knowledge to solve more complex problems. Mixed methodologies connect research methods for more comprehensive results. Experiments are being re-conducted for a (re)connection with (or disconnection from) established theories. The shift towards Open Access (OA) also creates (re)connections: OA publications increase the reach of new scientific discoveries, and OA databases make it possible to reuse the data of other researchers, leading to new conclusions. Finally, Science Communication trends help to (re)connect science to stakeholders, practitioners, broader audiences, and everyday life.

For our next issue, Excursions Journal invites researchers from all disciplines to (re)connect to the complex relationships between society, nature, things, science, and being human. We seek to assemble a collection of articles that aim to (re)connect, whether as part of a natural phenomenon in an objective reality or a socially-constructed subjective phenomenon. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

Theories that explore (re)connections
Processes that (re)connect the biological, physical and social world
Popular culture and political discourse that examines (re)connection
Developments that incite personal or social changes through (re)connecting
Research methodology and reflections focusing on (re)connections
Please submit your extended abstract (or full manuscript) by 1st October 2020 on https://tinyurl.com/EXSsubmit. Submissions will also be considered for presentation at the Excursions Online Symposium (more information to come). If you have trouble with our submission system, please email us at enquiries@excursions-journal.org.uk. We encourage submission as soon as possible, as we accept articles on a rolling basis.

Extended abstracts should be no longer than 500 words. Final manuscripts will be due by the 1st of December and should be no longer than 5,000 words. Excursions adopts Harvard style for citations and bibliography. More information about Author Guidelines can be found on the submissions page.

Alongside traditional academic articles, we also consider alternative ways of communicating research, such as videos, photo essays, posters, verse, among others (please contact the editorial staff prior to submission via enquiries@excursions-journal.org.uk).