Contribute to Upcoming Publication

SPECIAL EDITION JOURNAL: UNIDENTIFIED ANOMALOUS PHENOMENA 


BACKGROUND:
The Naval Postgraduate School’s (NPS) Center on Combating Hybrid Threats (CCHT) partners with faculty, students, and external collaborators to conduct interdisciplinary research, education, and outreach efforts. Through this work, we have partnered with the NPS Global Education Community Collaboration Online (ECCO) Program to produce special editions of its Combating Threats Exchange (CTX) Journal on topics critical to national security and defense. Our upcoming publication is dedicated to the efforts led by the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) to improve data collection, standardize reporting requirements, and mitigate the potential threats to safety and security posed by unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP). 

The Department of Defense considers UAP as sources of anomalous detections in one or more domain (i.e., airborne, seaborne, spaceborne, and/or transmedium) that are not yet attributable to known actors and that demonstrate behaviors that are not readily understood by sensors or observers. 

“Anomalous detections” include but are not limited to phenomena that demonstrate apparent capabilities or material that exceed known performance envelopes. A UAP may consist of one or more unidentified anomalous objects and may persist over an extended period of time.  
 
This call for papers is your opportunity to contribute to the growing body of knowledge surrounding UAP, advance the science of UAP, and to engage in interdisciplinary discussions that explore their scientific and technological implications.


GUIDELINES FOR AUTHORS: 
Topics of interest for this issue may include:
  • Emerging Technology: Investigations into the physical properties and behaviors that could be considered UAP, such as advanced propulsion, maneuverability, stealth materials, and power generation.
  • UAP Characterization: Creating new, improving, and leveraging existing sensing modalities to characterize UAP with higher fidelity.
  • Data Analysis: Innovative methodologies for analyzing observational data from various sources and sensors.
  • Theoretical Frameworks: Development of theories to explain the phenomena associated with UAP, including unresolved UAP sightings or events, integrating insights from physics, engineering, and other relevant disciplines.
  • Historical Context: Studies that place UAP within a historical framework, exploring past sightings and their implications for contemporary understanding.
  • Community Involvement & Science: Emerging methods and technologies that can incorporate citizen science to overcome current barriers including spatial and temporal collection biases.
UAP represent a broad range of challenges, and so authors are not limited to the example topics above. We welcome paper proposals on adjacent topics that have a demonstrable link to UAP. If you have a written work that is already in progress, and which you think might be a good fit for this special issue, we encourage you to pitch it to us.  However, we cannot accept articles that have already been published elsewhere. A research report or similar work that has not appeared in a public-facing forum is acceptable. If you are unsure or have questions, please contact us. For consideration, please provide an outline of the topic you are interested in, along with a brief summary of your proposed approach and key areas of focus at this LINK. All proposed submissions will be reviewed by our team for selection. If your proposal is approved, authors will receive feedback and suggestions for revisions as needed to ensure alignment with the journal's scope and standards. 

SUBMISSION DEADLINES:
  • Brief summary of proposed work: 20 June 2025
  • Please complete a short questionnaire at the following link: https://forms.office.com/r/bEnEJTWaHN
  • Notifications on selected papers: mid-July 2025
  • Draft articles: 15 September 2025

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:
  • All submissions must be in MS Word; we cannot accept files in PDF format. 
  • Draft essays should be between 3,000 - 6,000 words, inclusive of endnotes.
  • Include your name and affiliation as you wish them to appear on the article.
  • Include a brief 150-word biography for inclusion in the issue.
  • Use a standard U.S. layout: one-inch margins, double-spaced.
  • All notes must be in endnote format, according to the Chicago Manual of Style. Do not use in-text reference style. 
  • Figures, tables, and maps should be numbered and include appropriate captions. If you include any graphics or illustrations from an outside source, you are responsible for obtaining permission to use them. 
  • Authors are encouraged to supply high-resolution photographs and other artwork for use in illustrating their essays. However, the final decision on whether a particular piece of art is of sufficient quality and resolution to be included will rest with the CTX Journal graphic designer. 

THE CTX PRODUCTION PROCESS:
Once your essay has been accepted for publication in the special issue, the CTX Journal team will provide edits and flag any instances where we see a need for clarification or more information. Authors will then have the opportunity to make minor revisions, answer all queries, and approve the edited version. 

Every article will be proofread a second time prior to submission to typesetting. The entire journal is then proofread twice more, in our effort to ensure that the journal meets the highest publication standards prior to publication on the CTX Journal website. 

A Special Issue of the Combating Threats Exchange (CTX)
https://nps.edu/web/ecco/ctx-journal-home

If you have questions about your topic or other aspects of the special issue, feel free to reach out to 
Mr. Lawrence Walzer (lmwalzer1@nps.edu) and Ms. Tahmina Karimova (ttkarimo@nps.edu).