Category: Announcements

Call for Papers

Research Association on Monetary Innovation and Community and Complementary Currency Systems

INTERNATIONAL CALL FOR PAPERS
SPECIAL ISSUE ON TIME BANKS TO MARK THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE CREATION OF THE TIMEBANKS ASSOCIATION IN THE UNITED STATES

The Ibero-American Association of Time Banks (ASIBDT), together with the Timebanks.org Association and the International Journal of Community Currency Reserach (IJCCR), on the occasion of the celebration this year 2025 of the 30th anniversary of the creation of the Time Banks association in the United States, are opening an international call for papers on time banks, time-currencies and time-based exchange networks, which will be published in a special issue dedicated to this anniversary in The International Journal of Community Currency Research, IJCCR (www.ijccr.net), The journal is a periodical published by the RAMICS association (https://ramics.org), founded in 1997 and since then serving as a global benchmark in the academic world in its field. It has published a great number of articles about and around timebanking during that time (see references for examples). 

To mark this important anniversary for the time banks in the United States, we are opening the possibility for academic and non-academic articles on the history, present state and future potential of time banks in this country and worldwide. 

The deadline for submitting articles and reviews in English or Spanish for this special issue will be February 1st 2026. We believe this is an opportunity for researchers and academics interested in contributing original work, which may include reviews, meta-analyses, empirical studies, theoretical and conceptual articles on time banks and other networks or organizations that use time as a unit of exchange. Also, articles on time-based exchange networks and time-based currencies are welcome. We will accept articles in three categories: 

1. Research articles 
Articles which provide an informed theoretical perspective as well as empirical investigations of time banks and time based currencies. 

2. Literature review articles
Articles that provide literature review of the field of time banks, time based currencies or socially centered accounting systems, reciprocity and gift economy. 

3. Empirical research reports & letters from the field 
This would be field studies and particularly noteworthy case studies. We welcome in particular empirical research reports from ongoing projects and from PhD students who want to share research results before their dissertation is concluded. 

The guidelines for article acceptance are the same as those required by The International Journal of Community Currency Research and can be found at the following link on the journal’s website: https://ijccr.net/submit-a-paper-2 . 

By March 7th, 2026 all participants will be notified by email of the results of this call for papers. 

The further procedure depends on the type of article you submit. Research articles are subject to a peer review process. 

A first selection of papers will be presented on March 23, 2026, on the celebration of International Timebanks Day, as part of all the virtual events that ASIBDT and Timebanks.org, together with other organizations, are holding worldwide for this reason. 

The editors of this special issue are renowned academics in the field of complementary currencies and managers of various time bank networks that currently exist worldwide. 

EDITORS 

  • Sarah Bird, CEO of Timebanking UK, United Kingdom 
  • Prof. Dr. Georgina Gomez, Erasmus University, Netherlands 
  • Prof. Dr. Lee Gregory, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom 
  • Dr. Jens Martignoni, Chief Editor IJCCR, Switzerland 
  • Grazia Pratella, President of The Coordination Time Bank in Lombardy, Italy 
  • Julio Gisbert Quero, President ASIBDT, Spain 
  • Maurizio Ruzzene, Independent Researcher, Italy 
  • Krista Wyatt, Executive Director and CEO at TimeBanks.Org, USA 

WEBSITE FOR SUBMITTING ARTICLES: https://ijccr.net  *Please note that online article submission will be unavailable from November 24 to 28, 2025, due to a platform migration.

MORE INFORMATION: info@asibdt.org 

Latest articles about time banks in IJCCR:

[Roundtable] RAMICS Book Corner 2025.10.17

Image IJCCR

The first session of “RAMICS Book Corner” will take place on Friday, October 17, from 01:00 to 02:00 PM (Central European Time) RAMICS Book Corners intends to be regular sessions where recently published books on monetary alternatives are discussed with their authors. I will (and anyone interested) discuss Ester Barinaga Martín’s book with her:Remaking money for an inclusive […]

Message from the President upon completing mandate

Research Association on Monetary Innovation and Community and Complementary Currency Systems

Dear members

As the year draws to a close, so too does my term as president of Ramics. I want to thank all our members for this valuable learning experience and offer a summary of the past four years. I presented these activities at the 7th Congress in Rome, but as not all members were able to attend, I want to highlight some key points.

Over its ten years of existence, Ramics has become a valuable resource: a space where researchers on complementary currencies can present and discuss their work, a point of contact for the public with questions on our topic, and a source of literature for young researchers needing to start out somewhere. The Ramics email address regularly receives unsolicited offers, from tourist boards inviting us to hold conferences in their cities to service providers offering website improvements. While these emails can be a nuisance, they do indicate a degree of visibility among global academic associations. 

Over the last four years, Ramics has maintained its activity, holding biennial conferences in various countries and continents. The post-COVID congress was made possible primarily through the dedication of Rossitsa Toncheva, with crucial support from the rest of the Management Team, her team in Sofia, Bulgaria, and our long-standing volunteers, Leander Bindewald and Teodoro Criscione. The subsequent congress, organized by ISSIRFA CNR in Rome, marked a positive step beyond the pandemic. Like a historical turning point, this shift towards the future took place in Rome, a city with a rich history of such transitions. I extend my sincere thanks to CNR and the Roman team—Luca Giachi, Chiara Cavallaro, Riccardo Fava, Francesca Proia, and Fabrizio Tuzi—for organizing the congress, and to Matthew Slater for the practitioners’ day. I also offer sincere thanks to Teodoro Criscione, who provided wonderful support as a volunteer once again.

After three rounds, we have established a Best Paper Award, open equally to activists and researchers. The blending of practitioners, academics, and activists has become one of the hallmarks of Ramics conferences. While the contacts between the groups has got varying degrees of success, Ramics is still among the few academic associations that actively engage such a diverse audience. This year a new bridge was built, with a community of educators, an initiative of Ester Barinaga. Finally, we have continued to support small groups of PhD students in France, Sweden, Belgium, Japan, Brazil, and the Netherlands. The Ramics Management Team page provides a list of potential PhD supervisors for research on complementary currencies.

The International Journal of Community Currency Research (IJCCR) deserves special mention. Jens Martignoni and the Editorial Board are working to revitalize the journal, exploring ways to enhance it while adhering to the founders’ mandate: to provide high-quality, open-access research. Despite its limitations, the IJCCR stands as one of the few free and open-source journals sustained by volunteer effort for 27 volumes. The Editors also offer mentoring to aspiring junior scholars, helping them achieve their first publication rather than simply issuing rejections. For papers focusing on case studies, ideas, and projects, the IJCCR has created the “Ideas for Debate” section, publishing innovative and well-written empirical cases.

Unfortunately, in early 2024, our second attempt at a COST Action proposal was unsuccessful, joining the 92% of proposals that were rejected. I have decided to step aside, allowing others to try a third time or develop a different proposal if they wish. The existing documentation remains available to all Ramics members.

When I took over the presidency from Jerome Blanc in 2019, I had many more plans and wishes. Time constraints and other limitations kept me focused on what was achievable, altogether humbler. I benefited from the motivation of current and former Management Team members, as well as Ricardo Orzi in Argentina and August Corrons in Barcelona, our former Management Team members. I would like to welcome Gabriella Gimigliano and Luca Giachi from Italy into the MT. I am also grateful to the many volunteers who have dedicated their time and energy to help us grow and maintain a degree of visibility and relevance.

Having reached my word limit, I offer my best wishes for 2025. May this year bring peace and some prosperity to the world, and perhaps some sanity and rationality to world leaders who have shown a lack thereof. And may Ramics make its own small contribution towards these goals.

Georgina Gomez

New management committee members

Research Association on Monetary Innovation and Community and Complementary Currency Systems

The members of the new Management Committee for the period 2024-2026 have been decided.

Georgina Gomez, who had been the President until now, has stepped down, and Rossitsa Toncheva has been appointed as the new President. Moreover, August Corrons Gimenz and Ricardo Orzi have stepped down from the Management Committee, and Gabriella Gimigliano and Luca Giachi have been appointed as new members.

For more information, please see Management Committee.