2014 was the second year Sustainability Science published 4 issues per year—a total of 42 articles in diverse fields, from researchers located all over the globe. As sustainability science has grown with the establishment of higher education programs, and more emphasis on studying complex social and environmental problems, the proportion of quality submissions continues to increase. The subfields of the discipline also proliferate as researchers in fields not usually represented in this journal start to investigate how their efforts can make a contribution to sustainability.

Out of these diverse papers we narrowed down six for this year’s Best Paper Awards, (excluding note and comments, editorial, message article and papers authored by a member of the committee) with excellent review scores between 80–100 %. These papers attempt to integrate different types of knowledge, or examine the changing roles of stakeholders in sustainability science. This journal values highly work that considers complexity in cause and effect relationships, considers uncertainty at appropriate scales, makes predictions and forms scenarios. We welcome judgments based on values and the practical aspects of application that effects change, which often must include non researcher actors.

As in previous years editor nominations were narrowed by the editorial office and presented to the selection committee. After some debate we have selected what we believe are the three most outstanding papers from the past year. I congratulate the authors for their hard work on this significant accomplishment. I also thank Braden Allenby from Arizona State University and Jim Falk, University of Melbourne for their help on the selection committee.

The winners are:

Outstanding Article

Carina Moeller, Joachim Sauerborn, Peter de Voil, Ahmad M Manschadi, Mustafa Pala, Holger Meinke

For the paper entitled

Assessing the sustainability of wheat-based cropping systems using simulation modeling: sustainability = 42?—Vol. 9 Issue 1

What the selection committee said:

“Moeller et al. deconstruct the meaning of “sustainability” in a most helpful way, and then uses a sectoral study supported by modelling to develop useful heuristic tools to carry out the analysis of “sustainability” as an adaptive process, for which the paper builds a highly suggestive argument.”

“Their argument on “a vague, emergent system property of often wicked complexity” was quite insightful and contributes to explore a new horizon of sustainability science.”

Honorable mention

Julia M Wittmayer, Niko Schäpke

For the paper entitled

Action, research and participation: roles of researchers in sustainability transitions—Vol. 9 Issue 4

What the selection committee said:

“The question being addressed—the proper role of a sustainability scientist, when activism, scientific process and rationality, and pragmatic politics often collide—is critical, and not adequately considered in many cases. Publishing this paper was an excellent decision for that reason, and I think recognizing it (even if I disagree with elements of it, which does not affect my recommendation) is entirely appropriate.”

Honorable mention

Bernardo BN Strassburg, Agnieszka E Latawiec, Anna Creed, Nga Nguyen, Gilla Sunnenberg, Lera Miles, Andrew Lovett, Lucas Joppa, Ralph Ashton, Jörn PW Scharlemann, Felipe Cronenberger, Alvaro Iribarrem

For the paper entitled

Biophysical suitability, economic pressure and land-cover change: a global probabilistic approach and insights for REDD+—Vol. 9 Issue 2

What the selection committee said:

“The paper examined the interdependence, synergies, and tradeoffs involved in land-cover changes from “the whole-landscape approach”, which would be one of the key features of sustainability science.”