Openness and flexibility are major trends in contemporary education, research, and business, influencing the whole spectrum of institutions and corporations across the globe. Indeed, technological innovations are bringing about a paradigm shift in contemporary livelihoods. Modes of interaction are becoming more open and flexible in terms of time, space, organization, infrastructure and requirements. With this background, the World Economics Association organizes conferences which are held online and are open access.WEA ON-LINE CONFERENCES invite suggestions and themes that reflect on timely issues, both empirical and theoretical, and enhance the pluralistic and reflexive spirit of the World Economics Association.

The conference themes can be proposed by WEA members. If you would like to suggest a conference in the field of your expertise, please contact: alejandra_madi@yahoo.com.br.

The appointed Leaders of thematic conferences develop the call for papers and are in charge of taking actions for marketing the conference to ensure the success, soliciting and selecting contributions, communicating with the authors, and moderating the Discussion Forum. It is possible also to undertake follow-up activities, such as publication of selected conference papers via vehicles directly linked with WEA (such as WEA Books and journals upon making arrangements with the editors), or other academic publishers. The WEA CONFERENCES committee will assist through all stages.

Each WEA CONFERENCE begins with a pre-conference stage, culminating in a Discussion Forum. At the end of each conference the call, papers, and comments will be stored in the WEA archives. The resources of WEA CONFERENCES are available through all stages to WEA members and other visitors.

The Pre-conference starts with the announcement of the Call for Papers. During the Pre-conference, visitors can:

• Register: registration allows to receive notifications about important dates and updates about the Conference
• Submit proposals: authors can submit unpublished works, either completed or in-progress, within the thematic scope of the conference. The papers will undergo a review and selection process led by the Conference Leaders

The interactive format of Conferences provides an on-line forum for visitors and commentators. All participants will be able to send comments on specific papers, or to contribute to a general discussion on the conference theme.The Leaders of the conference moderate these comments prior to posting to ensure no libellous or hateful language.

Authors of selected papers are expected to reply to comments on their papers. All authors are also strongly encouraged to take part in the Discussion Forum by commenting on other papers.

Each WEA ONLINE CONFERENCE is hosted by Maria Alejandra Madi, Chair of the WEA CONFERENCES. She selects the conference themes and Leaders with the expertise in the topic, and facilitates the process of the conference organization as well as the follow-up activities.The Conference Leaders are responsible for organizing the conference. They prepare the substantive content of the Conference, develop the call for papers and other publicity materials. The Leaders are in charge of:

1.  Taking actions for marketing the conference to ensure the success.
2. Inviting potential contributors in person or by sending emails to them.
3. Disseminating the call for papers through other networks, associations, etc., for which the Conference is of interest.
4. Preparing the articles about the subject of the conference for the WEA Newsletter, edited by Stuart Birks (K.S.Birks@massey.ac.nz).
5. Checking the conference e-mail address and sending updates.
6. Selecting the papers and sending the acceptance/rejection letters to the authors.
7. Organizing the full papers for the Discussion Forum.
8. Deciding how to moderate the Discussion Forum.

The initial format of the WEA CONFERENCES was developed by Grazia Ietto-Gillies, whose ideas have continued to guide the current WEA CONFERENCES organizing team.

WEA CONFERENCES are OPEN ACCESS. The World Economics Association strives to make its conferences accessible for all people around the world. The aim of the WEA ONLINE CONFERENCES is to enlarge the number of participants and to extend the period of discussion to provide for more developed exchanges than in typical, location-based conferences.  WEA Conferences strive to be on the forefront of innovations in communicating and discussing high-quality research.

In order to participate, you will need a modern web-browser and an internet connection. The current format allows for checking the WEA Conferences even from the mobile phone, without the necessity for high-speed or wired internet, although these will make the experience easier. If you need further assistance, please contact us for technical help: info@worldeconomicsassociation.org