When we wrote our first editorial for Nordic Social Work Research just over five years ago in 2011, we looked at the past – all the work that had been carried out by so many colleagues in different Nordic countries to get a new academic journal started. A new journal does not just turn up; in fact, it is an outcome of a strong belief in the research communities that a new journal in social work would be needed and many people’s input over many years, those of the Nordic social work research associations in particular. This dedication to social work research in the Nordic countries should never be forgotten.
In that first editorial, we speculated about the future of the new journal and drafted some principles with which we wanted to guide the journal and our tasks as editors. When rereading the first editorial, it came as a surprise that we did not use the metaphor of a journey, which is so often used to describe a step into the ‘unknown’. If we had used that metaphor, it would be now time to say: what a first class journey we have had!
This period over five years has given us an opportunity to read many extraordinary manuscripts and to see their transformation into articles published in the journal, first at the journal website and then as printed copies. Then gradually later to see them referenced in academic publications and lists of students’ course reading as important inputs of social work research. The number of submissions has increased steadily during the years. The quality of incoming papers is high and it is not very common to reject a submission in the first review round. As a whole, we tend to accept at the end rather less than half of the submitted manuscripts which is, as we have learnt from our publisher, typical for a good quality journal. We still tend to receive most papers from Sweden, Norway and Finland but these are, after all, the countries here with larger social work research communities. It is, however, a challenge for the future to encourage a wider basis for submissions.
Reviews are an integral and fundamental part of the journal. As editors, we have enjoyed many moments of academic learning when reading the constructive reviews written by our colleagues of the Nordic countries and beyond. The body of reviewers has increased during the years and we are immensely grateful for people sharing their time and knowledge in writing the reviews. We have said it before but do so once again: a journal would not exist without the reviewers. We would like to acknowledge them by listing their names at the end of this editorial.
During the five years, three special issues have been published. All of them are based on the initiatives outside the editorial board which we take as a sign of a shared involvement to develop the journal as a dynamic publishing forum for on-going scholarly debates. The first special issue, Understanding the Other, guest-edited by Adrienne Chambon and Aila-Leena Matthies, was inspired by a Nordic-Baltic social work summer school and included a mix of articles by senior scholars and PhD students. We know that this issue has been read for many purposes; for its thematic relevance for social work research – and, not least, because the papers present PhD works in progress. The second special issue, Practice Research, was our first self-funded issue, guest-edited by Ilse Julkunen and Synnöve Karvinen-Niinikoski. This issue highlights the depths and width of this approach to social work research and its Nordic traditions. We are so proud to have the Helsinki statement on social work practice research published in this journal. The third special issue Social Work and Sociology: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives, guest-edited by Irene Levin, Marit Haldar and Aurélie Picot, is just about to be out of print. In this issue, the discussion continues of how the relationship between these two disciplines can be looked upon today, without deleting the historical experiences. We hope that this issue will initiate good debates. The special issues have demonstrated that there is a wish to have forums for specific topics. These publications are needed for many purposes, in particular for teaching of social work.
In addition to the special issues and ‘ordinary academic articles’, the journal publishes book reviews. The book reviews are indeed needed as Riina Kiik stated in her guest editorial which originally was a presentation in one of the workshops organized by Nordic Social Work Research in conjunction with the Forsa conferences. The task of the book review editor has been shared by Mirja Satka, Marjaana Seppänen and Guðrún Kristinsdóttir. As a result, we have been given the opportunity to read book reviews that are of special interest to contemporary Nordic social work research. In particular, the reviews of books published in non-English languages in the Nordic countries are important. The book review section rests on people’s commitment to share their views of books in the form of a book review.
However, the journey has not been entirely smooth over the years. There have also been rough moments. Nothing too bad though: some racking our brains over where to find a senior reviewer for a very complex paper or whether to accept or reject a certain paper. Or to decide if a paper is a topic for Nordic Social Work Research at all. Always in our agonizing over such matters we have had the opportunity to turn to the editorial board which has provided us an arena to reflect the principles and ethics of editorial work. Some of the members have changed during the years but trust us – they have all left their mark on the journal.
With good support from the editorial board, we have also had the opportunity to initiate workshops connected to the Nordic FORSA conferences in Trondheim (2012) and in Malmö (2014). These events have gathered scholars interested in the ethical dimensions of publishing in academic journals, editorial work, review systems and review processes. These initiatives have been an important part of our work as editors – it turned out that many of these ethical issues had rarely been discussed previously.
The editorial board members are appointed by the national FORSAs, the Nordic social work research associations. The board consists of two members from each Nordic country. We especially want to thank FORSAs for the support at a rough point in the journey after having once missed the financial support from NOP-HS (Grants for Nordic Scientific journals). It was a critical moment until the FORSAs collectively decided to support financially the honorarium paid to the journal’s editorial assistant, Rosi Enroos. Without her competent editorial assistance, the standard of the journal would have been much lower. Our understanding is that many authors (or authors-to-be) have appreciated Rosi’s friendly guidance in the article submissions and her careful remarks about the article styles. As editors, we would not have managed without her input in our editorial work.
Nordic Social Work Research was established to fulfil the wish to disseminate social work research results and to highlight current issues of practical social work in the Nordic societies. The published articles so far show an enormous thematic variation and span; social work methodologies, social work in different institutional contexts, social work and politics, international social work and many more. This is entirely consistent with the journal’s aims and scopes. However, the very notion of social work is challenged by the changes in society, and what we, or this generation, used to learn to know as social work may in future be something different. The interrelations between social work and the Nordic welfare states may be reorganized and rethought. These relations may evolve differently in the various Nordic countries and will have an impact on educational pathways. In fact, the latter point is an issue which one member of the journal’s international advisory board, Christian Spatscheck, beautifully put on our agenda in his reflections about the state of the journal: should a journal such as Nordic Social Work Research devote some thought to the constantly developing relations between social work and the Nordic welfare states?
The presidents of the FORSA have now appointed two new editors, Maria Appel Nissen, University of Aalborg, and Maria Eriksson, Mälardalen University, who start editing this journal in 2016. The editorship thereby moves from Finland and Norway to Denmark and Sweden. The journal could not have any better and more widely experienced editors. We hope that their years ahead as editors will be as exciting and rewarding as the years we have had.
The last paragraph of our last editorial we would like to devote to Taylor & Francis and their support for new editors. Sofie Wennström guided us through the first years so wisely and kindly that it will never be forgotten. She and everyone else at Taylor & Francis have always offered us instructions and mental support and provided us insights into international publishing. We also want to thank Joel Phipps for his patient guidance through the production processes. We have seen in the period of five years how much work it involves to have one scientific article published. We have learnt that it is not only the welfare state or social work changing but also the whole genre of academic publishing. When we started, open access was not known as an issue for social work research; now it is a standard element there as well. The first review invitations were sent by email but now we can use the sophisticated Scholar One System which nowadays even lists for us the names of people who have published scholarly articles in the same field of study as the manuscript we are working with. Publishing is really about people and their work. Therefore, the very end of this editorial will be devoted to all of you who are and have been committed to this journal as readers, contributors and reviewers. We might not have solved all the problems related with social work and social work research; as there is so much more to do so let us continue!
In addition to the editorial board members and other people closely involved in editorial work, we would like acknowledge the following people for reviewing manuscripts and instructing the journal including:
Maarit Alasuutari, Fausto Amaro, Anna Angelin, Olav Helge Angell, Roxana Anghel, Merja Anis, Tom Arnkil, Karin Aronsson, Maria Bangura Arvidsson, Ole-Petter Askheim, Leena Autonen-Vaaraniemi, Elisabeth Backe-Hansen, Elisiv Bakketeig, Ravinder Barn, Avril Bellinger, Tea Torbenfeldt Bengtsson, Anders Bergmark, David Berridge, Nina Biehal, Leonieke Boendermaker, Anette Bolin, Anne Breumlund, Cinzia Canali, Dorte Caswell, Åsa Cater, Elisabet Cedersund, Adrienne Chambon, Lesley Chenoweth, Kris Clarke, Graham Connelly, Neil Coulson, Gry Mette D. Haugen, Hayley Davies, Ann Davis, Ruth Dean, Mary Jo Deegan, Jorge Fernández del Valle, Verner Denvall, John Devaney, Kari Eika, Mats Ekendahl, Noora Ellonen, Eivind Engebretsen, Irwin Epstein, Maria Eriksson, Leena Eskelinen, Siv Fahlgren, Mia Arp Fallov, Halvor Fauske, Brid Featherstone, Iain Ferguson, Jan Fook, Hannele Forsberg, Rosi Forsberg, Bjørg Fossestøl, Freydís J. Freysteinsdóttir, Günter J. Friesenhahn, Paul M. Garrett, Riitta Granfelt, Hans Grietens, Yngvil Grøvdal, Halldór Guðmundsson, Roar Hagen, Christopher J. Hall, Gregory Hall, Anne Halvorsen, Mark Hardy, Timo Harrikari, Anni Haugen, Teija Hautanen, Karen Healy, Tarja Heino, Tuula Heinonen, Ingerborg Helgeland, Tuula Helne, Nicole Hennum, Lea Henriksson, Marcus Herz, Heikki Hiilamo, Ulf Hjelmar, Liisa Hokkanen, Sally Holland, Marja Holmila, Veronika Honkasalo, Päivi Honkatukia, Jouko Huttunen, Lars-Christian Hydén, Juha Hämäläinen, Ingrid Höjer, Staffan Höjer, Matilde Høybye-Mortensen, Allan Irving, Katarina Jacobsson, Markku Jahnukainen, Magnus Jegermalm, Stina Johansson, Eva Johnsson, Kirsi Juhila, Ilse Julkunen, Laura Kalliomaa-Puha, Synnöve Karvinen-Niinikoski, Taru Kekoni, Evelyn Khoo, Johanna Kiili, Kari Killén, Minna Kivipelto, Bente H Kojan, Anne Koponen, Riikka Korkiamäki, Tuula Kostiainen, Arne Kristiansen, Katrin Kritz, Christian Kroll, Teppo Kröger, Marjo Kuronen, Katja Kuusisto, Susanne Kvarnström, Riitta Laakso, Leili Laanemets, Merja Laitinen, Kari Langaard, Hans Larsson, Mette Lausten, Juhani Lehto, Irene Levin, Annika Lillrank, Tomi Lintonen, Edgar Marthinsen, Ardis Størm Mathisen, Elizabeth Martinell Barfoed, Judith Masson, Aila-Leena Matthies, Caroline Mc Gregor, Anna Metteri, Thomas Meysen, Merete Monrad, Ton Mooij, David Moxley, Anu Muuri, Mikko Mäntysaari, Cecilie B. Neumann, Marie Veirup Nielsen, Lennart Nygren, Leo Nyqvist, Helene Hjorth Oldrup, Søren Peter Olesen, Siv Oltedal, Joan Orme, Timo Pasanen, Aini Pehkonen, Elina Pekkarinen, Päivi Petrelius, Gunn Pettersen, Kaare Pettersen, Ulla Petterson, Katarina Piuva, Pirjo Pölkki, Suvi Raitakari, Marketta Rajavaara, Shula Ramon, Satu Ranta-Tyrkko, Pirkko-Liisa Rauhala, Mo Ray, Katja Repo, Irene Roivainen, Suvi Ronkainen, Ilmari Rostila, Marianne Rugkåsa, Melina Røe, Ingrid Sahlin, Tapio Salonen, Mona Sandbæk, Mirja Satka, Erja Saurama, Lena Sawyer, Stefan Schnurr, Ulla-Karin Schön, Patrick Selmi, Michael Seltzer, Marjaana Seppänen, Julie Shaw, Sigurveig Sigurdardottir, Yvonne Sjöblom, Marit Skivenes, Britt Slagsvold, Tor Slettebø, May-Britt Solem, Haluk Soydan, Christian Spatscheck, Nicky Stanley, Paul Stepney, Judit Strömpl, Anne Marie Støkken, Sune Sunesson, Leena Suurpää, Sylvia Söderström, Tuukka Tammi, Lars Inge Terum, Pia Tham, Bruce Thyer, Jouni Tourunen, Danielle Turney, Maritta Törrönen, Lars Uggerhöj, Randi Wærdahl, Åse Vagli, Chris Walmsley, Heli Valokivi, Anni Vanhala, Margret Wetherell, Stefan Wiklund, Jorunn Vindegg, Elina Virokannas, Stanley Witkin, Riitta Vornanen, Sue Yeandle, Satu Ylinen, Siri Ytrehus, Darja Zavirsek, Marie Østergaard Møller.