CALL FOR PAPERS - Innovations in the practice of social work research
Deadline for submission of proposals: 28th December 2009
The editors of the British Journal of Social Work invite submissions of abstract proposals for a special issue, to be guest edited by Ian Shaw and Catherine Phillips, with a proposed publication date of April 2011. This special issue will be focused on innovations in research and the application and implications of these innovations for social work.
Researchers have demonstrated the value of an expanding array of methodological interests in the examination of social work practice and education, including for example interdisciplinary methods and mixed methods. In addition, there has been renewed attention to quantitative methods in the UK and a growing interest in qualitative methods in North America. The rapid expansion of social work programmes in the Asia Pacific region has given increased strength to interest in indigenous research. Discussions in Nordic countries, and in relation to social science research councils, have also given fresh focus to ways in which social work research is, or ought to be, distinctive in character. Research endeavours have been seen not just as an activity aimed at finding out facts about services and service users but as a method of producing and developing the potential for social work practice in a shifting global context. This issue aims to provide a forum for academics, practitioners and others to explore and engage with contemporary approaches to doing, and writing about, social work research.
We encourage international contributions, and are interested in publishing papers that make a significant methodological contribution to social work, and have clear relevance for social work practice and/or social work service development.
Abstracts are invited for original articles within the following themes:
• Original methods [from across the social sciences] or original ways of applying methods in social work research, with an emphasis on the practice of social work research.
• Innovations in social work research and how they make a difference for social work practice and service users.
• The application of research methods and approaches by those from other disciplines and those using other disciplinary practices both within, and beyond, the social sciences, which have relevance to the practice of social work research.
Proposals falling outside of these themes will also be considered, providing the work is relevant to the overall theme of this special issue.
A proposal, in the form of an abstract, should be no more than 500 words in length and should address the following: background of the proposed paper; outline of content; and main discussion points. Authors invited to submit a full paper will be expected to comply with the BJSW guidance to authors.
Inquiries and all proposals should be sent to both guest editors:
Professor Ian Shaw
Department of Social Policy and Social Work
University of York
Heslington, York YO10 5DD
Tel: +44 (0)1904 32 1260
Email: ifs2@york.ac.uk
Dr Catherine Phillips
School of Psychosocial Sciences
University of Plymouth
Plymouth, Devon PL4 8AA
Tel. +44 (0)1752 58 6617
Email: catherine.phillips@plymouth.ac.uk
