Invited Journal Editors' Workshop II: Journal Editors' Forum on Publishing Qualitative Research

This workshop is for new and seasoned researchers seeking to publish qualitative research and scholarly work in social work journals. The workshop brings together a distinguished panel of editors and researchers from four journals: Qualitative Social Work, Journal of Social Work Education, Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services, and AFFILIA: The Journal of Women and Social Work. These journals are highly regarded in the profession and share commitments to excellence in social work research and publication. Panel members will first describe the aim of their respective journals and the editorial decision-making process. Then they will encourage discussion with participants about what constitutes a publishable qualitative study that has the promise of influencing practice and policy. Both editors and researchers on the panel will contribute to this discussion. Before the program starts, participants will be asked to write their publishing questions on 3x5 cards; the chair will collect the cards and sort them during the presentation, and use these to facilitate discussion. In this workshop, the editors contribute to the scholarly development of the participants by building skills related to successful publication. First, discussion will identify how to match the topic to a specific journal. Second, editors will describe their particular review process: 1) how are reviewers selected; and 2) how do they manage the author's response to reviewer comments (or what does revise and resubmit mean?). Third, editors will discuss the key features of successful articles they have published: aims, questions, methods, and discussion sections. Fourth, editors discuss how authors should specifically address the implications of their research for practice and policy.