Invited Journal Editors Workshop: Forum on Publishing Qualitative Research

This workshop is for conference participants seeking to publish qualitative research and scholarly work in social work journals. The workshop brings together a distinguished panel of editors, former editors, and researchers from six journals: Qualitative Social Work, Qualitative Health Research, Affillia, Social Work Research, Journal of Social Work Education, and Families in Society. These journals are highly regarded and share commitments to excellence in social work research and publication.

In this session, the editors describe the aims of their respective journals and editorial decision-making processes and discuss several issues, including how to match topics to specific journals, review processes, features of articles they’ve accepted for publication, how to respond to reviewer comments, and how to address the implications of their research for practice and policy. Most important, they will create a discussion with participants about what constitutes publishable qualitative articles that influences practice and policy. Much of the session is a dialogue between participants and panel members. Participants will write questions on index cards, and the chair will read the questions to the editors. This part of the session moves into a general discussion of topics of interest. The editors contribute to the scholarly development of the participants by building skills related to successful publications.