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Building a child welfare research journal
Building a Child Welfare Research Journal
More than a dozen years ago we began Children ana’ Youth Services Review with the objective of providing a forum for the critical analysis and assessment of social service programs designed to serve young people throughout the world. Our concern was the absence of rigorous methodological studies and critical policy analysis in the child welfare field. Although a number of journals addressed child welfare concerns, most were oriented toward popular discussion of timely issues rather than the development of a scientific and scholarly knowledge base for the child welfare field. How has Children and Youth Services Review faired in terms of its aspirations? According to the Journal Citation Reports published by the Institute for Scientific Information, Children and Youth Services Review emerges as one of the premier research journals in the child welfare field. Articles which appear in the Review are more often cited by subsequent published papers than articles which appear in other journals in the field. The Review has achieved scores, calculated by the Institute for Scientific Information, greater than similar journals including Child Welfare, Child and Youth Care Quarterly, Adolescence, Adoptions and Foster Care, Children Today, Child and Youth Services, Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, Foster Care Journal, Child Psychiatry and Human Development, and others. We did not set out to achieve greater scores. In fact, when we began publication these scores were not available. Rather, we have administered the Review in a fashion designed to publish papers that contribute to cumulative knowledge development in the field. These scores indicate that we have been successful in this effort. The Institute for Scientific Information’s Journal Citation Report provides statistical data on how often articles appearing in a particular
189
190
Editorial
journal are used in subsequent research (as indicated by citations). The latest annual issue indicates that articles appearing in Children and Youth Services Review have been more often cited than those appearing in other child welfare journals.
Comparing Journals in the Child Welfare Field
Child Welfare Journals Adoptions and Foster Care Child and Youth Services Child and Youth Care Quarterly Child Welfare Child & Adolescent Social Work Journal Children and Youth Services Review Children Today Foster Care Journal Protecting Children
Citations to Articles .ooo .ooo .ooo .077 .ooo .158 .ooo .ooo .ooo
Impact Score .OOO .ooo .154 ,511 .ooo .343 .ooo .ooo ,000
Related Journals Adolescence Child Psychiatry & Human Development Child Study Journal Journal of Family Weljare Social Service Review
.022 .059 ,000 .ooo .071
.275 .188 .I46 .039 .324
From Journal Citation Reports, latest edition.
Children arid Youth Services Review has developed during its first twelve years into one of the world’s major research publications in the child welfare field. The Review relies on the quality of work submitted and the careful and demanding reviews of editors and reviewers. With this issue of the Review we have added several new members to our editorial board and sought to expand the scope of coverage of international issues in child welfare. During the last several years the Review has experienced a very high number of submissions for the few papers it has been able to publish. Although the Review has been accepting less than 10 percent of the papers
Children
and Youth Services
Review
it receives, it has developed a year long back log. Therefore, beginning in 1991, Children and Youth Services Review will be published six times a year. We hope with this expanded coverage to reduce the backlog of articles and to shorten the time between acceptance of a paper and its publication. I would like to close with an invitation to readers and contributors to provide us with comments and criticisms of papers which appear in the Review. Richard Barth, our book review editor, has pointed out the value of this dialogue to understanding the nature of the development of knowledge in our field. We have a strong interest in receiving comments and criticisms on papers and will publish them when appropriate.
University
Duncan Lindsey, Editor of California, Berkeley and University of Oregon
More than a dozen years ago we began Children ana’ Youth Services Review with the objective of providing a forum for the critical analysis and assessment of social service programs designed to serve young people throughout the world. Our concern was the absence of rigorous methodological studies and critical policy analysis in the child welfare field. Although a number of journals addressed child welfare concerns, most were oriented toward popular discussion of timely issues rather than the development of a scientific and scholarly knowledge base for the child welfare field. How has Children and Youth Services Review faired in terms of its aspirations? According to the Journal Citation Reports published by the Institute for Scientific Information, Children and Youth Services Review emerges as one of the premier research journals in the child welfare field. Articles which appear in the Review are more often cited by subsequent published papers than articles which appear in other journals in the field. The Review has achieved scores, calculated by the Institute for Scientific Information, greater than similar journals including Child Welfare, Child and Youth Care Quarterly, Adolescence, Adoptions and Foster Care, Children Today, Child and Youth Services, Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, Foster Care Journal, Child Psychiatry and Human Development, and others. We did not set out to achieve greater scores. In fact, when we began publication these scores were not available. Rather, we have administered the Review in a fashion designed to publish papers that contribute to cumulative knowledge development in the field. These scores indicate that we have been successful in this effort. The Institute for Scientific Information’s Journal Citation Report provides statistical data on how often articles appearing in a particular
189
190
Editorial
journal are used in subsequent research (as indicated by citations). The latest annual issue indicates that articles appearing in Children and Youth Services Review have been more often cited than those appearing in other child welfare journals.
Comparing Journals in the Child Welfare Field
Child Welfare Journals Adoptions and Foster Care Child and Youth Services Child and Youth Care Quarterly Child Welfare Child & Adolescent Social Work Journal Children and Youth Services Review Children Today Foster Care Journal Protecting Children
Citations to Articles .ooo .ooo .ooo .077 .ooo .158 .ooo .ooo .ooo
Impact Score .OOO .ooo .154 ,511 .ooo .343 .ooo .ooo ,000
Related Journals Adolescence Child Psychiatry & Human Development Child Study Journal Journal of Family Weljare Social Service Review
.022 .059 ,000 .ooo .071
.275 .188 .I46 .039 .324
From Journal Citation Reports, latest edition.
Children arid Youth Services Review has developed during its first twelve years into one of the world’s major research publications in the child welfare field. The Review relies on the quality of work submitted and the careful and demanding reviews of editors and reviewers. With this issue of the Review we have added several new members to our editorial board and sought to expand the scope of coverage of international issues in child welfare. During the last several years the Review has experienced a very high number of submissions for the few papers it has been able to publish. Although the Review has been accepting less than 10 percent of the papers
Children
and Youth Services
Review
it receives, it has developed a year long back log. Therefore, beginning in 1991, Children and Youth Services Review will be published six times a year. We hope with this expanded coverage to reduce the backlog of articles and to shorten the time between acceptance of a paper and its publication. I would like to close with an invitation to readers and contributors to provide us with comments and criticisms of papers which appear in the Review. Richard Barth, our book review editor, has pointed out the value of this dialogue to understanding the nature of the development of knowledge in our field. We have a strong interest in receiving comments and criticisms on papers and will publish them when appropriate.
University
Duncan Lindsey, Editor of California, Berkeley and University of Oregon