Journal of Social Welfare, Policy and Practice

Aims

The Journal of Social Welfare, Policy and Practice (JSWPP) is dedicated to publishing original, high-quality research on the relationships between social welfare, social policy, and social work practice. The journal promotes scholarship that critically examines how social needs are understood, how welfare policies and services are designed and implemented, and how professional and community practices contribute to individual and collective well-being.

JSWPP provides a forum for scholars, researchers, policy analysts, and practitioners to connect theoretical inquiry with empirical evidence and practical experience. It welcomes interdisciplinary contributions that address inequality, social exclusion, vulnerability, social justice, and the effectiveness of policies and interventions within diverse social, cultural, economic, and institutional contexts.

Scope

The journal welcomes research addressing, but not limited to, the following interconnected areas:

• Social welfare and well-being: welfare systems, social needs, quality of life, poverty, inequality, social exclusion, and approaches to promoting social justice.
• Social policy and social protection: policy formulation, implementation and evaluation; social assistance; social insurance; access to public services; and the distribution of welfare resources.
• Social work theory and practice: professional approaches, practice models, ethical issues, service delivery, and evidence-informed interventions with individuals, families, groups, and communities.
• Children, families, and life-course welfare: child protection, family support, youth services, ageing, care arrangements, and welfare needs across the life course.
• Disability, gender, and social inclusion: accessibility, discrimination, participation, rights, and policies or practices responding to unequal access to opportunities and services.
• Community development and empowerment: community organizing, participation, local institutions, collective action, livelihoods, and community-based welfare initiatives.
• Welfare governance and human services: institutional arrangements, public and nonprofit organizations, interagency collaboration, accountability, workforce development, and the management of social services.
• Contemporary challenges in welfare and practice: migration, displacement, disasters, environmental change, digital technologies, and emerging social risks affecting welfare provision and professional interventions.

Research Approaches and Contributions

JSWPP welcomes qualitative, quantitative, mixed-methods, comparative, documentary, and other appropriate research approaches. Library-based and field-based studies are considered where they provide a clear research question, a transparent analytical approach, and an original contribution to the journal's fields.

Submissions should move beyond descriptive accounts by developing a coherent argument, engaging critically with relevant scholarship, and explaining the theoretical, policy, or practical significance of their findings. The relationship between the research problem, methodology, evidence, and conclusions should be explicit.