About the Journal

The academic journal socialpolicy.ch covers the topic area of social policy in its many facets. The journal publishes articles on socio-political developments and concepts as well as on comparative social policy research both in Switzerland and in an international context. Empirical analyses based on quantitative and qualitative methods or mixed-method approaches are just as welcome as theoretical papers or contributions with a practical focus.

Founded 2016, socialpolicy.ch is published twice a year on a certain topic with the support of the department section Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work at the University of Fribourg (CH). The journal is published as a Diamond Open Access Journal and is thus free of charge for authors and readers.

A genuinely free, global access to scientific texts  is still rare. With socialpolicy.ch we would like to change that.

Contributions can be submitted to the main topic, the “Open Section” or as “Forum article” (e.g. short articles, reviews of relevant books or research notes).

Contributions to the main topic and the “Open Section” are subject to an anonymous peer review process.

The journal accepts articles in German, English and French.

People

Editors: Every issue is led by specific editors. The main topic of the issue is determined by the editors in consultation with the editorial team.

Editorial team: The editorial team is responsible for all organizational and technical matters. It defines standards for publications, proofreads articles and enhances public visibility of the journal.

External peer reviewers: The reviewers are appointed by the specific editors.

Scientific Advisory Board: Advises the editorial team on fundamental and content-related issues.

Journal Sections 

There is a distinction made between articles on the main topic, the Open Section, and the Forum.

Article Thematic Section: Articles are submitted on the respective thematic topic of an issue of socialpolicy.ch. These articles undergo an anonymous peer-review process.

Article Open Section: Articles in the Open Section are not constrained by the specific main topic of an issue.  These articles also go through an anonymous peer-review process.

Forum: In the forum, short contributions such as book reviews and brief research notes are published. These contributions are reviewed by the editorial team and do not undergo a formal peer-review process.