December 9, 2020

Journal of Family Theory & Review (JFTR), Family Relations (FR), and Journal of Marriage and Family (JMF), the three flagship journals of the National Council on Family Relations (NCFR), invite submissions for journal-specific special issues on: 

Transformative Family Scholarship: Theory, Practice, and Research at the Intersection of Families, Race, and Social Justice

The special issues provide an opportunity to showcase cutting edge theory, research, and practices that engage the Family Science community with scholarship that promotes anti-racist and social justice efforts. We invite manuscripts offering exemplars of racial and social justice-centered family theory, practice, and research that challenge and revise dominant cultural perspectives, approaches, and interpretations related to families and communities.

JMF Special issue editors Dawn M. Dow, April Few-Demo, and Deadric T. Williams

The Journal of Marriage and Family (JMF), for this Call, seeks manuscripts using critical and social-justice oriented theoretical frameworks applied to original research on relationship and family transitions, roles, dynamics, and inequality across work and family domains. JMF will prioritize manuscripts that center race while also examining intersections with gender, social class, sexuality, and nativity. JMF also welcomes articles that examine how existing research would benefit from using alternative approaches, articles that bridge disciplinary theories and methods and articles that introduce novel frameworks for analyzing the family.

We are particularly seeking articles in the following broad areas:

• Experiences of incarceration / contact with the criminal justice system and family
• Work, employment, and family
• Families, health, and well-being
• Refugee families
• Indigenous families
• Racialization throughout the life course
• Union formation, stability, and quality
• Interracial and immigrant couple relationships
• Parenthood and parenting, including in complex families and among nonresident parents
• Intergenerational relationships, kinship, and extended family ties
• Family structure and practices and children’s outcomes & well-being
• Young adult transitions and well-being
• Family policy, institutional contact and policy effects on the family
• Research methodologies for use with intersectional and social justice-centered family research

Deadline for submissions has been extended to Aug. 20, 2021.  

Authors should indicate in their cover letter they wish the submission to be considered for the Transformative Family Scholarship special issue. Specific submission guidelines can be found here: https://www.ncfr.org/jmf/submit-jmf/guidelines-first-submission-jmf.  Potential authors are encouraged to contact [email protected], with questions about their ideas and the submission process.    

JMF has been the leading research journal in the family field for more than 75 years and is consistently the most highly cited journal in Family Science. JMF features original research using the variety of theoretical perspectives and methods reflective of the full range of social sciences, including quantitative, qualitative, and multi-method designs; research interpretation; and critical discussion concerning all aspects of marriage, other forms of close relationships, and families, viewed broadly and inclusively. The journal also publishes brief reports.