Criminology & Criminal Justice Journal: Call for Special Issues

Editors in Chief: Michele Burman (University of Glasgow) and Laura Piacentini (University of Strathclyde)

Deadline for applications: 29 February 2016

Provisional publication date: late 2017

The new editorial team of Criminology and Criminal Justice (CCJ) are pleased to issue this call for a 2017 Special Issue. CCJ is the official journal of the British Society of Criminology and a leading outlet for international quality work across the wide range of subjects and methods in criminology and criminal justice studies.

Application information: We are open to applications where a group seeks to publish a special issue together (i.e. papers and authors already identified) and to applications on a theme/topic where authors are not yet identified (but selected through a competitive call). All applications and papers will go through independent peer review. Themes may be substantive or methodological or both.

Applications should take up a maximum of four sides of A4 paper (in 11-12 pt. font with reasonable margins) and contain the following information:

• Proposed Editor(s) for the special issue
• Title of topic or theme of the issue
• Explanation of the theme and its relevance to this journal as opposed to another (e.g. sub-specialism journal).
• Justification of how the theme is important, timely and exciting
• For applications where authors are not already identified, a provisional list of the sorts of topics and themes that the special issue might or would seek to incorporate
• For applications where authors are already identified, a list of authors, institutional affiliations, paper titles and brief provisional abstracts.
• A single point of contact including email, phone and postal address.

Application evaluation criteria: The evaluation criteria are not specific requirements but will support an assessment process with the aim of selecting a special issue proposal that has the most potential of leading to a high quality, timely issue attracting a diverse and international readership. We encourage applications that think laterally about the field/theme they cover through elaboration of the topic and in selection of authors.

• Fit of proposed topic and papers with the journal’s remit
• Track record/evidence that proposed editors (and authors if identified) can produce a high quality issue in a timely way
• International participation and interest in topic
• Involvement of a diverse range of early, mid and senior career academics
• Innovative treatment of theme, e.g. through interdisciplinary involvement, novel methods or methods applications
• Likelihood of theme to engage audiences across academic disciplines and/or research user communities
• Addressing an issue not recently covered in a prior special issue of CCJ

Potential applicants are welcome to contact the Editors (Michele.Burman@glasgow.ac.uk and Laura.Piacentini@strath.ac.uk) informally with their ideas for special issues. Email applications by 29 February 2016 and inquiries at any time to: ccj-journal@glasgow.ac.uk