Research Journals

UMSSW is home to seven (7) faculty who serve as Editor in Chief for prestigious journals within the social work field. Each UMSSW editor is an expert scholar within the area for which their journal publishes and each plays a critical role in helping to shape the future of social work research. To have seven editors in chief of prestigious journals on faculty is quite unique for a single School of Social Work. We are very proud of the work that they are doing to help advance our profession. Read more about the various journals led by UMSSW faculty below.

Editor: Dr. Corey Shdaimah (cshdaimah@ssw.umaryland.edu)

Ethics and Social Welfare publishes articles of a critical and reflective nature concerned with the ethical issues surrounding social welfare practice and policy. It has a particular focus on social work (including practice with individuals, families and small groups), social care, youth and community work and related professions.

The aim of the journal is to encourage dialogue and debate across social, intercultural and international boundaries on the serious ethical issues relating to professional interventions into social life. Through this we hope to contribute towards deepening understandings and further ethical practice in the field of social welfare.

Learn more about the Ethics and Social Welfare Journal.

Editor: Dr. Karen Hopkins (khopkins@ssw.umaryland.edu)

Human Service Organizations is a leading, peer-reviewed journal dedicated to current research and practice in nonprofit and public sector human service organizations. Since 1977, it has provided timely and relevant research for human service managers, researchers, and educators (originally established as Administration in Social Work). Building on a history of social service management, social policy implementation, and organizational research, the journal seeks manuscripts related to contemporary management, leadership, and governance issues facing human service organizations.

Learn more about the Human Service Organizations: Management, Leadership & Governance Journal. 

Editor: Dr. Mike Woolley (mwoolley@ssw.umaryland.edu)

The Journal of Family Social Work makes a unique attempt at balancing clinical relevance and academic exactitude. By uniting clinicians and researchers from social work, family enrichment, family therapy, family studies, family psychology and sociology, health and mental health, and child welfare, it stresses a blending of sociocultural contexts, the uniqueness of the family, and the person of the clinician. As an interdisciplinary forum, it provides a creative mixing of clinical innovation, practice wisdom, theory, and academic excellence.

Learn more about the Journal of Family Social Work. 

Editor: Dr. Jodi J. Frey (jfrey@ssw.umaryland.edu)

The Journal of Workplace Behavioral Health (JWBH), a refereed scholarly global journal, is an essential guide to best practices and research supporting a variety of professionals, whose work is focused on the intersection of the holistic well-being of employees, family members, and work environments implementing innovative practices. The Journal is a vital resource of current workplace-focused practices that support employers, labor organizations and researchers, by addressing employees' work-related stress, behavioral health and well-being, family problems, interpersonal conflict, legal difficulties, grief and loss, and a variety of organizational issues impacting workplace environments.

Learn more about the Journal of Workplace Behavioral Health.

Editor: Dr. Bethany Lee (blee@ssw.umaryland.edu) 

Residential Treatment for Children & Youth aims to be a bridge between theory, practice, and policy, providing guidance and direction to residential care providers and practitioners to improve services for vulnerable children and youth in child welfare, mental health and juvenile justice systems. It addresses all issues relevant to residential care settings from staff retention, training, services, and funding to delivering specialized programs for diverse populations and their evidence-base.

Learn more about the Residential Treatment for Children & Youth journal. 

Editor: Dr. Debbie Gioia (dgioia@ssw.umaryland.edu)

Social Work in Mental Health is an exciting contribution from the editors of our highly respected journal, Social Work in Health Care. This journal offers quality articles on clinical practice, education, research, collaborative relationships, mental health policy, and the delivery of mental health care services. This scholarly, creative, and lively journal presents material valuable to social workers in all sectors of mental health care. It is devoted to social work theory, practice, and administration in a wide variety of mental health care settings. Social Work in Mental Health will help you improve your practice in these areas, demonstrating the vital role of social services in mental health care delivery systems.

Learn more about the Social Work in Mental Health journal. 

Editor: Dr. Lisa Berlin (lberlin@ssw.umaryland.edu)

The Social Policy Report (SPR) is published three to four times per year. Its purpose is twofold:

• To provide policymakers and affiliated audiences (including elected officials, government agency staff, program developers, and practitioners) with comprehensive, non-partisan reviews of child development research findings to inform decision-making.
• To inform SRCD members about (a) policy issues related to child development and (b) child development research related to such issues.

The Social Policy Report provides a forum for scholarly reviews and discussions of policy considerations stemming from child development research findings. Topics come from a variety of disciplines and cover a wide range of issues such as health care, parenting, and education.

Learn more about the Social Policy Report.