CFP: 'Families, Relationships and Societies' (new journal)

Families, Relationships and Societies is an international journal of research and debate.

Joint Managing Editors:
Tess Ridge, Department of Social and Policy Sciences, University of Bath
Brid Featherstone, National University of Ireland, Galway

Aims and scope
Starting in 2012, with 3 issues per annum, Families, Relationships and Societies (FRS) is a new social science journal designed to advance scholarship and debate in the growing field of families and relationships across the life course. It will explore family life, relationships and generational issues from interdisciplinary, social science perspectives, whilst maintaining a solid grounding in sociological theory and methods and a strong policy and practice focus. The title 'Families, Relationships and Societies' encompasses the fluidity, complexity and diversity of contemporary social and personal relationships and their need to be understood in the context of different societies and cultures.

International and comprehensive in scope, the journal covers a range of theoretical, methodological and substantive issues, from the complexities of time, space and social change, to debates around family forms, practices and resources, intergenerational care and support, intimacy, individualisation, inter-dependency, identity, gender and generation. Encouraging methodological innovation, a life course perspective and dynamic approaches, the journal will transcend traditional boundaries that typically focus on one life course stage, one configuration of families or relationships, or one society.

The applied focus of the journal will embrace a diverse global field and encourage a critical engagement with policy and practice developments and issues within and across welfare regimes. A unique feature will be an 'open space' section within the journal which will provide an opportunity for debates across domains.

Call for papers
Submissions to the journal are invited from subject areas across the social sciences and related life course disciplines, for example, sociology, social policy, social work, childhood studies, demography, youth studies, family studies, gender studies, ageing and gerontology, health and social care, education, psychology, social history, socio-legal studies, politics, criminology, and psycho-social studies. Papers will be expected to have relevance to academic, policy and practitioner audiences, enabling a wide range of perspectives to be brought together in one place to foster innovation and development within disciplines and advance interdisciplinary research and practice.

Articles should be between 5,000 and 8,000 words (including references) in length. An abstract of not more than 150 words should be included. All articles are refereed to assess their suitability for publication.

For further information or to submit a paper please email the Editors c/o frs-journal@bath.ac.uk. Authors are encouraged to submit electronic copy and should be sent as an attached file in Word, or Rich Text format. Articles should be anonymised, ready for sending to referees and be accompanied by an email address or note giving full contact details of the author(s) and, in the case of jointly authored articles, nominating an author for correspondence.

For more information on the key themes to be explored in the journal see: http://www.policypress.co.uk/journals_frs_cfp.asp?

All content free to view online in 2012!
Sign up for a free trial for 2012 to view all the available content as it is published. This trial is available for both individuals and institutions. Email: tpp-frs-trial@bristol.ac.uk with your full name and contact address. You will receive an acknowledgement and an alert when the trial begins in March 2012 when the first issue is published.

More information about the journal is available on the Families, Relationships and Societies pages on The Policy Press website: www.policypress.co.uk/journals.asp