Abstract
In January 2016, the board of the Association for Applied and Clinical Sociology (AACS) graced me with the position of Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Applied Social Science (JASS). I was humbled by the immense responsibilities that were bestowed upon me, and I was genuinely moved by the confidence that my fellow scholars had in my ability to meet the demands of the position. By way of introduction, I am Professor and Chair in the Justice Studies Department at San José State University (SJSU). My research has largely been a social-psychological and applied inquiry into issues of what one may call success or failure among youth. Juvenile justice, universities, and nonprofits have been common settings for this work. Before saying a few words about my vision for the journal, I would like to acknowledge contributions by others who came before me.
This journal is the official publication of AACS, and each of these entities is mature for its age. The journal and AACS are each descendants of mergers between two formidable journals and their sponsoring societies. The merger of The Journal of Applied Sociology and Sociological Practice: A Journal of Applied and Clinical Sociology was finalized with the first issue of JASS in 2007. The respective sponsoring associations, the Society for Applied Sociology (SAS) and the Sociological Practice Association (SPA), completed their merger with the first AACS meetings in 2005. The editors and leaders of those entities are largely responsible for creating the strong foundation upon which this journal rests.
After the mergers, the current Consulting Editor, Jay Weinstein, served as Editor-in-Chief of JASS. He is credited for establishing the new journal as a respected vehicle of dialogue among critical actors in practice and research, both inside and outside of academia. Our second Editor-in-Chief, Jammie Price, my predecessor, stewarded the journal faithfully, even as other institutional obstacles made doing so difficult. Her teammate, outgoing Managing Editor, Jeff Will, worked tirelessly for the good of the journal. Under their determined and inspired leadership, quality was elevated, journal readership expanded, and the journal was moved to its current publisher, SAGE. (In fact, I walked into a situation where there was nothing to fix.) The roster of those published in the journal is impressive already. While effusive accolades to Drs. Weinstein, Price, and Will are in order, I must also acknowledge the editorial board, reviewers, and others who deserve credit for their contributions toward making JASS a high-quality journal.
Thankfully, my predecessors ignored traditional boundaries of scholarship when building the journal’s holdings. They welcomed participation from scholars around the globe, and, more importantly, they did not use disciplinary identification as a gatekeeper—work that was methodologically consistent with or added value to sociological practice had a place in the journal. Under their leadership, the journal also broke the mold of the standard research article. If worthwhile to practitioners, essays on teaching, reflections on practice, and so forth, were also accepted. Their pragmatic openness to valuable information regardless of source or paradigm will be continued into the future.
One noteworthy change that is now being implemented is that the journal is doubling down on its focus on applied work. Authors will be expected to address how they either improved a social condition or proposed to do so based on their scholarship—to give useful information to readers that may help them with applied work, whether it be clinical, policy, programming, or even research. Readers should look for two changes: (1) articles will have a stronger link to applied or clinical sociology, and (2) a new section within articles, “Related Resources,” will provide directions to readers to help them locate more information about the topics covered by articles.
Authors will be asked to ensure that their work deliberately addresses the multiple ways that it can be useful to others, and they will offer up any resources—beyond reference material—that can be used for further exploration (e.g., Web links to advocacy organizations, educational resources). Authors who work with community groups will also be encouraged to share the journal article with those groups, perhaps sharing a “unique link” to the online article provided by SAGE that can be posted on the group’s Web site.
Of course, using external resources may open other possibilities. Authors with more substantial papers (beyond our limit of 35 pages) may be able to provide a scaled-down version of the research in the article itself, and then use a Web site to house more details. For example, lengthy appendices could be housed off-journal, allowing space for more substantive information. The idea behind these changes is to establish the journal article in a Web of information that laypersons and experts alike may find useful. It is hoped that each article will have a greater impact, and become more useful, for the applied and clinical community.
Of course, a journal is only as successful as its authors’ contributions. I encourage everyone who is reading this introduction to think about sharing their own work by going to the submission Web site: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jass.
Finally, the journal can also be a great vehicle to bring attention to pressing social issues. For example, issues that hit close to home for me—in Silicon Valley—are inequality and power differences manifest as homelessness, obstacles to providing social services in a higher cost of living area, and the unrealized promise of technology to make some lives better. Persons with their own ideas for a special issue are invited to bring them to the journal’s attention.
This statement would not be complete without one final acknowledgment. The JASS editorial office is being housed in the Justice Studies Department, College of Applied Sciences and Arts at SJSU. AACS is receiving this service at no cost. For this reason, I want to publicly thank SJSU on behalf of JASS and AACS. I hope the relationship will be mutually beneficial over time.