The Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal has been around for over thirty years, but has only just recently been accepted into the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI), a database incorporated the world’s leading social science academic journals from across more than fifty disciplines.

“When the journal was in the process of looking for an editor, my colleague Dr. Thyer was interested and sought me out as a collaborator due to my expertise in child welfare, child maltreatment, and child development,” explained Dr. Lisa Schelbe. “Along with Bruce’s experience as an editor and in publishing, we are a strong team.”

Since 2014, the journal has been co-edited by two of the FSU College of Social Work’s faculty members, Drs. Bruce Thyer and Lisa Schelbe. Working together in this logical collaboration of complementary skills, Thyer and Schelbe have effectively worked together and with authors to present meaningful publications in the journal. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal focuses on the research within social work practice centered around children, adolescents, and families.

“Our vision was to improve the standing of the journal,” said Thyer. “Getting an impact factor was always part of our vision.” Both of them see it as a major achievement for the journal to be indexed by Social Science Citation Index, which was also a goal of the journal’s publisher, Springer Nature. 

Schelbe and Thyer have made it their mission to collaboratively make guest editors and authors’ best ideas and work available to others through the publication. Both also enjoy helping the journal grow. They have expanded the number of manuscripts published annually, submission rates to the journal are increasing, and they have an engaged editorial board to work with.

The impact factor from SSCI will be released in 2021. But already other metrics indicate that the journal is growing. Download rates have been steadily increasing, with more than 155,000 downloads of the journal in 2019. Additionally, the h5 Index and the manuscript submission rates have increased. The added benefit of being added to the Social Science Citation Index, is the increased visibility for the journal, its contents, and even for social work research in general.

“Compared to some of the hard sciences and medical journals, social work journals are not cited as frequently,” Schelbe stated. “It is exciting to see another social work journal join the ranks of the SSCI.”

With this accomplishment under their belts, Schelbe and Thyer still have big plans for the journal and plan to continue their current upward trajectory with the support of collaborators and the publisher. To get involved or to learn more, contact Dr. Bruce Thyer (bthyer@fsu.edu) and Dr. Lisa Schelbe (lschelbe@fsu.edu).