About the Journal

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Profile

The Journal of Family Research is publishing cutting-edge research that provides new insights on the manifold aspects of family life in all regions and countries of the world. Disciplines commonly represented in the journal include sociology, (social) demography, and others in which family and population are common topics. The journal publishes original research articles. Quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods contributions are welcome.

The Journal of Family Research targets as readers, among others, researchers and other professionals engaged in family-related issues: sociologists, demographers, psychologists, political scientists, economists, legal scholars, social workers, professionals in political consulting and NGOs, and decision-makers in politics and public welfare.

The Journal of Family Research receives basic funding from the Bavarian State Ministry of Families, Labor and Social Affairs within the yearly working program of the State Institute for Family Research at the University of Bamberg (ifb). It is published "open access" in cooperation with the University of Bamberg Press, a non-profit publishing service offered by the University of Bamberg to disseminate and archive academic publications.

Being a non-profit outlet, the Journal of Family Research benefits from the voluntary contributions of its editors, reviewers, and authors. This makes it a journal led by scholars, based on the intellectual vision of the international research community.

The Journal of Family Research publishes one volume per year. All articles are available "open access" at no cost from the Archive on this website, as well as from the Social Science Open Access Repository (SSOAR).

The Journal of Family Research is covered by several abstracting and indexing services, such as Clarivate's Web of Science. See below for a complete list of indexing services.

Key words: Family; family studies; family research; family life, intimate relationships, life courses

Focus and Scope

The Journal of Family Research seeks manuscripts that contribute to scholarly knowledge in family research, primarily in the sub-fields of sociology, demography, and population studies, focusing on either empirical analysis, conceptual theories, statistical methods, or state-of-the-art reviews.  The journal welcomes contributions with a spatial or cross-nationally comparative perspective. Manuscripts submitted for review should address a significant research problem or question of family science, display creativity or innovation in research, contribute to a body of knowledge, and demonstrate state-of-the-art use of appropriate methodology.

The Journal of Family Research does not review manuscripts that

  • do not thematically focus on the family and intimate relationships, with or without children
  • simply include family characteristics as secondary aspects or control variables without a clear theoretical focus
  • do not discuss their data and sampling sufficiently to assess their quality in the case of empirical studies
  • fail to comply with the substantive, stylistic, formatting, and anonymity requirements of academic writing

Submissions are subject to double-blind peer review and are selected for publication based on quality, innovativeness, relevance, and fit with journal scope.

Research notes

The Journal of Family Research welcomes carefully selected and diligently written brief research notes that present new empirical findings without an extensive theoretical discussion or a literature review. We encourage the publication of brief empirical insights because they serve as a stimulus for further research. Although research notes will be treated like regular submissions, the editorial team will attempt to expedite the double-blind peer review process.

Special collections

The Journal of Family Research publishes special collections, which focus on a single research topic and deal with a broad array of specific aspects of that topic. Special collections are being prepared and supervised by guest editors upon invitation from the editors. Proposals from the academic community for preparing a special collection are welcome at all times and will be decided upon by the editors. All articles of special collections are subject to double-blind peer review and are selected for publication based on quality, innovativeness, relevance, and fit with journal, just as regular submissions.

Indexing

  • Crossref
  • DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals)
  • EBSCOhost
  • Google Scholar
  • ProQuest (Politics/Sociology/Social Science Premium Collection)
  • PSYNDEX
  • Sherpa Romeo
  • Social Sciences Citation Index (Web of Science, SSCI, Clarivate Analytics)
  • SSOAR (Social Science Open Access Repository, GESIS/DFG).

Brief history of the Journal of Family Research

Founded as "Zeitschrift für Familienforschung" in 1989.

Edited by the State Institute for Early Childhood and Family Research in Munich, Germany (1989-1993); since 1994, edited by the State Institute for Family Research at the University of Bamberg, Germany.

Published by the State Institute for Early Childhood and Family Research in Munich, Germany (1989-1993); by the State Institute for Family Research at the University of Bamberg, Germany (1994-1997); by Leske + Budrich (1998-2003); by Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften (2004-2005); by Verlag Barbara Budrich (2006-2019); by University of Bamberg Press (since 2020).

Title changes: "Zeitschrift für Familienforschung" (1989-2002), "Zeitschrift für Familienforschung | Journal of Family Research" (2003-2019), "Journal of Family Research" (since 2020).

Language changes: German only (1989-2002), German or English (2003-2018), English only (since 2019).

Editors-in-chief (chronological order): Wassilios Fthenakis (1989-1993), Laszlo Vaskovics (1994-2002), Hans-Peter Blossfeld (2003-2012), Henriette Engelhardt-Wölfler (since 2012).

Editors (alphabetical order): Hans-Peter Blossfeld (2012-2017), Anette Fasang (2016-2022), Wolfgang Glatzer (1994-2002), François Höpflinger (1994-2008), Johannes Huinink (2008-2016), Michaela Kreyenfeld (2007-2019), Ilona Ostner (1994-2016), Birgit Pfau-Effinger (since 2016), Thomas Leopold (since 2024), Marcel Raab (since 2023), Matthias Pollmann-Schult (2017-2024), Eva-Maria Schmidt (since 2024), Norbert Schneider (1994-2021), Florian Schulz (since 2020), Emanuela Struffolino (since 2022), Zachary Van Winkle (since 2022), Eric Widmer (2016-2017), Hannah Zagel (since 2024), Ulrike Zartler (since 2017).

Managing directors: Marcel Raab (deputy; since 2021), Florian Schulz (since 2019).

Managing editor: Kurt P. Bierschock (2001-2020).

Editorial assistants: Angelika Liebig (2001-2019), Judith Mallandain (since 2019).

Cooperations and support

We are cooperating with the "Research Network 13 - Sociology of Families and Intimate Lives of the European Sociological Association", and invite all international scholars, such as the members of the ESA RN13, to submit their manuscripts to our journal. Suggestions for Special Collections from ESA RN13 members and its working groups are always welcome.

Cooperation projects with "ESA RN 13"

Special Issue "Family lives during the COVID-19 pandemic in European societies", guest edited by Ulrike Zartler, Katarzyna Suwada & Michaela Kreyenfeld, published as Issue 1/2022, https://doi.org/10.20377/jfr-2022-34-1

Special Issue "Labour market, families and public policies shaping gender and parenting", guest edited by Almudena Moreno Mínguez, Pedro Romero-Balsas & Inga Laß, published as Issue 3/2022, https://doi.org/10.20377/jfr-2022-34-3