IASSW, ICSW, IFSW and SAGE are delighted to announce that from Volume 53, number 1, Professors Simon Hackett and Lena Dominelli, both at Durham University, UK, will be taking over the editorship of International Social Work from Dr Karen Lyons. We would all like to thank Karen for her excellent editorship, during which time the Journal has gone from strength to strength. Karen’s commitment to only publishing work of the highest quality and her development of a relevant and timely special issue programme has meant increased submissions, downloads and citations to the Journal. Her contribution to international exchange in the fields of social work, social welfare and community development and her dedication to International Social Work will be forever recognised in the future growth and success of the Journal. On this note, we very much look forward to working with Lena and Simon in the months and years to come.

Special Issue on Social Work and Older People

International Social Work is a scholarly refereed journal designed to extend knowledge and promote international exchange in the fields of social work, social welfare and community development.

Its major focus is on the interaction between processes of globalisation and the development of social welfare at national level, as well as social work and community development locally. It aims at examining the meaning of international social work in practice and theory, and exploring how those concerned with social work and community development can engage with international issues. The journal also wants to encourage publication of comparative studies and cross-national research.

International Social Work is the official journal of the International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW), the International Council on Social Welfare (ICSW) and the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW).

In addition to full-length articles, the journal features shorter "brief notes" contributions, as well as specific regional perspectives, international legal notes, news and views from the owner associations (IASSW, ICSW and IFSW) and a book review section covering recent publications.

International Social Work provides information on current international developments in education and training relevant to social work, social welfare and community development.

Abstracts of full-length articles are translated into French, Spanish, Russian, Chinese and Arabic.

Periodically, special issues of International Social Work focus on specific topics or regions. Special Issues in 2009 have a focus on Social Work and Health and on Inter-country Adoption. Future issues are planned with a focus on social work in the Asia region and on globalisation and indigenisation.

The Frank Turner Prize is awarded annually on a retrospective basis to the author(s) of the article judged to have made the most significant contribution to advancing the aims of the journal.

We would like to congratulate the 2008 winners Huang Yunong and Zhang Xiong for their paper, ‘A Reflection on the Indigenisation Discourse in Social Work’ 2008 51(5): 611-622

This article is now free to download at http://isw.sagepub.com

Impact Factor*: 0.458

Ranking:
23/32 in Social Work
* Journal Citation Reports®, Thomson Reuters, released June 2010