As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.
Submissions for the 23rd Volume of the Columbia Social Work Review are now OPEN. You will be notified on the selection status of your article at the beginning of February 2025.
Has your submission been previously published? (Previously published work cannot be accepted.)
Is the submission file in OpenOffice, Microsoft Word, RTF, or PDF document file format?
Does your article have a title?
Under "Submit As" on the submission page, the submitter will check "Author."
Have you cited all sources and included a reference list, in accordance with APA 7th Edition?
If your piece is being published in the journal (rather than The Amsterdam), does it have an abstract included in the document to be submitted?
If your article was previously submitted for a different purpose (e.g a class project), have you appropriately adapted it so that it follows the conventions of academic publishing (whether long-form journal writing or short-form academic blog writing)?
Are you submitting your article during the designated submission window?
Journal submissions: November 20, 2024 - January 3, 2025
The Amsterdam submissions: Not Applicable
If you encounter any difficulties creating an account, please email your submission to cswreview@gmail.com and we will submit the article on your behalf.
Submission Instructions
*Submissions for the 23rd Volume of the Columbia Social Work Review are open from Nov. 20, 2024 through Jan. 3, 2025. You will be notified on the selection status of your article at the beginning of February 2025.*
Submissions for the journal are open now through January 3, 2025. If you submit an article during the submission window, you will be contacted by the Review at the beginning of February 2025 regarding if your article was accepted.
For the annual journal, the Review seeks thought-provoking, unique, scholarly papers that apply critical analysis to current topics that are relevant to the social work profession.
Columbia School of Social Work MSW or PhD students and CSSW alumni are eligible to submit to the journal.
Submissions should be well-written and succinct, with a strong point of view and clear thesis.
No specific thematic requirements; however, the piece should be thought-provoking, innovative, and written from the Social Work perspective with the potential to contribute to a larger discussion.
The Review is an academic journal. Submissions in the form of stories, poems, narratives, plays, songs, fictional pieces, etc. will not be accepted for publication.
Articles must be no longer than 15 pages words and consistent with APA style.
Plagiarism in any form is unacceptable and will be referred to the CSSW Ethics Board. CSWR screens all manuscripts for plagiarism prior to acceptance for publication using Turnitin software.
Authors are asked to anonymize their pieces prior to submission. This means removing from the body of the paper any cover sheets, headers, footers, in text references to self, professors, faculty, staff, academic advisors, field instructors/supervisors, clients or specific field experiences, or any other personally identifiable information.
The Review uses an identity-hidden review process for article selection, so peer (scholar in the field) and editorial board reviewers will not know who the authors of each submission are.
If an editorial board reviewer realizes they know the author of a submission, they must recuse themselves from voting on the submission.
Research with human beings as subjects should include approval from Columbia’s Institutional Review Board.
All accepted articles are subject to editorial revisions by the student board.
The Columbia Social Work Review Selection Rubric
Each year, the Editorial Board of the Columbia Social Work Review receives a very large number of submissions from students and is responsible for the difficult task of choosing a select few for publication. For this process, submissions are evaluated based on specific criteria to ensure that the chosen articles advance the Review’s mission of providing a forum for the exchange of innovative ideas that integrates social work practice, education, research, and theory from the perspective of social work students.
Below, the Editorial Board describes the selection criteria* to help students better understand the kind of articles the Review seeks to publish and what aspects writers should focus on when preparing an article for submission. We hope that this increases transparency and fairness of all interested in submitting.
The Editorial Board evaluates submissions along four major categories: social work relevance, content, social justice lens, and quality of writing. The Review uses an identity-hidden selection process. Please remember, technical aspects such as length, structure, and overlapping themes are also considered during the selection process.
Social Work Relevance and Contribution to the Field
Each article is examined on whether or not it is pertinent to our field, and also the way in which it contributes to, advances, and influences thinking and knowledge in social work. Diverse members of the broader social work community should be able to find the piece interesting, educational, and thought-provoking.
Social Justice Lens
The CSWR is committed to social justice and to the project of dismantling systems of power, race, oppression, and privilege. Accepted articles will acknowledge and investigate the manner in which institutional and social factors affect the trajectories of populations studied and cited.
Content
Careful attention is paid to the clarity of the article’s thesis and the extent to which it is supported by clear and well-researched arguments. The overall thoroughness and rigor of authors’ arguments are also evaluated. Works cited in the submission should be high-quality and the authors should accurately and thoughtfully represent the works cited.
Quality of Writing
Significant attention is paid to clarity of writing when determining the articles to select for publication. Authors should communicate their ideas in a coherent and logical manner, and the language is expected to be clear, unambiguous, and engaging. The CSWR is an academic journal and articles should be submitted in that form (with appropriate sections included, such as an abstract, introduction, body sections, and conclusion).
Collaborative Process
Selected submissions will undergo a collaborative process in which the author shall revise their submission with a team of editors. This process may include identifying biases and/or gaps in the article, holding the article accountable for its implications, checking sources for appropriateness and accuracy, and ensuring that the article will thoughtfully contribute to the field of social work.
CSWR strongly encourages submissions from students and alumni from groups or regions impacted and targeted by marginalization, with diverse viewpoints, and those early in their social work career seeking to make a contribution to the field of social work. CSWR intentionally seeks to amplify those voices who are often silenced in academic settings and afford those voices the opportunity to be published.
Distinction between the CSWR Journal and Blog: The journal cannot accept non-academic papers (e.g. self-reflections, poetry, etc.); however, authors interested in publishing more creative, less formal research work may consider submitting to the CSWR blog, The Amsterdam.**
What is The Amsterdam looking for?
The Amsterdam accepts articles on a rolling basis through the “Submissions” tab. If your article has been selected for publication on our wesbite, the Review will contact you by email.
The Amsterdam publishes short-form (up to 1,000 word) pieces online. The focus of the platform is contemporary issues in social justice, social work, and social policy. It employs the same standards for rigor and originality as the journal, but allows for more creativity in writing style and structure as well as for especially immediate or current topics.
Anyone is welcome to submit, whether or not they are Columbia-affiliated. Potential authors are encouraged to review pieces already published by The Amsterdam before submitting their own work. Articles accepted for The Amsterdam undergo an extensive editing process with CSWR editors before publication, but do not undergo double-blinded peer review. Articles should be referenced using APA 7th Edition rules of citation.
*While these categories guide the Editorial Board’s assessment of submissions, they are just that: guidelines, not hard-and-fast rules. They are subject to change and the Board retains the right to use its discretion during the selection process.
**The Amsterdam accepts articles on a rolling basis through the “submissions” tab. They can be on any social work- or social justice-related topic, must be less than 1000 words, and should be referenced using APA 7th Edition rules of citation.
