Uppsala and Aarhus universities partner up with NAD

Uppsala University has become a co-publisher of Nordic Studies on Alcohol and Drugs (NAD) through a three-party agreement that was signed in April 2024. NAD, which is owned by the Nordic Welfare Centre (NVC), is now co-published with the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Helsinki and the Department of Sociology at Uppsala University. This year, NAD has also secured a new funder in the Icelandic Directorate of Health, and a new collaboration partner in the Centre for Alcohol and Drug Research (CRF) in Denmark.

– An ambition of the new cooperation agreement has been to take advantage of possible synergy effects between the Nordic cooperation and prominent academic research environments, for example the Centre for Research on Addiction, Control and Governance (CEACG) at the University of Helsinki and the Welfare Research Group at Uppsala University, explains NVC director Eva Franzén.

The research of the Welfare Research Group, led by professors Sandra Torres and Matilda Hellman, is focused on health care and social welfare, including research on policies and practices and power dynamics of institutional settings. CEACG conducts research on the consumption and provision of addictive commodities, such as alcohol, drugs and gambling, as well as on the legal control and governance of related industries and on harms caused to individuals and societies.

New funders and partners

The journal is a Nordic cooperation project that has been supported by a broad network of Nordic contributors ever since its establishment in 1983. Various Nordic organisations finance the journal and make it possible for us to cover the costs of publishing the journal. Editor Tom Kettunen explains:

– The many-legged model has stood the test of time. Over its 40-year history, NAD has had various funders and cooperated with a wide range of Nordic institutions. Sometimes one leg has limped or given way, but NAD’s work has never faltered. The journal has continuously managed to find a way ahead through new collaborations.

The journal has steadily increased and strengthened its impact factor, visibility and relevance in a more competitive international science publishing landscape. At the beginning of 2024, financial contributors to NAD are the Ministry of Social Affairs in Sweden, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health in Finland, the Society of Swedish Literature in Finland and, indirectly, also the Swedish alcohol monopoly Systembolaget. In 2023, the journal also received funding from the Norwegian Public Health Institute and The Joint Committee for Nordic research councils in the Humanities and Social Sciences (NOS-HS). Cutbacks in public funding and the end of the NOS-HS grant funding to individual journals led to the termination of the support in 2023. Both Franzén and Kettunen emphasize that NAD and the Nordic Welfare Centre are currently working on finding new funding from Norway.

– The sums may be small for each funder, but NVC is able to produce massive amounts of new original Nordic research through the journal. This is a very cost-effective way of supporting public health in the Nordic countries, says Franzén.

The Centre for Alcohol and Drug Research (CRF) in Denmark at Aarhus University have stepped in with an active engagement in the journal. CRF conducts social science research on consumption and prevention and into treatment and policy related to alcohol and drugs.

– CRF will become one of NADs funders, but we are especially happy that CRF will also contribute to the strategic development of the journal and with possible assistance in peer review processes, says centre director Bagga Bjerge.

A diamond open access journal

NAD is a peer reviewed open access journal published by Sage. Readers have free access to all material published in the journal without any paywalls, and there are no article processing charges. The publishing model is made possible due to the great support that the journal has from its owners and funders.

The main responsibility for the editorial work of the journal has moved to Uppsala University as of 2024. Editor-in-chief Matilda Hellman works as a professor at Uppsala University, while editor Tom Kettunen remains employed at CEACG at the University of Helsinki.  The editorial board is chaired by Dr Elin Bye at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.