One day in May 2015, a small circle of invited academics met for the first time at the Nordic Welfare Centre (NWC) in Stockholm. Some months earlier, I had been tasked by the Director of NWC to explore the possibility of establishing an interdisciplinary platform for discussing and disseminating social science research on the Nordic welfare societies. The people who met that day became the editorial team of the journal Nordisk välfärdsforskning | Nordic Welfare Research. The editorial team consisted of professionals from welfare-related academic disciplines representing Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. They are also what I would describe as distinctly “can‑do persons”. It has been important to have such optimistic people on the team in case the going should get rough.
When we published the first issue of the journal in November 2016, there was by no means any guarantee it would succeed. Would we find readers? Would it be relevant for researchers to publish with us? Would the journal be regarded as relevant? The first issues were thematically organized, and we published one issue per year. Although starting small, over time we saw readership increase. Eventually, manuscripts began to arrive unsolicited. Over the years, the share of general (“open”, not thematically organized) issues have increased with a rising inflow of manuscripts, steady growth in article reads and citations. Today, publishing four issues and around 300 pages annually, we have reached the scope and level we had hoped for.
With more manuscripts coming in — and a corresponding rise in tasks — we are two editors today sharing the work and responsibility for every stage of the editorial process. Senior Lecturer and Docent in Social Work, David Pålsson, joined as a co-editor in 2024. David’s boarding made the editorial work even more rewarding, instructive and less lonely.
Both of us put in substantial personal effort. But the truly major contribution is made by all the peer reviewers, who read, assess, and comment on incoming manuscripts through one, two, or three versions. Editors, the editorial team, and peer reviewers all take part in this large collective academic effort that keeps the journal running. We in the editorial office carry an ongoing debt of gratitude to the reviewers’ contributions.
Some core principles have mattered from the start: It should be free to submit manuscripts for review, free to read, and attractive to publish. The academic lingo for this is “diamond open access” and proved to be the right choice in a situation where academic publishing is changing rapidly. The ccollaboration with NWC and other institutions has made this possible. At a ten-year milestone, certain features stand out as especially important in making it work.
Both well-established academics and PhD students send us manuscripts for review and trust that we will do what is best for their texts. It is a great privilege to steward that trust.
Nordic and international peer reviewers make an invaluable contribution by evaluating incoming manuscripts. This great help is the basis for the journal’s academic quality and relevance as publication channel. A big thank-you to all of you.
The editors work closely and continuously with Scandinavian University Press on the publication of each article, each issue, and the journal’s website. Thanks to all the people we collaborate with there. A brief note on finances: Funding has shifted somewhat over the years. Today’s collaboration between the Nordic Welfare Centre and the two research institutes Fafo and NOVA - OsloMet in Oslo makes this journal possible. Our sincere thanks to all partners for their trust. Collaboration with the Director and professionals at the Nordic Welfare Centre has been a central pillar throughout all these years. A special thank-you therefore goes to the two Directors we have had the pleasure of working with so far: Ewa Persson-Göransson and Eva Franzén.
For the ten-year anniversary, Sara Illman, Anna Raninen, and Kaisa Kepsu at the Nordic Welfare Centre invested significant groundwork in this publication and the accompanying webinar. Many thanks to you for that.
The journal’s editorial team has, for the most part, consisted of the same “can‑do persons” from the start to today, complemented by new additions. The editors are deeply grateful for their tireless support, help, commitment and constructive discussions about editorial choices over the years. Terje Olsen
Editor in Chief