Emerging Trends in Social Work and Social Care: Opportunities and Challenges for Innovation
A special issue of Societies (ISSN 2075-4698).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2025 | Viewed by 77
Special Issue Editor
Interests: social care; service provision; innovation; co-production; community models of support for older adults and people with learning disabilities; theory-based evaluation
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Internationally, social work and the wider social care system are under pressure, with rising demand for services alongside concerns about care quality, access to care (including recruitment and retention of staff) and financial sustainability. Changing practice or innovation has been promoted as one way to address the limitations of existing services, policies and resources to improve outcomes for people drawing on care services. Challenges to innovation in the sector can exist, such as a lack of time, funding, or support to pursue or implement innovative ideas, or worries about potential unintended or negative consequences, such as exclusion, harm or exploitation. Despite difficult circumstances, innovation does occur, but there is not one theory or unified body of knowledge to rely on. This Special Issue aims to coalesce emerging trends and potential solutions to some of the long-standing issues faced by social work and the social care system. The goal is to bring together studies that will enhance our understanding, result in the sharing of ideas and lead to implications for future policies in this area. The emphasis will be on evidence that advances the research agenda, with high-quality contributions that create the opportunity for insights into new approaches and ways to support them, particularly those relevant beyond a country-specific context. Articles, conceptual papers and reviews are welcome but must address the topic of this Special Issue. A wide range of area will be within its scope, including the following: digital technologies; new service models; data and analytics; policy and practice; and the application of theories and concepts from other fields.
Contributions have to follow one of the three categories of papers (article, conceptual paper or review) of the journal and address the topic of the Special Issue.
Dr. Nadia Brookes
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as conceptual papers are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Societies is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- social work
- social care
- innovation
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