International Journal of Care and Caring
The International Journal of Care and Caring (IJCC) is a multidisciplinary journal designed to advance scholarship and debate in the important and expanding field of care and caring. Multidisciplinary and international in scope, it publishes high-quality contributions on care, caring and carers from all regions of the world. IJCC has a broad focus, covering care and caring for people of any age who have long-term conditions, disabilities or frailties, or who are seriously ill or near the end of life. It explores the economic, organisational, political, social, legal, familial, transnational and ethical settings in which this care occurs. Read more about the International Journal of Care and Caring.
Impact Factor (2023): 1.2 Frequency: February, May, August and November
Volume 9 (2025): Issue 1 (Feb 2025)
Gender and Justice is open for submissions!
Be one of the first to publish in this new journal advancing critical feminist scholarship on justice.
Gender and Justice is open for submissions!
Be one of the first to publish in this new journal advancing critical feminist scholarship on justice.
Aims and scope
Abstracting and indexing
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
Testimonials
Contact us
Aims and scope
The International Journal of Care and Caring (IJCC) is a new multidisciplinary journal designed to advance scholarship and debate in the important and expanding field of care and caring. Multidisciplinary and international in scope, it publishes high-quality contributions on care, caring and carers from all regions of the world. IJCC has a broad focus, covering care and caring for people of any age who have long-term conditions, disabilities or frailties, or who are seriously ill or near the end of life. It explores the economic, organisational, political, social, legal, familial, transnational and ethical settings in which this care occurs.
The International Journal of Care and Caring (IJCC) is concerned with care provided as paid work and as support for family members, friends or neighbours; with care in home, community and residential settings; and with formal and informal care relations, organisation, systems and markets. It focuses on 'receiving' and 'giving' care and on the gendered nature and social, political, legal and economic status and circumstances of care and caring. It debates the support needed in localities, workplaces and health systems to make care and caring feasible and rewarding for carers and dignified and supportive of independence for care recipients. IJCC welcomes contributions on caring relationships, the ethics and political economy of care, care as a focus of moral philosophy and feminist analysis and care and caring as sources of claims-making and challenge and as the spur for national and global social movements.
The journal encourages critical engagement with policy and practice developments and aims to include contributions from different areas of the world in each edition. Its regular Debates and Issues section features dialogue with carers’ organisations, policy makers, trade unions, employers and academics, to encourage global dialogue and international sharing of ideas, expertise and experience.
Abstracting and indexing
IJCC is abstracted and/or indexed in:
- European Reference Index for the Humanities and Social Sciences (ERIH PLUS)
- Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI) (Web of Science)
- ProQuest Central
- ProQuest Sociology Collection
- ProQuest Social Science Premium Collection
- Scopus
- Social Care Online
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
Our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion statement outlines the ways in which we seek to ensure that equity, diversity and inclusion are integral to all aspects of our publishing, and how we might encourage and drive positive change.
Testimonials
“The journal is essential reading for academics, policy makers and practitioners interested in the complexities and nuances of care and caring.”
Judith Phillips OBE, Deputy Principal (Research), University of Stirling, UK and Professor of Gerontology
“IJCC publishes excellent and most relevant research for academics, practitioners and policy makers. As a care researcher from Taiwan, I benefit greatly from this journal’s truly multidisciplinary and international engagement with care scholarship, providing timely and long-lasting knowledge at a time of rapid global change.”
Bo-Wei Chen, Associate Professor, Graduate Institute of Gender Education, National Kaohsiung Normal University, Taiwan
Contact us
Editorial enquiries:
Editorial Assistant
Sharon Harris: ijcc-editorial@bristol.ac.uk
Journal sections:
Debates and Issues
Editorial Office: ijcc-editorial@bristol.ac.uk
Reviews
Myra Hamilton: myra.hamilton@sydney.edu.au
Open access, subscriptions and free trials:
Policy Press: pp-journals@bristol.ac.uk
Read our instructions for authors for guidance on how to prepare your submissions. The instructions include the following:
What are we looking for?
How to submit
Ethical guidelines
Copyright and permissions
Data availability
Style
Alt-text
References
English language editing service
Open Access
Self-archiving and institutional repositories
How to promote your article
Contact us
Visit our journal author toolkit for resources and advice to support you through the publication process and beyond.
What are we looking for?
Three types of papers are accepted in the International Journal of Care and Caring:
- Research articles should be between 5,000 and 8,000 words long with up to four key words and an abstract of up to 100 words. These submissions will be double anonymous peer reviewed. Research articles should contribute to advances in knowledge, theory or methods. Articles based on comparative international analysis, critical analysis of policy or practice, or which explore care and caring in global or transnational perspective are encouraged. Authors should indicate if their article presents new empirical findings or is based on methodological innovation and should write in a style suitable for IJCC’s academic, NGO, policy and practitioner audiences.
- Debates and Issues papers should be between 1,500 and 2,500 words with up to four key words, no abstract and a brief reference list. These submissions will be reviewed by the editor. Debates and Issues papers should contribute to international sharing of ideas, expertise and experience between NGOs, policy makers, trade unions, employers and academics. Contributors are encouraged to highlight innovative policy or practice at the local, national or international level; debate controversial issues or matters of concern; or focus on aspects of advocacy, identification, claims-making and contestation. Please read our Guidance for Debates and Issues submissions for further information.
- Book reviews are short pieces of 500–800 words. These submissions will be editor-reviewed. Book reviews should include a concise summary of the book’s main argument and subject matter, assess its originality and contribution to its field and relevance to its intended audience. Longer review articles (up to 2,500 words), covering several books on one topic, may be submitted; contributors should discuss the suitability of the books selected with the Reviews Editor in advance.
- Conference reviews should be submitted following prior agreement with the Reviews Editor, and should consist of a clear and objective summary of the topics/subjects covered within the conference, who the intended audience is, and any implications/conclusions that might be of interest to the journal's wider readership.
How to submit an article
All submissions should be made online at the International Journal of Care and Caring Editorial Manager website: http://www.editorialmanager.com/ijcc/default.aspx, in Word or Rich Text Format (not pdf). New users should first create an account, specify their areas of interest and provide full contact details.
For help submitting an article via Editorial Manager, please view our online tutorial.
Preparing your anonymised manuscript
Your initial submission must consist of the following separate files:
- A cover page including: the article title, author name(s) and affiliations (institution affiliation and country only, no department details required), the article abstract (up to 100 words), up to four key words/short phrases and the article word count including references. Please include the ORCIDs for all authors on the cover page of your final version to ensure they are published. A cover page template is available to download here.
- A fully anonymised manuscript which does not include any of the information included in the cover page. It should not include any acknowledgements, funding details or conflicts of interest that would identify the author(s). References to the author's own work should be anonymised as follows: 'Author's own, [year]'. Please note that submissions that have not been sufficiently anonymised will be returned.
- If you have any figures and tables please upload them as separate files at the end of the manuscript. Please indicate where these should be placed in the text by inserting: ‘Figure X here’ and provide numbers, titles and sources where appropriate.
- In order to improve our accessibility for people with visual impairments, we are now required to ask authors to provide a brief description known as alt text to describe any visual content such as photos, illustrations or figures. It will not be visible in the article but is embedded into the images so a PDF reader can read out the descriptions. Guidance on how to write this is available here: Bristol University Press | Alt-text guidance for authors.
Once a submission has been conditionally accepted, you will be invited to submit a final, non-anonymised version. Immediately before submitting your final version, check that all references cited in the text are in the reference list and that references in the reference list are cited correctly in the text.
Checklist: what to include in your final, accepted non-anonymised manuscript
- A cover page including: the article title, author name(s) and affiliations (institution affiliation and country only, no department details required), the article abstract (up to 100 words), up to four key words and the word count. Please include the ORCIDs for all authors on the cover page of your final version to ensure they are published.
The final non-anonymised article file should include:
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Funding details: list any funding including the grant numbers you have received for the research covered in your article as follows: 'This work was supported by the [Funding Agency] under Grant [number xxxx].'
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Conflict of interest statement: please declare any possible conflicts of interest, or state 'The Author(s) declare(s) that there is no conflict of interest' if there are none. Find out more about declaring conflicts of interest in the Bristol Universty Press/ Policy Press ethical guidelines.
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Acknowledgements: acknowledge those who have provided you with any substantial assistance or advice with collecting data, developing your ideas, editing or any other comments to develop your argument or text.
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Research ethics statement: Please provide a brief discussion of the ethical issues relevant to your paper and advise if any clearance was granted by your institution or an external ethics committee. We recognise that not all institutions provide or require formal ethics approval processes – please specify whether this applies in your case.
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Figures and tables: should be included as separate files at the end of the manuscript. Please indicate where these should be placed in the text by inserting: ‘Figure X here’ and provide numbers, titles and sources where appropriate. For advice about less common file formats, please contact bup-journalsproduction@bristol.ac.uk.
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Alt text: In order to improve our accessibility for people with visual impairments, we are now required to ask authors to provide a brief description known as alt text to describe any visual content such as photos, illustrations or figures. It will not be visible in the article but is embedded into the images so a PDF reader can read out the descriptions. Guidance on how to write this is available here: Bristol University Press | Alt-text guidance for authors.
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Supplemental data: We recommend that any supplemental data are hosted in a data repository (such as figshare) for maximum exposure, and are cited as a reference in the article.
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Journal Contributor Publishing Agreement: Please upload a scanned copy of the completed and signed agreement with your final non-anonymised manuscript. The Journal Contributor Publishing Agreement can be downloaded here.
Editorial process
All submissions will be subject to double anonymous peer-review processes (unless stated otherwise) by referees currently working in the appropriate field.
The editors aim to provide quick decisions and to ensure that submission to publication takes the minimum possible time. The final decision on publication rests with the editors.
Ethical guidelines
At Policy Press we are committed to upholding the highest standards of review and publication ethics in our journals. Policy Press is a member of and subscribes to the principles of the Committee of Publication Ethics (COPE), and will take appropriate action in cases of possible misconduct in line with COPE guidance.
Find out more about our ethical guidelines.
Copyright and permissions
The International Journal of Care and Caring is published by Policy Press. Articles are considered for publication on the understanding that on acceptance the author(s) grant(s) Policy Press the exclusive right and licence to publish the article. Copyright remains with the author(s) or other copyright owners and we will acknowledge this in the copyright line that appears on the published article.
Authors will be asked to sign a Journal Contributor Publishing Agreement to this effect, which should be submitted online along with the final manuscript. All authors should agree to the agreement. For jointly authored articles the corresponding author may sign on behalf of co-authors provided that they have obtained the co-authors' consent. The journal contributor agreement can be downloaded here.
Where copyright is not owned by the author(s), the corresponding author is responsible for obtaining the consent of the copyright holder. This includes figures, tables and excerpts. Evidence of this permission should be provided to Policy Press. General information on rights and permissions can be found here.
To request permission to reproduce any part of articles published in the International Journal of Care and Caring, please email: bup-permissions@bristol.ac.uk.
For information on what is permissible use for different versions of your article please see our policy on self archiving and institutional repositories.
Data sharing policy
We are fully supportive of academic data sharing and support the FAIR (Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reuse of digital assets) principles. In the humanities and social sciences data sharing can support transparency of research methods, allow others to build on published work, and provide credit to the data creator in the form of citations. We acknowledge that data cannot always be shared due to reasons of confidentiality, consent or legality especially when working with sensitive data or vulnerable populations.
Where appropriate we encourage all authors to include a data availability statement to accompany their article. When using data in your article, the author(s) take(s) responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the analysis. Your statement should either:
- provide a link to all the data and/or materials, or
- explain that data and materials will be shared if the manuscript is accepted for publication, or
- explain why data and/or materials cannot be shared.
More information on our data sharing policy can be found here.
Style, language and terminology
- British English spelling and punctuation is preferred.
- Non-discriminatory language is mandatory. See our guidelines to sensitive language (appendix C of document).
- Explanatory notes should be kept to a minimum. If it is necessary to use them, they must be numbered consecutively in the text and listed at the end of the article. Please do not embed notes in the text.
- Please do not embed bibliographic references in the text, footnotes, live links or macros; the final submitted file should be clear of track changes and ready for print.
- Tables and charts should be separated from the text and submitted in a Word or Excel file, with their placement in the text clearly indicated by inserting: ‘Table X here’. Please provide numbers, titles and sources (where appropriate).
- Figures, diagrams and maps should be separated from the text and, ideally, submitted in an Encapsulated PostScript (.eps) file. Figures created in Word or Excel are acceptable in those file formats. If the figures, diagrams and maps are in other formats (i.e. have been pasted into a Word file rather than created in it) please contact bup-journalsproduction@bristol.ac.uk for advice. Please indicate where figures should be placed in the text, by inserting: ‘Figure X here’ and provide numbers, titles and sources (where appropriate).
- Carer, caregiver and care worker- terminology: The IJCC Editors recognise that many carers and carers' organisations reject 'informal' care as a descriptor of what carers do, unpaid, as part of family or other affective relationships, despite the widespread use of this term among researchers and scholars.
In the IJCC, our preference is to use 'carer' to describe those who provide care within pre-existing relationships, usually unpaid (albeit perhaps supported by an allowance or cash contribution to compensate for earnings or to recognise carers contributions).
In much popular discourse, and some research, 'carer' (or the North American term 'caregiver') is also used to describe those who give care to others as part of their employment. We prefer 'care worker' as the term for those who provide care as part of their paid work or professional role, and request contributors to the IJCC to adopt this terminology wherever possible. - A comprehensive style guide can be found here (Editorial and Production Guidelines)
Alt-text
In order to improve our accessibility for people with visual impairments, we are now required to ask authors to provide a brief description known as alt text to describe any visual content such as photos, illustrations or figures. It will not be visible in the article but is embedded into the images so a PDF reader can read out the descriptions. See our guidance on writing alt-text.
References
To ensure your bibliography is complete before submitting your final article, we recommend using a reference manager such as Zotero when writing your article. If you cannot find the style under the specific Bristol University Press journal name, the closest format is Zotero "Consumption and Society".
Policy Press uses a custom version of the Harvard system of referencing:
- In-text citations: give the author’s surname followed by year of publication in brackets;
- If there is more than one reference to the same author and year, this should be distinguished by a, b, c, d and so on being added to the year.
- In lists of references given within the text, place in chronological order, from old to new. For example (Smith, 1989; Jones, 1990; Amler, 2002; Brown, 2007).
- List all references in full at the end of the article and remove any references not cited in the text;
- Names should be listed in the references as cited, for example, surnames containing de, De, de la, Le, van, von, Van, Von should be listed under ‘D’, ‘L’ and ‘V’ respectively. If in doubt, check the author ORCID or a recognised database such as Scopus or Web of Science to verify their most known surname.
- For works with multiple authors, list all names up to six. For works with more than six authors, list the first six names followed by ‘et al’.
- Book and journal titles should be in italics;
- Website details should be placed at the end of the reference;
- Ibid/op cit: please do not use; we would prefer that you repeated the information.
- Immediately before submitting your final version, check that all references cited in the text are in the bibliography and that references in the bibliography are cited correctly in the text.
Examples
Book:
Bengtson, V.L. and Lowenstein, A. (2003) Global Aging and its Challenge to Families, Transaction Publishers.
Darling, D. (2010) Injustice: Why Social Inequality Persists, Policy Press.
Book with editor:
Bengtson, V.L. and Lowenstein, A. (eds) (2003) Global Aging and its Challenge to Families, 5th edn, Transaction Publishers.
Chapter in book or in multi-authored publication:
Bengtson, V.L. and Lowenstein, A. (2003) Citizenship in action: the lived experiences of citizens with dementia who campaign for social change, in R. Smith, R. Means and K. Keegan (eds) Global Aging and its Challenge to Families, Transaction Publishers, pp 305–26.
Journal reference:
Williamson, E. and Abrahams, H. A. (2014) A review of the provision of intervention programmes for female victims and survivors of domestic abuse in the UK, Journal of Women and Social Work, 29(1): 178-191. doi: doi.org/10.1177/0886109913516452
Jeffrey, C., Williams, E., de Araujo, P., Fortin-Rochberg, R., O'Malley, T., Hill, A-M., et al (2009) The challenge of politics, Policy & Politics, 36(4): 545–57. doi: doi.org/10.1177/0886108913516454
Website reference:
Womensaid (2016) What is domestic abuse?, https://www.womensaid.org.uk/information-support/what-is-domestic-abuse/.
Contact us
Editorial enquiries:
Editorial Assistant
Sharon Harris: ijcc-editorial@bristol.ac.uk
Journal sections:
Debates and Issues
Editorial Office: ijcc-editorial@bristol.ac.uk
Reviews
Myra Hamilton: myra.hamilton@sydney.edu.au
Open access, subscriptions and free trials:
Policy Press: pp-journals@bristol.ac.uk
Management Board
Yueh-Ching Chou, Co-Editor; Asia University, Taiwan
Michael Fine, Co-Editor; Macquarie University, Australia
Birgit Pfau-Effinger, Co-Editor, Universität Hamburg, Germany
Ricardo Rodrigues, Co-Editor, University of Lisbon, Portugal
Başak Akkan, Associate Editor; Istanbul Bilgi University, Turkey
Selma Kadi, Associate Editor; European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research, Austria
Christine Kelly, Associate Editor; University of Manitoba, Canada
Liz Lloyd, Associate Editor; University of Bristol, UK
Kate O'Loughlin, Associate Editor; University of Sydney, Australia
Bernhard Weicht, Associate Editor; University of Innsbruck, Austria
Minna Zechner, Associate Editor; University of Helsinki, Finland
Valentina Zigante, Associate Editor; London School of Economics, UK
Gabrielle Meagher, Consulting Editor; Macquarie University, Australia
Myra Hamilton, Reviews Editor; University of Sydney, Australia
Francisca Ortiz Ruiz, Reviews Editor; University of Manchester, UK
Obert Tawodzera, Reviews Editor; University of Birmingham, UK
Jo Moriarty, Social Media Editor; King's College London, UK
Naonori Kodate, Debates & Issues Editor; University College Dublin, Ireland
Antía Pérez-Caramés, Debates & Issues Editor; University of A Coruña, Spain
Phil Tavener, Debates & Issues Editor; Carers in Bedfordshire, UK
Founding Editor: Sue Yeandle, University of Sheffield, UK
Editorial Advisory Board
Jo Aldridge, University of Loughborough, UK
Fiona Alpass, Massey University, New Zealand
Karen Christensen, Roskilde University, Denmark
Maria das Dores Guerreiro, ISCTE- Instituto Universitario Lisboa, Portugal
Elizabeth Hanson, Linnaeus University, Sweden
Trish Hill, University of New South Wales, Australia
Jana Javornik, University of Leeds, UK
Norah Keating, Swansea University, UK
Teppo Kröger, University of Jyväskylä, Finland
Giovanni Lamura, INRCA (National Institute of Health and Science on Aging), Italy
Li-Fang Liang, National Yang-Ming University, Taiwan
Fiona MacDonald RMIT, Australia
Phyllis Moen, University of Minnesota, USA
Ito Peng, University of Toronto, Canada
Jolanta Perek-Bialas, Jagellonian University, Poland
Judith Phillips, University of Stirling, UK
Susan Reinhard, AARP, USA
Madeleine Starr, Carers UK, UK
Marta Szebehely, Stockholm University, Sweden
Hildegard Theobald, University of Vechta, Germany
Joan Tronto, University of Minnesota, USA
Frank T Y Wang, Chengchi University, Taiwan
Allison M C Williams, McMaster University, Canada
Call for Debates and Issues articles
The Editors of the International Journal of Care and Caring (IJCC) invite submissions of Debates and Issues articles.
The Debates and Issues section of IJCC gives a voice to the perspectives of organisations for carers, the disabled and older people, trade unions, employers, practitioners, policymakers and others. We welcome papers that highlight innovative policy or practice, debate controversial issues and matters of concern or focus on aspects of advocacy, identification, claims-making and contestation.
We are particuarly keen to receive papers relating to Covid-19 for potential inclusion in an upcoming themed section of the journal.
How to apply
If you have an idea for a paper for the Debates and Issues section please send a 100-word summary to the Editorial Office ijcc-editorial@bristol.ac.uk
Papers in the Debates and Issues section are free to access. Articles should be between 1,500 to 2,500 words. Full instructions for authors can be found on the IJCC website
Debates and Issues Section Editors:
Naonori Kodate, Debates & Issues Editor; University College Dublin, Ireland
Antía Pérez-Caramés, Debates & Issues Editor; University of A Coruña, Spain
Phil Tavener, Debates & Issues Editor; Carers in Bedfordshire, UK
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Author:
2023 Impact Factor: 1.2 (2 yr) 1.3 (5 yr).
2023 Journal Citation Indicator: 0.79
Ranking: 108/263 in Social Sciences, Interdisciplinary (Q2) - 62.1 percentile
2023 Scopus CiteScore: 2.6.
Rankings:
- 450/1466 in Social and Political Science - 69th percentile
- 174/371 in Health (social science) - 53rd percentile
- 171/130 in Health Policy - 45th percentile
- 369/665 in Environmental and Occupational Health - 44th percentile
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