Voluntary Sector Review is published by Policy Press in association with the Voluntary Sector Studies Network (VSSN). It publishes accessible, high-quality peer-reviewed papers on all aspects of the voluntary, community, civil society and third sectors.
A unique feature of Voluntary Sector Review is the combination of papers aimed at academic, policy and practice audiences. This is designed to ensure that the results of the latest academic research are made available to the widest possible audience and are grounded in a close engagement with both policy and practical issues. Read more about Voluntary Sector Review.
Impact Factor: 1.5 Frequency: March, July and November
Editors' Choice collection
Editors' Choice collection
Aims and scope
Abstracting and indexing
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
Best Article Prize
Testimonials
Contact us
Voluntary Sector Review is published by Policy Press in association with the Voluntary Sector Studies Network (VSSN). It publishes accessible, high-quality peer-reviewed papers on all aspects of the voluntary, community, civil society and third sectors. A unique feature of Voluntary Sector Review is the combination of papers aimed at academic, policy and practice audiences. This is designed to ensure that the results of the latest academic research are made available to the widest possible audience and are grounded in a close engagement with both policy and practical issues.
Voluntary Sector Review is an explicitly interdisciplinary and international journal – the first to be European based. We welcome contributions from authors from all disciplines and all countries. We are interested in all aspects of voluntary, community, civil society and third-sector activity.
The scope of submissions includes, but is not limited to, such topics as the origins and nature of volunteering, the experiences of user groups, social activism, social movements, philanthropy, the growth and performance of charitable foundations, community organisations, social enterprises, and the relationship between voluntary organisations and the state.
Rigorous and stimulating, Voluntary Sector Review is an indispensable tool for everyone who values empirically grounded, theoretically informed and policy-relevant analyses of the past, present and future of voluntary action.
Voluntary Sector Review is abstracted in:
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.
We are delighted to announce the winners of the 2023 Best Voluntary Sector Review Article Prize.
The prize was awarded to Rowan Magill, Sunny Collings and Gabrielle Jenkin for their paper The provision of comprehensive crisis intervention by a charitable organisation: findings from a realist evaluation.The judges were particularly impressed with the emphasis given to service user voice throughout the paper.
The winning article was announced at the 2023 Voluntary Sector and Volunteering Research conference at Sheffield Hallam University. This award is sponsored by the VSSN and Policy Press. Winners receive a £150 cash prize from VSSN and £150 in book vouchers from Policy Press.
“As an academic I am forced to be selective when it comes to reading, and I often choose to spend the time I have reading contributions to the Voluntary Sector Review.”
Adalbert Evers, Senior Fellow, Heidelberg University, Germany
“Voluntary Sector Review publishes outstanding research for academic, policy and practice audiences. I especially appreciate VSR’s efforts to publish work from a variety of research paradigms and perspectives.”
Angela M. Eikenberry, Professor of Public Administration, University of Nebraska at Omaha, USA
Editorial enquiries:
The Voluntary Sector Review office: VSRoffice@vssn.org.uk
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
Style
Alt-text
References
English language editing service
Open Access
Self-archiving and institutional repositories
How to maximise the impact of your article
Contact us
Visit our journal author toolkit for resources and advice to support you through the publication process and beyond.
Research articles: Normally no longer than 8,000 words, including abstract (150 words maximum), notes, tables, figures and references.
Articles may cover research and analysis of any part of the voluntary sector or the third sector and civil society more generally and may include scholarly enquiry, research findings and applied analysis of relevance to practitioners and decision makers. Contributions about research methods, especially those aimed at improving third sector research practice, are also welcome. A research article is more likely to be accepted for publication if it:
Policy and Practice papers: up to 4,000 words, including abstract (75 words maximum), keywords and references.
Policy and practice papers are short contributions from researchers, policy makers and practitioners discussing policy developments, research findings or practical insights that will be of relevance and value for policy makers and practitioners. For more information read our Guide to preparing policy and practice papers.
Research notes: 2,000–4,000 words.
Research notes may follow a less strict paper structure than full papers but still need to make a contribution to voluntary sector studies. They must have an abstract, use standard referencing and their formatting must adhere to the style set out below.
Research notes are scientifically valid research outputs that cannot be considered as full research or methodology articles. Research notes can present intriguing initial and/or time-sensitive observations or a novel idea, advance a new idea, theoretical perspective, methodological approach or data or publish a brief summary of a study that is usually difficult to publish (e.g. with non-significant results), or any other scientific contribution in a short format.
The aim of research notes is to encourage debate in voluntary sector studies. Therefore, when writing a research note, it is important that the author(s) are clear on what kind of contribution they want to make to the field of voluntary sector studies, that they present a clear argument and that they bring in a novel view to the attention of the journal’s readers. The role of the research note is thus to serve as a form of incubator for new thinking in the field of voluntary sector studies. Research notes can also be invited by the editorial team.
In general, research notes will be peer reviewed using following criteria: suitability for the VSR, contribution to the field, scientific rigour, strength and clarity of the argument, urgency and international relevance.
Comment and Debate papers: up to 2,000 words (no abstract)
The Comment and Debate section is designed to enable authors from policy, practice and academia to contribute to topical debates in a more responsive way by, for example: commenting on key policy developments affecting the voluntary sector and volunteering; commenting on current debates in practice (including media/social media) associated with the voluntary sector and volunteering; provoking new debates within and between academics, practitioners and policy makers on issues and challenges affecting the voluntary sector and volunteering. Comment and debate pieces should be academically informed but policy and practice relevant and speak directly to the concerns of the sector in a way that is accessible and amenable to public debate.
To facilitate a quick turn around these papers will not be subject to external peer review but will receive rigorous scrutiny and comment from at least two members of the Editorial Team.
Book reviews:
Books for review should be sent to:
Eddy Hogg, Book Reviews Editor, Voluntary Sector Review, Room CNE 110, Cornwallis North East SSPSSR, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NF.
Tel: +44 (0) 1227 82 7328. Email: E.Hogg@kent.ac.uk
In all sections, contributions are welcome from the UK, and also from Europe and beyond, especially if they include cross-national comparisons that bear on the UK experience.
All submissions will be subject to normal peer-review processes. The editorial team aim to provide quick decisions and to ensure that submission to publication takes no more than 12 months.
All submissions should be made online at the Voluntary Sector Review Editorial Manager website: http://www.editorialmanager.com/vsr/default.aspx.
Manuscripts must be 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.
Your initial submission must consist of the following separate files:
For help submitting an article via Editorial Manager, please view our online tutorial.
Once a submission has been conditionally accepted, you will be invited to submit a final, non-anonymised version.
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 guidelines.
Find out more about our ethical guidelines.
Voluntary Sector Review 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 original 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 Publishing 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 Voluntary Sector Review, please email Policy Press: pp-info@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.
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.
Download the Endnote output style for Bristol University Press and Policy Press journals.
Bristol University Press uses a custom version of the Harvard system of referencing:
Example of book reference:
Dorling, D. (2010) Injustice: Why social inequality persists, Bristol: Policy Press.
Example of journal reference:
Warin, P. (2012) 'Non-demand for Social Rights: A new challenge for social action in France', Journal of Poverty and Social Justice, 20(1): 41-53.
Example of chapter within edited / multi-authored publication:
Levitas, R. (2011) 'Utopia Calling: Eradicating child poverty in the United Kingdom and beyond', in A. Minujin and S. Nandy (eds), Global Child Poverty and Well-being: Measurement, concepts, policy and action, Bristol, Policy Press. pp. 449-73.
Example of website reference:
Womensaid (2016) What is domestic abuse? https://www.womensaid.org.uk/information-support/what-is-domestic-abuse/.
Angela Ellis-Paine, Chair of Editorial Boards, City University, London
Daiga Kamerāde, Co-Editor; University of Salford, UK
James Rees, Managing Editor; University of Wolverhampton, UK
Lili Wang, Co-Editor; Arizona State University, USA
Carl Milofsky, Consulting Editor; Bucknell University, USA
Alison Body, Policy and Practice Editor; University of Kent, UK
Francis Davis, Policy and Practice Editor, University of Roehampton, UK
Iwona Nowakowska, Policy and Practice Editor; Maria Grzegorzewska Academy of Special Education, Poland
Eddy Hogg, Book Reviews Editor; University of Kent, UK
Diarmuid McDonnell, Voluntary Sector Studies Network (VSSN) Representative, University of the West of Scotland, UK
Georg von Schnurbein, Regional Editorial Advisor - Europe; Universität Basel, Switzerland
Liz Bailey, University of York, UK
Cari Bottois, Cardiff University, UK
Jo Crotty, Edge Hill University, UK
Julia Mortimer, Publisher; Bristol University Press and Policy Press, UK
René Bekkers, VU University Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Bronwen Dalton, University of Technology Sydney, Australia
Angela Eikenberry, University of Nebraska Omaha, USA
Adalbert Evers, Heidelberg University, Germany
Lucas Meijs, Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Marthes Nyssens, Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium
Oto Potluka, University of Basel, Switzerland
Steven Rathgeb Smith, American Political Science Association, USA
Annette Zimmer, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, Münster, Germany
Do you have lessons to share that would strengthen the work of voluntary sector organisations? If so, publishing a Policy and Practice paper in the Voluntary Sector Review could be the way for you to make an impact on how these organisations realise their goals.
Voluntary Sector Review is an international peer-reviewed journal published by Policy Press in association with the Voluntary Sector Studies Network (VSSN). A unique feature of Voluntary Sector Review is the combination of papers aimed at academic, policy and practice audiences.
In order to strengthen the practical impact of academic writing and research, the review actively encourages the submission of specific, focused policy and practice papers. A Policy and Practice paper is shorter and less formal than a full academic research paper, and is an opportunity for practitioners and academics to reflect on practice-based learning that could be useful for others working in similar organisations. To find out more about how to write a policy and practice paper, see our instructions for authors.
For further information or to discuss whether your project could be the subject of a practice paper, please contact the Policy and Practice Editors at Voluntary Sector Review: Alison Body a.m.body@kent.ac.uk or Iwona Nowakowska inowakowska@aps.edu.pl
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2022 Impact Factor: 1.5
2022 Journal Citation Indicator: 0.59
Ranking: 118/265 in Social Sciences, Interdisciplinary (Q2)
2022 Scopus CiteScore: 1.8
Ranking: 182/502 in Social Sciences (miscellaneous) – 63rd percentile