New online journal on migration studies for a broad audience

“There are already many academic journals on migration, we want to find a new niche. Many people are interested in the topic and follow the news coverage, but they don't have access to academic texts,” says Brigitte Suter, Associate Professor in International Migration and Ethnic Relations.

The journal, Current Issues in Migration Research (CIMR), is aimed at a broad audience both inside and outside academia: students, professionals, policy makers, journalists, and the public. The material will be research-based, but non-researchers and master’s students can also contribute.

“The journal provides a digital platform to air issues of migration between researchers, policy makers and an interested public. Primarily through shorter texts in formats that rarely fit in traditional academic journals. This way, CIMR fills a gap between academic journals and more popular science formats,” says Suter.

Migration is an area that has become very polarised and politicised. Our journal offers a platform for debate and the exchange of knowledge. We also want to offer a space for younger, not yet established, researchers to disseminate new research results and reflections in a short format, compared to a conventional academic one.

Brigitte Suter

“We hope that the journal will lead to migration being seen more as something normal and multifaceted, that we can bring the nuances into the debate.”

The content is intended to be a mix of interviews with experts outside academia, theoretical reflections, artistic contributions and policy briefs, for instance research-based recommendations on a particular issue. CIMR will have both Swedish and English texts and each issue will have both a themed and a more general section.

“We hope that the journal will lead to migration being seen more as something normal and multifaceted, that we can bring the nuances into the debate,” concludes Suter.

English text by Wilma Haneke Brodd