The British Journal of Sociology: New Design Volume 70

As an editorial team we are keenly aware of the momentous changes that are taking place in the world of journal publishing, and fully intend to keep our own practices as a journal and as editors – everything from what we publish to how we review, and how quickly – under constant scrutiny in order to ensure that we stay as up to date and as relevant as we can be. So, it is with great pleasure that we announce two major changes as we launch the 70^th volume of The British Journal of Sociology.

First, we are delighted to announce a full redesign of the journal cover and digital profile. When the journal was last redesigned – under the editorship of Bridget Hutter, in 2003/2004 – it was published solely as printed copy. Today, the vast majority of our readership is to the journal in its digital form, indeed most of our readers never encounter the journal in print. Hence when considering options for our ‘brand new look’ we were conscious not only of how it would appear in print, but also on our web platform and social media streams. For this reason, we decided on a strong yellow cover that would stand out on digital platforms, whether being used as a headline banner on our website, a Twitter avatar, or a digital copy of the printed cover. If you encounter the journal in print, you will also find that the contents page has been moved to the back cover, with a wrap‐around which we think gives the journal a strong presence on the shelf. In digital form, we hope that the journal will be instantly recognisable with the ‘BJS’ set against the strong yellow background. As for the substance of the new design, we opted for an abstract, geometrical design instead of the generic images of people and groups one tends to find on the cover of so many sociology journals and books. Sociology is a very complex discipline, whose highly contested nature we hope is reflected in this design, just as it is expressed in the articles that we publish.

We have a second announcement to make. From this issue onwards, each volume of the journal will consist of five issues, rather than four. This reflects the significant increase in high quality submissions that we have been receiving during the past five years, while allowing us greater scope to publish special issues and sections, alongside our annual lecture issue, which is published every March. As before, we aim to publish a broad range of high‐quality sociology, as well as reviews and review essays, debates and special issues or sections. And as with the special issue on The Trump/Brexit Moment we published in November 2017, we also intend that the journal is fast enough and flexible enough to respond to sociologically significant empirical events with articles that are not only meaningful and scholarly, but timely.

We very much hope that our readers and authors welcome these changes, and look forward to collaborating with you in future.

The Editorial Team

January 2019

This editorial is republished from The British Journal of Sociology, Volume 70, Issue 1 (2019)