Refugee Review: Refugees and Work

The ESPMI Network is pleased to announce a call for submissions for the third volume of the Refugee Review. The Refugee Review, a publication of the ESPMI Network, is an open-access, peer-reviewed e-journal that features a range of submission styles as contributed by scholars, practitioners, activists, and those working and studying within the field of forced migration. The Refugee Review platform, based at no particular institution and tied to no particular location, offers a unique publishing opportunity for those in the early stages of their work and careers, as well as for established scholars that support this mission.

Those who submit can expect dialogue with the ESPMI's e-journal team throughout the publishing process, and are encouraged to work with ESPMI to strengthen and promote the e-journal in the spirit of open scholarship and collaboration. While we support the opinions and perspectives that all contributors may have, ESPMI has a commitment to equity, respect and honouring the dignity of all persons, and accordingly we may reserve the right to refuse, or request amendment of, any submissions that we believe may degrade the dignity of a
particular group.

2016 Call for Submissions

In the past year the issue of refugees and forced migration has taken centre stage in public discourse of many countries - from extensive coverage of multiple ongoing humanitarian crises to a growing populist backlash that has taken several regions by storm. Despite the high level political and media interest in the topic, many aspects are left to be discussed and many academic stones remain unturned. We invite submissions of abstracts for three different categories: academic articles, opinion papers and practitioner reports, and multimedia submissions (please see below for a description of each type.) Regardless of the submission type,
the topic should relate primarily to refugees and forced migration. We welcome new approaches, preliminary results from field research and multidisciplinary research pertaining to all aspects of refugee studies, including changing legal standards, gaps in protection, regional case studies, gender-related aspects, and policy responses.

Recent years have seen large influxes of refugee arrivals in many countries, eliciting substantial debate on rights and protection needs of refugees and asylum seekers. In some countries populist discourse positions refugees as a threat to economic security, while other countries put labour restrictions or requirements onto arriving refugees. To further this discussion from a more nuanced perspective, for this issue we are particularly interested in receiving submissions on the topic “Refugees and Work. Examples of research themes: Are long-term labour restrictions for refugees and asylum seekers legal under international law? How do refugee movements relate to and create informal labour markets? How do refugees negotiate and/or integrate into the labour market of host societies? How may the right to work be positioned for rejected asylum seekers, or those seeking refuge in countries identified as transit nodes? How may one
complicate the binary between an "economic migrant" and "refugee"? In what ways do media discourses on refugees pose them as threats to working class jobs? We encourage critical perspectives that take race, class and gender into account.

Submission Categories:

We recognize and value the multidisciplinary nature of forced migration studies, and therefore encourage submissions from across various disciplines including but not limited to political science, law, anthropology, ethics and philosophy, sociology, economics, public health, and media studies. You may submit to any submission category, regardless of where you locate your study or practice.

Please identify which submission category your piece is being submitted under. We encourage you to consider the range of submission styles available in this Call for Submissions during the development of your piece and structure/develop your submission accordingly. We require all contributing authors to submit an abstract for review prior to submission of a complete piece. You will be informed of the acceptance of your abstract within two weeks, after which time you have six weeks to complete and submit your final piece.

Submissions will go through a peer-review process and those selected will go through a peer-editing process before publication. The editing team may, when deemed appropriate, move your piece to a different submission section (for example from the Academic Article section to the Opinion Piece section) if they feel it is better suited to another category.

Academic Articles:

The Academic Articles section provides a space for thorough scholarship and serves as a forum for authors to engage critically with practical and theoretical issues relating to forced migration. In the Academic Articles section we seek submissions that interrogate the existing literature on forced migration, present in-depth research in a given area or offer original insights into a situation or trend. Submissions to the Academic Articles must not exceed 6000 words (including footnotes, which should be kept to a minimum). Articles are required to use Chicago style endnotes.

Opinion Papers and Practitioner Reports:

Opinion Papers and Practitioner Reports may be contributions that reflect on personal experiences of displacement as well as and reports from non-governmental organization (NGO) and CBO staff. This section presents an opportunity for those directly affected by the policies, laws and activities of governments and the agencies we evaluate to express their insights and perspectives. This may take the form of a discussion of particular problem that has not been given due attention or commentary on government policies in a specific country, region or locale. We seek critical, balanced analyses that allow the reader to gain an understanding of the context in which the report is written and that engages with wider implications of the situation described. Articles for the Opinion and Report Section should be approximately 2000 words and no more than 5000 words. At present we are only able to accept written  submissions in English.
Multimedia Submissions:

Multimedia submissions may include, but are not limited to: videos, photos, artwork and spoken word pieces. Accompanying the multimedia submission should be a short blurb of approximately 300 words about the author and the piece itself. PLEASE ENSURE YOU HAVE PERMISSION TO PHOTOGRAPH OR VIDEO THE SUBJECT(S) YOU SUBMIT. Please note that videos, audio recordings, and photos must be sent as an attachment in a zipped file not exceeding 25 MB. Videos may also be submitted as links if they are also hosted privately on Vimeo or YouTube.

Submit to: refugeereview@gmail.com. Please send questions to the same address.

Please remember to state clearly in the subject line what kind of submission you are sending and include 5-10 key words. Submissions should be no longer than 400 words.