European Journal of Criminology

Overview

The European Journal of Criminology is a peer-reviewed journal published by SAGE Publishing and the European Society of Criminology. It provides a forum for research and scholarship on issues pertaining to crime and criminal justice. The journal publishes high quality articles utilizing varied approaches and methodologies to address a wide variety of topics, including theory development, critique, and testing; replication and evaluation of existing methods, and development and implementation of innovative methods; analysis of quantitative and qualitative data (cross-sectional, longitudinal, comparative, etc.); and evaluations and analysis of policies and practices. Particular emphasis is placed on the use of evidence generated by sound social science methods to test propositions about and analyse and critique criminological ideas and criminal justice policies and practices, going beyond the mapping of relationships, descriptively or statistically, to enhance our understanding of constructs and why and how they are related. Priority is given to articles that address criminological and criminal justice topics of relevance to European criminology and criminal justice (within and beyond the EU), including comparative analyses which include a European element. The relevance for European criminology or criminal justice should be clear in the scope of the article.

Key criteria

Please note that these are not exhaustive and are intended to serve as a guide, not as a checklist.

The fundamental criteria for all articles published in the European Journal of Criminology it that they address criminological and criminal justice topics of relevance to European criminology and criminal justice from a strong social scientific perspective, contributing to debate through analytical and critical engagement with the material they present. Being analytical refers to examining a subject or idea thoroughly and in detail; being critical refers to examining a subject or idea’s merits and faults thoroughly and in detail.

Articles should be of relevance to European criminology and criminal justice. This means they should have clear links to the European context. Thus articles that focus exclusively on research, events and perspectives relating to non-European countries/matters do not meet this criteria. This is a policy of the European Society of Criminology, which the European Journal of Criminology represents. We encourage comparative analyses with a core European element; if a European country is not one of the comparative sites, it will be important that the relevance for European criminology or criminal justice is a key theme of the paper. Likewise articles that address more general or global topics must still explicitly discuss their specific relevance for European criminology and criminal justice.

Articles should focus on criminological and criminal justice issues. Topics from related disciplines such as law and forensic science can be relevant for criminology and criminal justice, but the latter needs to be the focus of an article for it to fit within the scope of the journal.

Articles should reflect a rigorous social scientific approach, whether the material is theoretical or empirical, or the methods quantitative or qualitative. Articles should make an original and substantive contribution to knowledge, either theoretically by enhancing our understanding of constructs and why and how they are related, methodologically by developing or applying innovative approaches, or empirically through rigorous research.

Articles should contribute to debate in European criminology or criminal justice by presenting theoretical or conceptual developments, methodological advances, or findings that test suppositions about aspects of crime or criminal justice. This also applies to systematic review articles. All articles should go beyond the mapping of relationships, descriptively or statistically, to enhance our understanding of constructs, why and how they are related, and the implications.