Research in Human Development seeks to promote an inclusive, integrative, and interdisciplinary approach to the study of human development across the entire lifespan. The integration of the person and their context across the life course is the focus of the scholarship promoted by this journal. Specifically, an interdisciplinary focus that incorporates biological, psychological, sociological, anthropological, economic, and historical perspectives will be stressed in the pages of RHD. To encompass such breadth, the publication will incorporate a variety of research methods, including quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods approaches. The journal seeks to promote scholarship on the social, cultural, and national (global) contexts of human development across diverse ethnic and racial groups employing multiple methods. Finally, RHD seeks to promote scholarship that informs public policies and social programs that promote positive and healthy human development for all people. In short, by providing a forum for research that is lifespan-oriented, interdisciplinary, contextual, and methodologically diverse, the journal will continue to significantly advance the field of human development.

Audience

The audience consists of researchers, educators, policy makers, and practitioners in all fields which address human development.

Special Issue Proposals

RHD publishes thematic issues devoted to the integration of theory and research across the lifespan representing multiple disciplines and methodologies. This journal uses Routledge’s Submission Portal to manage the submission process. You will need an ORCiD ID to log in to the submission portal. If you do not already have an ORCiD account, creating one takes 30 seconds and will allow you to login to a variety of other publishers’ systems as well as uniquely identifying your contribution to the scholarly record.

We are particularly interested in proposals for special issues that provide cutting-edge perspectives on pressing topics such as gun violence, Autism, whole reading vs phonics, bullying, abortion rights and access, and global implications of climate change. We are also interested in special issues that focus on development in historically marginalized populations (e.g., racial/ethnic, LGBTQIA+, (dis)ability) and use less conventional analytical techniques (e.g., community-based participatory approaches, culturally responsive methods, person-centered analyses).

If you have an idea for a proposal, we recommend reaching out to the co-editors to talk through the feasibility and fit with RHD. Once you are ready to submit your proposal (no more than 5 single-spaced pages, please), it should describe:

• • The theme for the issue and its significance for the field;
  • How the collected papers meet the interdisciplinary, multi method, and lifespan goals of the journal;
  • Biographical information of the editors, especially highlighting prior editorial experience;
  • The titles and authors of each potential paper, as well as a paragraph describing the scope/questions/data source/analytic strategies of each paper;
  • How the papers come together in important ways, as a collection, to inform the theme;
  • List of proposed contributors and their titles and affiliations; and
  • References, as appropriate

Most issues have 5 papers of about 25 pages each (not counting the title and abstract pages, but including everything else). The organization may vary by project. For example: a very brief introduction of a few pages, plus 5 empirical papers; or, a brief introduction, plus 1 theoretical/conceptual/literature-based manuscript and 4 empirical papers; or, a very brief introduction, plus 4 empirical pieces and a discussion essay. These proposals will be reviewed by the editors in consultation with the Editorial Board. Once a proposal has been reviewed and accepted, the manuscripts must be accompanied by a statement that they have not been published elsewhere and that the papers have not been submitted simultaneously for publication elsewhere. Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce copyrighted material from other sources and are required to sign an agreement for the transfer of copyright to the publisher. All accepted manuscripts, artwork, and photographs become the property of the publisher.

Open Access