English

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Mission
OUR VIEW OF SOCIAL WORK

Social work is a theoretical and practical discipline, based on many scientific disciplines. It uses the findings of psychology, sociology, economics, law, education, medicine and other scientific disciplines. Due to its multiparadigmatic character it has not yet been explicitly defined. Despite its broad range, its objective is clearly identifiable: it aims on a professional level to fix the problems that people experience whilst in difficult life situations. These situations are seen in social work in the context of social reality, making social work significantly different from other helping professions. This view allows social work to envisage the problems of a person as difficulties transcending beyond a certain boundary, affecting not only himself but his entire social surroundings.

Difficult life situations are experienced by various groups of people. The clients of social workers are not only homeless people, drug addicts, mentally ill or mentally disabled persons, but also abused women and children, the unemployed, and refugees seeking asylum. In an effort to help the client, the social worker deals with the overall situation of a person. They must also take into consideration in their work not only social factors, but also psychological, biological or spiritual factors. This approach allows them to correctly assess and diagnose on such basis, and subsequently carry out social therapy. In other words: the difficulties of a person which have a social character, may also stem from other than (just) a social dimension, and that must be detected so that the person may be helped either by the social worker or by another specialist in the field, such as a psychologist.

Former President, current Vice-President of the Editorial Board prof. PhDr. Libor Musil, said this of the magazine:
"There are several reasons from my point of view, why we began to issue the magazine. In regards to society: it is important to achieve recognition of the field, which in the eyes of society had been reduced to the carrying out of official duties and general assistance activities, requiring qualification. Concerning people in the field, I would welcome the foundation of a space for the mutual exchange of ideas, experiences and discussion. The existence of the magazine allows for the emergence of an occupational community, which can formulate and pursue common interests and goals. It allows necessary open communication between three groups of people; theorists, theoretically educated practitioners, and practitioners, who are not very interested in the theory. All three categories can be mutually enriching and support ideas which would not have otherwise arisen. Researchers and interested people in the field need to have somewhere to publish the results of their work, and they have a desire for it to be discussed and debated. The magazine should open this option for them."

THE MISSION OF THE MAGAZINE CZECH AND SLOVAK SOCIAL WORK IS:
● to support the ability of Czech and Slovak societies to address life problems of people through social work,
● to promote the quality of social work and the professionalism of social work practice,

● to contribute to the development of social work as a scientific discipline and to the improvement of the quality of education in social work,  

● to promote the interests of social services providers and users.

In the interest of achieving these objectives the magazine within the scope of social workers and with them co-operating and assisting workers will support other disciplines:

● positions, which consider professionalism and humanity as equal criteria to the quality of social work,

● attitudes, which emphasise linking the theoretical justification for social work practice with a practical orientation to the problems of clients and their real possibilities,

● coherence of all who are committed to addressing problems of clients through social work,

● open understanding of diversity, guidance and substantive discussion within the realm of social workers,

● interest of social workers to see themselves in the eyes of others.

YEAR 2010
4/2010 - Social work and people with special needs
3/2010 - The practical application of theory in social work
2/2010 - Social work with the dying
1/2010 - Social work and the fight against poverty

YEAR 2009
4/2009 - Social work and development aid
3/2009 - Different concepts of social work
2/2009 - Social work with people in debt
1/2009 - Community Planning

YEAR 2008
4/2008 - Spiritual Dimension of Social Work
3/2008 - Corporate social work
2/2008 - Social contract and our responsibility
1/2008 - Social work with people with mental illnesses

YEAR 2007
4/2007 - Practice and Supervision in social work
3/2007 - Social work with people with addictions
2/2007 - Social work with immigrants
1/2007 - Role of a social worker

YEAR 2006
4/2006 - Homelessness
3/2006 - Organisational Culture
2/2006 - Domestic Violence
1/2006 - Socio-legal protection of children

YEAR 2005
4/2005 - Probation and Mediation
3/2005 - Equal Opportunities
2/2005 - Social work with families and children
1/2005 - Active employment policy

YEAR 2004
4/2004 - Values and Ethics in social work
3/2004 - Community Work
2/2004 - The role of families in caring for the elderly
1/2004 - Quality Standards in Social Services

YEAR 2003
4/2003 - Options in social work with Roma communities
3/2003 - Theories and Methods of Social Work
2/2003 - Children and alternative educational care
1/2003 - Education

YEAR 2002
2/2002 - Roma in Czech society

Director of Caritas – Olomouc College of Social Studies

Executive Secretary of the Association of educators in social work (ASVSP) - Magazine publisher
Assistant Professor at the Department of Social Policy and Social Work at the Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University

Professor at the Department of Social Work at the Pedagogical Faculty, Catholic University in Ruzomberok and the Director of the Institute of Social Sciences

The director and editor of the magazine, the editor of current affairs
is responsible for the personnel and the content of the magazine

tel.: +420 549 491 969 
       +420 604 737 946
e-mail: pavel.bajer@socialniprace.cz

Instructions to authors
The magazine is published four times a year and publishes the widest range of articles relevant to social work. The articles may focus on any aspect of practice, research, theory or education. The journal has the following structure:

1. Editorial
2. Current topics

3. Inspiration for the Practice

4. Survey

5. Facts, decrees, laws, documents...

6. Views on the issue

7. Quality in social services

8. Academic Topics

9. Student work

10. Introduction of schools

11. Book Reviews

12. News, events, announcements

13. Contacts

The journal focuses on current affairs - the practical and academic sections. While sections 8 and 9 are comprised of published texts that report on research and student‘s work, other sections are conceptually more complex and are aimed for published texts from authors in practice (information about interesting projects, problematic matters in the profession, etc.). Claims on the level of copyright texts intended for publication in the various sections are different. The following instructions are then directed to the authors of the academic section of the magazine.

1) Instructions to authors of academic texts
The editor accepts contributions that match the profile of the magazine. Entries sent by post must be designated exclusively for publication in the journal Social Work. However, it is possible to revise and supplement a text that has been previously published in another journal. The number of contributions from a single author is limited to two per year.

MANUSCRIPT PROPOSAL AND CRITICAL REVIEW
For the purpose of our magazine, academic texts are understood as research, for example, a survey (theoretical, historical, etc.). The prerequisite for the inclusion of the contribution to critical review is its topicality, that the author systematically works with relevant sources, explains the research methodology, and with regard to the objective of the research presents the findings. Given the professional nature of the magazine, we prefer texts that contain, in addition to the mentioned aspects, also the applied dimension, in which the author explains the relevance of their findings in the context of social work.

The critical review is double-blind, and is carried out by two independent reviewers. The student‘s work goes through one critical review. The work is considered on the basis of content and form. If necessary, the work may be returned to the author for additions or reworking. On the basis of the results of the assessment, the text will be either accepted or rejected. In unclear cases, the chairman of the editorial board will decide. The editor will send via e-mail two accepted manuscripts. One of them must not contain any information which could lead to the identification of the author. The second accepted contribution is sent in its complete version.
The published essay becomes the property of the magazine and if part of it is reprinted or used in any other publication it must quote the source.
The editors reserve the right to make minor drafting amendments. Unsolicited manuscripts and attachments will not be returned.

DECISION ON PUBLICATION
The author will be notified of the outcome of the proceedings of the management review within three months from the date of receipt of the paper.

MANUSCRIPT TERMS
The text must be written in accordance with applicable language standards. The texts should be written using the typescript Times New Roman, size 12, font style Normal. Pages should not be numbered. Footnotes should only appear at the end of the document.

The title page contains a short and concise summary of the work in Czech – or Slovak equivalent – and in English, the names of all authors, biographical description (up to 50 words) and in the footnote contact information for correspondence.
Czech or Slovak abstract of a maximum of 200 words.

Key words in Czech (Slovak). Please use a maximum of double-worded phrases.
Abstract in English with a maximum of 200 words.
Key words in English. Please use a maximum of double-worded phrases
Actual text (up to 5 000 words)
Biography: We ask the authors to place particular attention on accurate and precise references (see below). In the text, state the author’s surname, year of publication (Korda, 2002), and if it is a literal quote also state the page number following the year after a colon. The biography should be at the end of the essay and should contain only literature which was referred to in the text. The biography should be arranged alphabetically by author and if it refers to several works by the same author, the work should be listed chronologically. If the author refers to work which was published in the same year, it should be distinguished by placing the letters a, b, etc. of the year it was issued.

Tables and graphs: Tables may not be wider than 14 cm. Font size must be at least 8-10. In the graphs, please use distinctively contrasting colours (note that the magazine is black and white).

CITATIONS AND REFERENCES

Citations and references are provided in accordance with ISO 690 (010,197). Here are selected examples:

 
Monographic publications:
Weber, M. The theory of social and economic organization. New York: Free Press of Glencoe. 1947.

Quote from a monographic publication:
Scott, W. R. Professional Employees in a Bureaucratic Structure: Social Work. In Etzioni, A. (ed.). The Semi-Professions and Their Organization. The Free Press, New York, 1969, 82–140.

Quotes from magazines:
Meyers, M. K., Riccucci, N. M., Lurie, I. Achieving goal congruence in complex environments: The case of welfare reform. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 2001, 11, No. 2, 165–201.

Internet sources:
www.romove.cz/cz/ [on-line] [17. 11. 2003]

Students’ academic work: The authors should strive for the same level as in academic articles. It is assumed that they have only partial knowledge and orientation in the given issue. The application of literature and citations should be the same as in academic papers, and is a prerequisite for publication. Note to authors who want to publish a shortened version of their bachelor or diploma thesis - the text should not include the content of the work.

2) Guidelines on the format of a book review
Contributions to the sections ’Inspiration for the Practice’, ‘What is Being Talked About’, or in some instances ‘Views on Issues’ in the journal have been the assigned format of a range of 50-150 lines. Their actual appearance will be decided upon individually, through an agreement with the editors. The editors reserve the right to refuse unsolicited contributions or to adjust according to their needs.

Contributions should be sent without pre-set formatting, without indents and spacing between lines, the formatted doc or rtf should be single-spaced, with font in Times New Roman and the font size 12. Do not number the pages. Use a minimum of footnotes. Please write the facts which you consider important directly in the text.

3) Guidelines on the format of a book review
The book review section offers space to all candidates who want to familiarise other readers with interesting books from the field of social work and related disciplines. For the publication of the review it is necessary that it is arranged in advance with the editors.
The scope of the review is set at 60-150 lines, additional requirements are the same as for other sent contributions to other sections of the magazine. Reviews must contain bibliographical data for the evaluation of the book (Daniela Vodáčková et al.: Crisis intervention, Portál, Prague, 2002) and the name of the author of the review along with their contact information.

4) Contact details:
ASVSP – Czech and Slovak Social Work

tel.: +420 549 491 969 (Articles in the current affairs section)

e-mail: pavel.bajer@socialniprace.cz

tel.: + 420 549 493 586  (Articles in the academic section)

e-mail: zdenka.dohnalova@socialniprace.cz

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