Editorial

The scientific journal Nordisk Politiforskning or the Nordic Journal of Studies in Policing (NJSP) will soon reach seven years of publishing activity. Many traditional scientific journals have been publishing for hundreds of years and the peer review method became more common during the 20th century. Although the journal is still fresh, it has managed to develop its own profile in the Nordic context.

Earlier this year, the editorial board asked two experts (Finstad & Stevnsborg) for an assessment of the journal’s content in 2014–2019. The assessment concerned, for example, the role of open and special issues as well as article distribution geographically and by gender. The overall assessment was quite positive, but the evaluators also made suggestions for improving the journal. Another text (Ghazinour) on the same subject commented briefly on this external evaluation from the perspective of the Editorial Board.

The peer-reviewed articles in this issue cover a variety of topics from the core of policing to the operating environment. They describe police perceptions of conflict management training (Emsing, Hansson & Sundqvist), use of weapons in stressful situations (Henriksen & Kruke), the knowledge constraints in interprofessional cooperation (Jakobsen & Filstad), and the role of police in the crime mediation model (Rasmussen). The whole is completed by one shorter essay. Its authors were involved in drafting a project plan on a pandemic-related topic in late 2019 (Sørensen & Bjørkelo).

The journal has been and will be renewed in several ways in the near future. The first recent change concerns new author guidelines that, among other things, steer toward shorter, more compact articles and emphasize research ethics. Another important change is that from the first issue 2021, the journal will only publish material in English. The third change concerns the movement to continuous publication model in next spring, to accelerate the publishing process of approved articles.

Stay up to date on these changes at the journal website (https://www.idunn.no/njsp). At the same address you will find the latest issue and previously published issues. I wish all readers an informative and inspiring reading experience.