Editorial

The Nordic Journal of Studies in Policing (NJSP) has been evaluated for inclusion in Elsevier’s Scopus, which is the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature. The Content Selection & Advisory Board (CSAB) has advised to accept the journal in Scopus.

According to the advice from CSAB accepting the journal in Scopus the NJSP focuses on studies in policing in the Nordic countries, which is well reflected both in the editorial board and in the articles. The subject area of the NJSP is not typically covered by journal literature. Therefore, the scope of the journal well serves the need for an audience in this field. The content of the articles is mainly based on an empirical approach and is well supported by the previous research literature. The journal is encouraged to inform readers transparently on the processing of each article from submission to publication.

With the release of this issue, the Covid-19 pandemic has been influencing our lives for over a year. The pandemic has changed the police’s operating environment and policing in various ways in the Nordic countries. These changes will most likely be analysed in the NJSP articles in the coming years. However, this issue covers the police and its activities mainly before the Covid-19 era.

The first peer-reviewed article explores violent and property crime geographically. There are multiple geographical crime prediction techniques to use and comparing these techniques therefore has become important (Doyle, Gerell, Andershed). The second article discusses prevention of radicalization as an emergent field of plural policing. It also provides a brief history of the policing of militant Islamism in Norway (Ellefsen). The third article describes universal police behaviours during critical incidents and their connection to police personality. The study reveals possible strengths and vulnerabilities that may need more attention and deliberate practice (Huhta, Di Nota, Nyman, Pietilä, Ropo). The last article focuses on police stress and provides an instrument that measures stressors among patrolling officers. It aims to extend the currently available stress measures (Ghazinour, Padyab, Hansson).

Besides these peer-reviewed articles, this issue includes an obituary of associate professor Geir Aas, who passed away 28 February 2021. His colleagues have addressed him particularly as a scholar, police sociologist and criminologist.

Norway, Sweden and Denmark have been involved in the editorial work of the NJSP since its establishment, and the authors have also come mainly from these countries. However, the other Nordic countries are gradually becoming more involved in the NJSP activities. For example, Finland joined the editorial board in 2019, and the editor-in-chief is now from there for the first time. Finnish researchers have recently been more active in submitting manuscripts to the journal. Concerning Iceland, the NJSP evaluation group recommended last autumn that Iceland could consider joining the editorial board.

The Nordic Police Research Conference has brought together police researchers from all the Nordic countries biannually. The conference was planned to be organised in Finland last year but has been postponed twice due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the conference will be held online in June this year and will focus on police education. A thematic issue of the NJSP on this topic will be published in 2022. Hopefully, some of the conference presentations will develop into articles for the NJSP.

I hope you will enjoy this issue of the NJSP whether you are interested in the geography of crime, radicalization, critical incidents, or measuring stress. Before compiling the next issue on technology and artificial intelligence, Denmark will take over the role of editor-in-chief.