Special announcement

The European Journal of Social Quality (EJSQ) is transforming into The International Journal of Social Quality (IJSQ) The European Journal of Social Quality was launched in 1999 and since then has steadily built its academic reputation and readership both within and beyond Europe. Over the past three years there has been increasing interest and commitment to the study and dissemination of the social quality theoretical perspective across the world, with a particularly deep and wideranging interest in Asia. In 2006 and 2007 there were two major international conferences on social quality in Japan and Taiwan, and a third is planned for India in 2008. In the light of these developments there is a pressing need for an academic journal covering social quality across the world and not just from a European perspective.Therefore the European Journal of Social Quality is being transformed into the International Journal of Social Quality. As well as broadening its geographical range, the journal is also expanding its purpose to promote the discussion and analysis of contemporary political, economic, social, legal, cultural and environmental issues in order to contribute to the debate on sustainable welfare societies. It seeks to find common social and philosophical grounds to emphasise the importance of the social sphere and of civil dialogue and contribute to the social quality of societies. By social quality we mean: the extent to which people are able to participate in their social and economic life under conditions which enhance their well-being and individual potential. The nature of the four conditional factors of social quality ((i) socio-economic security, (ii) social cohesion, (iii) social inclusion and (iv) social empowerment) is decisive for the extent of social quality in societies. Analyses of these four conditional factors by applying social quality indicators will provide important starting points for public policy making, in order to contribute to the sustainability of welfare societies all over the world. The IJSQ will start with two issues per year and the first issue will appear in April 2008. The first two volumes will be partly dedicated to measuring social quality in Asian countries and some of the contributions of the Asian conference on Social Quality in Chiba in March 2006 and the conference in Taipei, March 2007 on Sustainable Welfare Societies.The publisher will start up an online interactive forum alongside the content of the IJSQ. Content of First issue 2009: Editorial by David Phillips 1. Des Gasper, ThanhDam Truong, Laurent J.G. van der Maesen & Alan Walker: Human Security and Social Quality: Contrasts and Complementarities 2. Arvind K. Joshi: Globalisation and Ageing in India 3. Deborah Mitchell and Jeromey Temple: Australian Perspectives on Social Quality 4. Akiko Oishi: Indicators of Social Quality in Japan 5. Peishan Yang, Lillian Wang & Yun-Tung Wang: Indicators of Social Quality in Taiwanese Society 6. Alan Walker: Social Quality and Welfare Regime Sustainability Content of Second Issue 2009: Editorial by David Gordon & Lillian Wang 1. David Phillips: European Public Policies and Welfare Regimes 2. Ka Lin: Indicators of Social Quality in China 3. Yoshinori Hiroi: Visions of Sustainable Welfare Societies; Extending Social Quality into an Asian Development Context 4. Pamela Abbott and Claire Wallace: Explaining Economic and Social Transitions in Post-Soviet Russia, Ukraine and Belarus: The Social Quality Approach 5. Nugroho Abikusno: Social Quality Indicators in Indonesia 6. Moneer Alam: Public Policies in India. Editorial Board: David Gordon (Editor-in-chief), University of Bristol,UK Moneer Alam, Delhi University, India Laurent J.G. van der Maesen, European Foundation on Social Quality,The Netherlands Deborah Mitchell, Australian National University, Canberra,Australia Raymond Ngan, City University, Hong Kong Tetsuo Ogawa, Chiba University, Japan David Phillips, University of Sheffield,UK Lillian Wang, National Taiwan University,Taipei International Advisory Board: A group of independent scholars from Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America and Oceania is being established to discuss the aims and direction of the International Journal on Social Quality. This group will further develop relations with researchers all over the world to discuss social quality as a conceptual framework and its relationship to sustainable welfare societies. In order to establish further contacts in a wide range of countries and to build upon existing networks, scholars from the Foundation's Scientific Council and the new Asian/Australian Steering Committee for developing and applying social quality theory will contribute to the Advisory Board.