Special issues

Human Relations invites proposals for Special Issues that focus on a specific area of research that has broad appeal and falls within the aims and scopes of the journal. Special Issues provide an excellent opportunity to review a particular topic, examine previously unaddressed aspects, propose and develop new approaches, exchange perspectives and encourage new lines of research.


Special Issues are edited by Guest Editors external to the usual Editorial Team. Calls for papers for Special Issues are published in the journal; all submissions are welcome and are subject to peer review in the usual way.


In order to help potential Guest Editors to prepare Special Issue proposals, and the Human Relations Editorial Team to evaluate them, please refer to our Guidance for preparing Special Issue proposals. Selection of Special Issues will be made by the Editor-in-Chief, in consultation with the Associate Editors, based on the elements presented in the submitted proposal. During the evaluation process, the Human Relations Editorial Team may ask experts in the area of the special issue topic to give their opinions on the proposal.


Proposals for Special Issues can be emailed to the Managing Editor, Claire Castle.

Current calls for papers


Sensemaking, organising and storytelling
Submit by 31 March 2010

Guest Editors: Ian Colville (University of Bath, UK), Andrew D. Brown (University of Bath, UK) and Annie Pye (University of Exeter, UK)


NEW: The life of a happy worker: Examining short-term fluctuations in employee happiness and well-being
Submit by 31 December 2010

Guest Editors: Despoina Xanthopoulou (University of Crete, Greece), Arnold B. Bakker (Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands) and Remus Ilies (Michigan State University, USA)


NEW: Reinventing retirement: New pathways, new arrangements, new meanings
Submit by 31 January 2011

Guest Editors: Mary Dean Lee (McGill, Canda), Leisa Sargent (Melbourne, Australia), Jelena Zikic (York University, Canada), Bill Martin (University of Queensland, Australia)


Forthcoming special issues


Interdisciplinary approaches to contemporary career studies
A special issue edited by Svetlana N. Khapova and Michael B. Arthur


Beyond the enterprise: Broadening the horizons of international HRM
A special issue edited by Rick Delbridge, Marco Hauptmeier and Sukanya Sen Gupta


Published special issues


Private equity buyouts, work and employment relations
Special themed content edited by Mike Wright and Geoffrey Wood
Content available now OnlineFirst - scroll to January 6, 2010


New approaches to employee voice and participation in organisations
Volume 63, No 3, March 2010
A special issue edited by John W. Budd, Paul J. Gollan and Adrian Wilkinson

Work-life initiatives and organizational change
Volume 63, No 1, January 2010
A special issue edited by Ellen Ernst Kossek, Suzan Lewis and Leslie B. Hammer

The context of leadership
Volume 62, No 11, November 2009
A special issue edited by Robert C. Liden, John Antonakis and Gail Fairhurst

The social construction of safety
Volume 62, No 9, September 2009
A special issue edited by Nick Turner and Garry C. Gray

Managing in the creative industries: Managing the motley crew
Volume 62, No 7, July 2009
A special issue edited by Barbara Townley, Nic Beech, Alan McKinlay and Gail Fairhurst

Constructing identity in organizations
Volume 62, No 3, March 2009
A special issue edited by Tom Keenoy, Cliff Oswick, Sierk Ybema, Ida Sabelis, Nick Ellis and Armin Beverungen

Workers, risk and the new economy
Volume 61, No 9, September 2008
A special issue edited by Paul Edwards, Monder Ram and Vicki Smith

Food, work and organisations
Volume 61, No 7, July 2008
A special issue edited by by Rob B. Briner and Andrew Sturdy

Governance in transition? Emerging paradigms and practices in the twenty-first century
Volume 61, No 5, May 2008
A special issue edited by Mahmoud Ezzamel and Mike Reed

Organization theory and the post-socialist transformation
Volume 60, No 10, October 2007
A special issue edited by Anna Soulsby and Ed Clark

Virtuality and emotion
Volume 60, No 4, April 2007
Themed papers edited by Stephen Fineman, Sally Maitlis and NIki Panteli

Strategizing: The challenges of a practive perspective
Volume 60, No 1, January 2007
A special issue edited by Paula Jarzabkowski, Julia Balogun, and David Seidl

Transnational institution building and the multinational corporation
Volume 59, No 11, November 2006
A special issue edited by Mike Geppert , Dirk Matten and Peter Walgenbach

The Cold War and management
Volume 59, No 5, May 2006
A special issue edited by Bill Cooke, Albert J. Mills and Elizabeth Kelley

Power and politics in organizations
Volume 59, No 2, February 2006
A special issue edited by Burkard Sievers, Susan D. Long and W. Gordon Lawrence

Political process perspectives on organization and technological change
Volume 58, No 7, July 2005
A special issue edited by Ian McLoughlin, Richard Badham, David Preece and Christian Koch

Organizing aesthetics
Volume 55, No 7, July 2002
A special issue edited by Antonio Strati and Pierre Guillet de Montoux

Knowledge management in professional service firms
Volume 54, No 7, July 2001
A special issue edited by Laura Empson