ARJ Vision Mission: From the desk of the Editor

The associate editors of Action Research have been getting more strategic of late.  The first step in embracing strategy work is to declare a vision. And so we declared that, in a nutshell, we care deeply about “re-enchanting Knowledge Creation For a Flourishing World.”

Our purpose with Action Research is to offer a forum for participative, action oriented inquiry into questions that matter--questions relevant to people in the conduct of their lives, that enable them to flourish in their organizations and communities, and that evince a deep concern for the wider ecology. We disseminate actionable knowledge to help people, organizations, communities and societies flourish. We foster the widespread impact of the action orientation to knowledge creation.

Our immodest aim is to help recover and transform the very idea of social science.  We want to continue the dialogue that will contribute to a viable alternative to the conventional models of social science. As debates about the limits of a 'disinterested' social science continue and while we wait for and work toward a world that is more just and sustainable, constructive alternatives to science as we know it are needed to fill the void. Our intent is to assist the Academy as well as the public and private sector to discover additions and alternatives to heretofore "ivory tower" positivist model of science, research and practice.
Our goal is to establish an international community for the scholar practitioners who work both in academia and various communities of practice. We wish to present innovative work from the field of action research to help refresh those who have been working in this domain, while simultaneously establishing a respected outlet for ground-breaking new work and writers. We are committed to representing the perspectives of diverse schools and practitioners in our selection of special issue topics, while simultaneously providing a model of social science for the 21st Century.

We believe it important to integrate research/practice that includes first-person, second-person and third-person research/practice. First-person research/practice refers to how we as researchers foster the ability to act with awareness, so as to assess effects in the outside world while acting. Second-person action research/practice addresses our ability to inquire face-to-face with others productively. Third-person research/practice aims to create a wider community of inquiry.

We invite promising papers! Please see our submission guidelines and more the our resouces for authors, especially submission guidelines here.

Hilary Bradbury-Huang, Portlandia 2013.