Submit a Manuscript to the Journal
Journal of HIV & Social Services
For a Special Issue on
Honoring Our Past, Confronting Our Present, Shaping Our Future: HIV and Social Services in an Era of Change
Abstract deadline
Manuscript deadline
Special Issue Editor(s)
Walter Gómez,
Jane Addams College of Social Work, University of Illinois Chicago
[email protected]
Karen A. Johnson,
School of Social Work, University of Georgia
[email protected]
Sara Schwartz,
Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, University of Southern California
[email protected]
Honoring Our Past, Confronting Our Present, Shaping Our Future: HIV and Social Services in an Era of Change
Overview
The Journal of HIV & Social Services invites submissions for a special issue timed to coincide with World AIDS Day 2026. As we mark over four decades of the HIV epidemic, communities across the United States and around the globe face a convergence of obstacles: the rollback of public health and research infrastructure, the defunding of prevention and treatment programs, dismantling of equity-focused initiatives, and the erosion of hard-won protections for the populations most affected by HIV.
This moment demands that we look to our collective history—the activism, the innovation, the resilience, and the losses—to inform how we respond to the present and prepare for the future. The lessons of ACT UP, of the Ryan White CARE Act, of community-driven harm reduction, and of global solidarity movements offer both caution and inspiration as we navigate the current landscape. We approach this moment through the lens of historical parallel and dynamic resilience, recognizing that the HIV field has navigated cycles of political retrenchment, defunding, and backlash before. As such, this special issue asks: What can we learn from the past to inform our strategies for today and how we move forward?
Scope and Topics
We welcome submissions that address emerging and enduring issues at the nexus of HIV and social services. We particularly encourage submissions that examine these issues across time — drawing on historical experience, analyzing current conditions, and imagining future directions. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
- The impact of shifting policies on HIV-related social services, research, prevention, care, and workforce development
- Evolving and emerging issues at the intersections of HIV with race, gender, sexuality, immigration status, poverty, and other lived experiences subject to marginalization
- Innovations in HIV social services delivery in under-resourced and underserved settings
- Global perspectives on HIV social services in the context of changing international aid and policy
- Exemplars of resilience across multi-level domains in the face of austerity and structural violence
Submission Instructions
Submission Types
To reflect the breadth of knowledge production in HIV social services, we welcome diverse submission types, which should follow the Journal of HIV & Social Services author guidelines, available at https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/whiv20:
- Original Research Articles – Empirical studies (quantitative, qualitative, or mixed/multi method) that address the special issue themes.
- Commentaries – Critical analyses of current policy, practice, or social conditions affecting HIV social services.
- Reports from the Field – Practice-oriented accounts from community-based organizations, peer programs, clinics, or other service settings describing innovative responses to current challenges. These need not be empirical but should offer substantive insight into on-the-ground realities.
- Historical or Conceptual Essays – Pieces that draw on the history of the HIV epidemic to contextualize current events, policy shifts, or community responses.
Submission Process
Interested contributors are invited to submit an unstructured abstract of no more than 300 words summarizing the proposed contribution, including the submission type, by June 15, 2026. Abstracts should be submitted via email to the guest co-editors:
- Walter Gómez ([email protected])
- Karen A. Johnson ([email protected])
- Sara Schwartz ([email protected])
Authors of accepted abstracts will be invited to submit full manuscripts by September 1, 2026. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer review consistent with journal policy. Articles will be published on a rolling basis, with the complete special issue slated for publication in commemoration of World AIDS Day 2026.