Studies in Higher Education

Special Anniversary Issue

Studies in Higher Education was launched in 1976 under the auspices of the SRHE, making 2026 its 50^th Anniversary.

Higher education has obviously undergone enormous transformations over these five decades at national and international levels, in terms of the purposes, scale and shape of institutions and systems. These developments have been accompanied by a concomitant growth in conceptual models, scope and methodological diversity of research in the field.

The progress of Studies and the topics addressed have not only reflected these changes but from time to time have played a contributory role in shaping and informing debates at national and international levels. As increasing numbers of leading researchers brought different social science perspectives to bear on the analysis of higher education the articles published in Studies have thus not only led to conceptual advances but also played a role in influencing policy and practice.

The expansion of the field is reflected in the growth in scale and importance of academic publishing. This growth is well reflected in the case of Studies: the journal currently publishes 12 issues pa, in contrast to just 2 issues for the first ten years of its existence. The international orientation and prestige of the journal have also increased over these decades to the position it now holds as one of the leading journals in the field.

To commemorate these five decades of the journal, we are issuing an open call for contributions to a Special Anniversary Issue to be published in Spring 2026.

Articles in this volume will be research based and, while centering on themes addressed in Studies, may also explore absences and pointers to emerging trends.

This is an open call. Some illustrative thematic examples are given below, and we particularly welcome proposals from established colleagues working together with early career researchers.

• The changing role of learned societies in journal publishing.
• From universities to higher education to tertiary education.
• Revisiting research on teaching and learning.
• Reading Studies from different perspectives… For example: the policy community, institutional leadership, different academic disciplines; views from the Global South and/or non-English speaking parts of the world.
• Epistemological issues: research on research.
• The student voice in HE research.
• Research on governance
• The academic profession: for example, the impact of research assessment, journal rankings and the like.
• Equality issues: for example, women in the academy; increasing vs widening access.