Matthew Howard, Ph.D., of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Social Work, has been appointed editor-in-chief of Social Work Research, the journal of the National Association of Social Workers.
Matthew Howard, Ph.D., of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Social Work, has been appointed editor-in-chief of Social Work Research, the journal of the National Association of Social Workers.
Howard, the school’s Frank A. Daniels Distinguished Professor for Human Services Policy Information, has extensively researched youth substance abuse, particularly involving inhalants. He will oversee editorial content for the journal.
The journal includes theoretical articles on and analytic reviews of research, as well as evaluations and diverse research studies addressing social work issues and problems. The journal publishes four times a year.
“My goal is to make social work research more influential in health care,” Howard said. His plans include pursuing a goal of having the journal indexed on Medline, a comprehensive bibliographic database compiled by the U.S. National Library of Medicine which covers the fields of medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, the health-care system and the preclinical sciences.
Having the journal indexed would make social work research – which often involves health-related issues that have widespread effects – more widely accessible and raise the “impact factor” of that research, he said.
Howard is expected to serve as editor of the journal through 2013.
Note: For a high resolution photo of Howard, go to: http://ssw.unc.edu/files/web/MattHoward.jpg
School of Social Work contact: Michelle Rogers, (919) 962-1532, michrog@email.unc.edu
News Services contact: Patric Lane, (919) 962-8596, patric_lane@unc.edu