Sociological Forum at UD

Sociological Forum is a leading general sociology journal whose broad scope allows for deep engagement in a variety of important sociological topics and debates. It is known for publishing theoretically rich and methodologically diverse research. Because of past editors' rigorous commitments to quality, Sociological Forum articles command a strong presence, with a 1.867 impact factor score (and a 5-year impact factor score of 2.343).

Given its strong reputation and intellectual rigor, we are excited to bring the Sociological Forum to the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at the University of Delaware. Ann Bell, Asia Friedman, and Tammy Anderson, all faculty members in the department, are the current editors of this quarterly journal.​

​Read the latest ​Sociological Forum journal​​​

​Acknowledging the strong foundation created by prior editors, we aim to build on the impact, success, and quality of the journal while also enhancing it with new editorial perspectives and several exciting initiatives designed to broaden and increase engagement. We also aim to continue to grow the journal's overall submission rate and to maintain timely reviews and editorial decisions. ​

Tammy Anderson

Tammy Anderson is a Professor in the University of Delaware's Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice. She has published numerous books, including Understanding Deviance: Connecting Classical and Contemporary Perspectives (Routledge), Rave Culture: The Alteration and Decline of a Philadelphia Music Scene (Temple University Press), Sex, Drugs, and Death (Routledge), and Neither Villain nor Victim: Empowerment and Agency among Women Substance Abusers (Rutgers University Press), 50+ peer-reviewed articles (in a wide range of sociology and more specialized journals), and many other papers. Her published work showcases her expertise in substance abuse, deviance, crime, culture, gender and social control, and interdisciplinary collaboration. Professor Anderson's research has received more than $5 million in support from the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Drug Abuse, the National Institute of Justice, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the National Association of State Controlled Substance Authorities, the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the Centers for Disease Control and the University of Delaware. Anderson has held leadership positions in her home department, the College of Arts & Sciences, and at the university level. She has served on the editorial boards of Sociology Compass, Sociological Forum, Sociological Quarterly, Feminist Criminology, and Adiciones. Recently, Anderson's service and leadership has expanded beyond the university and academy to important state-level commissions and private-sector boards that do work related to her research. In these efforts, Anderson's role is to advise best practices based on scientific research.​

Ann V. Bell

Ann V. Bell is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at the University of Delaware, with a joint appointment in the Department of Women's and Gender Studies. She currently serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Health & Social Behavior, was a previous member of the editorial board of Gender & Society, and is an invited co-editor of the Sociology of Health & Illness monograph on the sociology of diagnosis (2024). Her scholarly interests in gender and health inequalities are reflected in her published works. In addition to her book, Misconception: Social class and infertility in America (Rutgers, 2014), she has published numerous articles in outlets such as Gender & Society, Journal of Health & Social Behavior, Social Science & Medicine, Sociology of Health & Illness, Contraception, Maternal & Child Health Journal, Qualitative Health Research, and Qualitative Sociology. She served as an elected officer of the American Sociological Association's Medical Sociology section and has actively participated in national conferences. She is currently a senior fellow of the NSF ADVANCE program at the University of Delaware, and UD's principal investigator of a multi-million dollar, multi-institutional grant longitudinally examining the attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs around contraception of women, their partners, and women's healthcare providers. She is further committed to issues of diversity at UD as a member of the College of Arts and Sciences' Committee on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.​​

Asia Friedman

Asia Friedman is an Associate Professor and the Associate Chair of Sociology in the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at the University of Delaware, with a joint appointment in Women's and Gender Studies. Her research has primarily focused on developing a body of research unified around her interest in theorizing the cognitive and sensory mechanisms of the social construction process, which she has explored in the areas of gender, race, the body, medicine, and sociological theory. Her first book, Blind to Sameness: Sexpectations and the Social Construction of Male and Female Bodies (University of Chicago Press, 2013), won the 2016 Distinguished Book Award from the Sex and Gender Section of the American Sociological Association. A second monograph, Mammography Wars: Analyzing Attention in Cultural and Medical Disputes, was published in 2023 by Rutgers University Press. A third co-edited volume, Interpreting the Body: Between Meaning and Materiality, was published in 2023 by Bristol University Press. Her articles have appeared in various sociological journals including Sociological Quarterly, Cultural Sociology, Symbolic Interaction, and Journal of Law, Medicine, and Ethics. She was recently elected Chair of the Section on the Body and Embodiment of the American Sociological Association after serving for three years as a council member and the co-chair of the section's communication committee. She regularly sits on ASA section award committees and has also participated in the Body and Embodiment and Culture sections' mentoring programs. She served as a grant review panelist for NSF ADVANCE in 2016 and was a co-investigator of the social science research project component of the University of Delaware's ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Grant. ​​

​Review Articles

We are expanding the journal's regularly featured article types to include review articles. Review articles allow for critical engagement with a particular area of research or theory and recommend useful areas for further empirical and methodological exploration. ​

Public Engagement

To maintain and grow the impact and reputation of the journal, it is necessary to reach beyond the confines of academia. As editors, we will strive to make Sociological Forum scholarship accessible to the public. To do so, we will increase the journal's media presence with the following innovations:

1. Social media fellowship: This will be awarded to a graduate student to focus exclusively on enhancing Sociological Forum's public engagement. Using a variety of platforms (e.g., Instagram, X/Twitter, press releases, etc.), the social media fellow will publicize the journal's important scholarship in an effort to reach a wider audience and attract new readers. The Social Media Fellow will be advised by a media consultant.
2. Media consultant: In addition to having a dedicated social media fellow, we will consult with a professional expert in the field (an editor at the Wall Street Journal) to further the 'public sociology' of Sociological Forum scholarship. Our hope is to increase opportunities for op-eds and similar wide-reaching platforms to further the impact of the journal's published scholarship.
3. Author outreach: As other peer-reviewed journals have done, we will develop and maintain a list of media contacts and templates for contacting journalists. We will provide these resources to authors of accepted publications and encourage them to utilize such tools to enhance the visibility of their work and that of the Sociological Forum.

Inaugural Author Award

We are implementing an Inaugural Author Award to help support and mentor up-and-coming sociologists. This award will be given annually to a first-time contributor to the journal.

Pedagogy Committee

We are creating a Pedagogy Committee (graduate student-led) at the journal composed of graduate students from different universities. This committee will develop teaching materials using the journal's scholarship, and will also provide opportunities for both peer-to-peer and faculty-graduate student mentorship.​​

• Krishanna Prince
• Managing Editor of Sociological Forum under Anderson, Bell, and Friedman
• Graduate student within the SOCICJ Department
• Katie Mirance
• Chair of the Sociological Forum's Pedagogy Committee
• Graduate student within the SOCICJ Department
• Blue Hen Marketing Club
• Designed the new Sociological Forum cover and logo
• Honoring Professor Joel Best
• Sociological Forum will be sponsoring a session at the upcoming Eastern Sociological Society Conference honoring the legacy of Professor Joel Best, who will be retiring from the SOCICJ department this year​​​