Masculinity studies – more relevant than ever?

In this editorial, which is my last in the role of editor-in-chief for Norma, I wanted to provide some short reflections on the development of the journal in connection to the overall field of masculinity studies. I will make some cuts in the history of the journal that hopefully speak to the wider debates in the field. Norma was founded in 2006 and I have been editing the journal since then in close cooperation with several excellent colleagues, editors in chief and managing editors over the years (Lucas Gottzén 2010–2018, Sebastian Mohr 2018–2021, Sam de Boise 2018 to the present, KatarzynaWojnicka 2020 to the present). I have also worked closely with several fantastic editorial secretaries that have managed all the editorial everyday practicalities that belong to run a journal (Jennie Olofsson 2006–2010, Caroline Wamala 2006–2014, Marinette Grimbeek 2014–2020, Luca Tainio 2019 to the present). We have generously been supported by a group of co-editors which are international and world leading scholars such as JeffHearn (2014–), Raewyn Connell (2014–2022) and Ann-Dorte Christensen (2014–). This core group, which in different capacities, has developed Norma to the standards of an international and leading journal in the field of masculinity studies or critical studies of men and masculinities, has been supported by a large group of scholars in their roles as book review editors, members of the editorial board and the advisory board, and last but not least all the excellent reviewers that have helped us to raise this journal to excellent heights. The journal has over the years received financial support from Luleå University of Technology 2006–2011 and Karlstad University from 2011 until now, and we have good hopes that the faculty of the Humanities and Social Science at Karlstad University will continue to support Norma in the future. When the journal was founded in 2006, the idea came from the, at the time, coordinator for studies of men and masculinities at the Nordic Institute for Women’s Studies and Gender Research (NIKK), (Knut Oftung) with support from the Nordic Association of Studies of Men and Masculinities (NFMM). NFMM is still the owner of the journal. Between 2006 and 2014, the journal had a mixed language policy and published articles in English and the three Scandinavian languages, Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish. During these formative 8 years, the journal was published by the Norwegian publisher Universitetsforlaget. In 2014, we changed publishers to the global publishing house Taylor & Francis and went from being a Nordic journal to an international journal with a global scope. During the years as a Nordic journal, we published two issues per year, and we had an intention to reach out to practitioners and a wider public interested in masculinity studies. The emphasis on the Nordic context had grown out of a lively masculinity studies community in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland. The journal was launched after years of scholarly discussions, activism, and cooperation within the field of critical studies of men and masculinities and gender equality. Different venues in the Nordic countries had hosted conferences and workshops in cooperation with the Nordic council, and ideas and people had been exchanged over national borders and slowly the thought of a journal progressed