This exercise is a looking back at the fifty years of this journal’s existence by reviewing the contents of the journal from 1974 to 2024 inclusive. The journal started out as Canadian Social Work Education/ Revue Canadienne d’education en Service Social shifting to its current title as of 1983. There was a parallel journal – presented as a magazine- called Canadian Social Work (CSW). It was published by the Canadian Association of Social Work and ran for 83 years from 1931 to 2019. CSW aimed to keep the social work community informed of developments in the field. Articles tended to be brief and were not academic publications. Noting that CSWR/RCSS communicated contemporary research and highlighted pertinent issues, and that duplication should be avoided, the magazine ultimately ended its print. The CSWR/RCSS journal was initially published by JStor, then for a time, starting in 1985, by Wilfried Laurier University Press, and then by Erudit as of 2015. This piece is a companion piece to the more philosophical reflection regarding this journal’s journey published in the 2024 41(3) issue; and is accompanied by a list of all 1206 contributors to the journal over its fifty years. Although somewhat technical and perhaps decontextualized, such a review is useful particularly for the Board as it analyses and reflects on the mandate of the journal and thus informs decisions about relevant content and format. However, we have chosen not to use this reflection as a strategic planning tool only but to publish it because it also offers the readership a sense of how the journal has altered or become bound to tradition over its existence. Any changes seem to be an indication of shifting interests and practices in the social work community, though it is also striking that there are perennial issues that are debated and revisited. Further, this review is not unique to the journal’s history. In 1985 an index covering all the topics and authors since the launch of the journal in 1974 was produced. The primary conclusion was that a broad range of issues were covered rather than there being a particular focus. Next, Mary Callahan offered a review in her editorial in 1992. She commented on the wide international representation of the journal and observed that around 100 authors had by then published in the journal- most of them Canadian, and according to Callahan, representing a significant part of the Canadian social work academic community. Further, the 40-year celebration was used to update the journal’s cover and have a party at the CASWE conference. Also, several previous editors were interviewed regarding journal highlights resulting in several key observations. For example, the journal had developed out of a “progressive, wide thinking vision” (Ken Moffat, p. 113), with the clear intention of advancing social work scholarship through a critical social work focus (Marilyn Callahan, p. 114). As such, the journal was created to give space to Canadian scholarship and articulate what was unique to social work in the Canadian context. Karen Swift (p. 115) maintained that “[t]he policy, practice, and pedagogical issues covered represent some of the most important and useful topics for social work of the past 20 years”. Inclusion and respect extended particularly to ensuring that the journal represented the Francophone social work community in Canada and Francophone realities (including but also beyond Quebec (Marie Lacroix, p. 114)) and facilitated rapprochement between Francophone and Anglophone universities (Sebastian Savard, p. 115). Moreover, the review suggested that any success the journal had was due to a collective effort that involved the board, managing editor, reviewers and readers. Technology had changed …
