About the Journal
Focus and Scope
FQS is a peer-reviewed multilingual open-access journal for qualitative research, established in 2000 and published three times a year. We accept single contributions on topics and methods, important for qualitative research as well as contributions to the sections FQS Debates, FQS Interviews, FQS Reviews and FQS Conferences. Visit our Section Policies for additional information. Additionally, thematic issues are published according to prior agreement with the FQS Editors.
FQS has been awarded with the DOAJ Seal and is a SHERPA/RoMEO Green journal. FQS is covered by various indexing/abstracting services: AGORA, Cabell's Directories, DEPOT, DHET Accredited Journals, Directory of Open Access Journals, EBSCOhost (EBSCO Essentials, Education Research Complete, Education Source, Political Science Complete, SocINDEX with Full Text, TOC Premier), ERIEPlus, Google Scholar, HINARI, IBZ Online, IBR-Online, OARE, OpenAIRE, ProQuest (International Bibliography of the Social Sciences, ProQuest Central, Social Science Database, Social Science Premium Collection, Social Services Abstracts, Sociological Abstracts, Sociology Collection, Sociology Database, Worldwide Political Science Abstracts), SCOPUS, and SSOAR.
Why FQS?
When we began publishing in 2000 there were few (online) discussion venues: such disciplinary venues existed more or less independently of one another. In addition to disciplinary boundaries, national boundaries also worked in a very restrictive way. For example, United States' qualitative research communities' reception of theoretical approaches written in German more or less ceased with the works of early phenomenological writers. Methodologies and methods such as the narrative interview, the problem-centered interview, or objective hermeneutics were largely unknown in non-German-language contexts. On the other hand, only a few methodological developments from abroad reached the German-speaking research community.
Furthermore, back in 2000 German-language qualitative research was rarely present on the Web. While English language on-line journals and mailing lists had been existing for many years, there had been few comparable efforts within German-language qualitative research. Also, in the case of English-language online journals, traditional media and their way of functioning were merely transferred to the Net
Current State
That FQS contributed to an improvement of the situation described above, becomes apparent when looking at the issues, published since 2000 by authors from all over the world. Our newsletter is distributed to more than 23,000 colleagues three times a year, many others access our content without being registered, so FQS is one of the most broadly received qualitative research journals.
While we are able to secure traditional quality standards of print-publishing by providing peer review and copy-editing, we are not subject to place restrictions. So it is possible to provide more detailed information about the research process and the methods used to allow transparency and to help readers evaluate the methodical base of the results presented.
In addition to our work on FQS, we have established other resources: The Mailingliste für qualitative Sozialforschung (QSF-L) has become the most important online information and networking medium for German speaking qualitative researchers (the list archive has been accessible online since 2003). Since 2005, we have annually organized the Berliner Methodentreffen Qualitative Forschung (BMT) at Freie Universität Berlin (the videos, accessible from the archive, are an interesting starting point for a historiography of German language qualitative research).
FQS is a collaborative project of readers, authors, editorial board members and editors alike. Questions, suggestions, and all possible types of support are welcomed and appreciated, just send us an e-mail.
