A publication trend analysis of social justice terminology in school psychology research: Special issue or priority?

Building upon decades of impactful research in school psychology and related fields, social justice is a growing focus in the field of school psychology since the racial reckoning of 2020 in the United States. The aims of this study were to: (a) review twelve school psychology journals from 2008 to 2023 to determine the percentage of articles that included the term social justice in the title, abstract, or keywords; (b) compare the publication trends of explicit social justice articles (i.e., those identifying a social justice focus in the title, abstract, and/or keywords) from 2008 to 2019 and 2020–2023; and (c) determine whether explicit social justice articles were more likely to be published in general issues or special issues. Results indicated that 1.5% of original articles included social justice in the title, abstract, and/or keywords, publication of explicit social justice articles increased markedly over time, and 69.2% of articles with an explicit social justice focus were included in special issues of school psychology journals. We offer suggestions for the future of social justice research in the field, including examining and dismantling any opportunity gaps limiting the publication of social justice research in school psychology journals.