Call for Papers: Journal of School Psychology Special Issue — LGBTQ+ Youth in Schools

Special Issue
LGBTQ+ Students’ School Experiences and the Factors that Shape Them: Informing Advances in Research, Policy, and Programs

Guest Editors:
Dr. Paul Poteat, Boston College
Dr. Jessica Fish, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Aims and Scope of the Special Issue
Schools have a responsibility to promote learning and wellbeing for all students. Nevertheless, LGBTQ+  students face marginalization at school with consequential effects for their health, learning, and development.  Adding urgency to these concerns, a multitude of discriminatory policies against LGBTQ+ young people,  particularly transgender and nonbinary young people, have come to focus expressly on education settings.  Under these conditions, there is a pronounced need for research that offers insight into such stressors and how  they can be countered. At the same time, schools are a place where LGBTQ+ students access support from  peers and adults, engage in community building and action, and can benefit from inclusive school policies.  Thus, parallel research is needed on how schools provide resources, supports, and opportunities for LGBTQ+  students. School psychologists can play a central role in advancing these efforts in partnership with other school  personnel and with LGBTQ+ and allied students. 

This special issue will highlight LGBTQ+ students’ school-based experiences and how they are affected by  factors at multiple levels within the school and by corresponding external factors. The issue will also aim to  feature research on the development, implementation, and evaluation of school-based programs or resources for  LGBTQ+ students. Furthermore, it will seek to showcase how LGBTQ+ students themselves resist oppressive  conditions in schools and shape their schools into affirming environments. Finally, this special issue will  include papers that make definitional, operational, and measurement advances that will enable scholars to  conduct research in this area with greater clarity, precision, and rigor. 

The present conditions for LGBTQ+ students in schools require action informed by incisive and rigorous  research that meets this current moment. To this end, this special issue will bring together studies from multiple  disciplines that offer clear courses of action for school psychologists to facilitate LGBTQ+ students’  empowerment, encourage their academic success, and enable them to thrive.

Submission instructions 

The Journal of School Psychology’s submission system is open and will accept manuscript submissions from  now until January 15, 2026. When submitting your manuscript please select the article type “VSI:  LGBTQ+ Students”. 

All submissions deemed suitable to be sent for peer review will be reviewed by at least two independent  reviewers. Once your manuscript is accepted, it will go into production, and will be simultaneously published in  the current regular issue and pulled into the online Special Issue. Articles from this Special Issue will appear in  different regular issues of the journal, though they will be clearly marked and branded as Special Issue articles. 

Please ensure you read the Guide for Authors before writing your manuscript. The Guide for Authors and link  to submit your manuscript is available on the Journal’s homepage at:  

https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/journal-of-school-psychology/publish/guide-for-authors 

Inquiries, including questions about appropriate topics, may be sent electronically to Dr. Paul Poteat at  PoteatP@bc.edu and Dr. Jessica Fish at JNFish@illinois.edu.