ABOUT BRISTOL SOCIAL SCIENCES REVIEW
Who we are
The Bristol Social Science Review is a Bristol-based student research journal that aims to bridge the gap between university students and independent research training. We are currently going into our 6th volume and if you hope to write for us this year, please drop us an email at bristol.socialsciencereview@gmail.com. We accept articles in the social sciences and related subjects and are happy to discuss any ideas with you personally.
Our early days: BSSR History
The Bristol Social Sciences Review (BSSR) was created by then-SPAIS student Oscar Wollen in September 2020, as way to showcase students’ writing outside of their degrees. Research Analysts at BSSR have autonomy in terms of the selection and framing of research topics, giving them ample opportunity to pursue interests outside the confines of the formal curriculum.
BSSR's first issue was published just as the second national lockdown came into effect in November 2020. The style and format were much more akin to that of newspaper journalism, with requirements of submission being that articles were ‘contemporary’ and adhered to a 1,500-word limit. Furthermore, the Issues in Volume One published monthly, meaning that Research Analysts were constrained in terms of the scope and depth of the work they could produce alongside graded coursework. Volume Two took a different approach to the publication process. This included expanding our Editorial Team’s review process, lengthening the approved word count, and relaxing the content criteria in order to allow for a more scholarly engagement with research topics. While we only published three Issues, this allowed for much greater depth of the work presented as Research Analysts had more space and time to engage with topics of interest.
Much of this was carried through to Volume Three, however, we began to focus more on the exposure and visibility of BSSR as a brand. First and foremost, we exist to give students a proverbial ‘leg up’ in the academic industry; an industry often criticised for being hostile and exclusionary to minorities and those without inside connections or knowledge. By expanding our brand, we better position our Research Analysts in terms of the impact of their work, and the visibility of themselves as researchers. Volumes Four and Five experimented with a looser, more flexible publication structure to allow writers to publish shorter and longer pieces as well as more contemporary articles. Going into Volume Six we aim to further expand our base in Bristol and also showcase the works of our Operations Team.