Editors.  Olympia Campbell and Ruth Mace

Background

By ‘sensitive topics ‘we mean subjects that individuals may not wish to talk openly about.  These can include subjects such as mental health, witchcraft accusations, racism, forced marriage, son preference, bodily mutilation, some aspects of religion, and violence. These topics are often associated with harm and receive focus from governments, charities, activists, and researchers in order to alleviate some of this harm.  Many of these topics are of particular interest to evolutionary human sciences, precisely because they often appear to be costly or maladaptive behaviours. However, sensitive topics are difficult to study. Firstly, their sensitivity raises additional ethical considerations when planning research, particularly if the research puts participants at risk, or if the subject matter is illegal. Secondly, data collection can be extremely difficult if study participants conceal their true beliefs about a sensitive topic or report incorrect information about their behaviour.

Recently, researchers have been tackling the issues of data collection through a multitude of ways. Firstly, by employing a range of methods to research a sensitive topic, both in terms of capturing the full picture of the sensitive behaviour in question through both qualitative and quantitative methods, but also in terms of experimental methods that allow us to reveal concealed beliefs, such as the list experiment.  Secondly, ethical considerations, different legal frameworks, and the cultural appropriateness of different questioning methods can vary dramatically from context to context, naturally leading to researchers adapting and altering research practices.

About the call

Evolutionary Human Sciences is putting together a special themed issue on sensitive topics, broadly defined, and we welcome submissions of original empirical research, reviews of existing literature, explorations of different methods, or discussions of ethical issues. The journal accepts a range of article types which can be found here.

Consistent with the broad scope of the journal we are happy to receive submissions related to diverse fields in the evolutionary human sciences and also beyond. Possibilities include but are not limited to behaviour, genetics, public health, cross-cultural research, and demography.

Deadline

The deadline for initial submissions is 15th October 2023.  We welcome and encourage submissions earlier than this date.  The online format of the journal ensures that authors with papers accepted early in the process do not have to wait for publication.  Early papers can appear immediately, with all papers accumulated as accepted on a rolling basis.

If you have an queries, enquire to Guest editor Olympia Campbell Olympia.campbell.15@ucl.ac.uk  or Editor Ruth Mace r.mace@ucl.ac.uk