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JSWE Award Winners for Volume 61
Best Reviewer Award
The Journal of Social Work Education (JSWE) recognizes an outstanding manuscript reviewer each year at the CSWE Annual Conference. The award is given based on the percentage of manuscripts accepted, average time taken to return reviews, and quality of feedback to authors.
Best Article Award
Each year the JSWE Editorial Advisory Board (EAB) chooses the best article(s) of the previous volume year. These important articles discuss timely issues and significantly expand or deepen the body of knowledge related to their topics. They show originality of thought and provide sound or innovative conceptualization of their topics. Empirical articles also demonstrate a logical and sophisticated methodology appropriate for the study conducted, use advanced statistical procedures that are appropriate for the data analysis, and provide clear implications that add significantly to the professional knowledge base and to social work education.
Best Reviewer
Congratulations to Dr. Jonathan B. Singer (Loyola University Chicago), who has been selected as the JSWE Best Reviewer of 2026! The recipient of the Best Reviewer award is selected by the JSWE Editor-in-Chief to recognize a manuscript reviewer who has demonstrated exceptional service in responsiveness to requests for review, timeliness in submitting completed reviews, and quality of written reviews. The 2026 Best Reviewer award is presented by the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work in honor Dr. Monit Cheung and Dr. Patrick Leung.
CSWE and the JSWE EAB would like to thank all the dedicated professionals who generously donate their time and expertise to review manuscripts and thus contribute to the value and success of the journal.
Best Article of JSWE Volume 61
The criteria for choosing the Best Article published in JSWE include the importance and timeliness of the content, originality of thought, innovative conceptualization of the topic, and presentation of conclusions and/or recommendations that add significantly to the professional knowledge base and to social work education.
After a rigorous voting process, the JSWE EAB unanimously selected the article “Behind the Mask of Black Women Social Workers: Workplace Integration, Code-Switching, and the Silent Struggles,” by Collina D. Cooke, Julia F. Hastings, Cecilia M. Hastings, and Nelia M. Quezada-Horne for the 2026 Best Article Award.
Cooke, C. D., Hastings, J. F., Hastings, C. M., & Quezada-Horne, N. M. (2025). Behind the Mask of Black Women Social Workers: Workplace Integration, Code-Switching, and the Silent Struggles. Journal of Social Work Education, 61(sup1), S161–S176. https://doi.org/10.1080/10437797.2025.2473382
Black women social workers (BWSWs) face institutional barriers that affect their perception of themselves as professionals. The scientific literature is unclear about how BWSWs navigate their work environments while grappling with self-doubt, feelings of fraudulence, invisibility, and questioning their accomplishments. To fill the gap in knowledge, 17 BWSWs were interviewed across the United States. Using hermeneutic phenomenology, a qualitative content analysis was conducted to examine work experiences. Findings suggest that BWSWs experienced workplace environments where they needed to code switch. Code-switching was caused by unsolicited microaggressions, leading to imposter syndrome, invisibility, and distress. Workplace integration represents one solution to improve BWSWs’ experiences. Future research should expand on understanding the need for workplace integration for BWSWs into organizational cultures.