Dear Reader,
This ‘issue’ of Educare is distinctive: it contains only this Letter from the Editor and a foundational retrospective by Educare’s first editor-in-chief, Björn Sundmark, marking the close of the journal’s twentieth year. It also features a one-off cover collage that highlights the journal’s changing visual identity.
As Educare reaches this milestone, this issue offers a moment to pause, look back, and acknowledge the work that brought the journal into being. It also invites reflection on what Educare has become and where it might go next within a rapidly shifting mediascape of educational research and publishing.
When Educare was first envisioned in the early 2000s, a peer-reviewed education journal based in Malmö was far from inevitable. As Björn Sundmark recalls in his founding narrative, the initiative began with fragile funding, limited editorial experience, and no established publication culture to draw on. What existed instead was a shared conviction that researchers in education needed more visible and credible paths to publication, particularly in the form of locally anchored, quality-assured outlets.
The earliest years of Educare were marked by an identity struggle. Initially framed around reports and development projects, articles almost appeared as an afterthought. Yet the editorial team already anticipated a different future: a peer-reviewed journal gradually pivoting toward article-based scholarship and fostering a valuable contribution to a culture of academic writing in education in Sweden. Two decades on, that vision has been realised; Educare now publishes themed and open issues with a strong emphasis on scholarly articles, while maintaining close ties to practice, policy, and teacher education.
Sundmark’s piece also reminds us that this development was anything but automatic. Securing reviewers, upholding editorial standards, and navigating recurring funding uncertainties demanded both perseverance and creativity. The adoption of thematic issues with guest editors emerged from such practical challenges and went on to shape some of the journal’s most distinctive and memorable issues. This is a model that continues today and shows that Educare’s current editorial practices are deeply rooted in the experiments of its first team.
An important aspect of Educare’s story is its role in reshaping publishing practices in Swedish and Nordic educational research. By offering a local, peer-reviewed venue closely linked to the Faculty of Education and Society (Lärande och samhälle) at Malmö University, Educare provides an accessible platform for many researchers and doctoral candidates to submit and revise articles. A key element of the journal’s ongoing mission is to serve as a venue for doctoral candidates learning the craft of scholarly publishing. This is a point of pride for the journal.
Over time, Educare has developed into a recognised national journal in education, indexed in systems such as the Norwegian Register for Scientific Journals (the Norwegian List) at scientific level 1 and, more recently, hosted on the Swedish national open access platform Publicera. These events underscore the journal’s role as a stable and visible part of the Nordic research infrastructure.
The launch of the first all-English issue in 2008 signalled an ambition to engage with broader international conversations while remaining grounded in Nordic educational contexts. Subsequent issues have continued to include Swedish- and English-language articles, plus Danish and Norwegian language contributions. This has made Educare a multilingual meeting place where local and international audiences encounter each other’s work. This multidirectional linguistic orientation, both local and global, remains central to Educare’s identity today.
This special anniversary issue is therefore, above all, an expression of gratitude. It honours the founding editor-in-chief, Björn Sundmark, and the first editorial group - Bodil Liljefors Persson, Ann-Christine Vallberg Roth, Nanny Hartsmar, Peter Bengtsson, Margareta Ekborg, Ingegerd Ericsson, and Margareth Drakenberg - whose collective efforts transformed a tentative project into a lasting, high-quality scholarly platform. It also acknowledges the many editors, board members, authors, reviewers, and readers who have sustained and developed Educare across its twenty years. Without their dedication, the journal would not have survived, let alone flourished.
Subsequent editors-in-chief, such as Lotta Bergman, built on this foundation by further internationalising the journal through the introduction of English-language abstracts and by securing Educare’s above-mentioned inclusion in the Norwegian List, an important breakthrough for the journal. During Anna Wärnsby’s tenure, Educare transitioned from a print journal with a limited circulation to a fully digital journal. This enabled readership to grow from around 800 readers per year before 2018 to over 30,000 thereafter. This number has risen to well over 40,000 in 2025. Wärnsby also laid the groundwork for registering the journal in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) as a fully Open Access journal, remaining free of charge for both readers and authors at every stage of submission and publication. This work was brought to completion during Anette Svenson’s time as editor-in-chief, and this cost-free Open Access model defines Educare’s publication ethos today. The move to publication with Malmö University Press in 2023, followed by the 2025 migration of new issues to Publicera under the stewardship of the National Library of Sweden (Kungliga biblioteket), has further strengthened the journal’s long-term sustainability, preservation, and discoverability.
Looking ahead, Educare’s core commitments remain clear. The journal will continue to offer a rigorous, open, and supportive space for research on education, teaching, learning, and professional formation with particular attention to Nordic perspectives. At the same time, it will deepen its engagement with international debates in education and adjacent fields, which are increasingly central to contemporary educational inquiry. In doing so, Educare will keep developing as both a local resource and a global interlocutor.
In the coming year, the journal’s website will introduce a new section presenting all past editors-in-chief and their periods of service. This is more than a historical record; it is a way of recognising editorial work as collective, time-bound, and deeply consequential for the shape and direction of an academic journal. As the current editor-in-chief, it is a privilege to build on the foundations laid by earlier editors and teams, and to invite new generations of scholars into dialogue through Educare.
On behalf of the current editorial team, warm thanks to all who have contributed to Educare’s first twenty years. May the work ahead continue to reflect and build upon the founding ambitions: to ‘take on’ and ‘care for’ education as a field of inquiry, practice, and public concern, locally rooted, yet open to the world.