After a decade of leading on research relevant to the collections and work of science museums, the Science Museum Group Journal is migrating to a larger publishing platform, the Open Library of Humanities, this summer. OLH is a Diamond Open Access publisher whose custom platform and thoughtful support for their journals will help SMGJ broaden our reach, while still maintaining editorial control and our embedded status in museum research. Our work will remain free to read, and our submissions will be, as ever, open to any interested researcher, curator, practitioner or independent scholar.

The Journal will be available on this new platform in the autumn. Stay tuned!

The next issue of the Science Museum Group Journal will be a special issue engaging with research into participation in museum practice. This special issue, subtitled 'Loosening the Difficulty', will consider the role of difficulty in museum participatory work, exploring the uphill battle for more equitable museum practices within the context of monumental financial and environmental pressures. This special issue considers the possibilities for creative or generative action resulting from treating 'difficulty' as a political state. Article topics include: 

• A reflection on the role of awkwardness in historiographic practice in East and South East Asian diaspora communities in the UK through a case study of engagement with family photographs. 

• Presentation of a public history framework developed within a European history museum. The paper reflects on a three-year collaborative project experimenting with how participation might be better embedded in museum spaces.

• The evolution of a participatory research project at a UK university museum examining how we might 'loosen the roots' of a museum to make space for participant-led practice.

We are always interested in submissions to the Science Museum Group Journal, which publishes twice a year on topics relevant to the work of science museums, including the history, communication and display of science, medicine, and technology, written by academics, curators and independent scholars across the world. Writing that examines the history or role of science museums through object studies or material culture is encouraged, and we aim to highlight new work on the role of participatory methods in museums. The Journal also encourages submissions of work that considers equity, decolonisation and diversity in museums. Writers who engage with multimedia practice are also encouraged, and the Journal has always prioritised developing technical capabilities through which we can host multimedia research. If you have a piece to submit, or if you have any questions about submissions, please contact us.

Please be aware that we have full issues for Autumn 2026 and Spring 2027, so our earliest issue currently open to new submissions is Autumn 2027.