Peace Review is an influential international research journal in the growing field of peace and conflict studies

Peace and conflict studies

Peace and conflict studies is a social science field that identifies and analyses violent and nonviolent behaviours as well as the structural mechanisms attending social conflicts with a view towards understanding those processes which lead to a more desirable human condition...

. The journal is published quarterly by the Taylor & Francis Group, under the Routledge

Routledge

Routledge is a British publishing house which has operated under a succession of company names and latterly as an academic imprint. Its origins may be traced back to the 19th-century London bookseller George Routledge...

 imprint, and is a fully peer-reviewed academic journal

Academic journal

An academic journal is a peer-reviewed periodical in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as forums for the introduction and presentation for scrutiny of new research, and the critique of existing research...

.

The journal aims to focus on "current issues and controversies that underlie the promotion of a more peaceful world" (journal website). This is a deliberately wide scope, and thus one can find within the journal a wide range of articles on issues relevant for peace, including articles dealing with peace and conflict, education, development, ecology, discrimination, human rights, and culture and ethnicity.

The journal was commenced in 1992 by John Harris at Stanford University

Stanford University

The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...

, although the editorship was soon assumed by Robert Elias at the University of San Francisco

University of San Francisco

The University of San Francisco , is a private, Jesuit/Catholic university located in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1855, USF was established as the first university in San Francisco. It is the second oldest institution for higher learning in California and the tenth-oldest university of...

. The editorial board of the journal has over the years included eminent peace researchers, such as Elise M. Boulding

Elise M. Boulding

Elise M. Boulding was a Quaker sociologist, and author credited as a major contributor to creating the academic discipline of Peace and Conflict Studies. Her holistic, multidimensional approach to peace research sets her apart as an important scholar and activist in multiple fields...

 and Johan Galtung

Johan Galtung

Johan Galtung is a Norwegian sociologist and the principal founder of the discipline of peace and conflict studies. He founded the Peace Research Institute Oslo in 1959, serving as its Director until 1970, and established the Journal of Peace Research in 1964...

. The journal currently receives funding from the Catholic Social Thought Project at the University of San Francisco

University of San Francisco

The University of San Francisco , is a private, Jesuit/Catholic university located in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1855, USF was established as the first university in San Francisco. It is the second oldest institution for higher learning in California and the tenth-oldest university of...

 and the Jesuit Foundation.

As often is the case with scholarly journals, the journal has undergone name changes. The full name of the journal was previously Peace Review: A Transnational Quarterly, although the full name of the journal is now Peace Review: A Journal of Social Justice, reflecting the way that social justice concerns are now generally regarded as intrinsic to peace.

In 2000 the journal was awarded the Project Censored

Project Censored

Project Censored is a non-profit, media criticism and investigative journalism project within the Sonoma State University Foundation. It is managed through the School of Social Sciences at the university....

 Award and the journal is currently a Utne

Utne

Utne is a village in Ullensvang municipality in Hardanger, Norway. It is home to the Utne Hotel, Norway's oldest hotel in continuous operation, founded in 1722....

Media Award finalist.

One of the specific aspects of the journal is the transnational readership, in that the journal is distributed to more than 40 countries. Thus the journal aims to avoid speaking with the voice of any particular national culture or politics. Another prominent aspect of the journal is that it aims to reach an informed yet non-specialist readership. Thus the journal attempts to publish accessible and relatively short essays, as free as possible from specialist jargon.

The journal abstracted in most political and social science abstracts.