Editorial
| Date | 01 April 2017 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12334 |
| Published date | 01 April 2017 |
| Author | Howard Duncan |
Editorial
The new administration in the United States has been in place for a month and, as is often the case
with a new U.S. administration, it is capturing enormous amounts of attention including from us in
the migration field. Responses to its proposed measures to curb refugee flows to that country and
to prohibit migration from some of the world’s Muslim-majority countries have been very strong
and deeply polarized. These measures continue and seem to be further empowering an anti-immi-
gration political atmosphere throughout much of the world. The political context in Europe remains
charged with many countries holding elections in 2017 whose campaigns will certainly feature
migration. This is taking place as we watch, yet again and with deep concern, the continuation of
risky crossings by migrants across the Mediterranean Sea, some ending in death, with little political
consensus in sight on what ought to be done.
A contemporary cause for worry, also, is that myth and rumour are driving much more of the
debate than in the past, that facts are glossed over, misrepresented with impunity, or simply pushed
out of the way in favour of statements that support a favoured position. Although there is nothing
new in seeing those in political battle choosing their facts according to what suits their positions, the
ignoring or sheer inventing of facts seems to have risen to new heights. This represents a significant
challenge to the academic community and to journals, such as this one, that hope to enhance and
inform policy-making. International Migration will continue to make the case for the value of social
science in the policy process and continue to publish material only after it has gone through peer
review, this giving us confidence that we are not contributors to any form of post-truth politics.
All journals have an administrative side and we are no exception. We want to bring to the atten-
tion of authors two new facilities. The first is ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) which
aims to solve the problem of name ambiguity among the contributors to research. By supplying
unique and persistent identifiers, ORCID ensures that researchers can be easily and correctly con-
nected to their research activities, outputs and affiliations. Authors who wish to sign up for an ID
can register directly on the ORCID website. Links are available in our author guidelines. Also
regarding administration, like most academic journals, International Migration uses a software,
iThenticate, to identify previously published submissions. Where this is perhaps of most interest to
the migration research community is with regard to published working papers. Ideas that began
their published life in a working paper can be published in International Migration, but we would
ask that authors let us know that a previous version of a submission or the ideas contained in a
submission were previously issued as a working paper. Otherwise, the iThenticate software will
raise a red flag.
We open this issue with a special section edited by Valeria Bello, Tendayi Bloom and Megha
Amrith, Interculturalism in Times of Crisis. Interculturalism has been of recurring academic interest
for many years, including amongst those who take pains to distinguish it from much-maligned mul-
ticulturalism. But since the financial crisis and subsequent recession of 2008 and beyond, the
effects of which are still being felt in much of Europe, the debate has taken on a greater sense of
urgency as migrants and refugees become increasingly targeted by a dispirited public. There is a
strong and reasoned optimism amongst the authors that we can only hope is borne out in both poli-
tics and action.
[Correction added on 27 March 2017 after first online publication: Megha Amrith has been added as one of the guest
editors in the special issue section]
Dr. Howard Duncan, Carleton University Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
doi: 10.1111/imig.12334
©2017 The Author
International Migration ©2017 IOM
International Migration Vol. 55 (2) 2017
ISSN 0020-7985Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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