Abstract
Professional journals serve as communication channels for members of the scientific
community; in the field of social work, they play a crucial role in its recognition as both a profession and an academic discipline. The knowledge base incorporated in professional journals reflects the professionalization processes to which social work is subject and which it also helps to shape. Based on an analysis of nearly 500 articles published between 2008 and 2024 in the Austrian journal soziales_kapital (Social
Capital), this article examines which topics of social work, and which empirical methods of social work research are included in this body of knowledge. A particular focus of the study is on reconstructing debates on the (de)professionalization of social work in terms of their transnational similarities and country-specific differences. The research design combines quantitative bibliometric and content analysis methods of social research and examines the body of knowledge in the period from 2008 to 2024. The results provide insights into historical, current, and local perspectives on professionalization processes and the role of social work research in the knowledge base of social work.
Keywords: social work research, academic journals, soziales_kapital, sociology of professions, analysis of journals