Republished with permission from APA Publishing. See APA Editor Spotlight series and other free APA content at apa.org/pubs/highlights.
Dr. Gabriel Velez, associate professor of educational policy and leadership in the School of Education in the Klingler College of Arts and Sciences, serves as the editor for the American Psychological Association’s journal, Qualitative Psychology. He was recently featured in the journal’s Editor Spotlight.
Briefly describe your background. What is your area of research? What is your most recent journal-editing experience?
I always start my background by talking about my time as a K-12 teacher. Before graduate school in an interdisciplinary human development program, I taught middle and high school in Harlem in New York City and also in Peru and Colombia. Experiences inside and outside the classroom made me curious about how young people came to understand themselves, their societies, and their place in the world. Since I left K-12 teaching, I’ve explored how young people make sense of their educational experiences across diverse settings and topics. I’ve also collaborated with educators and administrators in the United States and around the world. Perhaps most importantly, I have three children who teach me every day about human development, often challenging me and my academic expertise.
I’ve had many mentors and supports along the way, including thoughtful editors (Nancy Deutsch and Fathali Moghaddam) who brought me into the journal-publishing world while I was still a graduate student. These formative experiences involved overseeing papers from diverse geographical contexts, methodologies, and subdisciplines of psychology.
What are your main priorities (as editor)? How will you grow readership? What type of scholarship will you promote in the journal? What kind of content are you hoping to attract?
I am stepping into this role with Qualitative Psychology after two stellar editors: Ruthellen Josselson, who established the journal and laid its foundation, and Heidi Levitt, PhD, who made it a central space for innovation and qualitative rigor. I’m honored and humbled to be entrusted with the journal, and my primary goal is to continue their work and keep up the momentum.
In addition, I am focused on three areas:
- Continuing to expand our audience, editorial board, and authors to engage further with international perspectives. My own life and scholarship have been deeply informed by close collaboration with partners across the globe, which has taught me the value of humility, intercultural dialogue in science, and decentering our own perspectives. I’ve also been inspired by the scholars, activists, and rich work happening in the Global South, which I have seen through my engagement with APA Divisions 48 (Society for the Study of Peace, Conflict and Violence) and 52 (Society for Global Psychology). I aim to bring more of these perspectives to our editorial board and through our authors, reviewers, and readers.
- Continuing to develop scholars and support teaching and learning around methods. These efforts include initiatives like Methodological Retrospectives, as well as in the journal’s general spirit in how we handle submissions, work with associate editors, and engage with the Society for Qualitative Inquiry in Psychology.
- Considering the influences of artificial intelligence (AI) on how we work and live, including on qualitative research. With Levitt and our editorial team, we have developed a strong statement about AI in the journal. At the same time, we also must publish more theoretical and empirical work that asks what AI is doing to qualitative inquiry, what questions it raises, and how it affects us as researchers.
Why is this journal important to the field? What is its relevance to society and public health? What are the current hot issues?
Qualitative inquiry in psychology is critical to advancing our understanding of who we are, the challenges we face, the opportunities we can seize, and existing injustices and their impact. These topics have been around since the start of our discipline, although later trends in the field devalued them in favor of mapping brain activity and publishing quantitative data. Our goal now is to advance qualitative methods by examining what is new and exciting, extends current approaches, and generally moves our work forward. Qualitative methods can address many of the challenges societies across the world face today and can affirm psychology’s commitment to social justice. Current hot issues include AI, climate change, political discord, economic uncertainty, and attacks on outgroups or “others.” Using qualitative methods in these areas can help us understand what individuals and groups are experiencing; develop effective programs and interventions; and illuminate questions about what we think and feel, as well as how we behave as humans.
What challenges lie ahead for the field and the journal? What issues are important to address more broadly, such as replicability, publishing concerns, communicating science to the public, and translating psychological findings for policy change?
Publishing and psychological science do not occur in vacuums or siloes. Our work is tied to broader societal forces, from technological development to political pressures to norms and values. One way to navigate current issues—and the unknown near future—is to be open, transparent, real, and human. Therefore, continuing to make science and research translatable and moving ourselves outside of laboratories and ivory towers and into meaningful, humble engagement with diverse populations are important. My own work centers on AI and strong feelings of uncertainty, specifically young people’s experiences and development, but both are critical for our field to address thoughtfully and removed from economic incentives.
Do you have plans for a special issue or changes to the editorial process? Have you introduced or are you planning to introduce any changes?
I am excited about some new special issues and methodological retrospectives:
- We have accepted articles for a special section, coming in 2027, that reflectively and critically explore what AI means for qualitative research.
- With guest editor Seamus Power, PhD, we have issued a call for papers exploring how qualitative methods can be informative during times of disruption and change. We hope this issue will draw articles showing how qualitative methods are critical to solving current crises.
- We will continue to develop methodological retrospectives with topics such as ethnography, discourse analysis, and thematic analysis, written by foundational scholars.
- We are in the beginning stages of conceptualizing a special issue on using qualitative methods in grant writing, which would be a valuable resource for students and researchers.
What advice would you offer new authors hoping to publish in the journal? What are you seeking in a manuscript?
First, I would encourage new authors to read Qualitative Psychology, because the articles we publish are qualitative and also speak specifically to methods. We expect not just a paragraph in a discussion but rather that authors center methods, fully and richly develop this part of the paper if it is empirical, and engage with current literature on qualitative inquiry in psychology.
Second, I love connecting with authors who have questions or want to pitch ideas for special issues, as well as potential reviewers. Talking with me does not guarantee publication, but I am committed to being supportive and clarifying expectations to make submissions and the journal’s content serve our audience and aims. My goal is to make the process developmental, positive, and human.
APA Journals is committed to equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in its practices and systems. How will this be reflected in the journal?
Our content touches on the psychological lives and dynamics of often-overlooked populations and lived experiences. We have made a strong commitment to giving space to these populations and to thoughtfully working with them.
Moreover, Qualitative Psychology advances EDI in psychology at a deeper level that contributes to the entire profession. The attention to innovative and thoughtful methodology, combined with a commitment to social justice and diversity, means our special issues, editorials, and articles show how methods can be used to dig deeper, be more critical, raise attention to issues of equity and equality, and engage collaboratively and respectfully across cultures and identities. These include special focuses on Reflexivity, Women and NonBinary Womxn’s Sexuality and Sexualization, Qualitative Research on Race, Ethnicity, and Intersectionality, and Qualitative Methodologies to Advance Anti-Racism Scholarship. I am already looking to build on Levitt’s legacy in this area, further guiding Qualitative Psychology to be a space for sharing and inspiring this work.
Explore APA Journals’ EDI initiatives.
APA Journals is committed to publishing transparent, rigorous research; improving reproducibility in science; and aiding research discovery. Do you foresee the journal participating or continuing to participate in APA Journals’ Open Science initiatives? What is the significance of such initiatives for your field?
The movement toward open science has benefited psychology. I have written extensively about how research methods and designs can be leveraged to promote transparency, rigor, and accountability in research, including multiple collaborations with Power to reconceptualize qualitative inquiry, root methods more deeply in lived experiences and meaning, and integrate these lessons into our teaching.
This context highlights the perspective I bring into the role as editor. I will continue to extend the good work in open science that Levitt has advanced. With Qualitative Psychology, we are exploring together more possibilities for engaging with APA’s initiatives in this area.
Explore APA Journals’ Open Science initiatives.
Please describe your experience with APA Publishing. Has your experience with APA as a nonprofit scholarly publisher differed from other publishers?
I have really appreciated all the support and guidance from APA Publishing. In particular, the trio of folks I have worked closely with—Mare Meadows, Amber Avila, and Ajla Terzic—have been responsive and made what is a steep learning curve feel manageable and exciting. And as I keep trying to convey, I love the real human touch and sense of connection. I recently attended APA Annual Convention and the APA Publishing reception, which helped me feel more like a part of a community committed to advancing psychological science and practice.
APA Publishing is proud to support the association’s mission to promote psychological science and knowledge to benefit society and improve lives. How will your editorship further support this mission?
We all are responsible for this mission as psychologists and as people. My own engagement with APA and development as a psychologist has been strongly influenced by mentors who were adamant about both individual responsibility in their work and advancing our collective commitments: Neal Rubin, Roseanne Flores, Fathali Moghaddam, Elan Hope, Robert McKelvain, Kirby Huminuik, and Margaret Beale Spencer, among others.
I aim to engage humbly in open conversations with editors, researchers, and others across the world. I will work to make a goal of the journal to uphold and uplift human dignity and respect. I will center my approach to engaging with authors, the editorial team, APA publishing staff, and beyond in a human-centric relationality. Doing so not only supports APA’s mission, it also gives me energy and hope.
