International Migration Review at 60: Evolving and Emerging Models of International Migration Research

Abstract

This contribution introduces the special issue commemorating the 60th anniversary of International Migration Review. We first review the scholarly themes of articles published in the journal during the last 10 years, since the 50th-anniversary issue. We identify seven broad trends and aspects of international population movements, migration, and the migrant experience, including mixed migration, access to asylum, climate migration, South-South models of integration and assistance, studies of legal and liminal status, and attitudes and national political response to immigrants, as key themes represented in the last decade of IMR articles. We then discuss the process of creating the special issue and introduce the scholars and their contributions to the issue around the analytical and conceptual themes of (i) knowledge, expertise, and policy; (ii) migration theory; (iii) methods and analysis; (iv) assimilation and transnationalism; (v) borders and bordering; (vi) legal statuses and in-between experiences; and (vii) migrant well-being and health. Finally, we reflect on what we have accomplished so far, but also challenges IMR as a journal and the broader community of international migration scholars, practitioners, and advocates to continue to work toward further diversity, interdisciplinarity, innovation, and collaboration in our work.