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Serawit Debele has joined the Secularism and Nonreligion team as the third editor of the journal. Based in Germany, she has research interests and personal connections to the African continent. She brings to the table editorial competencies, relevant knowledge, and a desire to use her networks to improve the journal’s coverage of African secularism and nonreligion – a broad topic which has received next to no scholarly attention to date. Serawit will help the journal expand its reach through Europe and Africa, and broaden its remit in areas of history, sexuality, politics, ethnicity, and more.

Secularism and Nonreligion has undergone its first major editorial change, and we, the new editors, would like to say hello and briefly comment on our shared vision for the future of the journal.

First and foremost, we thank the previous editors and founders of Secularism and Nonreligion, Drs. Lois Lee, Ryan Cragun, and Barry Kosmin, along with the entire editorial team. Their collective efforts, over the last eight years in establishing the world’s first journal dedicated to the topics after which it is named, has been a boon for researchers and students around the world. Under their guidance, the journal has encouraged the growing interest in secularity as a field of study in its own right, has provided a publication platform for early career scholars, and is cultivating an interdisciplinary conversation, which in our estimation, will only become more relevant and necessary in the decades to come.

We believe the strength of the journal lies precisely in its interdisciplinary approach to the study of secularism, secularity, and the variety of forms of nonreligion that constitute its object(s) of investigation. Dozens of excellent empirical and descriptive studies from a variety of methodological approaches across the social sciences have already been published in the journal, and we look forward to increasing the number, quality, and impact of such studies. But we also seek to build upon and strengthen the critical, theoretical, historical, and even philosophical contribution of the journal as we continue to carve out our space in the expanding marketplace of online, open-access academic journals.

Secularism and Nonreligion has already productively engaged scholars and readers in its comparatively short existence. So, rather than change course in any significant way, we see our job simply as building upon these efforts and working to amplify the journal’s presence and impact on the broader academic community through diverse, high quality empirical and theoretically-grounded original research articles, constructive book reviews, and other forms of critical commentary.

The first two decades of the 21st century has seen a dramatic increase in the general interest in – and scholarly output on – all things secular and nonreligious. More scholars, journals, and readers are engaging these topics, and we look forward to doing our part, in concert with our editorial team and a broader community of scholars, to make sure Secularism and Nonreligion helps shape and showcase the research necessary to understanding them more fully.

- Jesse Smith (Sociology, Western Michigan University) and Chris Cotter (Religious Studies, University of Edinburgh)