This call invites papers for the Special Issue of Przegląd Polinijny-Studia Migracyjne (of 01/2025) which will address migration decision-making.

Although migration decision-making was one of the earliest problems commonly posed in migration studies, it is currently  relatively rare and rather neglected. The present deficit of interest among migration scholars seems surprising since the migration decision-making process is still an equivocal phenomenon, and outcomes are hard to predict. The ambiguousness of the migration decision–making process in the contemporary scholarly discussion shows the need for a new paradigm formation. The binary division into voluntary and forced migration where economic migration is voluntary, and refugees’ movement is deprived of any agency, clearly is outdated and does not seem to be working.

This is why we wish to reach beyond such a simplified perception of migration decision-making and further explore how choice and coercion intertwine together. We seek papers that stretch beyond those traditional narratives, i.e. rationality in migration decisions or push and pull factors supplemented with the experience and psychological (pre)dispositions, of individuals and households.

Therefore we are looking for scholars from different fields of research who will avant-garde and progressively address the theme of migration decision-making in reference to both migrants and refugees, shedding light from contemporary and historical perspectives. Moreover, we are interested in texts that can provide both migrants' and policymakers' perspectives. Finally, we will welcome papers focusing on various stages of the migration decision-making process – from the migration thought process  through the principle decision to migrate, with subsequent practical decisions, i.e. how, when, where to arrive.

The special issue that we are editing offers the possibility for proposing papers across different thematic areas, including, but not limited to:

• How and why the migration decisions are made?
• Who does make the migration decisions?
• What is the extent of migrants’ and refugees’ agency in decision making?
• What are the determinants of migration decisions?
• What is the weight given to various factors?
• How do migration intentions translate into migration decisions?
• What do we know about migration intentions and success in migration process (also lack of success and unfulfilled intentions and decisions?
• What are the common timelines, how long does each stage take in different circumstances?
• What are the key “milestones” in the decision making process, and what, if it exists, the “point of no return” of a migration decision?

We invite the authors to send their abstracts of the planned papers to the editors of the Special Issue by the 5 January 2024 to any of the email given below:

• Ewa Ślęzak-Belowska, email address: slezake@uek.krakow.pl
• Agnieszka Bielewska, email address: agnieszka.bielewska@uwr.edu.pl

The abstract should be of 200-250 words. The Authors of accepted papers will be notified by Editorsby 30 January 2024.

We expect the final version of papers of no more than 8000 words by 10  September 2024. The standards and editing requirements for the papers, that we request Authors to follow, are available on journal's webiste.