This is one of two essays from the inaugural seminar for Professor Jacob Aasland Ravndal in April 2026 at the Norwegian Police University College that NJSP is now publishing as part of its special issue on police science. Among the themes discussed in the seminar was the foundation of police science as a discipline, highly relevant for the discussions in this SI: What is police science? Which scientific disciplines does it belong to? What are its philosophy-of-science foundations, and what – if anything – distinguishes police science from policing as a study of a profession? The discussants were Professor Jacob Aasland Ravndal and Professor Sverre Flaatten.
This article maps police research conducted in Finnish research universities between 2010 and 2025. It examines two publication types that are professionally important yet often invisible internationally: doctoral dissertations and articles published in Finnish academic journals. The article analyses the institutional status of Finnish police research and describes its thematic and methodological focus in disciplinary fields closely connected to police education and policing studies in Finland – public administration (administrative sciences), criminology/social sciences and law. The findings suggest that university-based police research, and particularly doctoral training, has been closely linked to master’s-level education pathways for police officers. While the field remains fragmented, there are emerging signs of institutionalisation within Finnish universities. The article calls for stronger collaboration between the Police University College and research universities to sustain research-based police education and to strengthen scholarly research on policing as a profession.
This is one of two essays from the inaugural seminar for Professor Jacob Aasland Ravndal in April 2026 at the Norwegian Police University College that NJSP is now publishing as part of its special issue on police science. Amongst the themes discussed in the seminar was the foundation of police science as a discipline, highly relevant for the discussions in this special issue: What is police science? Which scientific disciplines does it belong to? What are its philosophy-of-science foundations, and how does it relate to policing as a professional education? The discussants were Professor Jacob Aasland Ravndal and Professor Sverre Flaatten.
This scoping review maps 885 studies on Swedish police published between 2010 and 2024, examining their scope, development, publication and production characteristics, represented subject areas and crime types. Studies were located via academic databases, the Swedish library catalogue Libris, targeted hand searches, and requests to academic environments. Following a two-step selection process, the final sample underwent data charting and analysis. The results highlight the increase in publication volume over time, dominated by qualitative studies and scholarly journal articles. Cross-professional collaborations were common, and the literature exhibits high diversity in publication outlets, disciplinary representation and studied subject areas. By descriptively mapping this empirical landscape, the review contributes to ongoing discussions on police science as an emerging research field in the Nordic context.
