Bo Zhang’s first Academic Journal Article

This article tries to use the Ecological Framework to explore the situational triggers of intimate partner femicide (IPF) in the Chinese context. Bo’s study addresses this issue by analysing 238 Chinese judicial cases of IPF involving married women.

This work argues that to fully comprehend IPF, it is essential to consider not only the risk factors but also the situational triggers. More specifically, it posits that events at the societal, relationship, and individual levels serve as situational triggers for IPF, whereas factors at the community level do not directly trigger them. This study aims to catalyse further discourse on IPF and contributes to the understanding of intimate partner homicide (IPH) and intimate partner violence (IPV).

Reviewing the entire publication process, Bo said, "It is a challenge for a PhD student to publish an academic article independently. I needed to collect and analyse the data by myself, as well as write the full text. It is a long process, especially for the first submission - how to respond to the queries and suggestions made by the peer-reviewers. This can be difficult for a beginner like me. My supervisor, Prof. Martina Feilzer, helped me a lot in this regard. She patiently taught me how to respond to these reviews without being rude and with quality. I am very grateful to her!"

Responding to Bo’s success, Prof. Martina Feilzer commented, “I am delighted to see Bo’s first publication in print. Publishing in a peer reviewed journal whilst researching for a PhD is a great achievement, even more so as this is a publication on a topic which differs from Bo’s PhD research. Bo is to be congratulated for pulling together an important piece of research on a vital policy area affecting women across countries including China.”

Bo’s article is available to read via open access.