The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has posted two requests for information on housing surveys, the Survey of Market Absorption of New Multifamily Units (SOMA) and the Rental Housing Finance Survey (RHFS). Both requests ask specifically for input on uses of the survey data, whether there are "concerns related to reducing the scope of, or eliminating entirely" the two surveys, whether they include "content that is no longer relevant or has limited usefulness," and whether there are alternative private-sector sources of data. At least one commenter on a federal data users forum expressed concern these might be indications that the surveys are being considered for elimination.

Comments are requested on or before November 10, 2025. The full requests and comment instructions are linked below.

Request for Information on the Uses of Survey of Market Absorption of New Multifamily Apartments (SOMA) Data

Request for Information on the Uses of Rental Housing Finance Survey Data

"The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine is seeking suggestions for experts to participate in the new workshop on Enhancing Scientific Integrity: Progress and Opportunities in the Social and Behavioral Sciences, tasked with addressing such questions as: How can the social and behavioral sciences continue to lead the way in advancing data integrity? What successful methods or frameworks from other disciplines might be adapted to strengthen these efforts? Could systematic, random audits of published data help detect and correct honest mistakes while discouraging malfeasance? What governance structures would ensure such efforts are fair, sustainable, and constructive? What new tools might facilitate this process? How can scientific journals refine their policies (e.g., review processes, data validation) to support transparency and integrity while maintaining accessibility for researchers across diverse contexts?

"Using these suggestions, National Academies staff will be looking to build a committee of approximately six volunteer experts in addition to collecting information for potential speakers, participants, and peer reviewers for any publications resulting from the activity.

"Based on the Statement of Task, staff are looking for expertise particularly in the following areas: Journal editors and publishers; behavioral and social science researchers; professional association leaders; legal/criminology expertise; AI expertise; and ethics."

Submit your suggestions by November 07, 2025 AT 11:59 PM.

Read the complete announcement online.

CALL FOR ARTICLES

RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences

"The New Asylum Seekers: Subnational Dynamics of Migration Governance in the United States"

"The United States is home to roughly 13.7 million immigrants who lack a durable legal status, but this umbrella category includes a spectrum of people, and is shifting in its make-up (Van Hook, Ruiz Soto, and Gelatt 2025). With no broad channel by which to legalize status since the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act, the largest group of undocumented immigrants—an estimated 71 percent of the total—includes those who entered without inspection at the border or overstayed visas and therefore lack any official status, often for decades. In 2023, for instance, 4.3 million immigrants had lived in the US for 18 years or more without papers (Passel and Krogstad 2025). A second growing group within the spectrum includes those with “liminal,” in-between statuses providing revocable, short-term relief from deportation and work authorization but not long-term stability, rights, and security (see Menjívar 2006). This group, which amounts to an estimated 29 percent of the total, includes Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) holders and those with Temporary Protected Status (TPS), as well as an increasing number of asylum seekers, especially since the mid-2010s. ...

"Accordingly, this issue of RSF examines the ways in which contemporary asylum seekers to the US resemble and differ from other immigrants, past and present; it considers how rising asylum-seeking shapes subnational responses among diverse state and non-state actors; it compares the experiences of asylum-seeking newcomers with long-term unauthorized immigrants; it analyzes the relationships of these groups with the US-born population; and, in turn, it assesses their influence on broader US immigration policies."

Prospective contributors should submit a CV and an abstract (up to two pages in length, single or double-spaced) of their study along with up to three pages of supporting material (e.g., tables, figures, pictures, etc.) no later than 5 PM EST on January 7, 2026.

Read the complete call for articles online.

The declaration was presented by ISA President Geoffrey Pleyers at the 5th ISA Forum of Sociology in Rabat on July 6th, 2025. It is open for individual and collective endorsements. It reads, in part:

"At a time when state leaders are promoting distrust in science and attacks on the social sciences are multiplying;
At a time when fake news circulates more widely and with greater impact than research-based analysis;
At a time when many political leaders are spreading hate speech and denying part of the population the right to full citizenship; ...

"We believe that critical interventions by social scientists are more essential than ever. 
And we reaffirm the values and commitments at the core of our work as researchers, educators, and public intellectuals. ...

"We are convinced that sociology not only helps us understand the world, but also to build a more just, livable, peaceful and sustainable future. ..."

Read the full declaration online.

What is Applied Demography? "Applied demography [is] concerned with the application of the materials and methods of demography to the analysis and solution of the problems of business, private nonprofit organizations, and government" (J. Siegel)

Applied demography is distinct from formal demography "because it exhibits the value-orientation and empirical characteristics of a decision-making science" (Swanson, Burch, and Tedrow) and is "more concerned with the measurement and interpretation of current and prospective population change than with the behavioral determinants of this change" (Rives and Serow).

"We are excited to provide applied demographers with a unique opportunity to participate in a conference designed to showcase developments and receive feedback on their work and work in progress and strengthen professional and personal ties within the community. We welcome your submissions for the PAA 2026 Applied Demography Conference. This conference will be held virtually from February 10-12, 2026. Deadline for submissions is October 23."

See the complete call online.

"As part of the American Statistical Association project assessing and monitoring the health of the federal statistical agencies, the project team is launching a “Citizen Science” project. This project aims to help track changes in federal statistical data releases (e.g., granularity, frequency, timeliness, and other characteristics), which could be improvements or deteriorations."

"We especially need volunteers for products from the following agencies:
    BJS (Bureau of Justice Statistics)
    BTS (Bureau of Transportation Statistics)
    EIA (Energy Information Administration)
    ERS (Economic Research Service)
    NASS (National Agricultural Statistics Service)
    NCES (National Center for Education Statistics)
    NCHS (National Center for Health Statistics)
    NCSES (National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics)
    ORES (Office of Research, Evaluation, and Statistics)
    SOI (Statistics of Income Division)"

Read the complete call online (Google Form)

From the Consortium of Social Science Associations

Why Social Science?
Because Research-Informed Policy Strengthens Children and Families

By Suzanne Le Menestrel, Juan Romero-Casillas, and Eva Lettiere (Society for Research in Child Development)

The path from research to policy is rarely straightforward; it takes collaboration between researchers and policymakers at every stage. In child-centered policymaking, where the goal is to improve the lives of children and families, these partnerships are especially vital. Evidence helps policymakers better understand complex issues and identify effective solutions, while researchers gain the opportunity to demonstrate the value of their work in addressing real-world challenges.

Read the complete blog post online

From the Federal Register (Sep 25): "The Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 established the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) as the research, evaluation, and statistics arm of the U.S. Department of Education. IES is responsible for generating, disseminating, and promoting the use of rigorous evidence to improve education outcomes nationwide. IES is undertaking a comprehensive reexamination to ensure that its core functions—research, statistics, evaluation, and dissemination—are carried out in ways that maximize relevance, timeliness, and usability for the education stakeholders who rely on them. Specifically, the goal is to ensure that IES' high-quality work is translated in ways that inform teacher and practitioner practice and has a meaningful, positive impact on students' academic achievement and other outcomes. Through this RFI, we seek public input on how IES can modernize its programs, processes, and priorities to better serve the needs of the field and American students."

Comments accepted until 10/15/25.

View the Federal Register notice

Comment link is also here.

This request comes in the context of dramatic reductions in staffing and funding as part of the Trump administration's attempt to dismantle and eliminate the US Department of Education. See a compilation of news reports on our DCSS resource page. 

"Inside Pete Hegseth’s Civilian Purge at West Point" By Jasper Craven, Politico (8/28/2025)

"Days after his confirmation, Hegseth blasted out a memo to military school faculty prohibiting instruction that could be in any way construed as promoting 'Critical Race Theory, Gender Ideology, and DEI.' Then he gathered service academy leaders on a teleconference. Beamed into each campus was a clear order: Focus on history, warfighting and engineering, and hobble much of the rest. Department heads moved quickly, requesting faculty review their syllabi for materials potentially in conflict with Hegseth’s dictate.

"... West Point ultimately banned Parsons’ entire list, part of a broader sweep across the service academies that scrubbed hundreds of books from courses and library catalogs, including work by James Baldwin and Toni Morrison, plus a slate of texts interrogating masculinity. West Point also dissolved its sociology major and abolished at least a dozen student diversity clubs, including a chapter of the Society of Women Engineers and the Latin Cultural Club. They also removed history and English courses, including one called 'Power and Difference.' ”

[Read the complete article online]

From the Consortium of Social Science Associations:

Because It Gives Educators and Policymakers the Tools to Improve Education

By Tabbye Chavous, Executive Director, American Educational Research Association

Wearing my hats as a social science scholar and academic leader, I have studied trends in the development of science over the past 150 years. Over that time, scholarly science has focused on the continual advancement of knowledge. As such, the science produced has become more precise—theoretically and empirically—more sophisticated in its methods, more interdisciplinary, and more connected to practice and policy. To the last point, in this century science, including education research, has demonstrated a growing capacity for refining evidence-based approaches to address important issues and concerns in our schools, communities, and broader society.  

Education scholars are deeply committed to making a tangible impact on classrooms and communities across the country. Their work offers not just knowledge, but actionable solutions. It informs classroom practice, shapes district and state policies, and enhances community well-being. It ensures accountability, stimulates and guides innovation, and allows for careful assessment of which interventions truly move the needle for students. And for many years, a strong partnership among the federal government, universities, and philanthropic organizations sustained this work, fostering a national ecosystem in which research could thrive and be applied. 

That partnership is now in grave danger. [Read the complete essay online]