I begin this editorial with an assertion that the contemporary public policymaking landscape in Nepal shows little citizens’ participation and thus education policymaking also bears a similar approach. Here, public policies refer to “the decisions and actions of government and the intentions that determine those decisions and actions” (Geurts, 2011, p. 6). Theoretically, governments across the globe in recent decades have committed for larger citizen participation in public policymaking. Therefore, I understand public policymaking as a phenomenon in which wider stakeholders engage in governmental decision-making processes aimed at addressing a public issue.

In recent years, there has been an outburst of general interest on how we do ‘research’ (Bossi 2010; Lins & Carvalho, 2014) – right from planning to reporting results – and how we disseminate ‘knowledge’. This rise of interest has particularly resulted from the surfeit of news on dishonest practices of research community. Some of the ‘acts of wrongdoing’ or fraudulent research practices that arise in our academic debate comprise the cases such as creation of false data or manipulating data to generate preferred results, cheating or using other’s ideas as own, disclosing improperly the identity of participants, underserved authorship claims, submission to multiple journals, duplicate publications, salami slicing, and predatory publications. In fact, these practices pose a serious question on research integrity. But what actually is ‘integrity’ in research?

Highlights Social inquiry is much more than the study of society. It further excavates historical facts, critically reflects on everyday happenings, and envisions the future we wish to create. The intent of initiating this dialogue on social inquiry is two-fold: a) to offer a sociological perspective (i.e. ‘thinking sociologically’), and b) to expand our understanding of sociological thinking. Sociological thinking can be developed by examining the periphery of the core. Context matters in understanding any phenomenon under the sociological microscope. Sociological thinking allows many different viewpoints to coexist within a larger structure and that it respects pluralism. Sociological thinking is about developing or providing a perspective to examine social nuances. Sociological thinking should act as a means for social transformation.  Social inquiry serves as a methodology for the social sciences and humanities. It deals with the philosophy of social science and the workings of the social world – giving a way for understanding both the biosphere and the sociosphere.

As the battle against COVID-19 is on-going, it may not be suitable a time to worry about the world of work in post-COVID-19 situations. Nevertheless, it is logical for academics to envision ways out in response to the socio-economic challenges that we have to face. Through this editorial, we portray some strategies for engaging the displaced Nepali workers in post-COVID-19 situations.

Tourism is one of the fastest-growing socio-economic sectors of our times. It is also one of the linchpins of Nepalese economy. The purpose of this paper is to overview the tourism development trend in general, and Visit Nepal 2020 in particular, and discuss some ideas which are helpful in addressing current needs of tourism development in Nepal, and also serving as an asset base for future interventions. In this paper, we first analyse the tourism development trend, both global and national, to present the tourism scenario we have thus far created, and, setting aside the preparations done so far for undertaking soon-to-be-launched Visit Nepal year, discuss a few management thoughts which have strategic importance in making the tourism year more effective. This call-to-action paper offers a range of last-minute pointers for tourism policymakers and practitioners, in the context of effecting Visit Nepal 2020, that are more likely to impact and, to some extent, guide the future directions of the tourism industry in Nepal.