Research for Sex Work is a publication intended for sex workers, activists, health workers, researchers, NGO staff and others. It is published annually by the Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP) and is governed by an Editorial Committee consisting of sex workers, staff of support organisations and researchers. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the publisher or the donors.

The first seven issues of Research for Sex Work were published by VU University Medical Centre in the Netherlands. Since 2004, the resource has been published by the Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP). Research for Sex Work explores a different theme in each edition. Previous issues focused on peer education (1998), appropriate health services (1999), empowerment (2000), violence (2001), migration/mobility (2002), human rights (2003), ethics in health care and research (2004), law enforcement (2005), money (2006), sex workers’ rights (2008), and sex work and pleasure (2009).

Research for Sex Work continues to offer its unique mix of articles from sex workers, sex work projects, and researchers; this invaluable combination provides insight from diverse perspectives.

Each edition of Research for Sex Work is produced in partnership with an NSWP member, under the guidance of an editorial board. All submissions are reviewed by sex workers – making it truly peer-reviewed by experts in sex work.

The 12th issue of Research for Sex Work is on the theme "Sex Work and Violence" and was released on December 17, 2010.

The criminalisation of sex work, increases the vulnerability of sex workers to human rights violations and violence. However, sex workers are raising awareness, working with policy makers, and organizing against this violence, as the following examples from Research for Sex Work show:

• In Central Eastern Europe and Central Asia, a survey of 238 male, female, and transgender sex workers conducted by the Sex Workers’ Rights Advocacy Network (SWAN) found that 42 percent of sex workers in the region reported having experienced physical violence by the police and 36 percent had experienced sexual violence.
• Since 2006, police in Liverpool, UK have agreed a policy in which all crimes against sex workers are treated as hate crimes and have appointed a sex work liaison officer.
• Though recently institutional violence in Cambodia has gotten a lot of attention, violence committed against sex workers by intimate partners is also a major problem. The Cambodian Prostitute Union provides education to sex workers and their abusive partners about the domestic violence law as well as counseling, support, and service referrals for sex workers.
• The Aboriginal Sex Workers Education and Outreach Project in Canada was founded in 2008 to focus on the needs of Aboriginal street-based sex workers, who experience high rates of violence and HIV infection. Indigenous women are infected with HIV at nearly twice the rate as women in the general population.

PDFs of the “Sex Work and Violence” Research for Sex Work, a bilingual publication in English and Russian, can be downloaded for free, or free hard copies can be requested by emailing secretariat@nswp.org.