About this journal
Aims and scope
Professional Development in Education is a fully refereed international journal that publishes original contributions on professional learning and development (PLD) in its widest sense. The field of PLD has developed and changed over recent years, and so too has Professional Development in Education. Growing from its roots in 1974 as a British journal talking about 'in-service education' in schools, it has become a highly-regarded international journal focusing on professional learning and development in and beyond school education across the globe.
The journal aims to push thinking in the field in a more critical and diverse way, and we welcome both empirical and conceptual articles that can add something new to the literature on PLD across a wide range of professions. In particular, we are interested in receiving articles which:
- offer new ways of theorising PLD;
- ask challenging questions about current research and practice, and the assumptions underpinning them;
- offer critical and analytical perspectives on PLD policy and governance;
- interrogate the structure which allow the reproduction of inappropriate, unjust or ineffective PLD practices;
- offer new ways of understanding how PLD can improve both educators', and ultimately also their learners', lives for the better
Our strapline is 'more than a journal', and the Editorial Board seeks to enact this through active engagement in PLD networks, supporting and organising symposia and events, encouraging dialogue with eminent scholars of PLD and contributing in an active way to the mentoring and development of new scholars in the field.
We invite contributions to the journal which will enable us to fulfil and go beyond these aims.
Peer Review Policy:
All research articles appearing in this journal have undergone a rigorous anonymized peer review system carried out by experienced reviewers overseen by members of the editorial board.
Journal metrics
Usage
- 398K annual downloads/views
Citation metrics
- 2.1 (2023) Impact Factor
- Q1 Impact Factor Best Quartile
- 2.7 (2023) 5 year IF
- 6.3 (2023) CiteScore (Scopus)
- Q1 CiteScore Best Quartile
- 2.060 (2023) SNIP
- 1.237 (2023) SJR
Speed/acceptance
- 13 days avg. from submission to first decision
- 177 days avg. from submission to first post-review decision
- 11 days avg. from acceptance to online publication
- 13% acceptance rate
Understanding and using journal metrics
Journal metrics can be a useful tool for readers, as well as for authors who are deciding where to submit their next manuscript for publication. However, any one metric only tells a part of the story of a journal’s quality and impact. Each metric has its limitations which means that it should never be considered in isolation, and metrics should be used to support and not replace qualitative review.
We strongly recommend that you always use a number of metrics, alongside other qualitative factors such as a journal’s aims & scope, its readership, and a review of past content published in the journal. In addition, a single article should always be assessed on its own merits and never based on the metrics of the journal it was published in.
For more details, please read the Author Services guide to understanding journal metrics.
Journal metrics in brief
Usage and acceptance rate data above are for the last full calendar year and are updated annually in February. Speed data is updated every six months, based on the prior six months. Citation metrics are updated annually mid-year. Please note that some journals do not display all of the following metrics (find out why).
- Usage: the total number of times articles in the journal were viewed by users of Taylor & Francis Online in the previous calendar year, rounded to the nearest thousand.
Citation Metrics
- Impact Factor*: the average number of citations received by articles published in the journal within a two-year window. Only journals in the Clarivate Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Arts and Humanities Citation Index (AHCI) and the Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI) have an Impact Factor.
- Impact Factor Best Quartile*: the journal’s highest subject category ranking in the Journal Citation Reports. Q1 = 25% of journals with the highest Impact Factors.
- 5 Year Impact Factor*: the average number of citations received by articles in the journal within a five-year window.
- CiteScore (Scopus)†: the average number of citations received by articles in the journal over a four-year period.
- CiteScore Best Quartile†: the journal’s highest CiteScore ranking in a Scopus subject category. Q1 = 25% of journals with the highest CiteScores.
- SNIP (Source Normalized Impact per Paper): the number of citations per paper in the journal, divided by citation potential in the field.
- SJR (Scimago Journal Rank): Average number of (weighted) citations in one year, divided by the number of articles published in the journal in the previous three years.
Speed/acceptance
- From submission to first decision: the average (median) number of days for a manuscript submitted to the journal to receive a first decision. Based on manuscripts receiving a first decision in the last six months.
- From submission to first post-review decision: the average (median) number of days for a manuscript submitted to the journal to receive a first decision if it is sent out for peer review. Based on manuscripts receiving a post-review first decision in the last six months.
- From acceptance to online publication: the average (median) number of days from acceptance of a manuscript to online publication of the Version of Record. Based on articles published in the last six months.
- Acceptance rate: articles accepted for publication by the journal in the previous calendar year as percentage of all papers receiving a final decision.
For more details on the data above, please read the Author Services guide to understanding journal metrics.
*Copyright: Journal Citation Reports®, Clarivate Analytics
†Copyright: CiteScore™, Scopus
Editorial board
Managing Editors:
Aileen Kennedy - University of Glasgow, UK
Howard Stevenson - University of Nottingham, UK
Chair of the Editorial Board
Ken Jones - Freelance Academic, UK
Editorial Contact
Mark Carver - University of St Andrews, UK
Associate Editors:
Alex Alexandrou - Freelance Academic, UK
Simon Clarke - The University of Western Australia, Australia
Laura M. Desimone -University of Delaware, USA
Fiona King - Dublin City University, Ireland
Philip Poekert - University of Florida, USA
Sue Swaffield - University of Cambridge, UK
Marcel Van der Klink - Zuyd University of Applied Sciences, Netherlands
Founding Editors:
Malcolm Lee & Bob Gough
International Advisory Board:
Christopher Bezzina - University of Malta, Malta
Hilda Borko - Stanford University, USA
Youmen Chaaban Chakass - AZM University, Lebanon
Chris Chapman - University of Glasgow, UK
Thomas R. Guskey - University of Kentucky, USA
Frances Langdon - The University of Auckland, New Zealand
John MacBeath - University of Cambridge, UK
Jason Margolis - Duquesne University Pittsburgh, USA
Maria Martinez - Alicante University, Spain
Nicole Mockler - University of Sydney, Australia
Carmen Montecinos - Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Valparaiso, Chile
Jim O'Brien - University of Edinburgh, UK
Giorgio Ostinelli - UniTreEdu – Milan, Italy
Ciaran Sugrue - University College Dublin, Ireland
Abstracting and indexing
Professional Development in Education is abstracted/indexed in: British Education Index; Contents Pages in Education; Education Journal; Educational Administration Abstracts; Educational Research Abstracts online (ERA); Education Resources Information Center ( ERIC); ERIH (European Reference Index for the Humanities, Pedagogical and Educational Research); IBR (International Bibliography of Book Reviews of Scholarly Literature on the Humanities and Social Sciences); SCOPUS, Social Sciences Citation Index and Research into Higher Education Abstracts.
Open access
Professional Development in Education is a hybrid open access journal that is part of our Open Select publishing program, giving you the option to publish open access. Publishing open access means that your article will be free to access online immediately on publication, increasing the visibility, readership, and impact of your research.
Why choose open access?
- Increase the discoverability and readership of your article
- Make an impact and reach new readers, not just those with easy access to a research library
- Freely share your work with anyone, anywhere
- Comply with funding mandates and meet the requirements of your institution, employer or funder
- Rigorous peer review for every open access article
Article Publishing Charges (APC)
If you choose to publish open access in this journal you may be asked to pay an Article Publishing Charge (APC). You may be able to publish your article at no cost to yourself or with a reduced APC if your institution or research funder has an open access agreement or membership with Taylor & Francis.
Use our APC finder to calculate your article publishing charge
6 issues per year
Currently known as:
- Professional Development in Education (2009 - current)
Formerly known as
- Journal of In-Service Education (1997 - 2008)
- British Journal of In-Service Education (1974 - 1996)
International Professional Development Association (IPDA) and our publisher Taylor & Francis make every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the "Content") contained in our publications. However, International Professional Development Association (IPDA) and our publisher Taylor & Francis, our agents (including the editor, any member of the editorial team or editorial board, and any guest editors), and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by International Professional Development Association (IPDA) and our publisher Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. International Professional Development Association (IPDA) and our publisher Taylor & Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to, or arising out of the use of the Content. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions .
Ready to submit?
Start a new submission or continue a submission in progress
Go to submission site (link opens in a new window) Instructions for authors