The Nature of Contemporary Studies of Education: An Analysis of Articles Published in Leading Journals

ABSTRACT

The article is based on a Keynote Lecture at the 2022 Colloquium of the Society for Educational Studies. It analyses the articles published in four leading journals in 2021 and compares these with the same journals 20 years earlier. Key findings include a considerable increase in authorship and multiple authorship and a very strong international dimension to authorship in current UK-based journals. Two-thirds of the papers were empirical, and by far the most common type of research design was qualitative interview studies, often of a very small-scale nature. Aspects of the teaching profession were the most common form of content, and there was also a focus on social class and multi-cultural issues.

Keywords:

• Education studies
• journal content
• article type

Acknowledgements

This paper is based on a Keynote Lecture given at the Society for Educational Studies Colloquium at Oriel College, Oxford in September 2022. I am grateful to Professor Hazel Bryan and Professor Andrew Peterson for inviting me to give the lecture and to colleagues present for their helpful comments. The present paper has also benefitted from the helpful comments of two referees.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.