About this journal

Research Papers in Education has developed an international reputation for publishing significant research findings across the discipline of education.

The distinguishing feature of the journal is that we publish longer articles than most other journals, to a limit of 12,000 words. We particularly focus on full accounts of substantial research endeavours that have important implications for policy and/or practice.

Our word limit gives researchers the opportunity to describe larger studies, undertake critical and complex analyses of data, interrogate longstanding assumptions and/or engage deeply with theory. We expect articles to create substantial new knowledge which has widespread utility for academics, students, policymakers or educational practitioners.

We have a general readership and authors are encouraged to make their writing accessible for those outside their immediate field or methodological space. Our readership is international, so we require that authors provide adequate explanation of the relevant context(s). We welcome work that is interdisciplinary, while studies that engage across national borders are particularly valued. Quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods studies are equally regarded on their own terms.

Overall, we are interested in publishing work that makes significant original contributions to knowledge, grounded in rigorous methodologies and situated within the existing corpus of theory and literature. This might include:

• Empirical studies that present and analyse a substantial corpus of new data and that engage with theory.
• Critical and/or comparative analyses of regional, national or supranational education policy.
• Articles that seek to develop new theory, including ‘think pieces’ that break new ground in the understanding of education.
• Systematic or critical reviews of the literature that develop new empirical, theoretical or conceptual insights.
• Meta-analyses that offer new insight by synthesising the findings of multiple quantitative studies.

Conversely, we do not ordinarily publish:

• Studies with limited scope to generate substantial new knowledge – e.g. small pilot studies or descriptive case studies.
• Articles with insufficient methodological explanation or that lack a discussion of ethical implications.
• Studies that do not adequately establish their originality or significance to practitioners or policymakers.
• Large-scale descriptive surveys that do not critically engage with theory or develop new theorisation.
• Studies that we do not feel are relevant to our international readership or that are inaccessibly written.

Peer Review Policy:

All research papers submitted to Research Papers in Education undergo a rigorous review process. On receipt, each paper is allocated to an Editor or Associate Editor. They first undertake a review of the paper against the journal’s Aims and Scope, as outlined above, which may lead to rejection at this point. If appropriate, the paper is then sent anonymously to two referees. At least one referee is usually chosen from the Editorial Board. The referees’ reports are then considered by the Editor or Associate Editor, who seek further opinions on the paper, if necessary, before coming to a decision. Authors may be asked to make amendments to their paper before publication.

Editor:

Professor Anna Mountford-Zimdars - University of Exeter, UK
Dr Neil Harrison - University of Exeter, UK

Associate Editors:

Dr Sandy Allan - University of Exeter, UK

Editor Emeritus:

Professor Peter Preece - University of Exeter, UK

Editorial Board:
Associate Professor Panayiotis Antoniou - University of Cyprus, Cyprus
Dr Paul Armstrong- University of Manchester, UK
Dr Katherin Barg- University of Bristol, UK
Dr Ana-Maria Bliuc - University of Dundee, UK
Professor Maureen Boyd - State University of New York at Buffalo, USA
Dr Tristan Bunnell - University of Bath, UK
Professor Honglin Chen - University of Wollongong, Australia
Professor Yuh-Show Cheng - National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan
Professor Paul Croll - University of Reading, UK
Associate Professor Patrick Danaher - University of South Queensland, Australia
Professor Melanie Ehren - Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Dr Lindsay Hetherington - University of Exeter, UK
Professor Steve Higgins - University of Durham, UK
Professor John Jerrim - University College of London, UK
Professor Oresta Karpenko - Drohobych Ivan Franko State Pedagogical University, Ukraine
Professor Leonidas Kyriakides - University of Cyprus, Cyprus
Professor Icy Lee - National Institute of Education of Nanyang Technological University , Singapore
Professor Marja-Kristiina Lerkkanen - University of Jyväskylä, Finland
Professor Geoff Lindsay -University of Warwick, UK
Dr Ros McLellan - University of Cambridge, UK
Dr Julia Mori - University of Bern, Switzerland
Dr Ruth Newman - University of Exeter, UK
Dr Tom Perry - University of Warwick, UK
Dr Andres Sandoval Hernandez - University of Bath, UK
Professor Charol Shakeshaft - Virginia Commonwealth University, USA
Professor Wilfried Smidt - University of Innsbruck
Professor Emma Smith -University of Leicester, UK
Dr Lauren Stentiford - University of Exeter, UK
Professor Steve Strand - University of Oxford, UK
Professor Amy Tsui - University of Hong Kong
Dr Patrick White - University of Leicester, UK

News, offers and calls for papers

News and offers

• Associate Editor needed - apply here