Studies - Submission Information

How to submit

Manuscripts for publication may be submitted to any member of the Editorial Board, or directly to the Editor, Dr Jim Crowther, Department of Higher & Community Education, The Moray House School of Education, The University of Edinburgh, Paterson's Land, Holyrood Road, Edinburgh EH8 8AQ, Scotland, UK. Email: Jim.Crowther@ed.ac.uk

Books for review should be sent to the Reviews Editor, Dr Barbara Merrill, Lifelong Learning Building, Westwood Campus, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL. Email barbara.merrill@warwick.ac.uk 

Notes for contributors

1. Studies in the Education of Adults

• acknowledges and promotes the study of the education of adults as a field of study in its own right (as opposed to an academic site for other established subject areas).
• recognises the importance of theory in academic debate and encourages its development.
• supports innovative work which directly challenges conventional wisdom in terms of either content or presentation.
• seeks to ensure a diversity of voices and paradigms to express the variety in the field as a whole.
• provides a forum for critical debate.

2. Studies selects papers for publication that

• provide a clear theoretical rationale for the work discussed.
• concentrate on analysis, as opposed to purely descriptive accounts.
• contextualise the work so that it is understandable by an international readership.
• use an accessible style of writing, concentrating on clarity and avoiding unexplained jargon.
• recognise the professional and academic experience of the journal's readership.

3. The Board welcomes ideas for contributions, which can take the form of:

• articles: between 5,000 and 8,000 words in length.
• reports of research in progress: between 2,000 and 3,000 words.
• critical comments: on articles already published between 500 and 1,000 words
• reviews of recent publications: 500-1,000 words.

Intending contributors are strongly advised to contact the Editor before submitting a full text.

4. Papers submitted are acknowledged and then read by a member of the Editorial Board, and by external referees. Authors are normally informed of the Board's decision within eight weeks of acknowledgment, with editorial comments.

5. Submissions for publication should be sent electronically in word format directly to the Editor. Authors are required to confirm that articles have not been submitted to other journals for consideration. Articles should have a cover sheet showing the complete title, the name, professional position and full address of the author. Please also supply an abstract of around 200 words at most that describes the article. The layout of quotations and notes must follow the conventions shown in the current number of the journal. Bibliographical references in the text should quote the author's name and date of publication thus: (Randle, 1993). They should be listed alphabetically by author at the end of the article. For further detail on submissions, including style, please see our Guidelines for authors. Email the Editor at:Jim.Crowther@ed.ac.uk

6. The Board of Studies is keen to encourage contributions from people entering into research and scholarship in the education of adults. However, the experience of refereeing suggests that before submitting, authors should ask themselves a number of key questions:

• How does my paper relate to the aims and criteria for the journal outlined in 1. and 2. above?
• Is the focus of the paper concerned with the education of adults?
• Have I drawn sufficiently on existing international literature in the field?
• Am I providing evidence for the argument being put forward, and how robust is that evidence?
• Is the argument coherent and focused?
• Are the claims I am making justifiable?
• Where appropriate, have I explained the methodology sufficiently?
• Is it contextualised for an international audience?
• Is it in the right format with full references and an abstract?

7. The board is also keen to encourage contributions from colleagues for whom English is not their first language. The board will take account of this in its guidance to reviewers.

We are concerned that some articles are submitted at too early a stage of development and that rejection can cause disappointment to authors. These self-evaluation questions are aimed to avoid that and support authors in preparing submissions to this journal.