Notes to contributors

Submissions

Unsolicited papers are welcome for consideration and must be original. Articles must be submitted on the Open Journal Systems (OJS) platform, http://journals.ukzn.ac.za/index.php/joe/index

You will first need to register as an author (and we also invite you to register as a reviewer, and include your areas of expertise) and then follow the steps to submit your article. You should receive an automatic email acknowledging your submission.

Contributors should submit an electronic version of the article. The maximum length of articles is 7 000 words. Each paper should be accompanied by a 100–150 word abstract and key words.

The work must not been published elsewhere and should not have been submitted to another journal for review. The corresponding author must secure the permission of all named co-authors. The research on which the article is based must have been cleared by an approved ethics board.

The Journal is interested in articles that present a rigorous enquiry (conducted empirically or through argumentation) into the understanding of educational issues. The presumed audience is a collective body of researchers, rather than those only concerned with the effective implementation of specific policies.

Articles which advocate specific solutions or 'how to do it' practical tips for practitioners are seldom accepted, nor are studies that are narrowly specific to a context and are not connected to broader issues in education.

Blind review version

A blind review version should be submitted, where any citations and references to the author(s) have been replaced by the terms "Author". The name(s), institutional affiliation and full address(es) of the author/s should not appear on the submission. You will fill in these details on the website.

Authors should also provide their ORCiD which is a unique and persistent identifier for researchers. Register free at orcid.org.

Formatting

Use Times New Roman 12 point, 1.5 line spacing. Where necessary authors may wish to indicate levels of subheadings (i.e. first level, second level). Footnotes should be kept to a minimum, and authors are asked to keep tables and diagrams to the most feasible level of size and simplicity.

Please ensure that your submission has been thoroughly copy edited before you submit it and that citations and references are correct.

Article Processing Charges

Article Processing Charges of R 4 500 (2017/18) per article will be levied when the article is published. Institutional Research Offices of higher education institutions usually pay this type of fee. Authors whose affiliated organisation may not have instituted this practice are asked to contact the Editor, as the levy is a means of sustaining the journal, and is not intended as a deterrent to publication.

Copyright and Licensing

Journal of Education is an open access journal that makes scholarly articles available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. This licence allows users to copy, distribute and transmit an article as long as

the author is attributed,
the article is not used for commercial purposes,
and the work is not modified or adapted in any way (i.e. the resource has to be used 'as is')

Authors retain copyright of their work, with first non-exclusive publication rights granted to Journal of Education. Authors agree that any subsequent publication of the article will credit the Journal as the site of first publication and provide a link to the Journal website.

Review process

The Editorial Committee will make a first decision regarding all articles that are submitted.

You will receive an email should your article not go forward for review. If you article does go forward to review, you can track its progress on the OJS system.

Articles that are selected for review will be sent to two or three peer reviewers for double blind review. Appropriate papers will be refereed for significance and soundness. Papers are accepted for review on the understanding that they have not been published or accepted for publication elsewhere.

Reviewers are requested to complete the review within 4 weeks, but this process can take longer. The process from submission to authors receiving the peer review reports can take between 4 and 6 months.

Reviewers are requested to review the article with regard to the following criteria:

adequate, fair and accurate presentation of the relevant literature in the area of focus
the validity and power of evidence marshalled to support the author's argument
the extent to which interpretations and conclusions are warranted by the nature and scope of fieldwork
the contribution to our collective understanding of the particular issue/s
the originality and the power of the argument
overall clarity and coherence.

Referencing and citation style

The references and citations should conform strictly to the format in the latest revised manual of The American Psychological Association (APA). See http://www.apastyle.org/index.aspx for a detailed version.

Citations in the text should appear as follows:

No country in the world can afford the schooling its people want (Reimer, 1971).

Direct quotations are indicated by “quotation marks”.

Beauchamp and Thomas (2009, p. 175) argue that “the concept of identity is a complex one”.

Long quotations of more than 40 words should start on a new line and be indented with no quote marks. All direct quotations need a page number as well as author and date.

Citations of two authors

Smith and Jones (2012) or (Smith & Jones, 2012)

Three to five authors

At first mention: Smith, Jones, Khan, Patel, and Chen (2012) or (Smith, Jones, Khan, Patel, & Chen, 2012)
At subsequent mentions: Smith et al. (2012) or (Smith et al., 2012)

The references should be listed alphabetically in full at the end of the paper using APA 6th style.

Basic Format for Books

Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Place: Publisher.

Books with more than one edition

Author, A. A. (2012). Book title: And subtitle (4th ed.). Place: Publisher.

Format for Edited Books

Editor, A. A. (Ed.). (Year). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Place: Publisher.

Format for Chapter in an Edited Book

Author, A.A. (Year). Title of chapter. In A. A. Editor & B.B. Editor (Eds.), Title of book (pages). Place: Publisher.

Journal articles

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume number (issue number), pages.

Forthcoming article

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (in press). Title of article. Title of Journal. doi:xx.xxxxxxxxx

Article published online ahead of hard copy

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Article title. Title of Journal. Advance online publication. doi:xx.xxxxxxxxxx

Articles in magazines and newspapers

Author, A. A. (Year of publication, date of publication). Title of article. Name of Newspaper or magazine, pp. x-x.

Theses and dissertations

Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Unpublished PhD/MEd thesis/dissertation, Name of University, City.

Policy documents

Department/ Ministry name. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Place: Publisher.

For e.g. Department of Higher Education and Training (DoHET). (2010). Draft policy on minimum requirements for teacher education qualifications selected from the HEQF. Pretoria: Government Press.

Working papers

Author, A. A. (2012). Title of work (Working Paper No. 123). Location: Publisher.

Conference papers (unpublished)

Presenter, A. A. (2012, February). Title of paper. Paper presented at the meeting of Organization Name, Location.

Internet resources

Website

When citing an entire website, it is sufficient just to give the address of the site in the text. The BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk).

Web page

If the format is out of the ordinary (e.g. lecture notes), add a description in brackets.

Author, A. (2011). Title of document [Format description]. Retrieved from http://URL