The Fountain Journal of Educational Research aims to encourage the generation, documentation, and dissemination of knowledge in all areas of education. The journal provides a forum for the exchange of ideas and promotion of progressive educational concepts in theory and in practice.

Focus and Scope

The Journal of Educational Research also known as The Fountain is an official publication of the Faculty of Education, University of Nairobi, Kenya. It is published bi-annually by the Centre for Educational Research and Evaluation (CERE). It provides a forum for the publication of research with a focus on anchored instruction and embedded research to build resilient learning communities by ensuring that research in the Education Sciences is facilitated and strengthened at the University of Nairobi. The Fountain is one of the basic tools that CERE will use to … Nurture the culture of evidence-based policy-making and planning by mainstreaming research and evaluation in all fields/levels/types of education.

 

Whether it is the detailed narratives unearthed through qualitative data or the informative patterns derived from quantitative analysis, the content published in the various issues of The Fountain includes both qualitative and quantitative data that can provide crucial information for educators and researchers to better understand and improve teaching and learning as well as the environment in which both practices are carried out.

The Fountain publishes research articles, book reviews, and reports from the field from researchers, scholars, and practitioners, and seeks to engage a broad audience across that spectrum. It aims to encourage contributors to start their careers, as well as to publish the work of established and senior scholars both locally and internationally.

 

Peer Review Process

  • Review process: All submissions to the Journal of Educational Research otherwise known as The Fountain are peer reviewed. The Fountain uses a two-stage process. Submissions are initially reviewed internally by one or more associate editors to ensure the submission aligns with the focus/scope of the journal, the paper is formatted according to the author's guidelines, and that it is methodologically sound. Where the submission is appropriate but needs some further editing, feedback is provided on how the paper can be improved for better alignment and adherence to the journal’s requirements. Revised submissions are again reviewed internally before being subjected to a plagiarism software check and then, if appropriate, sent for external peer review. The two-stage process ensures that reviewers receive only submissions which are of appropriate focus and quality and the initial feedback and revision process also supports developing emergent researchers.
  • Type of peer review: the Journal of Educational Research otherwise known as The Fountain uses a double-blind external peer review process. Before the external review, submissions are checked to ensure that no author information is shared. Authors and reviewers are assured of anonymity, and this contributes to improved transparency and accountability of both the reviewers and the authors.
  • Final decision: The final decision on whether to accept, reject, or request further revisions for each submission is made by the Chief Editor in consultation with the wider editorial team during regular team meetings. Decisions are based on the recommendations and comments from the external reviewers and an editorial judgment based on the quality, originality, relevance, and significance of the submission. The decision is communicated by email from within the journal platform. Reasons are provided in the event of a rejection or a request for further revisions. Appeals or complaints from authors who disagree with the decision are initially addressed by a designated associate editor but elevated to the Chief Editor or the wider editorial team for discussion if not resolved. The decision of the Chief Editor is final.

The review process will typically take about two months but may take longer depending on the availability of suitable reviewers. The editor will inform contributors of the acceptance or rejection of the manuscript.

Publication Mode and Frequency

The Journal of Educational Research otherwise known as The Fountain is published bi-annually (June and December) both in print and electronic formats. Submissions will be received throughout the year on a rolling basis and will only published after peer-review and copyediting.

Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater exchange of knowledge. By making all articles available under a CC-BY-SA license, the Journal of Educational Research otherwise known as The Fountain allows its authors to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal. Readers can copy and distribute the published work in any medium and format; remix, transform, and build upon the work as long as the original author (s) and the Journal of Educational Research (The Fountain) are attributed, and the derivative is released under CC-BY-SA license.

Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement

The Journal of Educational Research (The Fountain) is a peer-reviewed journal, published bi-annually by the Centre for Educational Research and Evaluation (CERE), University of Nairobi, and is committed to the highest standards of publication ethics and best practice. The Fountain does not tolerate any form of publishing malpractices, such as fabrication, falsification, manipulation, plagiarism, duplication, salami-slicing, citation manipulation, identity fraud, or impersonation. All submissions are subject to plagiarism detection software and verifying author identities where these are in doubt. Engaging in such malpractices will result in rejection, or retraction and the authors being barred from any subsequent submissions.

The journal’s statement on Publication Ethics and Malpractice is informed by the following documents of the Committee on Public Ethics (COPE):

  • Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors and
  • Core practices | COPE: Committee on Publication Ethics

This document is based on a review of several Journal Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statements. The Fountain applies these to all submissions and takes appropriate actions based on complaints transparently and openly.

Significant Definitions

Author: The definition of authorship follows the guidelines of the International Committee of the Medical Journal Editors:  (i) Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND (ii) Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND (iii) Final approval of the version to be published; AND (iv) Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.”

Editor: mean Chief Editor, Associate Editor, and Book Reviews Editor of The Fountain

Peer Reviewer: an expert requested by the Editor to review a manuscript submitted to The Fountain and provide professional judgment on the quality and suitability for publication.

Publisher: Centre for Educational Research and Evaluation (CERE) is the publisher of The Fountain

Use of AI: Refers to the use of any artificial intelligence tools for preparing the submission to The Fountain

 

Role of Authors

  • Authors are expected to adhere to ethical conduct and national and institution-specific ethical policies throughout the research.
  • Authorship: Authors should acknowledge the nature of the contributions of all individuals who have participated in the research or publication process. Authors are responsible for ensuring the accuracy and integrity of their work, and that they have obtained all necessary permissions and approvals for their research. Multi-author teams should designate a corresponding author for all subsequent decision-making. Guidelines available at https://credit.niso.org/ may be useful to provide attribution of authorship.
  • Conflicts of interest: Authors are required to disclose any potential conflicts of interest that could influence or bias the research or findings, such as financial, personal, or professional relationships. In resolving any conflicts The Fountain is guided by the Committee on Public Ethics Guidelines (COPE).
  • Research ethics: The Fountain expects authors to conduct their research as per accepted ethical principles and standards, such as obtaining informed consent from human participants, protecting their privacy and confidentiality, and ensuring their welfare and safety. The Fountain may require authors to provide proof of ethical approval documents or statements from relevant committees or authorities for their research.

Some specific guidelines are provided below for consideration of the authors:

  • Where possible, ethical clearance or approval should be sought from a relevant research ethics committee or research ethics board.
  • Where students or staff from a particular institution are involved in the research, the relevant research data gatekeeper should be approached for permission to do the research before recruiting the research participants.
  • In the research process, the benefits to the research participants should outweigh the risks.
  • Research participants should be recruited fairly and within the parameters set for the research being reported.
  • Participation in the research should be voluntary and only participants who willingly provide written informed consent may take part.
  • No undue remuneration should be provided to participants to avoid undue influence.
  • Informed consent should be obtained from the participants.
  • The participants in a study should be allowed to withdraw from the research at any point without any penalty or disadvantage.
  • Throughout the research process, confidentiality should be ensured and the privacy of participants be respected.
  • Authors are encouraged to share primary research data in a de-identified and accessible format through online repositories where possible. However, data may only be shared with the necessary ethical clearance and anonymization.
  • All data should be securely stored electronically in a password-protected environment or in hard copy for a period of years acceptable to the relevant national or institutional standards.
  • The findings may be made available to the research participants after the research has been completed.
  • Authors commit to submitting original research and avoiding plagiarism.
  • Authors commit to the principles of research integrity as per the Singapore Statement on Research Integrity.

 

  • Retractions and corrections: The Fountain follows the COPE guidelines for retracting or correcting articles that contain errors, misconduct, or plagiarism. Expressions of concern, comments, and replies to published articles are considered initially by an associate editor and then elevated to the chief editor or the wider editorial team as appropriate. In exceptional circumstances, the issue might be referred to an external third party for advice. The Fountain reserves the right to remove any publications from its website and its indexing databases, either temporarily until the issue has been resolved or permanently if not. Metadata will be retained and a statement added to explain why the content is no longer available.

Use of AI: Use of Gen AI and AI-assisted tools may be done only for improving the language of the work and should not replace the writing process.  Authors are responsible for all works submitted by them. The use of AI tools is permitted only as part of the research method where the nature of use is explained clearly with appropriate justification and citation. AI tools cannot be listed as author.

Authors submitting manuscripts for publication in The Fountain are expected to ensure that their submission presents:

  • An original and accurate account of the intent, methods, findings, discussions, and implications.
  • Comprehensive coverage within the scope of the work.
  • Objective and logically derived interpretations.
  • Appropriate acknowledgments and citations to previous works.
  • Appropriate acknowledgment of the use of AI/Generative AI at any stage of the development of the work through the inclusion of an AI usage statement on submission, explaining what was used and how it was used and that the author takes full responsibility for ensuring that the content is accurate, unbiased and does not transgress any copyright or other legal restriction. The statement will normally be included in the Methods section of the published version and appropriately referenced.
  • An undertaking that it is not concurrently submitted to other journals for publication and is not a duplicate or variant of a previously published work (exceptions being an improved version of a conference paper).
  • Authorship and attribution as per the authorship criteria.
  • Clear disclosure of conflict of interests, if any, on the manuscript.
  • Sources of all direct financial support (including grant number or reference number, if any).
  • Authors acknowledge that
    • Plagiarism is an unethical behavior and is unacceptable
    • Appropriate institutional approvals are taken for research including human subjects.
    • Participating in the peer review process is mandatory, and they will cooperate with the editors in a timely manner to provide the clarifications required.
    • Accepted manuscripts will be published in The Fountain with CC BY-SA license, and therefore, the authors have copyrights (or copyright clearance) for all materials submitted as part of the manuscript.

Role of Reviewers

Reviewers, who are registered on the Journal and are assigned a manuscript for review have the following roles and responsibilities, and agree to abide by these while providing consent to review a submission:

  • Respond to the review request in a timely manner.
  • Treat all emails and manuscripts as confidential documents that are not discussed with anyone other than the Chief Editor of The Fountain
  • Reviewers who decline review due to conflict of interest or otherwise will also maintain confidentiality of the process.
  • Assess the manuscript objectively as per the review guidelines.
  • Provide detailed comments to assist the authors in revising their work, and may also advise on other suitable outlets for publication, if a work is not suitable for the scope of The Fountain
  • Identify missing citations/ acknowledgments, and logical as well as typographical errors, and notify Editors of substantial similarity to published works, if any. Reviewers are advised not to undertake plagiarism detection at their end.
  • Undertake not to make use of AI/Generative AI tools during the review process.

Role of Editors

The Editorial Review Board of The Fountain provides oversight of the quality of the journal and reviews submissions within their areas of expertise. The Chief Editor, Associate Editors, and Book Reviews Editor form the Editorial Team for The Fountain, and are responsible for:

  • Maintaining confidentiality of the peer review and publication process for all submitted manuscripts.
  • Disclosing their conflict of interests, if any, on a manuscript and recuse themselves from handling the submission for the review process.
  • Assessing the suitability of the manuscript for The Fountain in the most objective manner considering its relevance to the scope of the journal.
  • Selecting the most appropriate peer reviewers for assessing the quality and appropriateness of the manuscript.
  • Making publication decisions based on the comments of the reviewers and guided by the submission policies of The Fountain.
  • Ensuring that all manuscripts submitted to The Fountain are treated fairly without prejudice to authors’ race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnic origin, citizenship, religious belief, political philosophy or institutional affiliation.
  • Maintaining the highest standard of editorial independence, confidentiality, and integrity in publication decisions.
  • Editing the accepted manuscript for language and maintaining the style and format of the publication.
  • Checking for similarity for each publication before peer review to ensure that the publication is free from copyright infringement and plagiarism.
  • Investigating ethical concerns and taking appropriate action, including retractions, when found correct.

Role of the Publisher

As publisher of The Fountain, the Centre for Educational Research and Evaluation (CERE) commits to the following:

  • The Chief Editor of the Journal receives complete editorial independence to maintain the credibility of the journal.
  • Release the issues of the journals on Open Access with a CC BY-SA license.
  • In addition to the online journal site also preserves papers in CERE’s institutional repository.
  • Handle transparently, complaints regarding unethical behavior of editors or editorial misconduct, if any.
  • Provide support to maintain and continue publication of the journal, as well as indexing of the journals in multiple channels and databases.

The Fountain, Journal of Educational Research is indemnified and abstracted by International Bibliographers of Humanities and Social Sciences

The individual authors are responsible for all the views and the conclusions they make and not the University of Nairobi

Article Processing Charges

The Journal of Educational Research also known as The Fountain charges a small article processing fee of 120 euros for online submissions.  We also welcome subscriptions for the print version of The Fountain. Nevertheless, sponsored by the University of Nairobi, The Fountain is committed to publishing quality works within the scope of the Journal from the international community and to providing free and open access to the maximum users.

Publisher Contact Details:

  • The Centre for Educational Research and Evaluation (CERE)
  • Faculty of Education, University of Nairobi. P.O. Box 30197-00100 NAIROBI. Kenya
  • Tel; +254724167604
  • Email: wanjala_g@uonbi.ac.ke
  • URL /website

Subscription Rates (including postage, packing, and bank charges)

Single Issue              East Africa                                 Kshs 1,200

                                   Other African Countries         USD 300

                                   Elsewhere                                 Euro 320            

Information for Readers

We encourage readers to sign up for the publishing notification service for this journal. Use the Register link at the top of the home page for the journal. This registration will result in the reader receiving the Table of Contents by email for each new issue of the journal. This list also allows the journal to claim a certain level of support or readership. See the journal's Privacy Statement, which assures readers that their name and email address will not be used for other purposes.

The Journal is indexed in ….

Information for Authors

Interested in submitting to this journal? We recommend that you review the About the Journal page for the journal's section policies, as well as our Author Guidelines. Authors need to register with the journal before submitting or, if already registered, can simply log in and begin the five-step process. The latest information about citations of The Fountain articles can be accessed from GoogleScholar. It was also recently linked

Information for Librarians

We encourage research librarians to list this journal among their library's electronic journal holdings. As well, it may be worth noting that this journal's open-source publishing system is suitable for libraries to host for their faculty members to use with journals they are involved in editing (see Open Journal Systems).