Author Guidelines

Guidelines for All Submissions

Length: Maximum length for different sections in the Journal of Educational Research otherwise known as The Fountain are:

• Research articles: 6000 words;
• Report from the Field: 2500 words;
• Case Study: 2500 words;
• Commentary: 2500 words;
• Book Reviews: 1500-2000 words.

 Style: Use 12-point Times Roman font and double-space throughout, including block quotations, references, and notes. All body text should be left-aligned. Font size and style for the submission should follow: Title – Calibri 16pt bold, Title, Centred; Main Heading – Calibri 14pt bold, Title Case. Centered; Second level headings – 12 pt Calibri bold, Title Case; left-aligned; Third level headings – Times Roman 12pt bold italic, Title Case, left-aligned.  Use the Table caption at the top, left-aligned, and the Figure caption at the bottom center, with 10 pt Calibri bold font and Title Case. JL4D's editorial style conforms closely to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). Editorial changes may be made to manuscripts. For spelling, consult Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary; spelling in quoted material remains as in the original. Manuscript Preparation Template. The Fountain_Article_Template_web.doc

Abstract: Provide an abstract of approximately 150 words that summarizes the main points of the research article.

Biographical Notes: Submit a biographical note for each author of not more than 50 words while submitting the paper via the Journal website. Do not include author information on the paper to follow the blind peer review process. Avoid any references to the author(s) in the manuscript and use "Author" while citing references to the author/s of the paper. Once the review process is over, we will ask you to update the references.

Authors' details and affiliation would be updated from the online submission, and therefore while submitting the manuscript authors are advised not to include names and other details in the paper. If you want, these can be uploaded as supplementary files.

References: Sources cited appear in parentheses after each reference (direct or otherwise), giving the author’s name (unless mentioned in the text), year of publication, and page number(s) in the case of direct quotes (eg. (Mishra, 2015, p.128)). Enclose quotes of 40 or fewer words in double quotation marks in the text; indent quotes longer than 40 words in block format; page numbers must be given. List all sources alphabetically at the end of the manuscript under the heading References using the American Psychological Association publication manual, version 7.0.

Footnotes are not allowed, and the use of endnotes is discouraged; however, necessary brief explanatory notes, numbered consecutively and marked in the text with a superscript numeral, may appear before the References under the heading Notes; citations in notes follow the same format as other references.

Graphics and Illustrations: All illustrations, figures, and tables should be placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end. Number tables and figures with Arabic numerals.

Plagiarism: Submissions that are identified with potential for publication are subjected to plagiarism detection software. Author/s are advised based on the report and judgment of the Editor.

Conference papers: The Journal of Educational Research otherwise known as The Fountain will consider publication of conference papers in print even if a text version of the paper is already available online because it is both a print and electronic journal. However, the paper must conform to the focus of the journal and its author guidelines, and it has to be anonymized for external review. 

Guidelines for Reports from the Field

This section of the Journal is intended for brief, descriptive papers on topics of interest to educators and practitioners. The Reports from the Field section provides a venue for exploring promising practices, program evaluations, policy considerations, and innovative examples of education in development contexts. Topics may include:

• Programs, interventions, innovative practices;
• Understudied issues in education in development contexts;
• Efforts to use prior research findings to craft policy and/or practice

Reports from the Field should not exceed 2500 words and are editor-reviewed. Authors must provide a short abstract (less than 75 words) no more than two figures or illustrations, no more than 2 tables, and no more than 15 references.

Authors should keep in mind that Reports from the Field is not the place for drawing conclusions about effectiveness or causality: such conclusions may be drawn only based on scientific study that goes well beyond the scope of what is covered in a Report from the Field. Authors should take care to contextualize their work as much as possible – provide descriptive information about (for example) the demographic profile or history of the population, condition, region, neighborhood, program, or practice that is the topic of the Report. Reports are not structured as research papers and do not contain statistical analyses (other than purely descriptive statistics). In the interests of consistency, the structure of Reports from the Field submitted for publication should include the following:

1. The aim of the project,
2. Program or activity;
3. The context;
4. The character of the innovation in learning;
5. The impact on development, including evidence
6. Plans for future work.

The Author's (s) institution or organization and position, along with contact details, should be given.

Guidelines for Case Study

This section of the journal is intended to tell stories that provide short, simple-to-read, personal, ‘in-the-field’ accounts of programs, processes, events, and experiences that give the readers a better understanding of the issues involved. They provide the answers for those who say ‘Yes, we understand the possibilities or the theory but how do these programs work in reality?

Case studies would normally:

• Describe new and distinctive educational practices, or familiar practices in unfamiliar contexts
• Be much shorter than full research papers: perhaps 2,000 – 3,000 words.
• Nevertheless still sets the practice in the context of literature, shows awareness of other related practices elsewhere, and recognizes important conceptual issues being raised, though not having a long review section at the start or in the discussion.
• Not review theoretical or general background literature in any depth.

Case studies often make more use of qualitative rather than quantitative methods. They normally explain the aims and contexts of programs; highlight particular development issues, problems, or challenges; provide clear, engaging, and thought-provoking accounts of the managerial, operational, economic, social, and cultural aspects of programs’ implementation; and provide evidence of the outcomes and impacts of programs. Case studies for The Fountain should follow the normal style of the presentation of research articles in the journal. The structure of the Case Study should follow the following:

Introduction needs to

1) Attract the readers’ interest,

2) Explain the background or context,

3) Make clear the aims of the study.

Methods need to briefly explain the research methods and instruments used, the population and sampling, triangulation and analyses of the findings, and where no evidence is visible, explain why. All methods and results used should be valid and reliable.

Results and Discussion are the most important and longest sections of any case study.  The Results section, needs to report evidence simply, clearly, logically - and without any bias or interpretation. All comments and interpretations should be left for the Discussion section. The Discussion section of the case study is where results are interpreted and discussed in relation to any theory or previous research findings. Draw attention to any gaps, unanswered questions, or other issues that arose during the investigation.

Conclusion and recommendations may include:

1) summary of main findings,

2) link these to whatever theories, hypotheses, assumptions or suppositions were to be tested,

3) main conclusions from this study, and

4) recommendations, if any.

References to follow the usual APA style.

Guidelines for Book Review

The Journal of Educational Research otherwise known as The Fountain accepts book reviews and reviews of research reports and similar publications from reviewers which are in the area of learning for development addressing education issues including the teaching and learning environment, sociology of education, history of education, philosophy of education, educational planning, educational administration, educational research, teacher education, educational pedagogy, competence education, early years learning, physical education and sport, educational psychology, technical education, open and distance learning, e-learning and other related technologies advancing learning for development. The book reviews editor accepts both solicited and unsolicited reviews as long as they address the mission and mandate of the Centre for Educational Research and Evaluation (CERE) Reviews that focus on edited or authored books recently published (i.e. within the last two years) are preferred and the recommended length for a review is 1000-1500 words.

The journal welcomes reviewers from across the globe. To avoid the perception of a conflict of interest, we ask that reviewers do not submit reviews of books authored or edited by anyone with whom they have a close personal or professional relationship.

The format followed is similar to the guidelines for research article publication. Authors should ensure they indicate the following for their reviews:

Author, Title, Place of publication: Publisher, date of publication, and number of pages.

 In terms of style and content reviewers are expected to:

• Present accurate information about the book, research reports, or similar publications
• Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the book, research report, or similar publication
• Assess the place of the book, research report, or similar publication in the field and how it fits into other similar works or studies and its value added in terms of impact
• Give more or less equal space to
• Description or summary of what is in the volume
• Analysis of what is in the volume
• Some contributions about this area of ideas from the reviewer’s perspective

Special Feature

This is created to enable submission to special issues.

Copyright Notice

Authors who publish in this journal agree to the following terms:

1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under an Attribution-Share Alike license that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
2. Authors can 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.
3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) before and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).