International Journal of Music Education
The International Journal of Music Education (IJME) is a peer-reviewed journal published by the International Society for Music Education (ISME) four times a year. Manuscripts published are scholarly works, representing empirical research in a variety of modalities. They enhance knowledge regarding the teaching and learning of music with a special interest toward an international constituency. Manuscripts report results of quantitative or qualitative research studies, systematically summarize bodies of research, present theories, models, or philosophical positions, etc. Papers show relevance to advancing the practice of music teaching and learning at all age levels with issues of direct concern to the classroom or studio, in school and out, private and group instruction. All manuscripts should contain evidence of a scholarly research approach and be situated within the current literature. Implications for learning and teaching of music should be clearly stated, relevant, contemporary, and of interest to an international readership.
All issues of The International Journal of Music Education are available to browse online.
This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)
The International Journal of Music Education (IJME) is a peer-reviewed journal published by the International Society for Music Education (ISME) four times a year in print, and online as manuscripts are accepted. Manuscripts published are scholarly works, representing empirical research in a variety of modalities. They enhance knowledge regarding the teaching and learning of music with a special interest toward an international constituency. Manuscripts report results of quantitative or qualitative research studies, systematically summarize bodies of research, present theories, models, or philosophical positions, etc. Papers show relevance to advancing the practice of music teaching and learning at all age levels with issues of direct concern to the classroom or studio, in school and out, private and group instruction. All manuscripts should contain evidence of a scholarly research approach and be situated within the current literature, ideally within the past 10 years. Implications for learning and teaching of music should be clearly stated, relevant, contemporary, and of interest to an international readership.
All issues of The International Journal of Music Education are available to browse online.
This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
| Francisco Javier Zarza Alzugaray | University of Zaragoza, Spain |
| S. Alex Ruthmann | NYU Shanghai, China |
| Jane Southcott | Monash University, Australia |
| Rolando Angel Alvarado | Alberto Hurtado University, Chile |
| Bernard Andrews | University of Ottowa, Canada |
| Adam Bell | Western University, Canada |
| Catherine Bennet | Oakland University, USA |
| Oscar Casanova | University of Zaragoza, Spain |
| Jason Chi Wai Chen | The Hong Kong Institute of Education, Hong Kong |
| Lee Cheng | Anglia Ruskin University, UK |
| William Coppola | University of Southern California (Los Angeles, United States) |
| Thomas De Baets | LUCA School of Arts, Belgium |
| Leon de Bruin | University of Melbourne, Australia |
| Ronel de Villiers | University of Pretoria, South Africa |
| Patricia Gonzalez | Autonomous University of Chihuahua, Mexico |
| Jason Goopy | Edith Cowan University, Australia |
| Helga Gudmundsdottir | University of Iceland, Iceland |
| Marshall Haning | University of Florida, USA |
| David Hebert | Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Norway |
| Nerelee Henry | Independent Researcher, Australia |
| Carl Holmgren | Luleå University of Technology, Sweden |
| Dawn Joseph | Deakin University, Australia |
| Tuulikki Laes | University of the Arts Helsinki, Finland |
| Lisa Lehmberg | University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA |
| Jonathan Lilliedahl | Örebro University, Sweden |
| Guadalupe Lopez Iniguez | Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland |
| Lucy Lugo Mawang | Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya |
| Edward McClellan | Loyola University New Orleans, USA |
| Graham McPhail | University of Auckland, New Zealand |
| Brad Merrick | University of Melbourne, Australia |
| Gwen Moore | Mary Immaculate College, Ireland |
| Nasim Niknafs | University of Toronto, Canada |
| Amanda Niland | University of Sydney, Australia |
| Susan O’Neill | Simon Fraser University, Canada |
| Albi Odendaal | North-West University, South Africa |
| Tim Palmer | Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, UK |
| Patrick Schmidt | University of Western Ontario, Canada |
| Wendy Sims | University of Missouri-Columbia, USA |
| Natassa Economidou Stavrou | University of Nicosia, Cyprus |
| Vilma Timonen | Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland |
| Angeliki Triantafyllaki | University of Ioannina, Greece |
| Maria Helena Vieira | University of Minho, Portugal |
| Cynthia Wagoner | East Carolina University, USA |
| Amanda Watson | Independent Researcher, Australia |
| Lindsey Williams | Seminole County Public Schools, USA |
| Emily Wilson | University of Melbourne, Australia |
| Marina Wong | Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong |
| Wei Guo-Cosaitis Xinghai | Central Conservatory of Music, China |
| Danqing Zhou | Shanghai Normal University, China |
| Regina Antunes | |
| Elizabeth Carrascosa | University of Valencia, Italy |
| Rebecca Fitch | |
| Monica W. Li (Mandarin) | |
| Franz Niermann (German) | |
| Ngo-Yin Tsang (Chinese) |
Manuscript Submission Guidelines: International Journal of Music Education
This Journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics
Please read the guidelines below then visit the Journal’s submission site http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/ijme to upload your manuscript. Please note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned.
Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of International Journal of Music Education will be reviewed.
There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this Journal. Open Access options are available - see section 3.3 below.
As part of the submission process you will be required to warrant that you are submitting your original work, that you have the rights in the work, and that you have obtained and can supply all necessary permissions for the reproduction of any copyright works not owned by you, that you are submitting the work for first publication in the Journal and that it is not being considered for publication elsewhere and has not already been published elsewhere. Please see our guidelines on prior publication and note that please note that International Journal of Music Education does not accept submissions of papers that have been posted on pre-print servers.
If you have any questions about publishing with Sage, please visit the Sage Journal Solutions Portal
- What do we publish?
1.1 Aims & Scope
1.2 Article types
1.3 Writing your paper - Editorial policies
2.1 Peer review policy
2.2 Authorship
2.3 Acknowledgements
2.4 Funding
2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
2.6 Research Data
2.7 Research Ethics
2.8 Editor submissions - Publishing policies
3.1 Publication ethics
3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
3.3 Open access and author archiving - Preparing your manuscript
4.1 Formatting
4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
4.3 Supplemental material
4.4 Reference style
4.5 English language editing services
4.6 Language - Submitting your manuscript
5.1 ORCID
5.2 Information required for completing your submission
5.3 Permissions - On acceptance and publication
6.1 Sage Production
6.2 Online First publication
6.3 Access to your published article
6.4 Promoting your article - Further information
Before submitting your manuscript to International Journal of Music Education, please ensure you have read the Aims & Scope.
All submissions should be scholarly reports that enhance knowledge regarding the teaching and learning of music with a special interest toward an international constituency and of interest and relevance to the international community. Submissions should represent empirical research relevant to advancing the practice of music teaching and learning, at all age levels with issues of direct concern to formal and informal learning the classroom or studio, in school and out, private and group instruction, and in the community.
Length of papers
A typical manuscript will not exceed 6,000 words including tables, references, and captions of figures, but longer articles will be considered. Please email the Editors prior to submission if you would like consideration for a longer manuscript length. Authors should include a word count with their manuscript. An abstract of no longer than 200 words and 5-8 keywords (arranged in alphabetical order) should be attached.
Advice on writing your abstractYour abstract should contain all relevant information about your goals and methods, and provide a brief summary of results and implications for the international readership of music education researchers and practitioners. Any redundant wording such as "this paper deals with..." should be avoided, as should colloquial language and acronyms. Be aware that the abstract will be addressing readers who are not necessarily experts in a particular field and often non-native English speakers. Be as short and precise as possible, and avoid simply restating the paper's title at the beginning.
Authors are welcome to include translated abstracts in Chinese, French, German or Spanish when submitting your manuscript, to be published alongside your article. Please see section 4.3 Supplemental material for more information.
The Sage Author Gateway has some general advice and on how to get published, plus links to further resources.
1.3.1 Make your article discoverable
When writing up your paper, think about how you can make it discoverable. The title, keywords and abstract are key to ensuring readers find your article through search engines such as Google. For information and guidance on how best to title your article, write your abstract and select your keywords, have a look at this page on the Gateway: How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online
All manuscripts will be sent out by the editor for anonymous editorial review by members of the IJME Editorial Committee (and/or to invited expert reviewers). To preserve anonymity in the review process, the manuscript and abstract should contain no clues to the author's identity or institutional affiliation (they should appear only on the title paper which will not be sent out). Contributors can usually expect a decision concerning the acceptability of a manuscript for publication within three months after receipt.
All parties who have made a substantive contribution to the article should be listed as authors. Principal authorship, authorship order, and other publication credits should be based on the relative scientific or professional contributions of the individuals involved, regardless of their status. A student is usually listed as principal author on any multiple-authored publication that substantially derives from the student’s dissertation or thesis.
Please note that AI chatbots, for example ChatGPT, should not be listed as authors. For more information see the policy on Use of ChatGPT and generative AI tools.
The International Journal of Music Education publishes CRediT author contribution statements. At submission stage, there will be the ability to list the roles that each author was responsible for. Please refer to the CRediT Gateway page for more information. You should not include an author contribution statement in your manuscript as this will be added at Production stage. This does not replace the Acknowledgements section.
All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a department chair who provided only general support or a mentor who provided feedback on earlier drafts..
Any acknowledgements should appear first at the end of your article prior to your Declaration of Conflicting Interests (if applicable), any notes and your References.
2.3.1 Third party submissions
Where an individual who is not listed as an author submits a manuscript on behalf of the author(s), a statement must be included in the Acknowledgements section of the manuscript and in the accompanying cover letter. The statements must:
- Disclose this type of editorial assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input
- Identify any entities that paid for this assistance
- Confirm that the listed authors have authorized the submission of their manuscript via third party and approved any statements or declarations, e.g. conflicting interests, funding, etc.
Where appropriate, Sage reserves the right to deny consideration to manuscripts submitted by a third party rather than by the authors themselves.
International Journal of Music Education requires all authors to acknowledge their funding in a consistent fashion under a separate heading. Please visit the Funding Acknowledgements page on the Sage Journal Author Gateway to confirm the format of the acknowledgment text in the event of funding, or state that: This authors of this research received no specific grant or other in-kind support from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
International Journal of Music Education requires authors to include a declaration of any conflicting interests. Examples of conflicts of interest might include the following, although it is not an exhaustive list:
- Having received fees for consulting.
- Having received direct or indirect research funding.
- Having been employed by a related company or non-profit organization.
- Holding stocks or shares in a company which might be affected by the publication of your paper.
- Having received funds covering or reimbursing you for attending or presenting a related symposia, workshop,or talk.
- Having received other in-kind support or donations personally or to your institution.
If there are other interests which the reasonable reader might feel has affected your research you may also wish to declare them. Best practice guidelines may be found on the Sage Journal Author Gateway.
The journal is committed to facilitating openness, transparency and reproducibility of research, and has the following research data sharing policy. For more information, including FAQs please visit the Sage Research Data policy pages.International Journal of Music Education has the ability to publish research data sets as online supplemental material. Please see section 4.3 Supplemental material for more information.
Subject to appropriate ethical and legal considerations, authors are encouraged to:
- share your research data in a relevant public data repository
- include a data availability statement linking to your data. If it is not possible to share your data, we encourage you to consider using the statement to explain why it cannot be shared.
- cite this data in your research
The journal requires all manuscripts to include a clear and fulsome statement and disclosure of research ethics processes and approvals for any research involving human subjects or participants. These should be written into the main body of the manuscript, and include reference to the institution(s) that approved the research, as well as the protocol or approval number for the research being submitted for publication. For research that does not have formal approval from an institutional review board, a full disclosure of the research processes and ethical considerations and approvals must be included. Any questions should be directed to the Editors at the time of manuscript submission.
In the interest of transparency, the journal’s policy on submissions by journal board members or Editors with a role in administering the peer review process or their families or associates (including faculty colleagues from current institutions), is as follows:
- Board members and Editors take no part in the review process of their own submissions, those of their family member or their associates and have no access to Editorial information concerning such submissions.
- No preference or favour is given in the decision or peer review process dependent on the author’s relationship to the journal.
- Papers are processed consecutively irrespective of the author’s relationship to the journal. That is, the journal does not ‘expedite’ papers at the expense of others as journal resources are distributed evenly.
International Journal of Music Education is committed to upholding the integrity of the academic record:
- The research being reported must be conducted in an ethical and responsible manner and should comply with all relevant legislation.
- Researchers must present their results clearly, honestly, and without fabrication, falsification or inappropriate data manipulation.
- Researchers must describe their methods clearly and unambiguously so that their findings can be confirmed by others.
- Researchers must adhere to publication requirements that submitted work is original, is not plagiarised, and has not been published elsewhere.
- Authors must take collective responsibility for submitted and published work.
- The authorship of research publications must accurately reflect individuals’ contributions to the work and its reporting.
- Funding sources and relevant potential perceived and actual conflicts of interest must be disclosed.
We encourage authors to refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics’ International Standards for Authors and view the Publication Ethics page on the Sage Author Gateway.
3.1.1 Plagiarism
International Journal of Music Education and Sage take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. We seek to protect the rights of our authors and we always investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of the journal against malpractice. Submitted articles may be checked with duplication-checking software. Where an article, for example, is found to have plagiarised other work or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, or where the authorship of the article is contested, we reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the article; taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the author's institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies; or taking appropriate legal action.
3.1.2 Prior publication
If material has been previously published it is not generally acceptable for publication in a Sage journal. However, there are certain circumstances where previously published material can be considered for publication. Please refer to the guidance on the Sage Author Gateway or if in doubt, contact the Editor at the address given below.
3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
Before publication, Sage requires the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. Sage’s Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement is an exclusive licence agreement which means that the author retains copyright in the work but grants Sage the sole and exclusive right and licence to publish for the full legal term of copyright. Exceptions may exist where an assignment of copyright is required or preferred by a proprietor other than Sage. In this case copyright in the work will be assigned from the author to the society. For more information please visit the Sage Author Gateway
3.3 Open access and author archiving
International Journal of Music Education offers optional open access publishing via the Sage Choice programme. For more information on Open Access publishing options at Sage please visit Sage Open Access. For information on funding body compliance, and depositing your article in repositories, please visit Sage’s Author Archiving and Re-Use Guidelines and Publishing Policies.
4. Preparing your manuscript for submission
The preferred format for your manuscript is Word. LaTeX files are also accepted. Word and (La)Tex templates are available on the Manuscript Submission Guidelines page of our Author Gateway.
4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
For guidance on the preparation of illustrations, pictures and graphs in electronic format, please visit Sage’s Manuscript Submission Guidelines
Figures supplied in colour will appear in colour online regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in colour in the printed version. For specifically requested colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Sage after receipt of your accepted article.
This journal is able to host additional materials online (e.g. datasets, podcasts, videos, images etc) alongside the full-text of the article. For more information please refer to our guidelines on submitting supplemental files
International Journal of Music Education adheres to the APA reference style. View the APA guidelines to ensure your manuscript conforms to this reference style.
4.5 English language editing services
Authors seeking assistance with English language editing, translation, or figure and manuscript formatting to fit the journal’s specifications should consider using Sage Language Services. Visit Sage Language Services on our Journal Author Gateway for further information.
International Journal of Music Education is an English language journal.
International Journal of Music Education is hosted on Sage Track, a web based online submission and peer review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts. Visit http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/ijme to login and submit your article online.
IMPORTANT: Please check whether you already have an account in the system before trying to create a new one. If you have reviewed or authored for the journal in the past year it is likely that you will have had an account created. For further guidance on submitting your manuscript online please visit ScholarOne Online Help.
All papers must be submitted via the online system. If you would like to discuss your paper prior to submission, please refer to the contact details below.
Alex Ruthmann, Co-Editor, alex.ruthmann@gmail.com
Jane Southcott, Co-Editor, jane.southcott@monash.edu
As part of our commitment to ensuring an ethical, transparent and fair peer review process Sage is a supporting member of ORCID, the Open Researcher and Contributor ID. ORCID provides a unique and persistent digital identifier that distinguishes researchers from every other researcher, even those who share the same name, and, through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, supports automated linkages between researchers and their professional activities, ensuring that their work is recognized.
The collection of ORCID IDs from corresponding authors is now part of the submission process of this journal. If you already have an ORCID ID you will be asked to associate that to your submission during the online submission process. We also strongly encourage all co-authors to link their ORCID ID to their accounts in our online peer review platforms. It takes seconds to do: click the link when prompted, sign into your ORCID account and our systems are automatically updated. Your ORCID ID will become part of your accepted publication’s metadata, making your work attributable to you and only you. Your ORCID ID is published with your article so that fellow researchers reading your work can link to your ORCID profile and from there link to your other publications.
If you do not already have an ORCID ID please follow this link to create one or visit our ORCID homepage to learn more.
5.2 Information required for completing your submission
You will be asked to provide contact details and academic affiliations for all co-authors via the submission system and identify who is to be the corresponding author. These details must match what appears on your manuscript. The affiliation listed in the manuscript should be the institution where the research was conducted. If an author has moved to a new institution since completing the research, the new affiliation can be included in a manuscript note at the end of the paper. At this stage please ensure you have included all the required statements and declarations and uploaded any additional supplementary files (including reporting guidelines where relevant).
Please also ensure that you have obtained any necessary permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. For further information including guidance on fair dealing for criticism and review, please see the Copyright and Permissions page on the Sage Author Gateway
6. On acceptance and publication
Your Sage Production Editor will keep you informed as to your article’s progress throughout the production process. Proofs will be sent by PDF to the corresponding authorvia our editing portal Sage Edit or by email, and corrections should be made directly or notified to us promptly. Authors are reminded to check their proofs carefully to confirm that all author information, including names, affiliations, sequence and contact details are correct, and that Funding and Conflict of Interest statements, if any, are accurate.
Online First allows final articles (completed and approved articles awaiting assignment to a future issue) to be published online prior to their inclusion in a journal issue, which significantly reduces the lead time between submission and publication. Visit the Sage Journals help page for more details, including how to cite Online First articles.
6.3 Access to your published article
Sage provides authors with online access to their final article.
Publication is not the end of the process! You can help disseminate your paper and ensure it is as widely read and cited as possible. The Sage Author Gateway has numerous resources to help you promote your work. Visit the Promote Your Article page on the Gateway for tips and advice.
Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process should be sent to the International Journal of Music Education editorial office as follows:
Jane Southcott, Co-Editor, jane.southcott@monash.edu