Adult Education Quarterly
Adult Education | Continuing Education | Equality & Diversity in the Lifelong Learning Sector
The Adult Education Quarterly (AEQ) is an international, scholarly, refereed journal committed to advancing the understanding and practice of adult and continuing education. The journal strives to be inclusive in scope, addressing topics and issues of significance to scholars and practitioners concerned with diverse aspects of adult and continuing education across the globe. AEQ publishes research employing a variety of methods and approaches, including (but not limited to) survey research, experimental designs, case studies, ethnographic observations and interviews, grounded theory, phenomenology, historical investigations, and narrative inquiry as well as articles that address theoretical and philosophical issues pertinent to adult and continuing education. Innovative and provocative scholarship informed by diverse orientations is encouraged, including (but not limited to) positivism, post-positivism, constructivism, critical theory, feminism, race-based/Africentric, gay/lesbian, and poststructural/postmodern theories. AEQ aims to stimulate a problem-oriented, critical approach to research and practice, with an increasing emphasis on inter-disciplinary and international perspectives. The audience includes researchers, students, and adult and continuing education practitioners of many orientations including teachers, trainers, facilitators, resource persons, organizational developers, community organizers, and policy designers.
Features
In addressing a broad array of issues and practices in adult and continuing education, AEQ features the following orientations and types of articles:
- Inquiry orientations including (but not limited to): positivism, post-positivism, constructivism, critical theory, feminism, race-based/Africentric, gay/lesbian, and poststructural/postmodern theories
- Research reports including (but not limited to): survey research, experimental designs, case studies, ethnographic observations and interviews, grounded theory, phenomenology, historical investigations, and narrative inquiry
- Theoretical and philosophical analyses
- Critical integrative reviews of adult and continuing education literature
- Forum essays (position statements or reasoned critiques of articles previously published in AEQ)
- Essay reviews (commissioned by the editors)
- Book reviews (contact the book review editor)
- "To the Editor" comments and contributions
- Editorials
Audience
The audience includes researchers, students, and adult and continuing education practitioners of many orientations including teachers, trainers, facilitators, resource persons, organizational developers, community organizers, and policy designers.
The Adult Education Quarterly (AEQ) is an international, scholarly, refereed journal committed to advancing the understanding and practice of adult and continuing education. The journal strives to be inclusive in scope, addressing topics and issues of significance to scholars and practitioners concerned with diverse aspects of adult and continuing education across the globe. AEQ publishes research employing a variety of methods and approaches, including (but not limited to) survey research, experimental designs, case studies, ethnographic observations and interviews, grounded theory, phenomenology, historical investigations, and narrative inquiry as well as articles that address theoretical and philosophical issues pertinent to adult and continuing education. Innovative and provocative scholarship informed by diverse orientations is encouraged, including (but not limited to) positivism, post-positivism, constructivism, critical theory, feminism, race-based/Africentric, gay/lesbian, and poststructural/postmodern theories. AEQ aims to stimulate a problem-oriented, critical approach to research and practice, with an increasing emphasis on inter-disciplinary and international perspectives. The audience includes researchers, students, and adult and continuing education practitioners of many orientations including teachers, trainers, facilitators, resource persons, organizational developers, community organizers, and policy designers.
| Lisa R. Merriweather | University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA |
| Edith Gnanadass | The University of Memphis, USA |
| Dianne Ramdeholl | SUNY Empire State College, USA |
| Ralf St. Clair | University of Victoria, Canada |
| Jacob Frankovich | University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA |
| Dianne Ramdeholl | SUNY Empire State College, USA |
| Mary V. Alfred | Texas A&M University, USA |
| Geleana Drew Alston | North Carolina A&T State University, USA |
| Per Andersson | Linkoping University, Sweden |
| Lisa M. Baumgartner | Texas State University – San Marcos, USA |
| Hal Beder | Rutgers University, USA |
| Alisa A. Belzer | Rutgers University, USA |
| Jim Berger | Georgia College and State University (replace Western Kentucky University) |
| Stephen Billett | Griffith University, Australia |
| Marcie Boucouvalas | Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, USA |
| Ann Brooks | Texas State University-San Marcos, USA |
| Heather Brown | University of North Carolina-Charlotte, USA |
| Bo Chang | Ball State University, USA |
| Darlene Clover | University of Victoria, Canada |
| Maureen Coady | St. Francis Xavier University, Canada |
| Simone C. O. Conceição | University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA |
| Joellen E. Coryell | Texas State University - San Marcos, USA |
| Andrea D. Ellinger | University of Texas-Tyler |
| Andreas Fejes | Linkoping University, Sweden |
| Fergal Finnegan | National University of Ireland, Maynooth |
| António Fragoso | Universidade do Algarve, Portugal |
| Julie Gedro | Empire State College, USA |
| Elisabeth Gee | Arizona State University, USA |
| Tara Gibb | University College- Fraiser College, Canada |
| Michelle Glowacki-Dudka | Ball State University, USA |
| Patricia Gouthro | Mount Saint Vincent University, Canada |
| André P. Grace | University of Alberta, Canada |
| Wendy Green | Cleveland State University, Cleveland, Ohio |
| Daphne Greenberg | Georgia State University, USA |
| Anke Grotluschen | University of Hamburg, Germany |
| Lucy Madsen Guglielmino | Florida Atlantic University, USA |
| Ulrike Hanemann | Independent international literacy and education specialist, Germany |
| Lilian H. Hill | University of Southern Mississippi, USA |
| Chad Hoggan | North Carolina State University, USA |
| John D. Holst | The Pennsylvania State University, USA |
| Tatiana Iñiguez Berrozpe | University of Zaragoza, Spain |
| E. Paulette Isaac-Savage | University of Missouri-St. Louis, USA |
| Carrie Johnson | National-Louis University, USA |
| Kaela Jubas | University of Calgary, Canada |
| Bernd Kaepplinger | Institute for Education Science, Germany |
| Haijun Kang | Kansas State University, USA |
| Elizabeth Kasl | Independent Scholar, USA |
| Carol E. Kasworm | North Carolina State University, USA |
| Junghwan Kim | Texas A&M University, USA |
| Suehye Kim | Gangneung-Wonju National University, South Korea |
| Clarena Larrotta | Texas State University-San Marcos, USA |
| Ming-yeh Lee | San Francisco State University, USA |
| Rebecca N. Lekoko | University of Botswana, Botswana |
| Xi Lin | East Carolina University, USA |
| Larry G. Martin | University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, USA |
| Marilyn McKinley Parrish | Millersville University, USA |
| Olutoyin Mejiuni | Independent Scholar, Nigeria |
| Sharan B. Merriam | University of Georgia, USA |
| Lisa R. Merriweather | University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA |
| Jonathan Messemer | Cleveland State University, USA |
| Elana Michelson | Empire State College (SUNY), USA |
| Aliki Nicolaides | University of Georgia, USA |
| Daphne W. Ntiri | Wayne State University, USA |
| Margaret Patterson | Research Allies, Austria |
| Esther S. Prins | Penn State University, USA |
| John R. Rachal | University of Southern Mississippi, USA |
| Robin Redmon Wright | Penn State Harrisburg, USA |
| Tonette S. Rocco | Florida International University, USA |
| Elice C. Rogers | Cleveland State University, USA |
| Amy D. Rose | Northern Illinois University, USA |
| Jovita M Ross-Gordon | Texas State University - San Marcos, USA |
| Jennifer A. Sandlin | Arizona State University, USA |
| Steven Schmidt | East Carolina University, USA |
| Vanessa Sheared | Dean, College of Education, Sacramento State University, USA |
| M. Cecil Smith | West Virginia University, USA |
| Ralf St. Clair | University of Victoria, Canada |
| Ann L. Swartz | Penn State Harrisburg, USA |
| Edward W. Taylor | Penn State Harrisburg, USA |
| Kathleen Taylor | St. Mary's College of California |
| Mark Tennant | University of Technology, Sydney, Australia |
| Lyn Tett | University of Huddersfield, UK |
| Patricia M. Thompson | Penn State Harrisburg, USA |
| Elizabeth Tighe | Georgia State University, USA |
| Elizabeth J. Tisdell | Penn State Harrisburg, USA |
| Maria Alicia Vetter | Northern Illinois University, USA |
| Jude Walker | University of British Columbia, Canada |
| Pierre Walter | University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada |
| Shirley Walters | University of Western Cape, South Africa |
| Michael Wilkerson | University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, USA |
| Gongli Xu | Social Development, Canada |
| Baiyin Yang | Tsinghua University, China |
| Susan M. Yelich Biniecki | Kansas State University, USA |
| Jill Zarestky | Colorado State University, USA |
This Journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics.
This Journal recommends that authors follow the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals formulated by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).
Please read the guidelines below then visit the Journal’s submission site [https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/AEQ] to upload your manuscript. Please note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned. Remember you can log in to the submission site at any time to check on the progress of your paper through the peer review process.
Sage Publishing disseminates high-quality research and engaged scholarship globally, and we are committed to diversity and inclusion in publishing. We encourage submissions from a diverse range of authors from across all countries and backgrounds.
Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of Adult Education Quarterly 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 Adult Education Quarterly will consider submissions of papers that have been posted on preprint servers; please alert the Editorial Office when submitting (contact details are at the end of these guidelines) and include the DOI for the preprint in the designated field in the manuscript submission system. Authors should not post an updated version of their paper on the preprint server while it is being peer reviewed for possible publication in the Journal. If the article is accepted for publication, the author may re-use their work according to the Journal's author archiving policy.
If your paper is accepted, you must include a link on your preprint to the final version of your paper.
If you have any questions about publishing with Sage, please visit the Sage Journal Solutions Portal.
2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
4.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
4.3 Open access and author archiving
4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
4.6 English language editing services
5.2 Information required for completing your submission
6. On acceptance and publication
6.3 Access to your published article
7.1 Appealing the publication decision
Before submitting your manuscript to Adult Education Quarterly, please ensure you have read the Aims & Scope [https://journals.sagepub.com/aims-scope/AEQ].
- Research approaches including (but not limited to): survey research, experimental designs, case studies, ethnographic observations and interviews, grounded theory, phenomenology, historical investigations, and narrative inquiry.
- Inquiry orientations including (but not limited to): positivism, postpositivism, constructivism, critical theory, feminism, race-based/Africentric, gay/lesbian, and poststructural/postmodern theories
- Theory building and philosophical analysis
- Critical integrative reviews of adult and continuing education literature
- Forum includes shorter position papers related to the field or reasoned critiques of articles previously printed in AEQ
- Essay reviews commissioned by the editors
- Book reviews (contact the book review editor; see the book review guidance
- "To the Editor" comments and contributions
Typed copy: Submit typed, double-spaced copy with numbered pages, using one-inch margins on all sides. Please submit all typed manuscript documents in Microsoft Word format (.doc or .docx).
Article Length: Articles generally should not exceed 7500 words, including charts, tables, references, and endnotes.
Title Page: On the title page, indicate the following: title of paper; full name(s) of author(s), author titles and institutional affiliations, postal addresses, phone numbers, fax numbers, and email addresses; brief acknowledgement of the contribution of colleagues or students, if warranted; statement of place and date of previous oral presentation, if any; and date of submission. Please indicate the corresponding author.
Abstract: In 150 words or less, summarize the purpose, approach, and conclusions of the paper in an abstract immediately following the title page. Include only the title of the paper on this and subsequent pages.
Text: Repeat a shortened version of the title of the manuscript (a running head) on the top of each page of the text. The name of the author(s) must not appear on any page, other than through standard reference usage.
The Sage Author Gateway has some general advice and on how to get published, plus links to further resources. Sage Author Services also offers authors a variety of ways to improve and enhance their article including English language editing, plagiarism detection, and video abstract and infographic preparation.
1.3.1 Make your article discoverable
For information and guidance on how to make your article more discoverable, visit our Gateway page on How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online.
Adult Education Quarterly adheres to a rigorous double-anonymized reviewing policy in which the identity of both the reviewer and author are always concealed from both parties.
Sage does not permit the use of author-suggested (recommended) reviewers at any stage of the submission process, be that through the web-based submission system or other communication.
Reviewers should be experts in their fields and should be able to provide an objective assessment of the manuscript. Our policy is that reviewers should not be assigned to a paper if:
- The reviewer is based at the same institution as any of the co-authors.
- The reviewer is based at the funding body of the paper.
- The author has recommended the reviewer.
- The reviewer has provided a personal (e.g., Gmail/Yahoo/Hotmail) email account and an institutional email account cannot be found after performing a basic Google search (name, department and institution).
Adult Education Quarterly is committed to delivering high quality, fast peer-review for your paper, and as such has partnered with Publons. Publons is a third-party service that seeks to track, verify and give credit for peer review. Reviewers for Adult Education Quarterly can opt in to Publons in order to claim their reviews or have them automatically verified and added to their reviewer profile. Reviewers claiming credit for their review will be associated with the relevant journal, but the article name, reviewer’s decision and the content of their review is not published on the site. For more information visit the Publons website.
The Editor or members of the Editorial Board may occasionally submit their own manuscripts for possible publication in the Journal. In these cases, the peer review process will be managed by alternative members of the Board and the submitting Editor/Board member will have no involvement in the decision-making process.
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.
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 person who provided purely technical help, or a department chair who provided only general support.
Please supply any personal acknowledgements separately to the main text to facilitate anonymous peer review.
Per ICMJE recommendations, it is best practice to obtain consent from non-author contributors who you are acknowledging in your paper.
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.
2.3.2 Writing assistance
Individuals who provided writing assistance, e.g., from a specialist communications company, do not qualify as authors and so should be included in the Acknowledgements section. Authors must disclose any writing assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input – and identify the entity that paid for this assistance. It is not necessary to disclose use of language polishing services.
Adult Education Quarterly 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 research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
Adult Education Quarterly encourages authors to include a declaration of any conflicting interests and recommends you review the good practice guidelines on the Sage Journal Author Gateway.
It is the policy of Adult Education Quarterly to require a declaration of conflicting interests from all authors enabling a statement to be carried within the paginated pages of all published articles.
Please ensure that a ‘Declaration of Conflicting Interests’ statement is included at the end of your manuscript, after any acknowledgements and prior to the references. If no conflict exists, please state that ‘The Author(s) declare(s) that there is no conflict of interest’. For guidance on conflict of interest statements, please see the ICMJE recommendations here.
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.
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, use the statement to confirm why it cannot be shared.
- Cite this data in your research
Peer reviewers may be asked to peer review the research data prior to publication.
- Peer reviewers may be asked to assess compliance with the research data policy
- Peer reviewers may be asked to assess research data files
If you need to anonymize your research data for peer review, please refer to our Research Data Sharing FAQs for guidance.
3.1 Publication ethics
Sage is committed to upholding the integrity of the academic record. 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
Adult Education Quarterly 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 plagiarized 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.
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 license agreement which means that the author retains copyright in the work but grants Sage the sole and exclusive right and license 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
Adult Education Quarterly offers optional open access publishing via the Sage Choice programme and Open Access agreements, where authors can publish open access either discounted or free of charge depending on the agreement with Sage. Find out if your institution is participating by visiting Open Access Agreements at Sage. 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.
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.
Where a journal uses double-anonymized peer review, authors are required to submit:
- A version of the manuscript which has had any information that compromises the anonymity of the author(s) removed or anonymized. This version will be sent to the peer reviewers.
- A separate title page which includes any removed or anonymized material. This will not be sent to the peer reviewers.
See https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/Manuscript-preparation-for-double-anonymized-journal for detailed guidance on making an anonymous submission.
Figures supplied in color will appear in color online regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in color in the printed version. For specifically requested color 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.
Adult Education Quarterly adheres to the APA reference style. View the APA guidelines to ensure your manuscript conforms to this reference style.
4.6 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.
Adult Education Quarterly is hosted on Sage Track, a web-based online submission and peer review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts. Visit [https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/AEQ] 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.
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 made available to the corresponding author via 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 Adult Education Quarterly editorial office as follows:
7.1 Appealing the publication decision
Editors have very broad discretion in determining whether an article is an appropriate fit for their journal. Many manuscripts are declined with a very general statement of the rejection decision. These decisions are not eligible for formal appeal unless the author believes the decision to reject the manuscript was based on an error in the review of the article, in which case the author may appeal the decision by providing the Editor with a detailed written description of the error they believe occurred.
If an author believes the decision regarding their manuscript was affected by a publication ethics breach, the author may contact the publisher with a detailed written description of their concern, and information supporting the concern, at publication_ethics@sagepub.com.