Teachers College Record
The Voice of Scholarship in EducationTeachers College Record welcomes empirical, critical, methodological, and theoretical disciplinary and interdisciplinary scholarship that emphasizes the intersections between education research and other fields, raises new questions, and develops innovative approaches to our understandings of pressing issues.
- We embrace cutting-edge, critical scholarship addressing equity and justice through institutional, discursive, and systemic analyses that engage with theoretical frameworks, such as anti-Black racism, critical race theory, Indigenous knowledges, immigration and refugee studies, queer of color critiques, critical race feminisms, and critical disability studies.
- We invite research from international scholars who illuminate productive counterpoints to the mainstream U.S. experience and provide new ways of thinking, seeing, and being in conversation with each other about the past, present, and future.
- We acknowledge the need for community-engaged scholarship that involves collaborations between and among researchers and community members in mutually beneficial partnerships (e.g., research–practice partnerships).
Overall, we are creating dynamic, new opportunities through each of our content platforms to engage a wide range of community constituents and stakeholders interested in addressing the complex, broad educational issues facing our societies across the globe.
| Nancy Lesko | Teachers College, Columbia University, USA |
| Megan Laverty | Teachers College, Columbia University, USA |
| Patricia Martínez-Álvarez | Teachers College, Columbia University, USA |
| Sandra Okita | Teachers College, Columbia University, USA |
| George Nantwi | Teachers College, Columbia University, USA |
| Shrien Alshabasy | Teachers College, Columbia University, USA |
| Sibel Akin-Sabuncu | TED University, Turkey |
| Jessica Blum-DeStefano | Bank Street College of Education, New York, USA |
| Ching-Fu Lan | Teachers College, Columbia University, USA |
| Eduardo Santander | Teachers College, Columbia University, USA |
| Lexuan Li | Teachers College, Columbia University, USA |
| Amanda Earl | Teachers College, Columbia University, USA |
| Sandra Schamroth Abrams | University of South Africa, South Africa |
| Jennifer Keys Adair | University of Texas, Austin, USA |
| Nina Asher | University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, USA |
| Lesley Bartlett | University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA |
| Janine Bempechat | Wheelock College, Boston, USA |
| Mollie V. Blackburn | The Ohio State University, USA |
| Stacy Boote | University of North Florida, Jacksonville, USA |
| Keffrelyn Brown | University of Texas, Austin, USA |
| Brian Burt | University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA |
| Sylvia Celedón-Pattichis | The University of Texas at Austin, USA |
| Vincent Cho | Boston College, Boston, USA |
| Lyn Corno | Teachers College, Columbia University (retired) |
| Adrienne D. Dixson | University of Kentucky, Lexington, USA |
| Beth A. Ferri | Syracuse University, Syracuse, USA |
| Marybeth Gasman | Rutgers University, New Brunswick, USA |
| Billie Gastic | New York University, New York, USA |
| Yvonne Goddard | The Ohio State University, Columbus, USA |
| Michael Gottfried | University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA |
| Carl A. Grant | University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA |
| Pamela Grossman | University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA |
| Floyd Hammack | New York University, New York, USA |
| Tang Tang Heng | National Institute of Education, Singapore |
| Emily Hodge | Montclair State University, Montclair, USA |
| Louise Jennings | Colorado State University, Fort Collins, USA |
| Susan Moore Johnson | Harvard University, Cambridge, USA |
| Michelle Knight-Manuel | University of Denver, Denver, USA |
| Lisa W. Loutzenheiser | University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada |
| Ellen B. Mandinach | WestEd, San Francisco, USA |
| Danny Bernard Martin | University of Illinois, Chicago, USA |
| Sharon Louise Nichols | The University of Texas at San Antonio, USA |
| William Penuel | University of Colorado, Boulder, USA |
| Andrew C. Porter | University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA |
| Judi Randi | University of New Haven, New Haven, USA |
| Rachel D. Roegman | University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, USA |
| John Rury | University of Kansas, Lawrence, USA |
| Cinthia Salinas | University of Texas, Austin, USA |
| Richard Sawyer | Washington State University, Vancouver, USA |
| Yao-Ting Sung | National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan |
| Gregory C. Wolniak | University of Georgia, Athens, USA |
| Jianzhong Xu | Mississippi State University, Starkville, USA |
| Stuart S. Yeh | University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA |
Manuscript Submission Guidelines for Authors
Message from the Executive Editor
Dear Colleagues,
Teachers College Record (TCR) is a general education journal begun in 1900 that publishes scholarship on a wide range of topics related to education, policy, teaching, learning, curriculum, history, and philosophy. TCR publishes manuscripts that report empirical and conceptual research and that utilize multiple and diverse theoretical and methodological approaches. Because it is a general education journal, manuscripts need to be of interest to and accessible to a broad audience. We hope that the following guidelines for authors are helpful. The TCR staff and I invite you to read the journal, cite it in your scholarship, and submit a manuscript for review. We also invite you to connect with current and archived TCR articles by signing up for our newsletter and Twitter (X)
Sincerely,
Nancy Lesko
Overview
Teachers College Record (TCR) publishes a variety of scholarly materials in all areas of the fields of education and educational research. The editors may invite contributions from particular authors and about particular topics, but most material appearing in the journal is submitted for anonymous peer review by scholars from around the world. All topics related to the field of education broadly conceived are welcomed. It is the policy of TCR only to review materials that are not being considered simultaneously elsewhere. The acceptance rate is 6%.
Types of Manuscripts
Feature Articles
Both empirical and theoretical papers are considered, but papers that combine well-developed theoretical frameworks with careful empirical work are particularly appreciated. Feature articles may contain research, analysis, and commentary. The editor invites submissions utilizing all methods of inquiry, and all topics related to the field of education, broadly conceived, are welcome. Feature articles are considered for both online and print publication.
Research Notes
Research notes focus on key aspects of current studies for timely online publication. A research note describes some aspect of a method used in a study that might benefit other research and so should be more widely known. Other types of research notes highlight key results of major studies of interest to a large audience or offer empirical analyses of timely topics in education. Research notes are considered for both online and print publication.
Commentaries
Dialogue, discourse, and debate are essential to a vibrant and engaged educational community in an interconnected, global society. We welcome commentaries from scholars, practitioners, policy makers, community-based organization members, K–12 teachers, administrators, and other stakeholders who share in our commitment to education for the public good. Commentaries are original essays that address topics, issues, or events that are relevant to the field of education. We encourage diverse perspectives and questions that sustain deliberation and that engage multiple audiences and stakeholders to address educational and societal inequities and other current issues. Commentaries are intended to be generative and lead to conversations across multiple communities in order to have a broad impact in the field and beyond. Commentaries are considered for both online and print publication
Book Reviews
Book reviews are published exclusively online every week. All reviews are invited by the editors. We do not accept unsolicited reviews, but interested scholars may suggest books for review and volunteer to review books in their areas of expertise by emailing tcrbooks@tc.columbia.edu.
Manuscript Length Guidelines
- Feature articles are typically full-length papers, no longer than about 42 pages (approximately 10,500 words), including all components (abstract, references, tables, and figures), and are to be submitted in one file.
- Research notes run 2,000 to 3,000 words in length, including all components (references, tables, and figures), and are to be submitted in one file.
- Commentaries typically run between 1,000 and 1,500 words and are to be submitted in one file.
Review Process
All submissions are reviewed to ensure they meet the TCR guidelines. Feature articles, research notes, and commentaries are reviewed internally by the editorial team. The internal review usually takes four to eight weeks. Once the internal review is completed, the executive editor will decide whether to send it out for external review.
We do not provide feedback or comments on manuscripts rejected after the internal review. All manuscripts sent for external review will be assigned to an associate editor, who will manage the manuscript. The associate editor will be in regular contact with authors throughout the review process.
Submission of Manuscripts
To facilitate the review of manuscripts, TCR requires that authors follow all of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA) 7th edition* guidelines for preparation of a manuscript. However, for historical manuscripts, following the Chicago Manual of Style is acceptable. Authors should attend to the correct form of headings, in-text citations, and references. Manuscripts should be double-spaced, in 11-pt or 12-pt font, and closely copyedited. All tables and figures should be labeled and their source(s) identified. To ensure anonymous reviews, authors must omit all potentially identifying information, including all information about their own publications. If authors reference their own publications, they need to be cited only as (Author, date) in text and in the reference list. All components of the manuscript must be submitted in one Word document file.
*The Purdue Owl is an excellent reference for APA 7th edition guidance and examples.
Abstracts. Authors can provide a structured or narrative abstract. A structured abstract consists of three to five sentences in each of these four sections, and headings are included:
Background/Context
Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study
Research Design
Conclusions/Recommendations
A narrative abstract includes the same information in paragraph form.
Positionality statements have become common and expected across many scholarly communities. TCR does not require authors to include a positionality statement, but if authors include one, the statement should be more than demographic information or abstract statements. TCR understands positionality statements as part of scholars’ efforts to help readers understand the authors’ interpretive stances and how the authors’ own theoretical, methodological, and analytical decisions move and shape the design of the research questions, methods, data interpretation, and conclusions. Positionality statements are works in progress, of course, and we recommend that authors review the four approaches to writing positionality statements provided by Boveda and Annamma (2023).
Boveda, M., & Annamma, S. A. (2023). Beyond making a statement: An intersectional framing of the power and possibilities of positioning. Educational Researcher, 52(5), 306–314. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X231167149
Review of Manuscripts
- Each submitted manuscript receives an internal review, after which the manuscript is accepted for further review or rejected. This initial decision typically occurs four to six weeks after submission. Feedback is not provided for manuscripts that are rejected during this first level of review, per TCR policy.
- The first round of external reviews often takes several months. Once the first review has been completed, authors will receive a letter from an associate editor with a decision, along with copies of reviewers’ comments. Decisions at this stage are revise and resubmit (major or minor revisions), or reject.
- Authors who are invited to revise and resubmit are asked to do so within four weeks, but authors can arrange for additional time by communicating with the associate editor and/or the managing editor.
- Authors who revise and resubmit are asked to provide an overview of their revisions in relation to the reviewers’ comments. Authors need to make this statement of revisions anonymous as well.
- Manuscripts typically go through three to four revisions, so we ask authors to understand that these multiple levels of review take time. The time from first submission to acceptance for publication in TCR averages eight to 14 months.
Submission
Please visit https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/tcrecord to submit your manuscript.