Community College Review
Adult & Community Education
CCR Vision
To be the national leader in publication of scholarly, peer-reviewed research and commentary on community colleges.
CCR Mission
The mission of the Community College Review (CCR) is to provide a forum for leading thought on community colleges, their students, and the educators and administrators who work within these institutions. CCR welcomes manuscripts addressing all aspects of community college administration, education, and policy within the American higher education system as well as higher education systems of other countries spanning tertiary education globally. All manuscript submissions undergo a blind review. CCR extends constructive feedback to authors. When manuscripts are not accepted for publication, the editorial board offers suggestions revision and improvement.
The CCR serves a national and international audience, which includes presidents, community college faculty and administrators, university researchers, graduate students, policymakers, and others interested in the role of community colleges in higher education. Articles published in the CCR include qualitative and quantitative research reports, critical literature reviews, scholarly essays, and book reviews. All featured publications reflect sound scholarship, appropriate research methodologies (in the case of empirical, data-driven studies), and the integration of theory and practice.
For the latest in CCR news, follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/CCollegeReview
| David F. Ayers | Old Dominion University, USA |
| Duane Akroyd | North Carolina State University, USA |
| Jessica Mattox | Old Dominion University, USA |
| Peter Bahr | University of Michigan, USA |
| Yu “April” Chen | Louisiana State University, USA |
| Everrett Smith | University of Cincinnati, USA |
| Marilyn J. Amey | Michigan State University, USA |
| Jaime Lester | George Mason University, USA |
| Jim Palmer | Illinois State University, USA |
| Terry Tollefson | East Tennessee State University, USA |
| George B. Vaughan | North Carolina State University, USA |
| Rebecca Cox | Simon Fraser University, Canada |
| Gloria Crisp | Oregon State University, USA |
| Mark D’Amico | University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA |
| Erin Doran | Iowa State University, USA |
| Manuel S. González Canché | University of Pennsylvania, USA |
| David Hardy | University of Alabama, USA |
| Catherine Hartman | North Carolina State University, USA |
| Deryl K. Hatch-Tocaimaza | University of Nebraska - Lincoln, USA |
| Sue Kater | Idaho State University, USA |
| Edna Martinez | The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), USA |
| Lyle McKinney | University of Houston, USA |
| Regina Garza Mitchell | Western Michigan University, USA |
| Christopher M. Mullin | Florida Department of Education, USA |
| Allison L. Palmadessa | Greensboro College, USA |
| Cecilia Rios-Aguilar | University of California, Los Angeles, USA |
| Steve Robinson | Lansing Community College, USA |
| Sarah L. Rodriguez | Virginia Tech, USA |
| Snejana Slantcheva-Durst | University of Toledo, Toledo, OH, USA |
| Soko Starobin | Educational Consultant |
| Jason L. Taylor | University of Utah, USA |
| Xueli Wang | University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA |
| Eboni Zamani-Gallaher | University of Pittsburgh , USA |
| Yi L. Zhang | The University of Texas at Arlington, USA |
The Community College Review (CCR) is a refereed journal. Its editorial staff relies on the advice of an editorial board composed of community college educators and scholars. The staff reviews all submissions and assigns those manuscripts that meet style and topic guidelines to at least two reviewers for evaluation. Reviewers include members of the editorial board and researchers who have a background in the topic addressed by the manuscript.
Please submit manuscripts to the journal's electronic peer review site, http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/ccr.
CCR's editorial staff uses the current Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th Edition, as its principal style guide. When questions of style cannot be decided using the APA manual, additional references consulted include The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th Edition. The following brief instructions summarize some basic guidelines:
Manuscripts should be double-spaced (including block quotations, references, and endnotes) with 12-point, Times New Roman font (or similar), and one-inch margins all around. A running head (of no more than 50 characters) should appear in the upper left corner of every page, and a page number should appear in the upper right corner of every page. Manuscripts typically range from 25 to 30 double-spaced pages in length, including references, tables, and figures, although manuscripts outside that range may be considered at the discretion of the Editor.
Sections in a manuscript may include the following (in this order): (1) Title page, (2) Abstract with keywords, (3) Text, (4) Notes, (5) References, (6) Tables & Figures and (8) Appendices.
1. Title page. A title page must be included as a separate file to the submission site and should not appear in the manuscript file to ensure anonymity during the review. Please include the following:
- Full article title
- Acknowledgments and credits
- Each author’s complete name and institutional affiliation(s)
- Grant numbers and/or funding information
- Corresponding author (name, address, phone/fax, e-mail)
2. Abstract with keywords. The abstract and keywords should appear as the first page of the manuscript file. CCR requires a structured abstract for all submissions. Abstracts for CCR manuscripts that report the results of empirical research should contain the following elements, in this order. Some flexibility within each of these elements is possible to accommodate the needs of authors with unique research agendas.
- Objective/Research Question. Here, the author describes the research question, or objectives.
- Methods. The author briefly summarizes the method of the study and the kind of evidence gathered.
- Results. The author explains what they have learned from this research—what specific discovery or new knowledge has been made.
- Conclusions/Contributions. The author indicates how these new findings contribute to a body of knowledge and may point to areas where further study is warranted.
In contrast, abstracts for CCR manuscripts that are not empirical in nature should include the following three subheadings.
- Purpose. Here, the author describes the conceptual problem to be addressed by the manuscript (e.g., a gap in the extant scholarship).
- Argument/Proposed Model. The author summarizes the trajectory of the manuscript’s argument or describes the theoretical model proposed in the manuscript.
- Conclusions/Contributions. The author indicates how this argument or proposed model contributes to the body of knowledge on his or her topic and may point to areas where further study is warranted.
Abstracts should not exceed 250 words. Below the abstract, the author should present 5-6 keywords related to the research.
3. Text. Within the manuscript file and immediately after the abstract, begin the text with the full title of the article on new page. Manuscript text should utilize headings and subheadings according to APA 7th edition guidelines to appropriately organize the context of the manuscript. In-text citations should include the author(s) name and year of publication following APA 7th edition guidelines. For three or more authors, in-text citations should list only the first author’s name, followed by et al. and the publication year throughout the manuscript. Authors should not use "Author" in the text to anonymize self-citations. Self-citations should be referenced like other reference in the text and SHOULD be included in the references section
4. Notes. If explanatory notes are required to strengthen your manuscript, insert an endnote using a number formatted in superscript following almost any punctuation mark. The endnote should be added at the end of the manuscript following the reference page.
5. References. All references should follow APA 7th Edition guidelines. Authors should ensure that all in-text citations have a corresponding reference in the reference list Basic rules for the reference list include:
- The reference list should be arranged in alphabetical order according to the (first) author’s last name. Include all authors’ names in the reference.
- If there is more than one work by the same author, order them according to their publication date – oldest to newest (therefore a 2018 publication would appear before a 2019 publication).
- When listing multiple authors of a source use “&” instead of “and”.
- Capitalize only the first word of the title and subtitle, if there are one, and any proper names (e.g., United States).,
Here are a few examples of commonly found references. For more examples, review Sage Publication’s APA style tip sheet.
- Authored books: Cohen, A. M., Brawer, F. B., & Kisker, C. B. (2013). The American community college (6th ed.). Jossey-Bass.
- Edited books: Traver, A. E., & Katz, Z. P. (Eds.). (2014). Service-learning at the American community college. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137355737
- Journal article: Xi, D., & Dadgar, M. (2018). How effective are community college remedial math courses for students with the lowest math skills? Community College Review, 46(1), 62-81. https://doi.org/10.1177/0091552117743789
6. Tables & Figures. All tables and figures should be uploaded as separate documents to the submission system and should comply with APA 7th Edition guidelines.
Tables should be used to facilitate readers’ understanding of the work such as summarizing information or provide results from statistical analyses. Tables should include appropriate labels and headings (including stub and decked headings as needed), a general note to interpret the table identified by Note, and specific notes define terms identified by a superscripted letter. Probability notes (for p values) should be identified with an asterisk. All tables must be numbered consecutively as they appear in the text and concisely titled. Within the manuscript text, insert a note identifying each table’s placement (i.e., “Insert Table 1 about here”) after the paragraph containing the first mention of the table.
Figures include all other graphical displays that are not tables. They should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they appear in the text and must include a note (i.e. general, specific, or probability) to describe the contents of the figure as needed. Figures must be large and sharp enough to be legible and should have a resolution of no less than 300dpi at the time of submission. As with tables, insert a note identifying each figure’s placement (i.e., “Insert Figure 1 about here”) after the paragraph containing its first mention. Please note: The author(s) are responsible for securing permission to reproduce all copyrighted figures or materials before they are published in CCR. A copy of the written permission must be included with the manuscript submission as a separate document.
7. Appendices. Authors should ensure that any appendix included in the manuscript is necessary for readability and clarity of the research. Appendices should be lettered to distinguish from numbered tables and figures. Include a descriptive title for each appendix (e.g., “Appendix A. Variable Names and Definitions”). Cross-check text for accuracy against appendices.
Submission Process
At the manuscript submission site, authors should upload (a) the title page and (b) the manuscript file containing the abstract, keywords, text, references, and if applicable notes and appendices. If there are corresponding tables and figures, each table and figure should be submitted as a separate document to the submission portal, titled as Figure X. The title page, manuscript file, and each table and figure must be uploaded as separate documents.
Please feel free to contact the CCR editorial office for additional information:
David Ayers, Editor
Jessica Mattox, Assistant Editor
Authors who would like to refine the use of English in their manuscripts might consider using Sage author services available here: https://languageservices.sagepub.com/en/services/editing.html
If you or your funder wish your article to be freely available online to nonsubscribers immediately upon publication (gold open access), you can opt for it to be included in Sage Choice, subject to the payment of a publication fee. The manuscript submission and peer review procedure is unchanged. On acceptance of your article, you will be asked to let Sage know directly if you are choosing Sage Choice. To check journal eligibility and the publication fee, please visit Sage Choice. For more information on open access options and compliance at Sage, including self/author archiving deposits (green open access) visit Sage Publishing Policies on our Journal Author Gateway.
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.
For more information, please refer to the Sage Manuscript Submission Guidelines.