Policy Futures in Education
Educational Policy
The journal is committed to promoting debate within actual existing policy communities. It publishes dedicated issues on current policy debates, national reviews, reports from international agencies, as well as traditional academic papers. It also contains a special feature that encourages debates through interviews (especially with politicians, members of government departments, experts), symposia, and right of reply.
This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
Policy Statement
Why policy futures in education? The shift of gravity in politics and public policy has moved beyond the post-war welfare state settlement with its institutionalised compromise between the demands of capital and labour. Neoliberalism, with an emphasis on privatisation of public assets and services, has dominated Anglo-American politics over the last 20 years and continues to exert a strong influence on Third Way politics and policies. Globalisation, underwritten by developments in telecommunications and information technologies and the ideology of 'free trade' agreements, has continued apace, promoting a form of world economic integration. There has been a progressive automation of the tertiary sector and a shift to service-oriented industries, which has accompanied the rise of the 'knowledge economy'. At the same time, state education at all levels is now open to competition from non-traditional providers, as evidenced by the recent GATS agreement, and teachers' work has been reconceptualised. National governments, under the banners of 'choice' and 'diversity', are experimenting with new forms of schools and education that are based on customised responses to individual needs. The Labour Government in the United Kingdom, for instance, has talked of the 'end of the comprehensive era' - the end of mass schooling as we know it, and seeks to develop a range of specialist schools. All of these factors and trends, in their complex interaction, have increased the significance of education both as one of the leading services of the future and as one of the few governmental means through which issues of social inclusion, social cohesion, national culture and identity, and citizenship can be addressed. Policy Futures in Education intends to highlight these policy issues and to address the question of educational futures in all its policy aspects.
Policy Futures in Education is an international peer reviewed journal which aims to be the leading inter-disciplinary journal in the field of policy in all areas related to education. The journal welcomes submissions from a broad range of disciplines underpinning policy studies, including Western, non-Western and indigenous perspectives of local and global policy. The journal publishes original research, contemporary debates, issues and interviews, new cutting-edge theoretical policy frameworks and outlooks and reviews of relevant books. The papers published in this journal represent rigorous research and scholarship and aim to lead up-coming and contemporary thought and thinkers in the field.
Policy Futures in Education publishes both regular issues and special issues on specific subject areas, policy commentaries and reviews of significant topics. The readership of the journal consists of academics, practitioners and policy makers across the disciplines and fields of education, sociology, anthropology, women and gender studies, critical psychology, philosophy, childhood studies, environment, law, human and social sciences, social work and many others.
| Marek Tesar | University of Auckland |
| Sonja Arndt | University of Melbourne, Australia |
| David W Kupferman | University of Hawaii–West Oahu, USA |
| Glenn Toh | Nanyang Technological University, Singapore |
| George Lazaroiu | Spiru Haret University, Romania |
| Jennifer Boyd | University of Auckland, New Zealand |
| Vina Adriany | Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Indonesia |
| Kristine Alexander | University of Lethbridge, Canada |
| Ricky Lee Allen | University of New Mexico, USA |
| Antonio Amorim | University of Campinas, Brazil |
| Michael Apple | University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA |
| Stephen Ball | Institute of Education, University of London, UK |
| Brian Barrett | State University of New York at Cortland, USA |
| Gert Biesta | Brunel University London, UK |
| Edward Brockenbrough | University of Pennsylvania, USA |
| Nicholas Burbules | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA |
| Stefania Capogna | University of Rome, Italy |
| Mike Cole | University of East London, UK |
| Bronwen Cowie | University of Waikato, New Zealand |
| Amy Cutter-Mackenzie | Southern Cross University, Australia |
| Bob Davis | University of Glasgow, UK |
| Noah De Lissovoy | University of Texas at Austin, USA |
| Lynn Fendler | Michigan State University, USA |
| Derek R. Ford | Syracuse University, USA |
| Daniella Forster | University of Newcastle, Australia |
| Ivan Fortunato | Sao Paulo State University, Brazil |
| Jennifer M. Gidley | RMIT University, Australia |
| Sandy Grande | Connecticut College, USA |
| Nathan Harris | University of Rochester, USA |
| Sarah Hart | University of Hartford, USA |
| Joe Henderson | University of Delaware, USA |
| Anne Hickling-Hudson | Queensland University of Technology, Australia |
| Dave Hill | Anglia Ruskin University, UK |
| Brian Holland | Policy Consultant, USA |
| Zhu Hongwen | Beijing Normal University, China |
| Nina Hood | The Education Hub, New Zealand |
| Joanne Hughes | Queen’s University Belfast, UK |
| Liz Jackson | University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong |
| Romi Jain | Cleveland State University, USA |
| Petar Jandric | University of Applied Sciences, Zagreb, Croatia |
| Mirka Koro-Ljungberg | Arizona State University, USA |
| Bob Lingard | The University of Queensland, Australia |
| Sheila Macrine | University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, USA |
| Gregory Martin | University of Technology Sydney, Australia |
| Camille Anne Martina | University of Rochester, USA |
| Peter Mayo | University of Malta, Malta |
| Marcia McKenzie | University of Saskatchewan, Canada |
| Peter McLaren | Chapman University, USA |
| Alex Means | University of Buffalo, USA |
| Linda Mitchell | University of Waikato, New Zealand |
| Maria Nikolakaki | University of the Peloponnese, Greece |
| Mark Olssen | University of Surrey, Guildford, UK |
| Filippo Gomez Paloma | University of Salerno, Italy |
| Tom Pedroni | Wayne State University, USA |
| Thomas Popkewitz | University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA |
| Shirley Porter | Bay of Plenty Polytechnic, New Zealand |
| Jocey Quinn | London Metropolitan University, UK |
| Glenn Rikowski | Independent Scholar, UK |
| Fazal Rizvi | University of Melbourne, Australia |
| Sarah A. Robert | University of Buffalo, USA |
| Peter Roberts | University of Canterbury, New Zealand |
| Sophia Rodriguez | College of Charleston, USA |
| Klas Roth | Stockholm University, Sweden |
| Carolyn Vander Schee | Northern Illinois University, USA |
| David Geoffrey Smith | University of Alberta, Canada |
| Richard J. M. Smith | Te Whare Wananga o Awanuiarangi, New Zealand |
| Georgina Stewart | University of Auckland, New Zealand |
| Sean Sturm | The University of Auckland, New Zealand |
| Juha Suoranta | University of Tampere, Finland |
| Khalida Tanvir Syed | University of Manitoba, Canada |
| Martin Thrupp | University of Waikato, New Zealand |
| Qingyan Tian | Ocean University of China, China |
| Angela Valenzuela | University of Texas at Austin, USA |
| Louis Volante | Brock University, Canada |
| Susanne Maria Weber | Philipps Universität Marburg, Germany |
| Anthony R. Welch | University of Sydney, Australia |
| Susanne Westman | Luleå University of Technology, Sweden |
| Christopher Winch | Kings College, London, UK |
| Jinting Wu | University of Macau, China |
Manuscript Submission Guidelines: Policy Futures in Education
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 http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/pfie 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 Policy Futures in 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 Policy Futures in Education may accept submissions of papers that have been posted on pre-print 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.
- 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 - 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 - 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 Policy Futures in Education, please ensure you have read the Aims & Scope.
The journal publishes five kinds of submissions:
-
- quality academic articles (generally 6-7000 words)
- national and international policy reports (unspecified length)
- policy research notes (2000 words maximum)
- reviews (1000 words maximum)
- interchanges (interviews, right of reply etc.)
The Editors are interested, in particular, in themed issues
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
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.
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).
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.
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.
Policy Futures in 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 research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
Policy Futures in Education encourages authors to include a declaration of any conflicting interests and recommends you review the good practice guidelines on the Sage Journal Author Gateway
Information on informed consent to report individual cases or case series should be included in the manuscript text. A statement is required regarding whether written informed consent for patient information and images to be published was provided by the patient(s) or a legally authorized representative.
Please also refer to the ICMJE Recommendations for the Protection of Research Participants.
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, we encourage you to consider using the statement to explain why it cannot be shared.
- cite this data in your research
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
Policy Futures in 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
Policy Futures in Education 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. 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.
Policy Futures in Education does not currently accept supplemental files.
Policy Futures in Education adheres to the Sage Harvard reference style. View the Sage Harvard guidelines to ensure your manuscript conforms to this reference style.
If you use EndNote to manage references, you can download the Sage Harvard EndNote output file.
Listed, are a few examples of in-text referencing in Harvard style:
1. If the author’s name is in the text, follow with year in parentheses: ... Author Last Name (year) has argued ...
2. If author’s name is not in the text, insert last name, comma and year: ... several works (Author Last Name, year) have described ...
For more examples, please click here.
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.
Policy Futures in Education is hosted on Sage Track, a web based online submission and peer review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts. Visit http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/pfie 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 provide a biography of 80-120 words for each author. Author biographies must be included in the title page of the manuscript and not in the text file so as not to compromise anonymize peer review.
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 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 Policy Futures in Education editorial office as follows:
Marek Tesar, Editor-in-Chief, m.tesar@auckland.ac.nz