American Educational Research Journal
Action Research/Practitioner Inquiry | Data Collection & Analysis | Program Evaluation
The American Educational Research Journal (AERJ) is the flagship journal of the American Educational Research Association, featuring articles that advance the empirical, theoretical, and methodological understanding of education and learning. It publishes original peer-reviewed analyses that span the field of education research across all subfields and disciplines and all levels of analysis. It also encourages submissions across all levels of education throughout the life span and all forms of learning. AERJ welcomes submissions of the highest quality, reflecting a wide range of perspectives, topics, contexts, and methods, including interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary work.
All issues of AERJ are available to browse online.
The American Educational Research Journal (AERJ) is the flagship journal of the American Educational Research Association, featuring articles that advance the empirical, theoretical, and methodological understanding of education and learning. It publishes original peer-reviewed analyses that span the field of education research across all subfields and disciplines and all levels of analysis. It also encourages submissions across all levels of education throughout the life span and all forms of learning. AERJ welcomes submissions of the highest quality, reflecting a wide range of perspectives, topics, contexts, and methods, including interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary work.
| Ellen Goldring | Vanderbilt University, USA |
| Angela Calabrese Barton | University of Michigan, USA |
| Sean Kelly | University of Pittsburgh, USA |
| Madeline Mavrogordato | Michigan State University, USA |
| Paul Poteat | Boston College, USA |
| Peter Youngs | University of Virginia, USA |
| Celia Rousseau Anderson | University of Memphis, USA |
| Michael Bastedo | University of Michigan, USA |
| Soo-yong Byun | Pennsylvania State University, USA |
| Rebecca Callahan | University of Vermont, USA |
| Victoria Hand | University of Colorado, Boulder, USA |
| Huriya Jabbar | University of Southern California, USA |
| Hosun Kang | University of California-Irvine, USA |
| Bic Ngo | University of Minnesota, USA |
| David M. Quinn | University of Southern California, USA |
| Matt Ronfeldt | University of Michigan, USA |
| Maxine McKinney de Royston | University of Wisconsin Madison, USA |
| Lucrecia Santibañez | University of California, Los Angeles, USA |
| Jennifer Steele | American University, USA |
| Lawrence Louis | Michigan State University, USA |
| Mona M. Abo-Zena | University of Massachusetts, Boston, USA |
| Motoko Akiba | Florida State University, USA |
| Steven J. Amendum | University of Delaware, USA |
| Megan Austin | American Institutes for Research, USA |
| Aydin Bal | University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA |
| Gary E. Bingham | Georgia State University, USA |
| Jennifer M. Bondy | Arizona State University, USA |
| Alex J. Bowers | Teachers College, Columbia University, USA |
| Nicholas A. Bowman | University of Iowa, USA |
| Melissa Braaten | University of Colorado Boulder, USA |
| Travis Bristol | University of California, Berkeley, USA |
| Bill Carbonaro | University of Notre Dame, USA |
| Chris Chang-Bacon | University of Virginia, USA |
| Jennifer Chiu | University of Virginia, USA |
| Anna Chmielewski | University of Toronto, Canada |
| Amita Chudgar | Michigan State University, USA |
| Julie Cohen | University of Virginia, USA |
| Dylan Conger | George Washington University, USA |
| Hilary G. Conklin | DePaul University, USA |
| Kristy S. Cooper Stein | Michigan State University, USA |
| Maia Cucchiara | Temple University, USA |
| Thomas S. Dee | Stanford University, USA |
| Jannick Demanet | Ghent University, Belgium |
| Morgaen Donaldson | University of Connecticut, USA |
| Lisa Dorner | University of Missouri-Columbia, USA |
| Sarah Dryden-Peterson | Harvard University, USA |
| Alyssa H. Dunn | University of Connecticut, USA |
| Abiola Farinde-Wu | University of Massachusetts Boston, USA |
| Rachel Fish | New York University, USA |
| Timothy G. Ford | University of Oklahoma, USA |
| Alexandra J. Freidus | University of Connecticut, USA |
| Liliana M. Garces | University of Texas at Austin, USA |
| Christine Greenhow | Michigan State University, USA |
| Michael Hines | Stanford University, USA |
| Lionel C. Howard | The George Washington University, USA |
| Andrea G. Hunter | University of North Carolina, Greensboro, USA |
| Ozan Jaquette | University of California, Los Angeles, USA |
| Angela Johnson | NWEA, USA |
| David R. Johnson | Georgia State University, USA |
| Hosun Kang | University of California-Irvine, USA |
| Yasuko Kanno | Boston University, USA |
| Sarah S. Kavanagh | University of Pennsylvania, USA |
| Michael J. Kieffer | New York University, USA |
| Michael J. Kieffer | New York University, USA |
| David D. Liebowitz | University of Oregon, USA |
| Paco Martorell | School of Education, University of California, Davis, USA |
| Lance T. McCready | University of Toronto, Canada |
| Andrew McEachin | NWEA, USA |
| Chauncey B. Monte-Sano | University of Michigan, USA |
| Susan B. Neuman | New York University, USA |
| Federick J. Ngo | University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA |
| Gregory J. Palardy | University of California, Riverside, USA |
| Tara J. Parker | University of Massachusetts, Boston, USA |
| Judy Paulick | University of Virginia, USA |
| Donald J. Peurach | University of Michigan, USA |
| Ben Pogodzinski | Wayne State University, USA |
| Julie R. Posselt | University of Southern California, USA |
| Christopher Redding | University of Florida, USA |
| Catherine Riegle-Crumb | University of Texas, Austin, USA |
| Matthew Ronfeldt | University of Michigan, USA |
| Andrea Rorrer | University of Utah, USA |
| Carolyn Sattin-Bajaj | University of California, Santa Barbara, USA |
| Lauren Schudde | University of Texas at Austin, USA |
| Adela Soliz | Vanderbilt University, USA |
| Matthew G. Springer | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA |
| David Stroupe | University of Utah, USA |
| John Tawa | Mount Holyoke College, USA |
| Katie H. Taylor | University of Washington, USA |
| Dianna R. Townsend | University of Nevada-Reno, USA |
| Paola Uccelli | Harvard University, USA |
| Shirin Vossoughi | Northwestern University, USA |
| Chezare A. Warren | Vanderbilt University, USA |
| Anjalé D. Welton | University of Wisconsin - Madison, USA |
| Rachel S. White | Old Dominion University, USA |
| Bethany Wilinski | Michigan State University, USA |
| Jim Wyckoff | University of Virginia, USA |
| Michelle D. Young | Loyola Marymount University, USA |
| Angela Cox | Vanderbilt University, USA |
| Caroline Bartlett | Michigan State University, USA |
| Scout Crimmins | University of Virginia, USA |
| Gizem Guner | University of Pittsburg, USA |
| Anna Moyer | Vanderbilt University, USA |
| Mez Perez | University of Michigan, USA |
| Kayla Reist | University of Virginia, USA |
| Kyle P. Smith | University of Michigan, USA |
All manuscripts for AERJ should be submitted electronically at https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/aerj. Manuscript submissions by e-mail are not accepted.
Please carefully review the guidelines below. For specific questions or inquiries, please contact the editorial office at: AERJ@aera.net
Additional information can also be found at: Sage Manuscript Submission Guidelines.
General Information
AERJ operates on a double-anonymize review policy; once your manuscript is received, it will first be read by the editors to determine whether it merits being sent out for review to a panel of anonymize reviewers.
AERJ does not accept manuscript submissions that are previously published, currently in-press, or under consideration for publication elsewhere. If there is a prior distribution of your manuscript, please check the Sage prior publication guidelines for examples of acceptable submissions.
Manuscript Criteria
The fitness of a manuscript for publication in AERJ is carefully reviewed based on each of the following dimensions:
- Scope/relevance to the field of education
- Conceptual framework (connections to relevant constructs in literature)
- Methods
- Appropriateness to questions
- Adequate description of methods (including data collection, description of samples, and analysis)
- Rigor of methods
- Findings/conclusions are literature or data-based
- Overall contribution to the field
- Writing style/composition/clarity
Research Ethics and Publication Standards
Researchers submitting manuscripts should consult the Standards for Research Conduct in AERA publications and the AERA Code of Ethics.
Submission Preparation Checklist
As part of the submission process, please confirm your submission’s compliance with the requirements below. Submissions that do not adhere to these guidelines may be returned to the author(s).
APA Style
All submissions should follow the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition
Title page file
Supply complete contact information for all authors on a separately uploaded title page file including: author name(s), affiliation, complete street address, e-mail address, and phone number.
Please clearly indicate the corresponding author who will be handling the communications with the editors, approving final proofs, and working with the association’s publications team should the manuscript be accepted for publication.
Length and Formatting
The main document of the submitted manuscript may not exceed 50 double-spaced pages including all tables, figures, notes, and references. Pages must be typed for 8½" x 11" paper with 1" margins on all sides and double-spaced using 12-point type, preferably Times New Roman. Word files and LaTeX files (submitted with the corresponding PDF) are acceptable.
Subheads should be used at reasonable intervals to break the monotony of text.
Pages should be numbered consecutively.
Abbreviations and acronyms should be spelled out at first mention unless found as entries in their abbreviated form in Merriam-Webster’s Tenth Collegiate Dictionary (e.g., “IQ” needs no explanation).
Appendices
Appendices can be considered as part of the manuscript only if, with their inclusion, the submitted manuscript is still within the maximum page limit of 50 double-spaced pages.
Online Supplementary Materials and Appendices
If the inclusion of appendices or other materials exceeds the manuscript’s 50 page limit, these files will not be included as part of the print publication, but will be made available separately online.
You must uploaded these files as a separate document in the system as supplementary files. Please indicate "ONLINE SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS" at the top of the uploaded document as a courtesy note to the editors and reviewers. All online supplementary materials should also be clearly labeled with “online” in the file name.
Anonymizing / Author identification
AERJ uses a anonymize review process; therefore, submitted manuscripts must conceal or remove the authors’ identity, affiliations, and funding source(s), as well as any other clues that exist within the manuscript.
- Authors must ensure that submission materials outside of the title page file contain no identifying information. This includes any information within the text, citations, references, or footnotes. These may be reinserted in the final draft.
- Avoid writing in such a way that potentially reveals author identity even when the author’s name has been removed.
Examples of what is not acceptable:
- “This way of implementing education policy is consistent with the term I refer as ‘social justice enabling practice’ (Author, 2019).”
- “The data for this study come from the National Magnet School Survey (Author, 2018).”
Examples of what is acceptable:
- “This way of implementing education policy is consistent with what is referred to as ‘social justice enabling practice’ (Mavrogordato, 2019)*
- *You would then, in this particular instance, include the author’s unanonymized reference in the references list
- Explanation: To reiterate our general rule that manuscripts should not provide clues as to author identity.
- “The data for this study come from a national survey of magnet schools.”
- Explanation: In the case of a large national survey where only the author and their colleagues have access to it, citing it would reveal their identity. However, if the author uses widely published data (MET, NCES, etc.), it is acceptable to disclose the specific database.
- Cite work published by the author or co-authors that are referenced in the text as "Author" and the year of citation (e.g., Author, 2018), and place in the first position of the parentheses when they are cited in the text.
- Example: “Students’ disengagement has increasingly been linked to the quality of their classroom settings (Authors, 2018; Anderson, 2015; Wentzel, 1998).”
- Work published by a submitting author and an outside author (not on the manuscript) can be cited as: Author & --, year
- The authors’ references should appear at the top of the reference list ahead of all other references and shown as “Author(s)” and year only. Do not show any additional information such as title, name of publication, etc.
Example:
Author, 2015a
Authors, 2017
Authors & --, 2018
Adnot, M., Dee, T., Katz, V., & Wyckoff, J. (2017). Teacher turnover, teacher quality, and student achievement in DCPS. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 39(1), 54-76.
Fredricks, J. A., Blumenfeld, P. C., & Paris, A. H. (2004). School engagement: Potential of the concept, state of the evidence. Review of Educational Research, 74, 59–109.
- When submitting a revised version of a manuscript, please be sure to submit a anonymize version of your response letter detailing changes made to the manuscript, as this letter will be accessed by reviewers.
Abstract and keywords
All manuscripts should include an abstract of 100–120 words. Please also include a few keywords or terms that researchers will use to find your article in indexes and databases. Articles in AERA journals typically list 3 to 5 keywords.
Notes
Notes are for explanations or amplifications of textual material. They are distracting to readers and expensive to set and should be avoided whenever possible. They should be typed as normal text at the end of the text section of the manuscript rather than as part of the footnote or endnote feature of a computer program and should be numbered consecutively throughout the article.
References
All anonymized references should appear at the top of the references list.
The reference list should contain only references that are cited in the manuscript. Its accuracy and completeness are the responsibility of the author(s).
References should include each publicly available identifier (DOI), a handle, or a uniform resource name (URN). If necessary, this last element may be replaced by a web address and an access date.
Personal communications (letters, memos, telephone conversations) are cited in the text after the name with as exact a date as possible.
All references should follow APA style.
Tables, figures, and illustrations
The purpose of tables and figures is to present data to the reader in a clear and unambiguous manner. Figures and tables should be keyed to the text. Tables should each be typed on a separate sheet and included at the end of the manuscript (after the references). Tables will be typeset and should be editable (i.e., submitted as Word or Excel files).
Figure captions should be typed on a separate sheet (and should not appear in full on the original figures). One high-quality electronic version of each figure must be submitted with the manuscript that is to be typeset (i.e., .jpeg, .png, PDF). Figures are converted to grayscale for the print edition; they appear in color online.
See also the section below regarding permission to reproduce copyrighted material.
Review Criteria
The Reviewer Guidelines summarize the criteria for the manuscript review.
How to Get Help with the Quality of English in Your Submission
Authors who would like to refine the use of English in their manuscripts might consider using the services of a professional English-language editing company. We highlight some of these companies at https://languageservices.sagepub.com/en/.
Please be aware that Sage has no affiliation with these companies and makes no endorsement of them. An author's use of these services in no way guarantees that his or her submission will ultimately be accepted. Any arrangement an author enters into will be exclusively between the author and the particular company, and any costs incurred are the sole responsibility of the author.
Copyright Information
Accepted authors will be asked to assign copyright to AERA, in return for which AERA grants several rights to authors.
Permission to reproduce your own published material
No written or oral permission is necessary to reproduce a table, a figure, or an excerpt of fewer than 500 words from this journal, or to make photocopies for classroom use. Authors are granted permission, without fee, to photocopy their own material or make printouts from the final pdf of their article. Copies must include a full and accurate bibliographic citation and the following credit line: “Copyright [year] by the American Educational Research Association; reproduced with permission from the publisher.” Written permission must be obtained to reproduce or reprint material in circumstances other than those just described. Please review Sage Publishing’s Journal Permissions for further information on policies and fees.
Permission to submit material for which you do not own copyright
Authors who wish to use material, such as figures or tables, for which they do not own the copyright must obtain written permission from the copyright holder (usually the publisher) and submit it along with their manuscript. However, no written or oral permission is necessary to reproduce a table, a figure, or an excerpt of fewer than 500 words from an AERA journal.
Copyright transfer agreements for accepted works with more than one author
This journal uses a transfer of copyright agreement that requires just one author (the corresponding author) to sign on behalf of all authors. Please identify the corresponding author for your work when submitting your manuscript for review. The corresponding author will be responsible for the following:
- Ensuring that all authors are identified on the copyright agreement, and notifying the editorial office of any changes in the authorship.
- Securing written permission (by letter or e-mail) from each co-author to sign the copyright agreement on the co-author’s behalf.
- Warranting and indemnifying the journal owner and publisher on behalf of all co-authors. Although such instances are very rare, you should be aware that in the event that a co-author has included content in his or her portion of the article that infringes the copyright of another or is otherwise in violation of any other warranty listed in the agreement, you will be the sole author indemnifying the publisher and the editor of the journal against such violation.
Please contact the publications office at AERA if you have questions or if you prefer to use a copyright agreement for all coauthors to sign.
Privacy Statement
The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.
Comments
The Publications Committee welcomes comments and suggestions from authors. Please send these to the Publications Committee in care of the AERA central office.
Right of Reply
The right of reply policy encourages comments on recently published articles in AERA publications. They are, of course, subject to the same editorial review and decision process as articles. If the comment is accepted for publication, the editor shall inform the author of the original article. If the author submits a reply to the comment, the reply is also subject to editorial review and decision. The editor may allot a specific amount of journal space for the comment (ordinarily about 1,500 words) and for the reply (ordinarily about 750 words). The reply may appear in the same issue as the comment or in a later issue (Council, June 1980).
If an article is accepted for publication in an AERA journal that, in the judgment of the editor, has as its main theme or thrust a critique of a specific piece of work or a specific line of work associated with an individual or program of research, then the individual or representative of the research program whose work is critiqued should be notified in advance about the upcoming publication and given the opportunity to reply, ideally in the same issue. The author of the original article should also be notified. Normal guidelines for length and review of the reply and publication of a rejoinder by the original article’s author(s) should be followed. Articles in the format “an open letter to …” may constitute prototypical exemplars of the category defined here, but other formats may well be used, and would be included under the qualifications for response prescribed here (Council, January 2002).
Grievances
Authors who believe that their manuscripts were not reviewed in a careful or timely manner and in accordance with AERA procedures should call the matter to the attention of the Association’s executive officer or president.
Sage Choice and Open Access
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 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.