Submissions

Author Guidelines

Author Guidelines

Guidelines for All Submissions

1. Length: Maximum length for different sections in the Journal of Learning for Development are: (i) Research articles:  6000 words; (ii) Report from the Field: 2500 words; (iii) Case Study: 2500 words; (iv) Commentary: 2500 words; (v) Book Reviews: 1500-2000 words.

2. Style: Use 12-point Times Roman font and double-space throughout, including block quotations, references, and notes. All body text should be left-aligned. Font size and style for the submission should follow: Title – Calibri 16pt bold, Title, Centred; Main Heading – Calibri 14pt bold, Title Case. Centred; Second level headings – 12 pt Calibri bold, Title Case; left-aligned; Third level headings – Times Roman 12pt bold italic, Title Case, left-aligned.  Use Table caption at top, left-aligned, and Figure caption at bottom centre, with 10 pt Calibri bold font and Title Case. JL4D's editorial style conforms closely to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). Editorial changes may be made to manuscripts. For spelling, consult Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary; spelling in quoted material remains as in the original. 

3. Abstract: Provide an abstract of approximately 150 words that summarises the main points of the article.

4. Biographical Notes: Submit a biographical note for each author of not more than 50 words while submitting the paper via the Journal website. Do not include author information on the paper to follow a blind peer review process. Avoid any references to author(s) in the manuscript and use "Author" while citing and references to the author/s of the paper. Once the review process is over, we would ask you to update the references.

Authors' details and affiliation would be updated from the online submission, and therefore while submitting the manuscript authors are advised not to include name and other details in the paper. If you want, these can be uploaded as supplementary files.

5. References: Sources cited appear in parentheses after each reference (direct or otherwise), giving author's name (unless mentioned in text), year of publication, and page number(s) in the case of direct quotes (eg. (Mishra, 2015, p.128)). Enclose quotations of 40 or fewer words in double quotation marks in the text; indent quotations longer than 40 words in block format; page numbers must be given. List all sources alphabetically at the end of the manuscript under the heading References, using American Psychological Association publication manual, version 7.0.

Footnotes are not allowed, and the use of endnotes is discouraged; however, necessary brief explanatory notes, numbered consecutively and marked in the text with superscript numeral, may appear before the References under the heading Notes; citations in notes follow the same format as other references.

6. Graphics and Illustrations: All illustrations, figures, and tables should be placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end. Number tables and figures with Arabic numerals.

7. Plagiarism: Submissions that are identified with potential for publications are subjected to plagiarism detection software. Author/s are advised based on the report and judgement of the Editor.

8. Conference papers: The Journal of Learning for Development will consider publication of conference papers only if a text version of the paper is not already available online, the paper conforms to the focus of the journal and its author guidelines, and it has been anonymised for external review.  

 Guidelines for Reports from the Field

This section of the Journal is intended for brief, descriptive papers on topics of interest to educators and practitioners. The Reports from the Field section provides a venue for exploring promising practices, programme evaluations, policy considerations, and innovative examples of education in development contexts. Topics may include:

• Programmes, interventions, innovative practices;
• Understudied issues in education in development contexts;
• Efforts to use prior research findings to craft policy and/or practice

Reports from the Field should not exceed 2500 words. Authors must provide a short abstract (less than 75 words) and no more than two figures or illustrations, no more than 2 tables, and no more than 15 references.

Authors should keep in mind that Reports from the Field is not the place for drawing conclusions about effectiveness or causality: such conclusions may be drawn only on the basis of scientific study that goes well beyond the scope of what is covered in a Report from the Field.

Authors should take care to contextualise their work as much as possible – provide descriptive information about (for example) the demographic profile or history of the population, condition, region, neighbourhood, programme, or practice that is the topic of the Report.

Reports are not structured as research papers and do not contain statistical analyses (other than purely descriptive statistics).

In the interests of consistency, the structure of Reports from the Field submitted for publication should include the following:

1. The aim of the project, programme or activity;
2. The context;
3. The character of the innovation in learning;
4. The impact on development, including evidence;
5. Plans for future work.

The Author'(s) institution or organisation and position, along with contact details, should be given.

 Guidelines for Case Study

This section of the journal is intended to tell stories that provide short, simple-to-read, personal, ‘in-the-field’ accounts of programmes, processes, events and experiences that give the readers a better understanding of the issues involved. They provide the answers for those who say ‘Yes, we understand the possibilities or the theory but how do these programmes work in reality?

Case studies would normally:

• describe new and distinctive ODL practices, or familiar practices in unfamiliar contexts
• be much shorter than full research papers: perhaps 2,000 – 3,000 words.
• nevertheless still set the practice in the context of literature, and show awareness of other related practice elsewhere, and recognise important conceptual issues being raised, though not having a long review section at the start or in the discussion.
• not review theoretical or general background literature in any depth.

Case studies often make more use of qualitative rather than quantitative methods. They normally explain the aims and contexts of programmes; highlight particular development issues, problems or challenges; provide clear, engaging and thought-provoking accounts of the managerial, operational, economic, social and cultural aspects of programmes’ implementation; and provide evidence of the outcomes and impacts of programmes. Case studies for JL4D should follow the normal style of the presentation of research articles in the journal. The structure of the Case Study should follow the following:

Introduction needs to 1) attract the readers’ interest, 2) explain the background or context, and 3) make clear the aims of the study.

Methods need to briefly explain the research methods and instruments used, the population and sampling, triangulation and analyses of the findings, and where no evidence is visible, explain why. All methods and results used should be valid and reliable.

Results and Discussion are the most important and longest sections in any case study.  The Results section, need to report evidence simply, clearly, logically - and without any bias or interpretation. All comments and interpretations should be left for the Discussion section. The Discussion section of the case study is where results are interpreted and discussed in relation to any theory or previous research findings. Draw attention to any gaps, unanswered questions or other issues that arose during the investigation.

Conclusion and recommendations may include 1) summary of main findings, 2) link these to whatever theories, hypotheses, assumptions or suppositions were to be tested, 3) main conclusions from this study, and 4) recommendations, if any.

References to follow the usual APA style.

Guidelines for Book Review

The JL4D accepts book reviews and reviews of research reports and similar publications from reviewers which are in the area of learning for development addressing education issues including open and distance learning, e-learning and other related technologies advancing learning for development. The book reviews editor accepts both solicited and unsolicited reviews as long as they address the mission and mandate of the JL4D. Reviews that focus on edited or authored books recently published (i.e. within the last two years) are preferred and the recommended length for a review is 1000-1500 words.

The journal welcomes reviewers from across the globe. To avoid the perception of a conflict of interest, we ask that reviewers do not submit reviews of books authored or edited by anyone with whom they have a close personal or professional relationship.

The format followed is similar to the guidelines for JL4D article publication. Authors should ensure they indicate the following for their reviews:

Author, Title, Place of publication: Publisher, date of publication and number of pages.

In terms of style and content reviewers are expected to:

• present accurate information about the book, research reports or similar publications
• evaluate the strengths and weaknesses for the book, research report or similar publication
• assess the place of the book, research report or similar publication in the field and how it fits into other similar works or studies and its value add in terms of impact
• give more or less equal space to
• description or summary of what is in the volume
• analysis of what is in the volume 
• some contribution about this area of ideas from the reviewer’s perspective