Submission Guidelines
The Editors welcome manuscripts on all aspects of Catholic elementary, secondary, and higher education for peer review and possible publication. The Journal of Catholic Education features original empirical qualitative and quantitative research, literature reviews, theoretical works, practitioner pieces, and book reviews.
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Education in Practice Section Guidelines
Article Submission Guidelines
Submissions must be made through the online submission system. Mailed or emailed submissions will not be accepted.
Articles submitted to the main article section will undergo blind peer review. Authors can expect the peer review process to take approximately 12-16 weeks from submission to first decision.
Before submitting, Authors should be able to answer YES to all of the following:
- The manuscript is an original submission not previously published or under consideration of another publication.
- The manuscript is well organized, uses headings and subheadings to guide readers through the paper, and follows the publication guidelines found in the APA Publication Manual.
- The manuscript is between 6,000 and 8,000 words, including references.
- Author/Authors name(s), address(es), position(s), affiliation(s), or other potentially identifying information do not appear anywhere in the text, headers/footers, title, keywords, abstract, document name, or file properties.
- References are complete, correctly formatted in APA (7th ed.), and include URLs and DOIs for electronic resources.
- Tables, Figures, and Appendices are embedded in the manuscript. Figures are high-resolution (300 dpi) .jpg. .tif or .png files.
- Manuscript DOES NOT include a title page or abstract. (These will be provided by the system.)
- Author has obtained any necessary approvals from his/her institutional review board (IRB) and/or other agencies to conduct and publish research involving human subjects.
- Author has obtained any necessary copyright permission to reproduce tables, figures, or excerpts.
Please be sure to have the following items available when submitting an article:
- Name, affiliation, and email address for all authors
- Article title
- An abstract (approximately 150 words, separate from the manuscript body
- 4-6 keywords for your article
- Blinded manuscript (with embedded tables and figures, appendices, and references) in Microsoft Word (.doc) or Rich Text (.rtf) format.
Education in Practice Submission Guidelines
The Editors of the Journal of Catholic Education invite articles from teachers, administrators, curriculum specialists, counselors and other school personnel for a section entitled Education in Practice. This special section is focused on effective, research-based practices in PK-12 Catholic education. The section will be recurring and will complement the research published within each issue of the Journal of Catholic Education.
The goal of the Education in Practice section is to showcase practitioner-focused and practitioner-led research and innovative school/classroom practices. Manuscripts for submission in this section should take a more pragmatic approach to a problem of practice or innovative implementation. Action research, improvement science, design-based school improvement, and disciplined inquiry are all useful methodologies for the Education in Practice section. This type of solution-oriented work is typically led by practitioners (school leaders, classroom teachers) within their own school context, in an effort to lead to targeted improvement.
We welcome articles and essays on all aspects of Catholic education. Possible areas of focus include: assessment practices, approaches to inclusion for students with special needs or English language learners, enrollment, school culture, technology integration, school governance, spiritual formation, or service learning.
Manuscript Format
To be considered for the Education in Practice section, interested contributors should submit a cover letter with a paragraph or abstract introducing the focus of the proposed manuscript along with the manuscript. Submissions should be between 2500-4500 words and should include the following elements similar to an academic journal article:
- Description of the context and evidence-based problem of practice
- Description of the intervention including research basis, goals, materials and implementation
- Description of practical measures to assess change
- Outcomes
- Reflection, including lessons learned
- Recommendations for other practitioners
- References
Articles should be original submissions to the Journal of Catholic Education and not previously published elsewhere.
Submitted manuscripts will be reviewed by the Editor for the Education in Practice section in addition to Journal Editors and/or a panel of peer reviewers after the initial review. Acceptance of submitted manuscripts will be based on the relevance of the topic to the Journal’s readers, the research basis of the approach described, the embedded practical measures to assess change, and the quality of the manuscript (organization, writing style, etc).
Please be sure to have the following items available when submitting an article to the Education in Practice section:
- Name, affiliation, and email address for all authors
- Article title
- An abstract (approximately 150 words, separate from the manuscript body)
- 4-6 keywords for your article
- Blinded manuscript
Please contact the editors of the Education in Practice section with questions.
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Book Review Guidelines
The Journal publishes reviews of recent books on topics related to Catholic education at the PK-12 and higher education levels. Book reviews are not peer reviewed; they are vetted by the Editors.
Authors interested in reviewing a book should contact the Managing Editor to request a copy.
Book reviews should be 900-1,200 words in length; authors are not required to provide an abstract, but are encouraged to identify 4-6 keywords.
In addition, please include the following information about the book at the beginning of your review:
- Name of Author(s)
- Name of Editor(s) (if applicable)
- Place of publication
- Publisher
- Year of publication
- Price (hardcover, paperback, and/or electronic)
- Number of pages in the book
Describe the content of the book concisely, avoiding a chapter-by-chapter precis or excessive detail. Be sure to evaluate the work critically, judging the strengths and shortcomings of the work as it pertains particularly to Catholic education. The focus of the review should be on evaluating the book, ideally integrating a description of the book within the evaluation. Be sure to maintain a courteous tone, respecting the work of the author and providing a balanced critique. If citing directly from the book, indicate the page number in parentheses.
Special Issues
In addition to the annual Fall and Spring issues, the Journal also publishes occasional special issues on topics relevant to Catholic Education. Guest Editors for special issues are faculty researchers and experts in the area(s) of focus for the special issue.
Researchers interested in proposing a special issue of the Journal of Catholic Education should contact the Managing Editor for more information on the proposal process and expectations for Guest Editors. The Journal's Governing Board is responsible for reviewing and approving proposals for special issues.
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