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Proposers of special issues, and prospective authors of individual papers, should submit proposals/papers to Jane Burrough, Editorial Assistant IJER, Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, 184 Hills Road, Cambridge, CB2 8PQ, UK. Email: jsb34@cam.ac.uk. Electronic transmission of proposals and papers is strongly encouraged. The Publisher and Editor regret that they are not able to consider submissions that do not follow these procedures.

Special issues
Prospective Guest Editors should submit an extended proposal to the journal's Editorial Assistant, by post or email (preferably email).

There are several stages through which any proposed special issue must go to achieve publication, two of which involve peer review. The initial stage is that the Editors judge whether or not a proposal meets the aims and scope of the journal. If it does, then the decision whether or not to proceed any further with that special issue is then made on the basis of the evaluation of an extended proposal by two members of the Editorial Board or other expert referees appointed by the Editor. If a proposal is evaluated positively by referees, a formal schedule is agreed for development of the full draft. On receipt of the draft issue from the Guest Editor(s), it is then sent out for full evaluation by appointed referees, who can recommend acceptance, modification, or rejection. At this stage, papers will be judged by referees against the criteria set out below under 'For individual papers'. Referees will also be asked to comment on the relation of the papers to each other and on the coherence of the draft special issue as a whole. If the outcome is positive, the special issue will then go to publication.

Proposals will be judged against the following criteria:

(a) Is the proposed topic of interest and relevance to an identifiable and substantial international audience of educational researchers?
(b) Does the treatment of the topic reflect an awareness of international perspectives and theoretical developments in the relevant field?
(c) Does the research to be included in each of the papers outlined in the proposal appear to be well-conceived?
(d) Is the proposal clearly and logically constructed, in a way that would encourage confidence in the proposers as Guest Editors?
(e) Does the set of contributors include researchers who are well regarded in their field?
(f) Will the special issue make a significant and useful contribution to the study of education?

Selection also favours proposals which involve authors from several countries and which propose to include an introductory chapter and/or final commentary (by the Guest Editors or by independent discussants appointed proposed by the Guest Editors) which will provide readers with a good overview and help make the special issue coherent.

All proposals should include the following information:

(a) an overview (one page A4 maximum) from the Guest Editors of the aims, content, and expected audience for the proposed issue, with an explanation of the distinctive contribution it is expected to make to educational research and why the selected contributors are appropriate people to provide this;
(b) a table of contents
(c) an abstract for each of the proposed contributions (about 120 words);
(d) a biographical statement for each of the proposed Guest Editors, linking them to the field of study;
(e) brief details about the other contributors, including their institutional affiliation;
(f) an estimate of when the complete first draft would be available.

Each issue normally has a maximum length of 45,000 words, with a range of 42,000 to 45,000 being a reasonable target for contributors. However, proposals for double-length issues (up to 90,000 words) can also be made. Instructions for the preparation of papers will be provided to Guest Editors on acceptance of a proposal.

Individual papers
The Editors make an initial judgement of the suitability of a submitted paper for the journal. If it is judged suitable in terms of scope and content, it is then sent out for review to two appointed referees with expertise in the relevant field.

Papers will be judged against the following main criteria:

(a) Is the proposed topic of interest and relevance to an identifiable and substantial international audience of educational researchers?
(b) Does the research described appear to be well-conceived, using appropriate methodology and taking account of current theoretical and empirical developments in the field of study?
(c) Does the paper provide a significant and useful contribution to the study of education?
(d) Is the paper written in a clear style, with a good quality of academic English?

Responsibilities of the Author/Guest Editor
Electronic transmission of proposals decreases this time period by about one-half. For each accepted proposal a mutually acceptable deadline for the submission of the entire manuscript will be established. In preparing and submitting the manuscript, the author or guest editor has the following responsibilities.
(a) Ensure that the established deadline is met.
(b) Ensure that the entire manuscript conforms to the accepted elements of style.
(c) Ensure that the manuscript is reasonably well written, conforms to rules of standard English, and is approximately 45,000 words in length for special issues or 5-8,000 words for individual articles. [An estimated word count should be included in a cover letter accompanying the manuscript.]
(d) Be willing to make (or, in the case of guest editors, secure) changes in the manuscript that the Editorial Board believes necessary to enhance its quality and/or contribution.

Submission of articles

General
It is essential to give a fax number and e-mail address when submitting a manuscript. Articles must be written in good English.

Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, without the written consent of the copyright holder.

Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to sign a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' (for more information on this and copyright see: http://www.elsevier.com/copyright). Acceptance of the agreement will ensure the widest possible dissemination of information. An e-mail (or letter) will be sent to the corresponding author confirming receipt of the manuscript together with a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' form or a link to the online version of this agreement.

Subscribers may reproduce tables of contents or prepare lists of articles including abstracts for internal circulation within their institutions. Permission of the Publisher is required for resale or distribution outside the institution and for all other derivative works, including compilations and translations (please consult: http://www.elsevier.com/permissions).

If excerpts from other copyrighted works are included, the author(s) must obtain written permission from the copyright owners and credit the source(s) in the article. Elsevier has preprinted forms for use by authors in these cases: please consult: http://www.elsevier.com/permissions.

Funding body agreements and policies
Elsevier has established agreements and developed policies to allow authors who publish in Elsevier journals to comply with potential manuscript archiving requirements as specified as conditions of their grant awards. To learn more about existing agreements and policies please visit:
http://www.elsevier.com/fundingbodies.

Authors' rights
As an author you (or your employer or institution) retain certain rights; for details you are referred to: http://www.elsevier.com/authorsrights.

Ethical approval
For information on Ethics in Publishing and Ethical guidelines for journal publication see: http://www.elsevier.com/authorethics and http://www.elsevier.com/ethicalguidelines.

Role of the funding source
You are requested to identify who provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article and to briefly describe the role of the sponsor(s), if any, in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the paper for publication. If the funding source(s) had no such involvement then this should be stated. Please see: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/authorshome.authors/funding.

Contributors
Each author is required to declare his or her individual contribution to the article: all authors must have materially participated in the research and/or article preparation, so roles for all authors should be described. The statement that all authors have approved the final article should be true and included in the disclosure.

Conflict of interest
All authors are requested to disclose any actual or potential conflict of interest including any financial, personal or other relationships with other people or organizations within three years of beginning the submitted work that could inappropriately influence, or be perceived to influence, their work. See also: http://www.elsevier.com/conflictsofinterest.

Acknowledgements
List here those individuals who provided help during the research (e.g., providing language help, writing assistance or proofreading the article, etc.).

Electronic format requirements for accepted articles

General points
We accept most wordprocessing formats, but Word, WordPerfect or LaTeX is preferred. An electronic version of the text should be submitted together with the final hardcopy of the manuscript. The electronic version must match the hardcopy exactly. To the extent possible, guest editors are encouraged to get all authors to use the same hardware and software. Always keep a backup copy of the electronic file for reference and safety. Label storage media with your name, journal title, and software used. Save your files using the default extension of the program used. No changes to the accepted version are permissible without the explicit approval of the Editor. Electronic files can be stored on 3½ inch diskette, ZIP-disk or CD (either MS-DOS or Macintosh).

Wordprocessor documents
It is important that the file be saved in the native format of the wordprocessor used. The text should be in single-column format. Keep the layout of the text as simple as possible. Most formatting codes will be removed and replaced on processing the article. In particular, do not use the wordprocessor's options to justify text or to hyphenate words. However, do use bold face, italics, subscripts, superscripts etc. Do not embed "graphically designed" equations or tables, but prepare these using the wordprocessor's facility. When preparing tables, if you are using a table grid, use only one grid for each individual table and not a grid for each row. If no grid is used, use tabs, not spaces, to align columns. The electronic text should be prepared in a way very similar to that of conventional manuscripts (see also the Guide to Publishing with Elsevier: http://www.elsevier.com/guidepublication). Do not import the figures into the text file but, instead, indicate their approximate locations directly in the electronic text and on the manuscript. See also the section below on the preparation of electronic illustrations.

To avoid unnecessary errors you are strongly advised to use the "spell-check" and "grammar-check" functions of your wordprocessor.

Preparation of text
Presentation of manuscript

General
Please write your text in good English (American or British usage is accepted, but not a mixture of these). Italics are not to be used for expressions of Latin origin, for example, in vivo, et al., per se. Use decimal points (not commas); use a space for thousands (10 000 and above).

Manuscripts must be typewritten, double-spaced with wide margins on one side of white paper. Good quality printouts with a font size of 12 pt are required. Authors should consult a recent issue of the journal for style if possible (a free sample copy is available online at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/08830355). Note that an electronic copy of the paper should accompany the final version. The Editors reserve the right to adjust style to certain standards of uniformity. Authors should retain a copy of their manuscript since we cannot accept responsibility for damage or loss of papers. Original manuscripts are discarded one month after publication unless the Publisher is asked to return original material after use.

Use of Language
Authors should note that they are writing for an international audience. National colloquialisms and idiomatic use of language should be avoided to the extent possible. Word choices and sentence constructions that might imply bias against persons on the basis of gender, racial or ethnic group membership, disability, sexual orientation, or age should be avoided.

Length
For individual papers, a length of between 5-8,000 words is acceptable. As each issue of the International Journal of Educational Research contains approximately 45,000 words, the relative length of papers in any special issue must take this total into account.

Language Services
Authors who require information about language editing and copyediting services pre- and post-submission please visit: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/languagepolishing or contact: authorsupport@elsevier.com for more information. Please note Elsevier neither endorses nor takes responsibility for any products, goods or services offered by outside vendors through our services or in any advertising. For more information please refer to our Terms & Conditions: http://www.elsevier.com/termsandconditions.

Provide the following data on the title page (in the order given).

Title. Concise and informative. Titles are often used in information-retrieval systems. Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible.

Author names and affiliations. Where the family name may be ambiguous (e.g. a double name), please indicate this clearly. Present the authors' affiliation addresses (where the actual work was done) below the names. Indicate all affiliations with a lower-case superscript letter immediately after the author's name and in front of the appropriate address. Provide the full postal address of each affiliation, including the country name, and, if available, the e-mail address of each author.

Corresponding author. Clearly indicate who is willing to handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication. Ensure that telephone and fax numbers (with country and area code) are provided in addition to the e-mail address and the complete postal address.

Present/permanent address. If an author has moved since the work described in the article was done, or was visiting at the time, a "Present address" (or "Permanent address") may be indicated as a footnote to that author's name. The address at which the author actually did the work must be retained as the main, affiliation address. Superscript Arabic numerals are used for such footnotes.

Abstract. A concise and factual abstract is required (maximum length 120 words). The abstract should state briefly the purpose of the research, the principal results and major conclusions. An abstract is often presented separate from the article, so it must be able to stand alone. References should therefore be avoided, but if essential, they must be cited in full, without reference to the reference list. Non-standard or uncommon abbreviations should be avoided, but if essential they must be defined at their first mention in the abstract itself.

Abbreviations. Define abbreviations that are not standard in this field at their first occurrence in the article: in the abstract but also in the main text after it. Ensure consistency of abbreviations throughout the article.

N.B. Acknowledgements. Collate acknowledgements in a separate section at the end of the article and do not, therefore, include them on the title page, as a footnote to the title or otherwise.

Arrangement of the article
Subdivision of the article. Divide your article into clearly defined and numbered sections as in the examples below. Use this numbering also for internal cross-referencing: do not just refer to "the text."

2. Cognitive development: new trends and questions
(Major divisions, placed at margin, in bold)

2.1 The impact of cognitive sciences (Major subdivisions, placed at margin, in italics)

2.1.1 From stages to styles
(Subdivisions, placed at margin, in italics)

Introduction. State the objectives of the work and provide an adequate background, avoiding a detailed literature survey or a summary of the results.

Experimental/Materials and methods. Provide sufficient detail to allow the work to be reproduced. Methods already published should be indicated by a reference: only relevant modifications should be described.

Theory. A Theory section should extend, not repeat, the background to the article already dealt with in the Introduction and lay the foundation for further work.

Results. Results should be clear and concise.

Discussion. This should explore the significance of the results of the work, not repeat them. A combined Results and Discussion section is often appropriate. Avoid extensive citations and discussion of published literature.

Conclusions. The main conclusions of the study may be presented in a short Conclusions section, which may stand alone or form a subsection of a Discussion or Results and Discussion section.

Acknowledgements. Place acknowledgements before the references, in a separate section, and not as a footnote on the title page.

Appendices. If there is more than one appendix, they should be identified as A, B, etc.

References. See separate section, below.

Figure captions, tables, figures, schemes. Present these, in this order, at the end of the article. They are described in more detail below. High-resolution graphics files must always be provided separate from the main text file (see the section below about the preparation of illustrations).

Text graphics. Present incidental graphics not suitable for mention as figures, plates or schemes at the end of the article and number them "Graphic 1", etc. Their precise position in the text can then be indicated. See further under the section about the preparation of illustrations. Ensure that high-resolution graphics files are provided, even if the graphic appears as part of your normal wordprocessed text file.

Specific remarks
Footnotes. Footnotes should be used sparingly. Number them consecutively throughout the article, using superscript Arabic numbers. Many wordprocessors build footnotes into the text, and this feature may be used. Should this not be the case, indicate the position of footnotes in the text and present the footnotes themselves separately at the end of the article. Do not include footnotes in the Reference list.

Table footnotes. Indicate each footnote in a table with a superscript lowercase letter.

Tables. Number tables consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text. Place footnotes to tables below the table body and indicate them with superscript lowercase letters. Avoid vertical rules. Be sparing in the use of tables and ensure that the data presented in tables do not duplicate results described elsewhere in the article.

Preparation of supplementary data. Elsevier accepts electronic supplementary material to support and enhance your scientific research. Supplementary files offer the author additional possibilities to publish supporting applications, movies, animation sequences, high-resolution images, background datasets, sound clips and more. Supplementary files supplied will be published online alongside the electronic version of your article in Elsevier Web products, including ScienceDirect: http://www.sciencedirect.com. In order to ensure that your submitted material is directly usable, please ensure that data is provided in one of our recommended file formats. Authors should submit the material in electronic format together with the article and supply a concise and descriptive caption for each file. For more detailed instructions please visit our artwork instruction pages at: http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.

Files can be stored on 3½ inch diskette, ZIP-disk or CD (either MS-DOS or Macintosh).

References
Responsibility for the accuracy of bibliographic citations lies entirely with the authors.

Citations in the text: Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa). Any references cited in the abstract must be given in full. Unpublished results and personal communications are not recommended in the reference list, but may be mentioned in the text. If these references are included in the reference list they should follow the standard reference style of the journal and should include a substitution of the publication date with either "Unpublished results" or "Personal communication" Citation of a reference as "in press" implies that the item has been accepted for publication.

Citing and listing of Web references. As a minimum, the full URL should be given. Any further information, if known (DOI, author names, dates, reference to a source publication, etc.), should also be given. Web references can be listed separately (e.g., after the reference list) under a different heading if desired, or can be included in the reference list.

Authors are requested to provide the contact details of 2 - 3 possible reviewers for their paper when they submit.

Text: In the text refer to the author's name (without initials) and the year of publication, e.g. "Because Peterson (1993) has shown that..." or "This finding is in agreement with results obtained in an earlier study (Kramer, 1994)". If quoting from a reference, page numbers should also be indicated; e.g. "(Pullman 1996, p. 21)". For 2 to 6 authors, all authors are to be listed at first citation, with "&" separating the last two authors. For more than six authors, use the first six authors followed by et al. In subsequent citations for three or more authors use the first author et al. in the text. Groups of references should be listed first alphabetically, then chronologically.

List: References should be arranged first alphabetically and then further sorted chronologically if necessary. More than one reference from the same author(s) in the same year must be identified by the letters "a", "b", "c", etc., placed after the year of publication. The manuscript should be carefully checked to ensure that the spelling of authors' names and dates are exactly the same in the text as in the reference list.

Examples:

Reference to a journal publication:
Adams, D., & Chapman, D.W. (1998). Education and national development in Asia: Trends and issues. International Journal of Educational Research, 29(7), 583-602.

Reference to a book:
Covington, M. V. (1992). Making the grade: A self-worth perspective on motivation and school reform. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Reference to a chapter in an edited book:
Wynne, E. (1989). Transmitting traditional values in contemporary schools. In L. Nucci (Ed.), Moral development and character education: A dialogue (pp. 19-36). Berkeley, CA: McCutchan Publishing Company.

For other forms of publication, please consult the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Fifth Edition (for more details, please see: http://www.apastyle.org). For proper citations of electronic references see: http://www.apa.org/journals/webref.html.

DOI Numbers
The digital object identifier (DOI) may be used to cite and link to electronic documents. The DOI consists of a unique alpha-numeric character string which is assigned to a document by the publisher upon the initial electronic publication. The assigned DOI never changes. Therefore, it is an ideal medium for citing a document, particularly 'Articles in press' because they have not yet received their full bibliographic information.

The correct format for citing a DOI is shown as follows (example taken from a document in the journal Physics Letters B):

doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2003.10.071

When you use the DOI to create URL hyperlinks to documents on the web, they are guaranteed never to change.

Preparation of illustrations

Preparation of electronic illustrations
Submitting your artwork in an electronic format helps us to produce your work to the best possible standards, ensuring accuracy, clarity and a high level of detail.

General points
- Always supply high-quality printouts of your artwork, in case conversion of the electronic artwork is problematic.
- Make sure you use uniform lettering and sizing of your original artwork.
- Save text in illustrations as "graphics" or enclose the font.
- Only use the following fonts in your illustrations: Arial, Courier, Helvetica, Times, Symbol.
- Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text.
- Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files, and supply a separate listing of the files and the software used.
- Provide captions to illustrations separately.
- Produce images near to the desired size of the printed version.

A detailed guide on electronic artwork is available on our website:
http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.

You are urged to visit this site; some excerpts from the detailed information are given here.

Formats
Regardless of the application used, when your electronic artwork is finalised, please "save as" or convert the images to one of the following formats (Note the resolution requirements for line drawings, halftones, and line/halftone combinations given below.):

EPS: Vector drawings. Embed the font or save the text as "graphics".
TIFF: Colour or greyscale photographs (halftones): always use a minimum of 300 dpi.
TIFF: Bitmapped line drawings: use a minimum of 1000 dpi.
TIFF: Combinations bitmapped line/half-tone (colour or greyscale): a minimum of 500 dpi is required.
DOC, XLS
or PPT: If your electronic artwork is created in any of these Microsoft Office applications please supply "as is".

Please do not:
- Supply embedded graphics in your wordprocessor (spreadsheet, presentation) document;
- Supply files that are optimised for screen use (like GIF, BMP, PICT, WPG); the resolution is too low;
- Supply files that are too low in resolution;
- Submit graphics that are disproportionately large for the content.

Non-electronic illustrations
Provide all illustrations as high-quality printouts, suitable for reproduction (which may include reduction) without retouching. Number illustrations consecutively in the order in which they are referred to in the text. They should accompany the manuscript, but should not be included within the text. Clearly mark all illustrations on the back (or - in case of line drawings - on the lower front side) with the figure number and the author's name and, in cases of ambiguity, the correct orientation.

Mark the appropriate position of a figure in the article.

Captions
Ensure that each illustration has a caption. Supply captions separately, not attached to the figure. A caption should comprise a brief title (not on the figure itself) and a description of the illustration. Keep text in the illustrations themselves to a minimum but explain all symbols and abbreviations used.

Line drawings
The lettering and symbols, as well as other details, should have proportionate dimensions, so as not to become illegible or unclear after possible reduction; in general, the figures should be designed for a reduction factor of two to three. The degree of reduction will be determined by the Publisher. Illustrations will not be enlarged. Consider the page format of the journal when designing the illustrations.

Do not use any type of shading on computer-generated illustrations.

Photographs (halftones)
Remove non-essential areas of a photograph. Do not mount photographs unless they form part of a composite figure. Where necessary, insert a scale bar in the illustration (not below it), as opposed to giving a magnification factor in the caption.

Colour illustrations
Submit colour illustrations as original photographs, high-quality computer prints or transparencies, close to the size expected in publication, or as 35 mm slides. Please make sure that artwork files are in an acceptable format (TIFF, EPS or MS Office files) and with the correct resolution. If, together with your accepted article, you submit usable colour figures then Elsevier will ensure, at no additional charge, that these figures will appear in colour on the Web (e.g., ScienceDirect and other sites) regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in colour in the printed version. For colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Elsevier after receipt of your accepted article. Please indicate your preference for colour in print or on the Web only. For further information on the preparation of electronic artwork, please see: http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.

Please note: Because of technical complications which can arise by converting colour figures to "grey scale" (for the printed version should you not opt for colour in print) please submit in addition usable black and white versions of all the colour illustrations.

Proofs
One set of page proofs in PDF format will be sent by e-mail to the corresponding author (if we do not have an e-mail address then paper proofs will be sent by post). Elsevier now sends PDF proofs which can be annotated; for this you will need to download Adobe Reader version 7 (or higher) available free from: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html. Instructions on how to annotate PDF files will accompany the proofs. The exact system requirements are given at the Adobe site: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/acrrsystemreqs.html#70win.

If you do not wish to use the PDF annotations function, you may list the corrections (including replies to the Query Form) and return to Elsevier in an e-mail. Please list your corrections quoting line number. If, for any reason, this is not possible, then mark the corrections and any other comments (including replies to the Query Form) on a printout of your proof and return by fax, or scan the pages and e-mail, or by post.

Please use this proof only for checking the typesetting, editing, completeness and correctness of the text, tables and figures. Significant changes to the article as accepted for publication will only be considered at this stage with permission from the Editor. We will do everything possible to get your article published quickly and accurately. Therefore, it is important to ensure that all of your corrections are sent back to us in one communication: please check carefully before replying, as inclusion of any subsequent corrections cannot be guaranteed. Proofreading is solely your responsibility. Proofs should be returned within 48 hours of receipt. Note that Elsevier may proceed with the publication of your article if no response is received.

Author Benefits

Offprints
The corresponding author, at no cost, will be provided with a PDF file of the article via e-mail. The PDF file is a watermarked version of the published article and includes a cover sheet with the journal cover image and a disclaimer outlining the terms and conditions of use. Additional paper offprints can be ordered by the authors. An order form with prices will be sent to the corresponding author.

Discount
Authors are entitled to a 30% discount on Elsevier books (excluding major reference works).

Fast Electronic Publication
Once the article has been proofed by the author, it will be published immediately on the journal's 'Articles in Press' section online, thus making it available to subscribers to read and cite. For more information, visit: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/08830355.

Author Enquiries
For enquiries relating to the submission of articles, please visit the journal's homepage at: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ijedures. From here you can also track your accepted articles ( http://authors.elsevier.com/TrackPaper.html) and set up e-mail alerts to inform you of when an article's status has changed, as well as viewing detailed artwork guidelines, copyright information, frequently asked questions and more. Contact details for questions arising after acceptance of an article, especially those relating to proofs, are provided after registration of an article for publication.