Chemistry Education Research and Practice

Guidelines for Authors
 

1.0 General policy

Chemistry Education Research and Practice is the journal for teachers, researchers and other practitioners in chemistry education. It is the place to publish papers on:

• research, and reviews of research in chemistry education;
• effective practice in the teaching of chemistry;
• in depth analyses of issues of direct relevance to chemistry education.  

The journal has a number of objectives:

• First, to provide researchers a means to publish high quality, fully refereed, educational research reports in the special domain of chemistry education. The studies reported should have all features of scholarship in chemistry education, that is: they must be (i) original and previously unpublished, (ii) theory based, (iii) supported by empirical data, and (iv) of generalisable character. The last requirement means that the studies should have an interest for and an impact on the global practice of chemistry, and not be simply of a regional character. Contributions must include a review of the research literature relevant to the topic, and state clearly the way(s) the study contributes to our knowledge base. Last but not least, they should conclude with implications for other research and/or the practice of chemistry teaching.
• Second, to offer practitioners (teachers of chemistry at all levels) a place where they can share effective ideas and methods for the teaching and learning of chemistry and issues related to these, including assessment. The emphasis is on effectiveness, the demonstration that the approach described is successful, possibly more so than the alternatives. Contributions are particularly welcome if the subject matter can be applied widely and is concerned with encouraging active, independent or cooperative learning. Of special interest are methods that increase student motivation for learning, and those that help them to become effective exploiters of their chemical knowledge and understanding. It is highly desirable that such contributions should be demonstrably based, wherever possible, on established educational theory and results.
• Third, to help to bridge the gap between educational researchers and practitioners by providing a single platform where both groups can publish high-quality papers with the realistic hope that researchers will find their results seen by those who could benefit from using them, and practitioners will gain from encountering the ideas and results of those who have made a particular study of the learning process in finding better ways to improve their teaching and the learning experience of their students.  

The intended emphasis is on the process of learning, not on the content. Contributions describing alternative ways of presenting chemical information to students (including the description of new demonstrations or laboratory experiments or computer simulations or animations) are unlikely to be considered for publication.

All contributions should be written in clear and concise English. Technical language should be kept to the absolute minimum required by accuracy. The Guidelines to Authors provide further information about presentation and the format of the journal. Contributors are urged to pay particular attention to the way references are cited both in the text and in the bibliography.