Harvard Graduate School of Education

General Guidelines for Authors

The Harvard Educational Review accepts contributions from researchers, scholars, policymakers, practitioners, teachers, students, and informed observers in education and related fields. In addition to original reports of research and theory, HER welcomes articles that reflect on teaching and practice in educational settings in the United States and abroad.

HER has a two-stage review process. In the first stage, all manuscripts that are submitted to HER go through an initial screening process and are read by a minimum of two Editorial Board members. During the second stage, manuscripts that have passed the first stage are considered by the full Editorial Board and receive written feedback based on the Board’s discussion. It is the policy of HER to consider for publication only manuscripts that are not simultaneously being considered elsewhere.

Similarly, it is our policy not to publish manuscripts that are currently available online or in print. To this end, the journal requires that authors remove manuscripts from publicly available websites before submission. Please follow these guidelines in preparing a manuscript for submission.

Types of Articles

Research Articles

Manuscripts reporting original, empirical research using qualitative and/or quantitative data related to education should include a literature review and/or theoretical/conceptual framework, methods, and analysis sections. The literature should be relevant to the research topic and findings. The methods need to be clearly outlined and should match the research question or stated purpose of the manuscript. Please include a brief description of any methodologies that are less familiar to educators and the educational research community. The analysis should be clear, and the arguments set forth should emerge from the data presented in the manuscript.

Essays

An academic essay should have a well-developed argument that answers a particular question or several related questions. It should begin with a review of previous work on the chosen topic and, subsequently, provide reasoning, evidence, and examples that prove the author’s thesis on the question(s) addressed. Essays are nonfiction but often take on a subjective point of view; they are often expository, but they can also be narrative in style.

Features

HER welcomes feature submissions that report on, or present opinions about, topical issues in education; present analyses of debates and controversies in the field; apply research to practice-based settings in education; present new ideas or theories in education, in short essay form; or present reflections on professional practice or educational experiences in the context of current issues. HER also welcomes nontraditional features, such as photo essays and artwork. These nontraditional submissions should be accompanied by a brief (750-word) statement of purpose from the author/artist that explains the author’s intent and the piece’s relevance to education. Feature articles are meant to be different from traditional research manuscripts. Therefore, features need not contain literature reviews or extensive descriptions of methodology. However, feature articles should do much more than just present personal anecdotes and opinions. Features should demonstrate well-informed and factually sound interpretations of educational issues that advance knowledge in the discipline and/or improve practice in the field.

Voices Inside Schools

HER believes that it is critically important to listen to the voices of people who are working, teaching, and learning inside educational settings throughout the world. Voice Inside Schools articles feature the voices of teachers, students, and others committed to education — psychologists, social workers, principals, counselors, librarians, parents, and community leaders, for example — who interact with students and who have important knowledge and expertise about teaching and learning. We are interested in articles focused on what those involved with education have learned through their practice and/or research; we expect that manuscripts will contain detailed and thoughtful reflection and rigorous analysis of ideas, situations, and experiences.

Book and Essay Reviews

A book review examines one book in 2,000-3,000 words. It presents a book’s strengths and weaknesses and then illustrates them with examples from the text. An essay review discusses one or more books in a particular field of education in 5,000-6,000 words. The books are analyzed using a conceptual framework, and the implications of future research and practice are addressed in depth. Authors of essay reviews should adequately cover each work introduced in the review. Book reviews and essay reviews should convey the content of the book(s), the author’s approach to the subject of the book, and the author’s conclusions. Reviews presenting a chapter-by-chapter listing of themes will not be considered.

Criteria

Significance and Impact

Manuscripts should focus on questions relevant to the field of education. These questions should be pointed and should also have implications for broader educational problems, nationally and/or globally. Manuscripts should contribute to the work of stakeholders seeking to address educational challenges and should explicitly state their contributions, whether theoretical or practical, in order to identify the populations that would most benefit from its publication, such as teachers, policymakers, or students.
 
Advancement of the Field

The manuscript should push existing theory in a new direction, and/or extend, fill a gap in, or bring a new perspective to current literature.

Clarity and Style

Manuscripts must be well written in clear, concise language and be free of technical jargon. As a generalist journal, HER strives for all articles to be widely accessible to non-experts. Previously published HER articles can serve as examples of the style of writing appropriate for our audience. We understand that the specific organization of a manuscript may differ according to discipline and the author’s aesthetic.

Submission Guidelines

Authors should indicate whether they are submitting their manuscript as a research article, an essay, a feature, a Voices Inside Schools article, an essay review, or a book review.

Formatting
  • HER accepts manuscripts of up to 9,000 words, including footnotes and references, and reserves the right to return any manuscript that exceeds that length.
  • All text must be double-spaced, type size must be at least 12 point with 1-inch margins on all sides, and paper size should be set to 8.5 x 11.
  • Authors should refer to The Chicago Manual of Style for general questions of style, grammar, punctuation, and form, and for footnotes of theoretical, descriptive, or essay-like material.
  • For all nonlegal manuscripts, authors should use the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association for reference and citation formats. References must be in APA format. Uniform System of Citation, published by the Harvard Law Review, should be used for articles that reply heavily on legal documentation; because this form is not easily adaptable to other sources, it is usually combined with Chicago as necessary. Manuscripts with references and/or citations in another form will be returned to the author(s).

Submission Procedure

Authors must submit an electronic version of the manuscript in Microsoft Word format. HER accepts submissions by e-mail or on CD-ROM. (Paper submissions will be accepted when necessary, and may be arranged by contacting the HER editorial staff.) Manuscripts are considered anonymously. The author’s name must appear only on the title page; any references that identify the author in the text must be deleted. Please include a word count, inclusive of footnotes and references, on the title page.

Send submissions to:

Harvard Educational Review
Manuscript Editor
8 Story Street, 1st Floor
Cambridge, MA 02138

HER_submissions@gse.harvard.edu

For questions about submitting a manuscript, please contact Laura Clos at laura_clos@gse.harvard.edu. For other queries, please email the Manuscripts Editor at HER_manuscripts@gse.harvard.edu.