Asia-Pacific Science Education (APSE): expanding opportunities for publishing science education research

Abstract

© I a l We are pleased to introduce a new journal, Asia-Pacific Science Education, which was created to provide researchers in the Asia-Pacific region with a central channel for disseminating research in local contexts about issues in science education to both science educators in the geographical region and researchers in the extended international community. APSE is unique in that our journal focuses on the publication of scholarly articles examining issues related to science teaching and learning in Asia as well as articles that address the issues facing science teachers and science learners who are members of the Asian Diaspora. As a result, we expect the scholarly works published in APSE will encompass diverse topics of interest that will be significant for a wide readership. In this introductory issue, we describe the origins of APSE and we share findings from an analysis of publication data from other major journals in the field that demonstrate a need for APSE. Next we share our vision for the role APSE can play in supporting the development of an academic community where studies conducted in the Asia-Pacific region and studies conducted with participants from the Asian Diaspora will be valued and accessed by scholars who are concerned about science education issues affecting these communities. We conclude by offering a detailed description of the unique features APSE offers our authors and readers, including a supportive peerreview process that is considerate of the challenges facing non-native English speakers. Finally, we explain how our open access (OA) publication model ensures that researchers and teachers anywhere in the world can access and read all content in our journal for free.