Abstract
A content analysis of the Journal of the Learning Sciences (JLS) was conducted for a 5-year period. Article topics, methodology, the names of the contributing authors, their academic ranks, affiliations, and geographical locations were coded to reveal trends in publication patterns. A questionnaire was sent to all authors in the relevant period to find out how they selected journals for submitting manuscripts. It was found that the active involvement of the JLS’s editor in the journal’s orientation correlated with the great importance that the JLS’s contributors gave to editorial considerations when selecting journals. A possible geographical bias was identified, and possible solutions were discussed.
Highlights
The aim of the present study is to answer the question: What sorts of articles were accepted for publication in the Journal of the Learning Sciences? Two strategies may be followed in trying to answer a question of this kind
One can take a look at what articles made it to publication—What kind of articles were recently published in the Journal of the Learning Sciences (JLS), in terms of methodology and topic? Who were the contributing authors, and to what institutions were they affiliated? Second, one may try learning from what the authors themselves have to say: How are they different from those of other journals with respect to publishing practices? What do they think are the important aspects of a journal? The former strategy can shed light on patterns discerned by following the latter strategy: as we shall see, for example, the extra importance that JLS’s authors attached to the editor of a journal is partly explained by the active involvement of the JLS’s editor in the journal’s orientation
The content analysis of the issues of the Journal of the Learning Sciences during the five years under study reveals that the major topics addressed in articles are Science Learning, Research Methodology, Collaborative Learning, Mathematics
Summary
The aim of the present study is to answer the question: What sorts of articles were accepted for publication in the Journal of the Learning Sciences? Two strategies may be followed in trying to answer a question of this kind. The former strategy can shed light on patterns discerned by following the latter strategy: as we shall see, for example, the extra importance that JLS’s authors attached to the editor of a journal is partly explained by the active involvement of the JLS’s editor in the journal’s orientation. Both of these strategies were adopted in the present study. A questionnaire was sent to all first authors of the JLS in the period under study in order to obtain information about their practice in selecting journals for publication.
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