Author Guidelines

1. Journal Scope

AIJRE is an online, continuous publication journal organised into three issues per year. Contributions are welcome from both members and non members of SPERA, as are contributions from a variety of disciplinary perspectives and from all education sectors. The Journal publishes scholarly accounts of educational research, integrative reviews and feature articles of 6,000 to 8,000 words (including references and endnotes and not exceeding 8,000) in length, and short articles, reports or book reviews between 600 and 2,000 words which are relevant to rural education.

The Editors encourage submissions related to any aspect of  teaching and learning in the field of rural, remote and distance education, including (but not confined to):

- Promoting rural education scholarship

- Disseminating innovative ideas, actions, programs and policies in rural education

- Connecting people interested in providing quality learning experiences in rural contexts

- Sharing information and findings related to rural education issues or concerns and the development of programs

- Efficient and effective education and training in rural areas

- Equitable access to education and training

- Life-long learning and professional development opportunities in rural communities

- Community engagement

- Flexible learning strategies and opportunities to support the delivery of a broad range of curriculum offerings .

We also encourage papers which are partnerships between stakeholders (community, educational institutions, industry, students and academics). 

2. Types of Articles Accepted

The Editors welcomes original research papers and articles that have not been published elsewhere and are not being considered for another journal. Papers up to 8,000 words which are within the scope of the Journal, as outlined above, are accepted for review . Articles submitted for publication in this category shall be evaluated by a double blind peer review process. See separate requirements for Rural Connections papers in Section 10 below.

The Editors, in consultation with the Editorial Committee, reserve the right to accept or decline any manuscript. Inquiries should be made to Chief  Editor Associate Professor John Guenther

3. Style Guide

Authors should refer to the Style Guide when preparing papers for initial submission to the Journal.

Title page and corresponding author

Each journal paper must have a title page with the title of the article, a list of all authors and their titles, affiliations and email addresses. The title page should explicitly identify the author to whom correspondence about the paper should be addressed and that author's email address, telephone number, and postal address must be clearly stated.

Body of Text

Content: Submissions should address issues relating to the Journal's scope and readership.

Length: Submissions should be up to 8,000 words (including endnotes and references). See separate requirements for Rural Connections papers in Section 10 below.

Abstract: Submissions should include a 250 word abstract which includes the aim/s of the study, the methodology adopted and significance of the findings.

Keywords: Below the abstract a list of up to six (6) key words, for the purpose of indexing, must be included.

Spacing and Paragraphing: Submissions should be single-spaced with double spacing between paragraphs, but no indenting for paragraphs.

Font: 11 point, Candara.

Spelling: Australian English.

Quotations: All direct quotes should be italicised with quotations of more than 40 words commenced on a new line, italicised and indented on both sides.

Endnotes: Should be used sparingly.

Use of Headings

The paper title should be in upper case, in 14 point Candara font, bold and centred.

Headings for sections should be in 12 point Candara font, bold and centred.

Secondary headings should be italicised and in sentence case 12 point Candara font, left-aligned.

The reference section should be called References.

Use of Figures and Tables

Figures (diagrams and schemata) and tables should be located in the text.

All figures and tables should be numbered separately. For example, Figure 1, Table 1 etc. and cross-referenced within the text.

Captions for Tables should appear above the table while captions for Figures should appear below.

Captions should capitalise main words and be in 10 point Candara bold with the title section italicised, e.g.  Table 1: Heading for Tables. 

Citation and Referencing

Manuscripts must conform to the American Psychological Association (APA) 7th Edition style of citation and referencing, with the reference list single-spaced and in hanging indent format, with a single space after each reference. In-text citations should be in author-date format ([Author last name], [Year]) with variations based on APA 7th requirements. Please refer to the APA Publication Manual. 

Alternatively use your university’s APA referencing tools (e.g. https://online.cdu.edu.au/bbcswebdav/courses/Library_Year_2021/APA-Tool-2021/story.html)

The following examples are provided for you:

Books:

Whelan, T. & Kelly, S. (1986).  A hard act to follow: Being a step-parent in Australia. Penguin.

Chapter:

Weinstock, R., Leong, G. B., & Silva, J. A. (2003). Defining forensic psychiatry: Roles and responsibilities. In R. Rosner (Ed.), Principles and practice of forensic psychiatry (2nd ed., pp. 7–13). CRC Press.

Journal Article:

Quinn, F., Charteris, J., Adlington, R., Rizk, N., Fletcher, P., & Parkes, M. (2020). The potential of online technologies in meeting PLD needs of rural teachers. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1080/1359866X.2020.1849538 

Colibaba, A., Russell, E., & Skinner, M. W. (2021). Rural volunteer fire services and the sustainability of older voluntarism in ageing rural communities. Journal of Rural Studies. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2021.08.016

Thesis :

Turner, I.P. (1999). Effective educational leaders in Riverina primary schools: A Delphi study. [Unpublished MEd thesis]. Charles Sturt University.

Thesis published online (e.g., in a university’s repository such as ePrints):

Hart, C. (2016). The prevalence and nature of sustainable regional, rural and remote legal practice [Doctoral thesis, University of Southern Queensland]. https://eprints.usq.edu.au/27723/

Report by government agency of other organisation:

National Rural Health Alliance. (2020). Annual report 2019–2020. https://www.ruralhealth.org.au/sites/default/files/publications/nrha-2019-20-annual-report.pdf

Conference session:

Katz, I. (2006, 4-7 September 2006). Using Secondary data for evaluating community programs–opportunities and challenges Australasian Evaluation Society International Conference, Holiday Inn Esplanade, Darwin. https://aes.asn.au/images/images-old/stories/files/conferences/2006/papers/059%20Ilan%20Katz.pdf

Web pages:

APA 7^th explains that, when a website is mentioned in general, do not create a reference list entry or an in-text citation. Instead, include the name of the website in the text and provide the URL in parentheses, e.g., We created our survey using Qualtrics (https://.qualtrics.com) (10.16, p. 350; 8.22, p. 268). However, if the website does need to be in the references, this is the format to follow:

Internet with update and retrieval date:

Department of Social Services. (2019, March 22). DSS Payment Demographic Data. Retrieved June 2019 from https://data.gov.au/dataset/ds-dga-cff2ae8a-55e4-47db-a66d-e177fe0ac6a0/details?q=

4. Archiving

This journal utilizes the LOCKSS system to create a distributed archiving system among participating libraries and permits those libraries to create permanent archives of the journal for purposes of preservation and restoration

5. Copyright

If accepted and published, papers become the copyright of the AIJRE. It is the responsibility of authors to secure release of any copyright materials included in their manuscripts and to provide written evidence of this to the editors.

It is the author's responsibility to ensure that any submitted and published article confirms to standard professional practices regarding the citing of already published work. That is, all cited material is properly attributed and referenced appropriately. With regard to third-party copyright material, such as images, on acceptance of articles the author will be required to sign a document confirming they have obtained the necessary permission or clearance in writing to reproduce that third-party material in their articles.

The application for, and acquisition of, an ISSN by the AIJRE  means that the National Library of Australia will be granted a copyright licence (i.e. permission) to make and store a copy of the publication as it appears on the AIJRE web site.  Authors submitting papers to the AIJRE need to be aware of this and agree to their work being archived by the National Library of Australia.  The benefit of this is that the publication is preserved and made accessible to the public via the Internet now and in perpetuity.

6. Ethics and Malpractice

The Australian and International Journal of Rural Education (AIJRE)  makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the 'Content') contained in our publications. However, AIJRE, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by the AIJRE. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. The AIJRE shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to, or arising out of the use of the Content.

Where appropriate, the submitted article should indicate whether the research has undergone an ethics approval process within the author's institution.  All research must adhere to the NHMRC National Statement on Ethics and the Australian Association for Research in Education statement of Ethics.

The Editorial Committee will take reasonable steps to identify issues of research misconduct.  The Editorial Committee’s review process, and related publication policies, are aimed at preventing the publication of papers where misconduct has occurred.  In no instance shall the Editors encourage misconduct, or knowingly publish papers where misconduct has occurred.  Shall the Editors be made aware of allegations of misconduct they will take steps to remove the publication and investigate the veracity of such allegations in accordance with NHMRC Guidelines – this includes reporting the matter to the lead authors institution and working with the relevant institutions Human Ethics Committee to investigate the allegation.  In accordance with the NHMRC guidelines a minor oversight will be subject to correction as directed by the chief editor policy and noted as a corrected version.  Significant infractions will see the article removed from the journal record and a retraction notice recoded in lieu.

To be named as an author on a paper, all authors must have significantly contributed to the research reported in said paper. It is the responsibility of lead authors to ensure that they maintain written agreement from all co-authors in relation to their being named an authors.

Where appropriate all papers should note the financial support for the research, including any potential conflicts of interest. Any perceived conflict of interest should be brought to the attention of the editorial committee in the submission cover sheet for decision by the editorial committee. In the event of errors, corrections and retractions, all authors are obliged to provide retractions or corrections of mistakes when they become aware of their existence.

The Editorial Committee adhere to the COPE Guidelines. Where errors are made in the handling of ethics or malpractice matters the editors will acknowledge these and publish corrections, clarifications, retractions and apologies.

7. Submission Preparation Checklist

All submissions should be original research that has not been submitted
for consideration to another journal.  Lead authors will be asked to
declare the originality of their submission in the submission process.
Authors are asked, as part of the submission process, to check their submission complies with all of the following items:

• The submission is original work which has not been previously published, nor is it being considered for another journal.
• The submission file is in a recent version of Microsoft Word.
• Author(s) have included a title page with full contact details of the corresponding author and full titles, names, affilitations, ORCID IDs and email addresses of co authors. Please upload this as a supplementary file.
• No information revealing the identities of the author(s) have been included in the manuscript itself. Check that you have deleted author and affiliation details from your file's properties (access File>Properties in the MS Word menu to delete) and click OK.
• The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines.
• The authors have cross checked the in-text references with the Reference List.
• A 250 word abstract and up to six (6) key words have been included.
• Ethics approval has been granted (where appropriate) and information regarding ethics approval is included in the paper.
• The author/s have read the Copyright Notice and have permission for any reproduction.
• Research highlights ( 3-5 bullet points of main findings and /or contribution of the paper) have been included on the cover page.
• Three potential reviewers for the paper, including names, affiliations, email addresses and any conflict of interest, have been provided on the cover page.
• All URL addresses have been checked and are activated.

8. Submitting Your Manuscript

Manuscripts should be submitted online by clicking the Go to Login link under the Online Submissions heading at the top of this page. Once registered as an author please follow the link to start a new submission and complete the five necessary steps. In particular please ensure that the information entered on the meta data page is accurate. During the submission process please upload the Title page as a supplementary file so that the full manuscript does not identify the author/s. No charge is made for the submission or processing of the manuscript.

Once your manuscript is uploaded, an editor will assign reviewers to review your article. You can suggest reviewers, but editors may or may not select from your suggestions. Once you receive feedback, with suggestions for change, you can revise your paper and upload the revision to the journal site. Please also upload a separate document with a table showing the reviewer feedback and what you have done in response. 

9. Refereeing Process

All submissions are double blind peer reviewed by experts in the field. Reviewers generally include the Editorial Committee, Associate Editors, Consulting Editors, authors of work perviously published in the journal and other recognised experts at the invitation of the editorial committee and as relevant to the submission under review.  Reviewers are asked to identify any potential conflict of interest prior to review, and where a conflict of interest exists a new reviewer is assigned.  All reviews are anonymous and all reviewers agree to maintain strict confidentiality. The editorial committee will make publication decisions based on the objective judgement of reviews and the objectives of the journal.  Where mixed reviews are received a third review may be sought.

Authors can expect to receive constructive feedback on their submission. Reviewers, and the editorial team, take a pedagogical approach to their reviews and actor feedback. As such they aim to provide feedback related to the papers aims, objectives, literature, methodology, data analysis, results and discussion as appropriate. Where revisions are sought, minor revisions will be subsequently considered by the editorial committee with major revisions sent for further peer review.

AIJRE aims to provide a prompt and efficient review process. From the receipt of a manuscript we aim to provide reviewer reports within six (6) weeks from the submission date.

Author(s) will be provided with reviewer comments and the outcome of the review process which may fall under the following categories:

• Accepted
• Conditionally Accepted-minor revisions to be made by the author(s)
• Revise and Resubmit-major revisions needed
• Declined.

For your information, Evaluation Guidelines for Reviewers are provided below.

These Evaluation Guidelines are based on those developed by Jon Yorke for evaluating conference submissions for the Australian Technology Network Assessment Conference 2011.

10. Specific guidelines for 'Rural Connections: Celebrating schools and communities' section.

This section addresses the aims of the journal but with a particular focus on hearing from teachers and community educators working with schools and/or young people. 

Aims: 

• Promote the development of rural education.
• Disseminate innovative ideas, actions, programs and policies in rural education that particularly affect teachers and/or community educators and their students
• Link educators in rural contexts
• Provide a forum for teachers and community educators to share new ideas and innovations in rural education
• Share information and findings related to rural education issues and the development of programs

We are looking for contributions from teachers and community educators concerning any aspect of rural education, for example 

• Reports on projects specific to local communities;
• Collaborations with local community;
• Collaborations with overseas rural schools/communities;
• Reviews of professional learning opportunities;
• Implementation of professional learning;
• Conference reviews;
• Findings of research conducted in the classroom or local community;
• Sharing innovations and new initiatives.

Submissions to this section can be in the form of; short articles, reports, conference, professional learning or book reviews (between 600 and 2,000 words including references and endnotes, or at the editors' discretion). Images are welcome (subject to media approval). All submissions will be reviewed.