Research in Comparative and International Education
Education
Research in Comparative and International Education is a peer-reviewed international journal, edited by Hubert Ertl of the University of Paderborn, assisted by an Editorial Board and an International Advisory Board of international scholars with a wide range of expertise in comparative and international studies.
Research in Comparative and International Education is concerned with research and its methods. It seeks to publish papers of between 5,000 and 10,000 words which report new research in the field of comparative and international education, broadly defined, or which address theoretical and methodological issues in comparative and international education with clear research relevance.
This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
Research in Comparative and International Education is a peer-reviewed international journal, edited by Hubert Ertl of the University of Oxford, assisted by an Editorial Board and an International Advisory Board of international scholars with a wide range of expertise in comparative and international studies.
Research in Comparative and International Education is concerned with research and its methods. It seeks to publish papers of between 5,000 and 10,000 words which report new research in the field of comparative and international education, broadly defined, or which address theoretical and methodological issues in comparative and international education with clear research relevance.
| Hubert Ertl | University of Paderborn, Germany |
| David Phillips | University of Oxford, UK |
| Carole L. Hahn | Emory University, Atlanta, USA |
| Peter Kelly | University of Plymouth, UK |
| Julia Paulson | Bath Spa University, UK |
| Nicola Savvides | University of Bath, UK |
| Sheila Aikman | Oxfam, UK |
| Nafsika Alexiadou | Umeå University, Sweden |
| Antje Barabasch | Swiss Federal Institute of Vocational Eduation and Training, Switzerland |
| Britta Baron | University of Alberta, Canada |
| Christina de Bellaigue | Exeter College, Oxford, UK |
| Marcelo Caruso | Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany |
| Indra Dedze | Vanderbildt University, Nashville, USA |
| Claude Diebolt | CNRS, University Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg, France |
| Kassie Freeman | Bowdoin College, Brunswick, USA |
| Ingrid Gogolin | University of Hamburg, Germany |
| Karl Heinz Gruber | University of Vienna, Austria |
| Yuan He | Stephen F. Austin State University, USA |
| Natasha Kersh | Institute of Education, University of London, UK |
| Terri Kim | University of East London, UK |
| Tamás Kozma | Debrecen University, Hungary |
| Hugo Kremer | Universität Paderborn, Germany |
| Patricia Kubow | Indiana University, Bloomington, USA |
| Dina Kuhlee | Universität Oldenburg, Germany |
| Beverly Lindsay | Ford Leadership Institute, University of California, USA |
| Baocun Liu | Beijing Normal University, China |
| Heinrich Mintrop | University of California at Berkeley, USA |
| Erin Murphy-Graham | University of California at Berkeley, USA |
| Mina O'Dowd | Lund University, Sweden |
| Kimberly Ochs | University of Oxford, UK |
| Manuela Pietrass | Universität der Bundeswehr, Neubiberg, Germany |
| Jeremy Rappleye | Kyoto University |
| Masako Shibata | Tsukuba University, Japan |
| Iveta Silova | College of Education, Lehigh University, USA |
| Bernhard Streitwieser | George Washington University, Washington DC, USA |
| Maria Teresa Tatto | Michigan State University, USA |
| Ryoko Tsuneyoshi | Tokyo University, Japan |
| Javier Manuel Valle | University of Madrid, Spain |
| Anthony Welch | Central Queensland University, Australia |
| Klaus Zierer | Universität Oldenburg, Germany |
Manuscript Submission Guidelines: Research in Comparative and International Education
This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
Please read the guidelines below then visit the Journal’s submission site https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/rci to upload your manuscript. Please note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned.
Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of Research in Comparative and International Education will be reviewed.
There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this Journal. Open Access options are available - see section 3.3 below.
As part of the submission process you will be required to warrant that you are submitting your original work, that you have the rights in the work, and that you have obtained and can supply all necessary permissions for the reproduction of any copyright works not owned by you, that you are submitting the work for first publication in the Journal and that it is not being considered for publication elsewhere and has not already been published elsewhere. Please see our guidelines on prior publication and note that Research in Comparative and International Education may accept submissions of papers that have been posted on pre-print servers; please alert the Editorial Office when submitting (contact details are at the end of these guidelines) and include the DOI for the preprint in the designated field in the manuscript submission system. Authors should not post an updated version of their paper on the preprint server while it is being peer reviewed for possible publication in the journal. If the article is accepted for publication, the author may re-use their work according to the journal's author archiving policy.
If your paper is accepted, you must include a link on your preprint to the final version of your paper.
- What do we publish?
1.1 Aims & Scope
1.2 Article types
1.3 Writing your paper - Editorial policies
2.1 Peer review policy
2.2 Authorship
2.3 Acknowledgements
2.4 Funding
2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
2.6 Research Data - Publishing policies
3.1 Publication ethics
3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
3.3 Open access and author archiving - Preparing your manuscript
4.1 Formatting
4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
4.3 Supplemental material
4.4 Reference style
4.5 English language editing services - Submitting your manuscript
5.1 Permissions
5.2 ORCID - On acceptance and publication
6.1 Sage Production
6.2 Online First publication
6.3 Access to your published article
6.4 Promoting your article - Further information
Before submitting your manuscript to Research in Comparative and International Education, please ensure you have read the Aims & Scope.
Research in Comparative and International Education seeks to publish papers of between 5,000 and 10,000 words which report new research in the field of comparative and international education, broadly defined, or which address theoretical and methodological issues in comparative and international education with clear research relevance.
Largely descriptive or solely policy-based papers are unlikely to be accepted for publication.
Occasionally, RCIE publishes book reviews. We are looking for reviews of books that fit the remit of the journal, i.e. books with a focus on research undertaken in the field of comparative and international education. Book reviews should be no longer than 3000 words and written in a way that is accessible to the international readership of the journal.
The Sage Author Gateway has some general advice and on how to get published, plus links to further resources. Sage Author Services also offers authors a variety of ways to improve and enhance their article including English language editing, plagiarism detection, and video abstract and infographic preparation.
1.3.1 Make your article discoverable
When writing up your paper, think about how you can make it discoverable. The title, keywords and abstract are key to ensuring readers find your article through search engines such as Google. For information and guidance on how best to title your article, write your abstract and select your keywords, have a look at this page on the Gateway: How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online.
Research in Comparative and International Education adheres to a rigorous double-blind reviewing policy in which the identity of both the reviewer and the author are always concealed from both parties. Papers may be rejected without review at the discretion of the Editor.
Papers should only be submitted for consideration once consent is given by all contributing authors. Those submitting papers should carefully check that all those whose work contributed to the paper are acknowledged as contributing authors.
The list of authors should include all those who can legitimately claim authorship. This is all those who:
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- Made a substantial contribution to the concept or design of the work; or acquisition, analysis or interpretation of data,
- Drafted the article or revised it critically for important intellectual content,
- Approved the version to be published,
- Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content.
Authors should meet the conditions of all of the points above. When a large, multicentre group has conducted the work, the group should identify the individuals who accept direct responsibility for the manuscript. These individuals should fully meet the criteria for authorship.
Acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of the research group alone does not constitute authorship, although all contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in the Acknowledgments section. Please refer to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) authorship guidelines for more information on authorship.
Please note that AI chatbots, for example ChatGPT, should not be listed as authors. For more information see the policy on Use of ChatGPT and generative AI tools.
All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, or a department chair who provided only general support.
Please supply any personal acknowledgements separately to the main text to facilitate anonymous peer review.
2.3.1 Third party submissions
Where an individual who is not listed as an author submits a manuscript on behalf of the author(s), a statement must be included in the Acknowledgements section of the manuscript and in the accompanying cover letter. The statements must:
- Disclose this type of editorial assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input
- Identify any entities that paid for this assistance
- Confirm that the listed authors have authorized the submission of their manuscript via third party and approved any statements or declarations, e.g. conflicting interests, funding, etc.
Where appropriate, Sage reserves the right to deny consideration to manuscripts submitted by a third party rather than by the authors themselves.
2.3.2 Writing assistance
Individuals who provided writing assistance, e.g. from a specialist communications company, do not qualify as authors and so should be included in the Acknowledgements section. Authors must disclose any writing assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input – and identify the entity that paid for this assistance.
It is not necessary to disclose use of language polishing services.
Research in Comparative and International Education requires all authors to acknowledge their funding in a consistent fashion under a separate heading. Please visit the Funding Acknowledgements page on the Sage Journal Author Gateway to confirm the format of the acknowledgment text in the event of funding, or state that: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
Research in Comparative and International Education encourages authors to include a declaration of any conflicting interests and recommends you review the good practice guidelines on the Sage Journal Author Gateway.
When making a declaration the disclosure information must be specific and include any financial relationship that all authors of the article has with any sponsoring organization and the for-profit interests the organization represents, and with any for-profit product discussed or implied in the text of the article.
Any commercial or financial involvements that might represent an appearance of a conflict of interest need to be additionally disclosed in the covering letter accompanying your article to assist the Editor in evaluating whether sufficient disclosure has been made within the Declaration of Conflicting Interests provided in the article.
The journal is committed to facilitating openness, transparency and reproducibility of research, and has the following research data sharing policy. For more information, including FAQs please visit the Sage Research Data policy pages.
Subject to appropriate ethical and legal considerations, authors are encouraged to:
- share your research data in a relevant public data repository
- include a data availability statement linking to your data. If it is not possible to share your data, we encourage you to consider using the statement to explain why it cannot be shared.
- cite this data in your research
Sage is committed to upholding the integrity of the academic record. We encourage authors to refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics’ International Standards for Authors and view the Publication Ethics page on the Sage Author Gateway.
3.1.1 Plagiarism
Research in Comparative and International Education and Sage take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. We seek to protect the rights of our authors and we always investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of the journal against malpractice. Submitted articles may be checked with duplication-checking software. Where an article, for example, is found to have plagiarised other work or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, or where the authorship of the article is contested, we reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the article; taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the author's institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies; or taking appropriate legal action.
3.1.2 Prior publication
If material has been previously published it is not generally acceptable for publication in a Sage journal. However, there are certain circumstances where previously published material can be considered for publication. Please refer to the guidance on the Sage Author Gateway or if in doubt, contact the Editor at the address given below.
3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
Before publication, Sage requires the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. Sage’s Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement is an exclusive licence agreement which means that the author retains copyright in the work but grants Sage the sole and exclusive right and licence to publish for the full legal term of copyright. Exceptions may exist where an assignment of copyright is required or preferred by a proprietor other than Sage. In this case copyright in the work will be assigned from the author to the society. For more information please visit the Sage Author Gateway
3.3 Open access and author archiving
Research in Comparative and International Education offers optional open access publishing via the Sage Choice programme and Open Access agreements, where authors can publish open access either discounted or free of charge depending on the agreement with Sage. Find out if your institution is participating by visiting Open Access Agreements at Sage. For more information on Open Access publishing options at Sage please visit Sage Open Access. For information on funding body compliance, and depositing your article in repositories, please visit Sage’s Author Archiving and Re-Use Guidelines and Publishing Policies.
4. Preparing your manuscript for submission
The preferred format for your manuscript is Word. LaTeX files are also accepted. Word and (La)Tex templates are available on the Manuscript Submission Guidelines page of our Author Gateway.
4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
For guidance on the preparation of illustrations, pictures and graphs in electronic format, please visit Sage’s Manuscript Submission Guidelines.
Figures supplied in colour will appear in colour online regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in colour in the printed version. For specifically requested colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Sage after receipt of your accepted article.
Research in Comparative and International Education does not currently accept supplemental files.
Research in Comparative and International Education adheres to the Sage Harvard reference style. View the Sage Harvard guidelines to ensure your manuscript conforms to this reference style.
If you use EndNote to manage references, you can download the Sage Harvard EndNote output file.
4.5 English language editing services
Authors seeking assistance with English language editing, translation, or figure and manuscript formatting to fit the journal’s specifications should consider using Sage Language Services. Visit Sage Language Services on our Journal Author Gateway for further information.
Before submitting your manuscript, please ensure you carefully read and adhere to all the guidelines and instructions to authors provided below. Manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned.
Please visit the Journal’s submission site https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/rci to upload your manuscript. Please note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned.
Each manuscript should contain:
(i) title page with full title and subtitle (if any).For the purposes of blind refereeing (submissions will be refereed anonymously by at least two referees), full name of each author with current affiliation and full address/phone/fax/email details plus short biographical note should be supplied on a separate sheet.
(ii) abstract of 100-150 words
(iii) up to 10 key words
(iv) main text and word count (suggested target is between 5,000 and 10,000 words). Text to be clearly organized, with a clear hierarchy of headings and subheadings and quotations exceeding 40 words displayed, indented, in the text. Texts of a length greatly exceeding this will be considered as interest warrants and space permits.
(v) end notes, if necessary, should be signalled by superscript numbers in the main text and listed at the end of the text before the references
Please also ensure that you have obtained any necessary permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. For further information including guidance on fair dealing for criticism and review, please see the Copyright and Permissions page on the Sage Author Gateway.
As part of our commitment to ensuring an ethical, transparent and fair peer review process Sage is a supporting member of ORCID, the Open Researcher and Contributor ID. ORCID provides a unique and persistent digital identifier that distinguishes researchers from every other researcher, even those who share the same name, and, through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, supports automated linkages between researchers and their professional activities, ensuring that their work is recognized.
The collection of ORCID IDs from corresponding authors is now part of the submission process of this journal. If you already have an ORCID ID you will be asked to associate that to your submission during the online submission process. We also strongly encourage all co-authors to link their ORCID ID to their accounts in our online peer review platforms. It takes seconds to do: click the link when prompted, sign into your ORCID account and our systems are automatically updated. Your ORCID ID will become part of your accepted publication’s metadata, making your work attributable to you and only you. Your ORCID ID is published with your article so that fellow researchers reading your work can link to your ORCID profile and from there link to your other publications.
If you do not already have an ORCID ID please follow this link to create one or visit our ORCID homepage to learn more.
6. On acceptance and publication
Your Sage Production Editor will keep you informed as to your article’s progress throughout the production process. Proofs will be sent by PDF to the corresponding author via our editing portal Sage Edit or by email, and corrections should be made directly or notified to us promptly. Authors are reminded to check their proofs carefully to confirm that all author information, including names, affiliations, sequence and contact details are correct, and that Funding and Conflict of Interest statements, if any, are accurate.
Online First allows final articles (completed and approved articles awaiting assignment to a future issue) to be published online prior to their inclusion in a journal issue, which significantly reduces the lead time between submission and publication. Visit the Sage Journals help page for more details, including how to cite Online First articles.
6.3 Access to your published article
Sage provides authors with online access to their final article.
Publication is not the end of the process! You can help disseminate your paper and ensure it is as widely read and cited as possible. The Sage Author Gateway has numerous resources to help you promote your work. Visit the Promote Your Article page on the Gateway for tips and advice.
Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process should be sent to the Research in Comparative and International Education editorial office as follows:
Dr Hubert Ertl
ertl@bibb.de