Chemistry Education Research and Practice

The journal has three objectives.

First to provide researchers a means to publish high quality, fully peer reviewed, educational research reports in the special domain of chemistry education. The studies reported should have all features of scholarship in chemistry education, that is they must be:

• original and previously unpublished
• theory based
• supported by empirical data
• of generalisable character.

The last requirement means that the studies should have an interest for and an impact on the global practice of chemistry, and not be simply of a regional character. Contributions must include a review of the research literature relevant to the topic, and state clearly the way(s) the study contributes to our knowledge base. Last but not least, they should conclude with implications for other research and/or the practice of chemistry teaching.

Second to offer practitioners (teachers of chemistry at all levels) a place where they can share effective ideas and methods for the teaching and learning of chemistry and issues related to these, including assessment.

The emphasis is on effectiveness, the demonstration that the approach described is successful, possibly more so than the alternatives. Contributions are particularly welcome if the subject matter can be applied widely and is concerned with encouraging active, independent or cooperative learning.

Of special interest are methods that increase student motivation for learning, and those that help them to become effective exploiters of their chemical knowledge and understanding. It is highly desirable that such contributions should be demonstrably based, wherever possible, on established educational theory and results.

Third to help to bridge the gap between educational researchers and practitioners by providing a single platform where both groups can publish high-quality papers with the realistic hope that researchers will find their results seen by those who could benefit from using them.

Also, practitioners will gain from encountering the ideas and results of those who have made a particular study of the learning process in finding better ways to improve their teaching and the learning experience of their students.  

Submission

Articles should be submitted using ScholarOne, the Royal Society of Chemistry's article review and submission system. A printed copy of the manuscript will not be required. Your submission will be acknowledged as soon as possible. 

Exceptions to normal Royal Society of Chemistry policy

Submissions to Chemistry Education Research and Practice do not require a table of contents entry.

Submissions to the journal should use Harvard referencing.

Citations in the text should therefore be made by use of the surname of the author(s) and the year of the publication, at the appropriate place. Note that with one or two authors the name(s) are given, while if the source has three or more authors, it is cited with the first named author as 'Author et al.'

When more than one source is cited in the text, they should be listed in chronological and then alphabetical order for example, '(Jones, 2001; Smith, 2001; Adams, 2006)'. The references themselves are given at the end of the final printed text, in alphabetical and, if the same author is cited more than once, chronological order.

An example of a journal article reference as it would be presented is Taber K. S., (2015), Advancing chemistry education as a field, Chem. Educ. Res. Pract., 16(1), 6–8.

Perspectives

Perspectives are short readable articles covering current areas of interest. They may take the form of personal accounts of research or a critical analysis of activity in a specialist area. By their nature, they will not be comprehensive reviews of a field of chemistry. Since the readership of Chemistry Education Research and Practice is wide-ranging, the article should be easily comprehensible to a non-specialist in the field, whilst at the same time providing an authoritative discussion of the area concerned.

We welcome submissions of Perspective articles that:

• Communicate new challenges or visions for teaching chemistry framed in current chemistry education research or theories with evidence to support claims.
• Propose frameworks (theoretical, conceptual, curricular), models, pedagogies or practices informed by personal expertise and supported by research outcomes (either the author’s own research or the wider body of education research).
• Argue theoretical stances accompanied by recommendations for how these can be applied in teaching practice or measured in student conceptualisation of knowledge, with examples.

For more information on Perspective articles please see our 2022 Editorial (DOI: 10.1039/D2RP90006H)

Review Articles

These are normally invited by the Editorial Board and editorial office, although suggestions from readers for topics and authors of reviews are welcome.

Reviews must be high-quality, authoritative, state-of-the-art accounts of the selected research field. They should be timely and add to the existing literature, rather than duplicate existing articles, and should be of general interest to the journal's wide readership.

All Reviews and Perspectives undergo rigorous peer review, in the same way as regular research papers.

Review articles published in Chemistry Education Research and Practice include narrative, integrative or systematic reviews and meta-analyses and should align with the goals and scope of the journal.

Thought experiments outlining a theoretical position or personal opinion without including a literature basis, pedagogical recommendations or evidence of implementation are not considered in the journal.

For more information on preparing a review-style article please see our 2021 Editorial (DOI: 10.1039/D1RP90006D)

Papers

Full papers contain original scientific work that has not been published previously.

Comments

Comments and Replies are a medium for the discussion and exchange of scientific opinions between authors and readers concerning material published in Chemistry Education Research and Practice. 

For publication, a Comment should present an alternative analysis of and/or new insight into the previously published material. Any Reply should further the discussion presented in the original article and the Comment. Comments and Replies that contain any form of personal attack are not suitable for publication. 

Comments that are acceptable for publication will be forwarded to the authors of the work being discussed, and these authors will be given the opportunity to submit a Reply. The Comment and Reply will both be subject to rigorous peer review in consultation with the journal’s Editorial Board where appropriate. The Comment and Reply will be published together.