Writing for MiE

Linda Hammersley-Fletcher

In May 2009 the MiE reviewers and the editorial board met for discussion on what should be considered important when reviewing an article submitted to MiE. This was timely, as the refereeing process is a fairly recent innovation and we wanted to discuss its effectiveness for MiE. We decided that sharing the agreed criteria with our contributors and potential contributors would be helpful in facilitating them with the preparation of appropriate submissions. We discussed a range of criteria and these are listed below:

1. The maximum word limit is 4000 words. As this is a journal designed to reach an unusually varied audience we aim to publish short think-pieces and longer articles. We do not however, wish to publish lengthy texts that would be more suited to journals like Educational Management, Administration and Leadership (EMAL). Consequently the word limit will be enforced more strictly than in the past.
   
   
2. Articles should be based on an educational management theme. Thus articles that do not discuss aspects of management or leadership would not be appropriate.
   
   
3. Articles should be clearly written and have a strong structure – in other words we want to see a beginning, middle and end that are clearly linked together and related to the title of the article.
   
   
4. There should be a clear sense of purpose. We need to know why we are reading the article and what we will learn as a result of reading it. Is the message clear and saying something new or innovative?
   
   
5. Clear communication is very important. Keep in mind the variety of readers who may be staff in schools, colleges, higher education, local authorities, or researchers, members of governing bodies, or government bodies, to name but a few. Consequently being clear, straightforward and concise is very important.
   
   
6. It is important to recognise that MiE articles do not need to be heavily referenced or necessarily based on research data. In fact as MiE has a magazine format we wish to avoid including too many pages of reference material. This does not mean that we encourage debates that are purely emotive, or that have not been carefully justified.
   
   
7. We are happy to include a variety of writing styles, as we think recent editions of the journal have demonstrated.

We see MiE as an excellent forum for discussing new and developing ideas, for communicating early research findings, for sharing ideas about educational management practices and for ‘experimenting  by those new to publishing. The refereeing process is intended to be supportive and aims to help authors through the provision of constructive feedback.  We very much hope that you will consider publishing in MiE.