Initial Publication Date: October 24, 2019

Types of Papers Published in JGE

The Journal of Geoscience Education accepts submissions in four categories: Curriculum & Instruction, Research, Literature Review, and Position Article. All four types undergo single-blind peer review. Prospective authors are encouraged to read the descriptions and explore the examples for each paper type prior to submission. If you're not sure how your paper or ideas match these four categories, please feel free to contact the editor.

JGE also publishes editorials. However, these are typically written by the Editor or Guest Editors and the journal does not currently accept unsolicited editorials.

Jump to information about: Curriculum & Instruction Papers | Research Papers | Literature Reviews | Position Articles | Questions

Curriculum & Instruction Papers

Have you designed a new activity, course, program, or some other intervention? Do you have evidence for the effectiveness of your intervention? Then you may have a Curriculum & Instruction paper.

The main purpose of a Curriculum & Instruction paper is to share innovative and effective curricular materials or instructional approaches that are relevant to the geosciences. These innovations may include classroom, virtual, laboratory, or field-based activities, courses, or programs; teaching methods and strategies; professional development programs; informal education; or outreach to schools or the general public.

All C&I papers must be grounded in the appropriate educational literature, and must provide evidence of how the proposed innovation meets its learning goals. Readers should be able to implement curriculum and instructional approaches in similar settings and should have access to all necessary materials (or lists of materials) in the manuscript or in online supplements. In addition, modification of the materials for new populations or in other settings should be feasible.

Example Curriculum & Instruction Papers

Note that you need to log in to your NAGT membershipor your institution needs to have a subscription in order to access the full text of the example papers.

Research Papers

Have you designed a study to learn more about how people think or learn, explored and correlated factors that influence a particular setting or outcome, or developed a theoretical framework to guide further research? Then you may have a Research paper.

The main purpose of a research paper is to share new knowledge and/or new theories for improved teaching, learning, and scholarship relevant to the geosciences. Research papers address specific educational or cognitive research questions or hypotheses that are relevant to the geosciences. Empirical research papers describe data collection and analyses, while theoretical research papers describe new theories and philosophies that fill a gap.

All Research papers must be grounded in the appropriate education research literature and theoretical frameworks. Readers should be able to reach similar conclusions based upon the data presented in the manuscript or in online supplements, and all study findings should be supported by evidence. In addition, the experiment can be conducted with, or the new theory can be applied to, other populations or settings.

Example Research Papers

Note that you need to log in to your NAGT membership or your institution needs to have a subscription in order to access the full text of the example papers.

Literature Reviews

Are you interested in conducting a scientific investigation of the literature on a particular topic and going beyond a summary? Then a Literature Review might be for you.

Literature reviews are systematic, methodologically sound, and generate new knowledge. They address a focused purpose or question with the aim of synthesizing and evaluating the published literature. This poster, How to write a literature review article for JGE: Key strategies for a successful publication (Acrobat (PDF) 5.6MB Oct19 19) was presented at the Geological Society of America Annual Meeting in 2019, and will be useful to anyone considering writing a literature review for JGE or other journals. You can also download the references (Acrobat (PDF) 103kB Oct24 19) for the poster.

Example Literature Reviews

Note that you need to log in to your NAGT membership or your institution needs to have a subscription in order to access the full text of the example papers.

Position Articles

Do you have an opinion or recommendations based on data and your own experience that would be of interest to the geoscience education and education research communities? Then you may have a Position Article (previously called a Commentary).

In a position article, authors provide a critical insight or alternative viewpoint to an issue that is of broad interest to geoscience educators or researchers. A position article is strongly grounded in the literature, and may also include the author's (or authors') own data and references to current events and popular media. Position articles are a particularly good venue for offering evidence-based recommendations to the community—both to individuals and groups—and for sharing lessons learned.

Example Position Articles

Note that you need to log in to your NAGT membership or your institution needs to have a subscription in order to access the full text of the example papers.

Questions?

Sometimes it can be difficult to determine which type of paper you should submit. If you're not sure how your paper or ideas match these four categories, please feel free to contact the editor.