Aims and Scope 

Among journals in the field of education sciences Frontline Learning Research (FLR) welcomes risk-taking and non-incrementally innovative research themes, studies, methods and discussions. The journal offers a distinctive opening for foundational research and an arena for studies that promote new ideas, methodologies or discoveries in the field of research on learning and instruction. FLR is an official journal published by  the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI). Although the journal is anchored within EARLI, we encourage and welcome submissions from all geographical regions.

What is frontline in research on learning and instruction?  

Generically, frontline research is research that leads the field, being more than just incrementally innovative or original. Such research is viewed as risky, explorative, not having a long-standing tradition and not simply extending previous well-established research. It is expected to provide input for theoretical, empirical and/or methodological renewal of the research field.

In the field of learning and instruction, FLR considers research as being frontline when it, for example:

• questions, extends, and reflects on the ontological, epistemological, methodological, and axiological foundations of the field,
• explores learning and instruction in the context of current societal problems and developments (e.g., climate change, racism, digital revolution),
• examines issues, phenomena or practices encountered in relatively new fields, lacking a long line of research (e.g., ‘mind, brain and education’, crowdsourcing, learning across contexts),
• takes a critical stance to address how learning and education are intertwined with aspects of power and politics (e.g., in relation to race, ethnicity, class, gender, or normative definitions of ability), 
• draws on new methodologies that have not been used in the field before,
• develops new theory,
• provides new standpoints to traditional research approaches and connects theories and research areas that often have been traditionally separated (e.g., emotion, motivation, cognition),
• uses a multi/trans/interdisciplinary approach, by incorporating perspectives from different disciplines, such as philosophy, psychology, educational neuroscience, computer science, or sociology. 

 FLR considers frontline learning research typically employs methodologies that:

• support integrative understanding of learning and instruction, and non-reductionist units of observation and analysis, 
• combine different data sources, multiple methods and analytical approaches, 
• challenge traditional methodologies dominating the field,
• capitalize on varied paradigmatic stances (e.g., positivist, postpositivist, constructivist, post-qualitative, dialogical, critical, participatory) 
• have hitherto not been used in the field.

Types of manuscripts invited for submission in the FLR?

• Empirical contributions – present studies and methodological designs including work with empirical data. Qualitative, quantitative and mixed-methods studies are welcome;
• Theoretical contributions - seeking to contribute new conceptualizations of learning phenomena or research areas within the field of learning and instruction;
• Methodological contributions - presenting novel methodological approaches, procedures or instruments that could open new avenues for conducting empirical research;
• Commentaries/Editorial columns – express differing viewpoints, criticisms and clarifications of topics in published papers, in FLR or in other journals, and are intended to initiate discussion and debates within the scientific community.

Other key features of the FLR journal

• Publishes short, regular and extensive articles, 
• Provides space for qualitative research to display extensive data and analyses,
• Facilitates a constructive review process,
• Provides reviews of submissions and online publication within a relatively short time frame,
• Is an outlet for frontline research within the EARLI community and beyond, 
• Requires no publication fee for EARLI or JURE members and only 200 euro for all other authors.

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Peer Review Process

Review policy

Frontline Learning Research adopts a double blind peer reviewing policy. Both the author(s) and reviewers remain to be anonymous throughout the entire review process. Therefore, all identifying features should be removed from the article itself. This does, however, not preclude authors from citing their own work. Instead, authors must cite their works in a manner that does not make explicit their identity.

Review procedure

Expediting the review process is one of the main aims of Frontline Learning Research. The review process is organised in two stages. Firstly, the submitted article will be first checked in terms of the required technical standards, formatting style and its fit with the scope of the journal. The authors will be informed after initial submission on whether their article will be considered for review on the basis of the aforementioned criteria. 

Decisions

The decision of the editor is based on the reviews of all the reviewers involved.

Four decisions can result,

• Accept
• Minor revisions
• Major revisions
• Reject

The editor’s decision is final.

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Publication Frequency

Our journal operates on a continuous publication model, aiming to release three volumes annually. We publish articles as soon as they are ready following acceptance. Each volume typically includes 4 scholarly articles (with the excpetion of Special Issues), amounting to a range of approximately 12-16 articles published per year.

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Ethics Information

Editors’ responsibilities

• To act in a balanced, objective and fair way while carrying out their expected duties, without discrimination on grounds of gender, ethnic or geographical origin, sexual orientation,  religious or political beliefs of the authors.

• To adopt and follow reasonable procedures in the event of complaints in accordance with the policies and procedures of EARLI. To give authors a reasonable opportunity to respond to complaints. To investigate all complaints no matter when the original publication was approved. To retain all appropriate documentation associated with any such complaints.
• To handle submissions for special issues in the same way as other submissions, so that articles are considered and accepted solely on their academic merit.

Reviewers’ responsibilities

• To aid in improving the quality of the submitted paper by reviewing the manuscript objectively, in a timely manner and, to contribute to the decision-making process.

• To examine any potential conflicts of interest (financial, institutional, collaborative or other relationships between the reviewer and author) and to alert the editor to these, if necessary withdrawing their services for that manuscript.

• To alert the editor to any other published or submitted content that is substantially similar to that under review. To inform if any information or arguments presented in the paper have not be acknowledge through proper citation guidelines.
• To protect the confidentiality of any information supplied by the editor or author. To not copy or disseminate the manuscript.

Authors’ responsibilities

• To maintain records of data used in their submitted manuscript, and to supply or provide access to these data, on request. When allowed, to deposit data in a suitable repository or storage location, for sharing and further use by others. 

• To acknowledge and cite sources when portions of the content overlap with published or submitted content. 

• To acknowledge and cite content reproduced from other sources. To obtain required permissions to reproduce any content from other sources.

• To declare any potential conflicts of interest.

• To notify the journal editor if a significant error in their publication is identified. To cooperate with the editor to publish an erratum, addendum, or to retract the paper, where this is deemed necessary.
• To assure that authorship has been granted to all those and only to those who made a significant contribution to the reported study.

Dealing with unethical behavior 

• The editor-in-chief has the responsibility to react to all concerns of misconduct and unethical behavior which is related to manuscripts, review process or editorial decisions.

• An initial decision about the unethical behavior cases should be taken by the editor-in-chief and approved by the Ethical Committee of EARLI.
• Our journal adheres to the ethical guidelines established by EARLI, including COPE Core Practices. Please refer to www.earli.org/code-of-ethics for more information.

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Information about open access policy and publication fee can be found here or under the 'publish' tab.