PUBLISHING IN VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING JOURNALSEuropean Conference on Educational Research10-12 September 2008Gothenburg, SwedenSUBMITTING WORK TO THEINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENTPaul LewisEditor in chief, IJTDImportant characteristics of the IJTD

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The IJTD is an academic research journal. Its primary purpose is to reportoriginal, empirical, academic research.

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The journal has a strong international focus. It is read in over 70 countries andmost of its readers are outside Europe.

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It is multidisciplinary.

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The scope of the IJTD is training and development/human resource development but within that the subject-matter is unrestricted.

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The editors seek to encourage comparative work and research which has links to professional practice.

Considerations flowing from the characteristics of the IJTDWhether or not the paper contains research

The IJTD is looking to report original, empirical research. This may, however, includenovel analysis of an existing database. The journal is unlikely to accept a paper focusingon a methodological initiative unless it is also being tested empirically. A literaturereview and comment is not likely to be accepted unless it is commissioned by the journaland relates to a major area of the subject.

Whether or not the paper has sufficient academic merit

If the work is primarily about how to improve professional practice it may be better tosubmit it to a professional practice journal rather than an academic one. For example, if itevaluates a particular training scheme without having any wider contribution it is unlikelyto have sufficient academic merit. On the other hand, if there are wider issues, the work 1

may be publishable as long as these issues are the central concern. Papers, and their titles, quite often need rebalancing to emphasise the issues and present the context as acase study.

Whether or not the paper is written with the IJTD’s readership in mind

Multinational, national or regional institutions, policies, practices and culture may needexplaining briefly for the worldwide readership.The technical aspects of a particular discipline may need explaining briefly for thosefrom other disciplines.

Whether or not the paper is within the scope of the IJTD

Researchers should ensure the work they submit is within the IJTD’s scope. This is notgenerally a problem because the journal covers the whole field of training anddevelopment/human resource development.Much of what the IJTD publishes is corporate human resource development but theapproach to research can be from any point of view, including public policy and tradesunions. Similarly, the IJTD publishes work using different research methodologies. Thekey consideration is whether it is high-quality, original research in the training anddevelopment/human resource development field.Higher priority is likely to be accorded to papers that are comparative or have clear implications for practice. Authors should draw attention to such characteristics where present.

General considerationsEmphasis

Misplaced emphasis is a common problem. This can sometimes mean that the IJTD is notan appropriate journal for the paper. More often, it means that the paper doesn’tcommunicate its most important message.The emphasis should be upon one or more academic issues within the IJTD’s field rather than being on the context in which the research has taken place. For example, if theresearch is about the training of sales managers, is it primarily adding to the salesmanagement literature or the training literature? This should be decided beforesubmission and should influence the choice of journal: it is not something that an editor should have to raise with the author after submission.An exception to the above would be where the context itself is potentially important.Examples would be where there has been little or no research in a subject in a particular country or industry. However, in such cases the author should explain why the results of 2

research in their particular context might be expected to differ from the previous researchconducted elsewhere.

Contribution to the literature

The methodology of the work needs to be appropriate and the contribution it makes, andits limitations, should be addressed. The contribution will be difficult to assess withoutthe paper being grounded in the literature and this is a common weakness. An example isresearch which evaluates a particular training scheme but makes little or no reference tothe evaluation literature. This will not generally be publishable.Authors should show how their research subject and design have been informed by theliterature and how their work has added to the literature.

Method for reporting research

Research should be reported in the conventional way stating the research objectives andmethods before presenting the results, analysing and discussing them and formingconclusions. The classical requirement is for the research methodology to be describedsufficiently for the reader to be able to replicate the research. At the very least, there must be enough detail for the reader to understand what has been done.

The quality of presentation

The paper should be thoroughly checked before submission so that it is free from errors.The rules governing submissions to the IJTD should be followed.Papers must be submitted in English and a good standard of English is expected.Allowance will be made during the reviewing process if the author’s first language is notEnglish but if the paper is accepted for publication the author may need to arrange and pay for professional editing.

Further information about the IJTD

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The IJTD was first published in 1997.

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Its publisher is Wiley-Blackwell (USA/UK).

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The IJTD is indexed by Management and Marketing Abstracts, PsychologicalAbstracts, International Human Resource Management Abstracts, PrestigeResearch Abstracts and PsychINFO (the American Psychological Association).

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The IJTD conducts a preliminary editorial reading of all papers typically within10 days of receipt. If a paper which is potentially suitable for review is notconsidered ready for review the editors will return the paper to the author with a3