The Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, an official journal of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, is devoted to the interests of teachers of mathematics and mathematics education at all levels¡ªpreschool through adult. JRME is a forum for disciplined inquiry into the teaching and learning of mathematics. The editors encourage the submission of a variety of manuscripts: reports of research, including experiments, case studies, surveys, philosophical studies, and historical studies; articles about research, including literature reviews and theoretical analyses; brief reports of research; critiques of articles and books; and brief commentaries on issues pertaining to research. An Index for each volume appears in the November issue. JRME is indexed in Contents Pages in Education, Current Index to Journals in Education, Education Index, Psychological Abstracts, Social Sciences Citation Index, and Zentralblatt f¨¹r Didaktik der Mathematik.
Correspondence
All manuscript submissions should be submitted electronically through the JRME Submission and Manuscript Tracking System. Editors can be contacted at jrme@nctm.org.
Review copies of new books and other publications should be sent to Norma Presmeg, 313 Stevenson Hall, Illinois State University, Normal, IL 61790-4520.
Correspondence regarding Research Commentaries should be sent to Jeremy Kilpatrick, 105 Aderhold Hall, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602-7124.
Manuscripts for the monograph series should be sent to Neil Pateman, Everly Hall 2-223, Department of Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies, University of Hawaii, 1776 University Avenue, Honolulu, HI 96822.
All other correspondence should be addressed to NCTM, (800) 235-7566; fax: (703) 476-2970; e-mail: nctm@nctm.org.
Types of Manuscripts
A manuscript may be prepared as an article or for one of the JRME departments. A manuscript submitted to the JRME should not be under consideration for publication by another journal, nor should it have been published previously in a copyrighted publication, whether non-electronic or electronic.
Articles
Articles over 40 pages, not counting cover page, abstract, tables, and figures, will be sent out for review at the discretion of the editor. Longer manuscripts tend to have a greater publication lag.
Reports of research studies. Research reports should be tersely and clearly written. The importance and relevance of the research topic to mathematics education should be presented in the rationale or the discussion. Any analysis should be suited to the data and the research questions. Reports of many types of research are encouraged, including experiments, case studies, surveys, philosophical investigations, and historical studies.
Articles about research. The journal welcomes literature reviews and syntheses of research in an area, as well as theoretical analyses of research.
Departments
Brief reports. A brief report of a study is especially appropriate when a fuller report is available elsewhere or when a more comprehensive follow-up study is planned. A brief report of a first study on some topic might stress the rationale, hypotheses, and plans for further work. A brief report of a replication or extension of a previously reported study might contrast the results of the two studies, referring to the earlier study for methodological details. A brief report of a monograph or other lengthy nonjournal publication might summarize the key findings and implications or might highlight an unusual observation or methodological approach. Under some circumstances brief reports may be recommended after a longer manuscript has been reviewed.
A brief report should not exceed six manuscript pages. If source materials are needed in order to evaluate a brief report manuscript, six copies of such material should be provided along with six copies of the manuscript. Brief reports have a shorter publication lag than articles.
Critiques of articles. Constructive critiques are invited that respond to articles that have appeared in JRME or other research journals. Critiques should stimulate discussions and present ideas. They should initiate a potential dialogue in print through thoughtful criticism and a presentation of alternatives.
A critique should not exceed six manuscript pages. When a critique is accepted for publication, the editor will send a copy to the author of the original article along with an invitation to respond within a specified period of time. Whenever possible, the critique and the response will be published in the same issue.
Research Commentary. Fostering an understanding of and appreciation for mathematics education research requires more than reporting results of individual studies in JRME. The Research Commentary section in JRME subsumes the Forum for Researchers and increases the breadth of topics that may be published in JRME.
Topics for this section may include, but are not restricted to:
- Commentaries on research;
- Discussions of the connections between research, policy, and practice;
- Scholarly analyses of policy trends related to mathematics education, (e.g. research funding, national policies);
- Commentaries on the relationship between research and evaluation;
- Extended reviews of books with critical commentary; and
- Scholarly debates among proponents of differing views.
Research commentary submissions will be peer reviewed. They should be 8-12 manuscript pages in length and are generally not to exceed 20 manuscript pages.
Reviews. The review editor welcomes suggestions for material to be reviewed and for prospective reviewers. Analytic reviews of selected scholarly publications that have been received for review are solicited by the review editor, who also assembles telegraphic reviews. (See the inside cover of a recent JRME issue for the name and address of the review editor or view About JRME.)
Letter to the editor. This department welcomes responsible comment on issues of potential interest to the readers of the journal. Letters to the editor are not evaluated by reviewers and are published at the discretion of the editor.
Preparation of Manuscripts
Except for letters to the editor, book reviews and monographs, all manuscripts should be submitted electronically through the JRME Submission and Manuscript Tracking System. Prepare to upload both a blinded and an unblinded version of the manuscript. Manuscripts should conform to the conventions specified in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed., 2001). This publication is available from the American Psychological Association, 750 First Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002.
Manuscripts should be double-spaced. Use as a model the sample paper included on pages 258-272 of the Publication Manual. Give particular attention to the content and format illustrated on pages 258 and 259 for the cover sheet, abstract, and first sheet of actual manuscript text. Also note the use of a running head on subsequent manuscript pages. If the manuscript is based on dissertation research, a funded research project, or a paper presented at the professional meeting, a footnote on the cover sheet should provide the relevant facts, including the director of the dissertation or the organization sponsoring the project. The numbered pages of a manuscript submitted as a feature article should begin with an abstract of about 150 words on a separate sheet. Manuscripts submitted as brief reports, critiques, forum articles, and reviews do not require abstracts.
Prepare the blinded version of your manuscript by (a) substituting ¡°Author (date)¡± in place of all references in the text to their authored or coauthored publications related to the topic of the current paper and (b) deleting those same references from the reference list. Authors should also submit one unblinded copy together with the five blinded copies.
Authors must accept sole responsibility for the factual accuracy of their contributions and for obtaining permission to quote lengthy excerpts from copyrighted sources. All figures submitted must be camera ready.
Processing of Manuscripts
When a manuscript arrives at the JRME editorial office, the editor checks to see if it falls within the journal's domain of interests and meets the journal's technical and stylistic requirements. If the manuscript is not appropriate for JRME, it is returned to the author without further consideration. If the manuscript falls within the journal's domain but does not meet its technical or stylistic requirements, the manuscript is returned to the author for revision before processing will continue. The reviewing process is greatly facilitated when manuscripts are submitted in proper form.
If a manuscript is deemed eligible for review and evaluation, the editor sends the author notification that the manuscript has been received and is being processed for review, and requests an evaluation from at least three reviewers (of whom at least one is a member of the JRME Editorial Board). Reviewers are chosen for their scholarship and expertise relative to various aspects of the paper.
When the reviewers' evaluations have been received, the editor notifies the author of the decision--
- to accept the manuscript for JRME publication, often pending some revision by the author or editor;
- to reconsider the manuscript following substantial revision by the author and further evaluation by reviewers; or
- to reject the manuscript.
The editor communicates the decision to the author, including suggestions for a revision or an indication of the reasons for a rejection.
The JRME editorial office attempts to process manuscripts expeditiously. The goal is to complete the reviewing process within three months. Occasionally, a longer time is required.
After the manuscript has been accepted for publication, various factors contribute to determining the issue in which it will appear: manuscript backlog, lead time for production (copy editing and printing), manuscript length, and other considerations pertaining to the content and makeup of particular JRME issues. Manuscripts are not necessarily published in the order in which they are received or accepted.
Assignment of copyright for the article to the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics is required as a condition of publication. After acceptance by JRME, a manuscript may not be published elsewhere without written permission from NCTM. Each author of a paper published in JRME will receive five complimentary copies of the issue in which the paper appears.
Monograph Series
The JRME monograph series is published by the Editorial Board as a supplement to the journal for manuscripts in the range of about 200 pages. Each monograph has a single theme related to the learning or teaching of mathematics. To be considered for publication, a manuscript should be (a) a single treatise that examines a major research issue, (b) a report of a single research study that is too lengthy to be published as a journal article, (c) a report of a series of coordinated studies, or (d) a synthesis of a large body of research.
Procedure for Submission of Monograph Series Manuscripts
Any person(s) wishing to submit a manuscript for consideration as a monograph should send four copies of the complete manuscript to the monograph series editor. The name and affiliation of each contributing author should be included with the manuscript. Manuscripts may be sent at any time and should conform to the conventions specified in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed., 2001). Any other information about the nature of the monograph that might assist the series editor with the review process is welcome.
Processing of Manuscripts
The procedures followed for processing and reviewing a manuscript submitted for consideration as a monograph are essentially the same as for the journal. Because of the length of monograph manuscripts, the reviewing process may take up to six months.
For further information about the monograph series, contact Neil Pateman, Monograph Series Editor, Wist Annex 2-223, Department of Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies, University of Hawaii, 1776 University Avenue, Honolulu, HI 96822.
References
American Psychological Association. (2001).
Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.). Washington, D.C.: Author.
JRME Editorial Board. (1970). Call for research manuscripts, including general guidelines, Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 1, 61-62.
JRME Editorial Board. (1976). Revised information for contributors to the Journal for Research in Mathematics Education. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 3-7.
JRME Editorial Board. (1979). Information for contributors to the Journal for Research in Mathematics Education. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 10, 3-6.
