Review Criteria

Review Criteria

• Description of Practice

  Description of Practice articles—those that focus on describing teaching and learning applications of ePortfolio—include 10-15-page manuscripts (approximately 2,500-4,000 words) that are descriptive and/or theoretical in nature and associated with applications of ePortfolio in course or curricular settings. Articles should be well grounded in the literature on teaching and learning and present knowledge, methods, and insights relevant to instructional applications, broadly defined, of ePortfolio in practice contexts. Description of Practice articles will be reviewed based on the following criteria:
  

  1. Focus: Is the manuscript's focus in congruence with the stated mission and foci of the journal?
     
  2. Problem: (a) Does the manuscript clearly state and explain the problem or issue that is to be addressed by the instructional method discussed later in the article? (b) Is the problem relevant, ground-breaking, and/or of import to the field? (c) Is the statement of the problem directly linked to and in alignment with the subsequent review of the literature?
     
  3. Literature: Does the manuscript identify prior methods used to address the instructional problem at hand and has the author indicated how the current manuscript adds to the body of knowledge to address the problem?
     
  4. Methodology: Is the teaching/educational practice described in the manuscript well developed, clearly articulated, and appropriate given the expressed problem and literature support? The pedagogy description should be clear enough that others who wish to adopt the pedagogy may do so.
     
  5. Analysis: Is it clear how the teaching practice described in the instructional manuscript addressed the instructional problem at hand?
     
  6. Conclusions: Are the conclusions supported by the information and literature presented? In particular, are the conclusions logically consistent and do they logically follow from the problem statement, the literature, and the pedagogy description?
     
  7. Cross-Disciplinary: Does the manuscript, either through the nature of the problem or the discussion of the practice, reach beyond a single discipline or domain and address the applicability of the problem and/or practices in other disciplines and domains?
     
  8. Organization: Is the manuscript organized in accordance with currently accepted formats for reporting pedagogical practices and methods? Is there a logical flow to the ideas presented therein?
     
  9. Writing: Is the manuscript free from grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors, and is the manuscript written in an appropriate style? Uncertain issues of format or style should be answered using the latest version of the APA style guidelines.
     
  10. Format: Does the manuscript conform to the organization, style, and format guidelines set forth by the latest version of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association?

• Research and Assessment Articles

  Research and Assessment articles—those that focus on research studies and assessment of ePortfolios and ePortfolio programs/initiatives—include 15-25-page manuscripts (approximately 4,000-7,000 words) that are methodological and empirical in nature and/or reflective of the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL), as well as those manuscripts associated with applications of ePortfolio for programmatic assessment, course-based assessment, and assessment of professional development. Articles should be well grounded in the literature, employ accepted research practices, and present the relevant knowledge, methods, and insights applicable to the research at hand. Research and Assessment articles will be reviewed based on the following criteria:

  1. Focus: Is the manuscript's focus in congruence with the stated mission and foci of the journal?
  2. Problem: (a) Does the manuscript clearly state and explain the problem or issue that is addressed by the completed research or assessment? (b) Is the problem relevant, ground-breaking, and/or of import to the field? (c) Is the statement of the problem directly linked to and in alignment with the subsequent review of the literature?
     
  3. Literature: (a) Does the manuscript identify the research and/or theory that led the author(s) to propose the research and methods completed? (b) Does the manuscript indicate how this work adds to the previous research and/or the body of knowledge to address the problem?
     
  4. Methodology: Is the methodology described well-developed, clearly articulated, and appropriate given the expressed problem, literature support, and research approach (e.g., qualitative or quantitative)? The research, any practices presented, and/or the assessment process should be clear enough that others who wish to adopt the practice may do so.
     
  5. Analysis: (a) Are the data that are collected, regardless of form (e.g., interview transcripts, achievement test scores, survey results), analyzed using appropriate procedures? (b) Are the results of these analyses reported accurately and fully? (c) For manuscripts focused on researching an ePortfolio practice or assessment, is it clear how the practice or assessment described in the manuscript addressed the challenge at hand?
     
  6. Conclusions: (a) Are the conclusions supported by the data analysis? In particular, are the conclusions logically consistent and do they logically follow from the problem statement, the literature, the methodology, and the analysis? (b) Do the conclusions address both the original problem and the implications of the research/assessment findings?
     
  7. Cross-Disciplinary: Does the manuscript, either through the nature of the problem or the discussion of the results, reach beyond a single discipline or domain and address the applicability of the problem, results, and/or practices in other disciplines and domains?
     
  8. Organization: Is the manuscript organized in accordance with currently accepted formats for reporting qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods research? Is there a logical flow to the ideas presented? Manuscripts should follow the latest version of the APA guidelines for research components, research process descriptions, and research organization.
     
  9. Writing: Is the manuscript free from grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors, and is the manuscript written in an appropriate style? Uncertain issues of format or style should be answered using the latest version of the APA style guidelines.
     
  10. Format: Does the manuscript conform to the organization, style, and format guidelines set forth by the latest version of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association?

• Technology, Policy, and Management Articles

  Technology, Policy, and Management articles are 10-25-page manuscripts (approximately 2,500-7,000 words). Manuscripts submitted in this category include a variety of topics associated with the technologies that enable and support the breadth of ePortfolio usage in educational settings. Narratives of technologies in development, innovative ePortfolio support practices, business models, management of ePortfolio initiatives, institutional policies, faculty development on ePortfolio technology, and more would be welcomed submissions. Technology, policy, and management manuscripts will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

  1. Focus: Is the manuscript's focus in congruence with the stated mission and foci of the journal?
  2. Problem: (a) Does the manuscript clearly state and explain the problem or issue that is to be addressed? (b) Is the problem relevant, ground-breaking, and/or of import to the field? (c) Is the statement of the problem directly linked to and in alignment with the subsequent review of the literature?
     
  3. Literature: Does the manuscript identify prior methods used to address the problem or issue at hand as well as effectively synthesize current literature to provide a theoretical foundation for the problem/issue?
     
  4. Practice: Are the strategies/practices described in the manuscript well developed, clearly articulated, and appropriate given the expressed problem and literature support? The description should be clear enough that others who wish to adopt the practice/strategy/models/policies/etc. may do so.
     
  5. Analysis: Is it clear how the practices/models/policies/etc. described in the manuscript addressed the problem at hand?
     
  6. Conclusions: Are the conclusions supported by the information and literature presented (and/or data analysis, when applicable)? Specifically, are the conclusions logically consistent and logically follow from the problem statement, the literature, the practice, and/or the analysis?
     
  7. Cross-Disciplinary: Does the manuscript, either through the nature of the problem or the discussion of the results, reach beyond a single discipline or domain?
     
  8. Organization: Is the manuscript organized in accordance with currently accepted formats? In particular, is there a logical flow to the ideas presented therein?
     
  9. Writing: Is the manuscript free from grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors and is the manuscript written in an appropriate style? Uncertain issues of format or style should be answered using the latest version of the APA style guidelines.
     
  10. Format: Does the manuscript conform to the organization, style, and format guidelines set forth by the latest version of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association?

• Distinctive Articles

  IJeP also welcomes manuscripts relevant to ePortfolios in educational settings that do not fit conceptually into any of the other three categories. Manuscripts that truly have no relationship to instruction; research and assessment; or technology, policy, and management should be submitted using the Distinctive manuscript type. Distinctive articles are 10-25 pages in length (approximately 2,500-7,000 words). Those with questions regarding a manuscript’s suitability for IJeP should contact the Executive Editors at [email protected] and include a manuscript abstract with their inquiry. Manuscripts submitted as Distinctive will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

  1. Focus: Is the manuscript's focus in congruence with the stated mission and foci of the journal?
  2. Problem: (a)Does the manuscript clearly state and explain the problem or issue that is to be addressed? (b) Is the problem relevant, ground-breaking, and/or of import to the field? (c) Is the statement of the problem directly linked to and in alignment with the subsequent review of the literature?
     
  3. Literature: Does the manuscript identify prior methods used to address the problem or issue at hand as well as effectively synthesize current literature to provide a theoretical foundation for the problem/issue?
     
  4. Practice: Are the strategies/practices/theories/models/policies described in the manuscript well developed, clearly articulated, and appropriate given the expressed problem and literature support? The description should be clear enough that others who wish to adopt the practice/strategy/theory/models/policies/etc. may do so.
  5. Methodology: For research manuscripts, is the methodology described in the research manuscript well developed, clearly articulated, and appropriate given the expressed problem, literature support, and research approach (e.g., qualitative or quantitative)? (leave blank if not applicable)
     
  6. Analysis: (a) Is it clear how the strategies/practices/theories/models/policies described in the manuscript addressed the problem at hand? (b) For research articles, are the data that are collected, regardless of form (e.g., interview transcripts, achievement test scores, survey results), analyzed using appropriate procedures? (c) For research articles, are the results of these analyses reported accurately and fully?
     
  7. Conclusions: Are the conclusions supported by the analysis? In particular, are the conclusions logically consistent and do they logically follow from the problem statement, the literature, the practice, and the analysis?
     
  8. Cross-Disciplinary: Does the manuscript, either through the nature of the problem and/or the discussion of the results, reach beyond a single discipline or domain?
     
  9. Organization: Is the manuscript organized in accordance with currently accepted formats? In particular, is there a logical flow to the ideas presented therein?
     
  10. Writing: Is the manuscript free from grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors and is the manuscript written in an appropriate style? Uncertain issues of format or style should be answered using the latest version of the APA style guidelines.
      
  11. Format: Does the manuscript conform to the organization, style, and format guidelines set forth by the latest version of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association?