Each edition of the journal consists of a section of main articles followed by sections devoted to innovative practice, discussion pieces and book reviews.
Submissions to the journal are welcomed from academics, practitioners and professionals in the fields of education, sociology, community development, social policy and related disciplines, and must fulfil the following criteria.
- Articles must directly address the core interests of the journal; i.e. access, widening participation and lifelong learning.
- Articles should provide a clear theoretical rationale for the work discussed rather than providing just a descriptive account.
- Work should be contextualised in order to make it understandable to an international audience.
- Innovative Practice articles should be descriptive as well as maintaining critical reflection, and include coverage of problems encountered and solutions found in establishing a specific project.
- Articles will be considered for publication only if they have not been published, submitted or accepted for publication elsewhere; any exceptions to this should be clearly indicated at the time of submission.
- A brief abstract must be submitted along with the article, highlighting the key issues and focus points of the article.
Contributors are welcome to contact the editors by email in advance of writing an article to ensure what they intend to write meets these criteria and is relevant.
We are pleased to accept completed book reviews, offers to undertake book reviews and books to review.
Submitting material for consideration in the journal
A template for submissions of main section articles can be accessed using the link below.
| Click here to download a Microsoft Word template for articles |
Article manuscripts must be submitted through our online submissions process. All submissions should adhere to the journal house style. When submitting your manuscript you will be required to provide the following information:
- a biography for each author (100 words or less),
- the authors' postal and email addresses and the authors' home pages on the web,
- the title, keywords and abstract for your article,
- the filename or names of your submission.
| Click here to Submit an Article Manuscript to the Editors of Widening Participation and Lifelong Learning. |
Specifications for articles for the main section
Each article will be reviewed by the editors and sent to a number of referees for blind peer review. Articles will be accepted or rejected, or revisions suggested, based on their recommendations. Articles should be between 4000 and 6000 words (not including references) and associated abstracts should be between 100 and 200 words in length. Authors' details must include a full international contact address, telephone number and e-mail address.
Specifications for articles for the Innovative Practice section
Submissions to this section of the journal will be peer reviewed by the editors and are selected for their contribution to innovative practice. The articles should be between 1000 and 3000 words in length (not including references) and associated abstracts should be between 100 and 200 words in length. Authors' details must include a full international contact address, telephone number and e-mail address.
Specifications for articles for the Research Methods section
Submissions to this section of the Journal will be peer-reviewed by the editors and are selected for their contribution to the analysis and development of research methodology in the fields of widening participation and lifelong learning. The articles should be between 1000 and 2000 words in length and should focus on a significant methodological issue or problem which has been encountered within the research process. Research method articles should be clearly marked as such.
Specifications for articles for the Research Notes and Updates section
These provide an opportunity to present interim and final research findings in a quick and accessible way to inform practitioners and researcher in the widening participation and lifelong learning fields. Research notes and updates are shorter than articles and concentrate on describing the research design and detailing the findings. If you have undertaken data collection about a widening participation or lifelong learning issue which you think would be useful to share with others, please consider submitting it as a research note. The articles should be between 1000 and 2000 words in length.
Specifications for book reviews
Book reviews will be peer reviewed by the book editor. Details of author, title, place of publication, publisher, date of publication, number of pages and price should be supplied with the review.
Reviewers should try to avoid the use of overtly technical terminology wherever possible, on the assumption that busy practitioners and colleagues in the field will be seeking to understand and reflexively act upon the knowledge contained in the journal. More specifically, we encourage reviewers to identify and reflect upon the practical and substantive aspects of the publications under review.
Reviews should ideally be between 1000 and 1500 words in length. Occasionally the editors may accept longer submissions, e.g. with regard to publications that are seen to have exceptional relevance for the field, or if there is a publication which covers a topic that is also the subject of a journal 'special issue'.
Potential reviewers are requested to read existing book reviews to gain a sense of the journal's preferred style.
The content of reviews may be edited by the book reviews editor.
Copyright
Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce copyright material from other sources (guidance is available, please email WPLL-journal@open.ac.uk).
It is a condition of publication that the authors assign a license to The Open University to publish contributions to the journal. This enables The Open University, as publishers of the journal, to ensure full protection to authors and to provide the widest possible readership in print and electronic formats as appropriate, whilst the authors retain the copyright to their work.
A copy of the license to publish form can be accessed using the link below.
Widening Participation and Lifelong Learning - License to Publish (pdf document)