ITEL Author Instructions and Guidelines

Aims and Scope

Information and Technology in Education and Learning (ITEL) is the joint international journal signatured by JSET (Japan Society for Educational Technology) and JSiSE (Japanese Society for Information and Systems in Education). ITEL aims to spread unique study results to professionals all over the world concerned with practice of technology in education, including theories of instruction and learning, as well as the development of the theory and methodology regarding the field of computer usage for education. It is an open access journal using J-STAGE as its platform.

Because the educational technology and information systems in education form an interdisciplinary area, the scope of the journal is widely concerned with the various aspects of education and learning technology research, such as practice humanities, social sciences, science and engineering, the learning sciences, educational psychology, and other human-related disciplines, as well as information science, such as databases and artificial intelligence, and cognitive science.

Types of Papers

We are happy to welcome a variety of submissions that impact the significant advances made in studies regarding information and technology in education and learning. We accept four types of papers: Research, Review, Translation, and Invited papers. The Research papers also have four subcategories: Regular, Practice, Development, and Short papers.

Research Papers

Regular Paper

Regular papers should be manuscripts of original, rigorous studies related to information and technology with quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods related to the research, development, and practice of formal and informal education and learning in a variety of areas. These papers should be novel and reliable, and have significant impacts on prospective studies and practices in this area. These papers should also provide a sufficient literature review in order to prove the theoretical foundations.

Practice Paper

Practice papers should be manuscripts that describe studies on educational practices and their results with regard to information and technology in formal and informal education and learning in a variety of areas, as well as how the practices were conducted in the study. The educational practices described in practice papers should clearly explain specific educational interventions, such as information communication technologies (ICTs), instructional designs (IDs), information designs, teaching methods in classroom practices, and others related to learning environment designs, which are the foci of the studies. A literature review to explain the originality and reasons of the interventions is required. Practice papers need to clarify the methods and conditions of the practice so that readers can understand their practice situations and the significance of the papers, even though this category of papers does not require the use of rigorous methodologies.

Development Paper

Development papers should focus on technological developments, such as ICTs, which aim to improve education and learning in a variety of areas. The design of the proposed technologies should be clearly described in the development papers so that the readers can replicate similar technologies to those proposed by the authors. Originality is required with regard to either the developed system itself or the combination of underlying or component technologies. Thus, a literature review is required for its technological aspect to explain the originality and significance of the proposed development. Development papers do not need rigorous studies or evaluation in educational practices, but should present results that imply improvements in education and learning.

Short Paper

Short papers are manuscripts that include new approaches in education and learning, such as pioneering studies in educational technology or educational practice using ICTs in formal or informal education and learning. Short papers should provide a clear description of the research's motivation, methods, and results. The manuscripts should also prove the originality and reliability of the studies in this area, as well as present its reliability. A detailed review regarding related work or rigorous evaluation is not required.

Review Paper

Review papers aim to summarize recent and past research history and provide directions for educational technology research, such as research methods, theories, and system design, based on systematic review methods.

Translation

Translations are English translations from papers that have been published in the Japan Journal of Educational Technology (Japanese version). The content must be identical and written in proficient English. Papers in this category are NOT recognized as a research achievement. The original and translated manuscripts are reviewed by the Editorial Board of the Japan Journal of Educational Technology, and are then transferred to our journal to be approved for publication.

Invited Paper

Invited papers are informative papers written by the outstanding researchers invited by the ITEL Editorial Board.

Conditions for Submission

ITEL follows a single-blind review procedure. The authors need to submit their manuscript with their names and affiliations in the text, references, or title. There is no need to hide self-identifying citations and references in the manuscript.

Originality of the manuscript

When submitting a paper, with the exception of a Translation, the authors must ensure that the manuscript is original and has not been published previously nor is currently being considered for publication elsewhere. However, as an exception, the authors may enhance papers they have presented at international conferences, domestic annual meetings, or technical workshops, etc. when developing their manuscripts for submission. In this case, please ensure to indicate their original sources as references and include a clear description that shows the authors’ intention to enhance their previous achievements in the current manuscript. If the authors have a paper under consideration for publication that is about to be published in another journal or book and has a similar content to a part of the manuscript, please will advise us by sending a copy of that paper as an attachment in a separate email (to the ITEL Editorial Board, see below for details) when the authors submit the manuscript so we can consult with them.

Exception for Translation

Contributions for the Translation category must be submitted to the original journal’s Editorial Board. The translated manuscript from Japanese must be a well-written, complete English translation from the original Japanese article, which has been reviewed and approved by the original journal’s Editorial Board.

Approval by the co-authors and declaration of no gift-authorship

The submission of a manuscript indicates that its publication has been approved by all co-authors, and that the submitting author has ensured that all co-authors have contributed to the development of the manuscript through the research process.

Copyright permissions from original authors of the information resources used in the manuscript and the Prohibition of plagiarism

When submitting a manuscript that includes figures, tables, or text passages that have already been published elsewhere, the authors must obtain permission(s) from their copyright owner(s) and include evidence that such permission(s) have been granted. Any material received without such evidence will be assumed to originate from the authors. Both self-plagiarism or plagiarism of other authors is strictly prohibited. This does not apply if a citation is made appropriately according to the law.

Guarantee for ethical codes

The authors must keep in mind compliance and ethics. When submitting their manuscript, the authors are assumed to have obtained consent from the responsible authorities at the institute/organization at which the research outlined in the manuscript has been conducted. Submission of a manuscript that uses any kind of sensitive data with privacy or personal information requires the authors to ensure obtaining consent from the individuals concerned (such as participants, cooperators, institutions) before the study began. Even with this permission, the authors must exclude any personal information or information that allows readers to identify specific people or institutions where the research was conducted. Using confidential information in some organizations or institutions for the research written in the manuscript also requires the authors to obtain proper permission in advance.

In addition, the authorship should be clarified; all co-authors must agree with the content of the manuscript, and all must give their consent to submit the manuscript before submission.

Quality of English

When submitting their manuscript, the authors must ensure that the manuscript is free from typographical errors and is written in quality English that reviewers can easily understand. Receiving proofreading by native English speakers is highly recommended, either in British or American English. Submitting the proof of proofreading is preferable for the Editorial Board to recognize the English quality of the manuscript.

Intention and ability to pay for the publication charge

A publication charge applies for each article accepted for publication in this journal. Submitting the manuscript indicates that the authors ensure their intention and ability to pay the publication charge when their manuscript is accepted for publication. The submission is NOT limited to members of JSET or JSiSE; however, the submission from the authors, including at least one member from either society, is highly recommended so as to qualify for the discounted publication charge for members. If non-member authors request the membership discount, at least one of them should become a member of either society before the final decision regarding publication. For the publication charge options, see Table 1 below for details.

Table 1: Article Processing Charges in JPY including Consumption Tax

# of Pages JSET or JSiSE members Non-members
1-2 16,50029,700
3-4 22,00035,200
5-6 27,50040,700
7-8 33,00046,200
9-10 60,50073,700
11-12 93,500106,700
13-14 159,500172,700

*Note: A charge of JPY33,000 per page is applicable for every excess page.

Length and formats

The number of pages, including the figures, tables, author portrait with biography, acknowledgements, and appendix for all submission categories, except Short papers, should be basically within 8 pages. The number of pages for Short papers should be basically 4 pages for your initial submission, and strictly within 6 pages for publication.

The manuscript format should follow the Word template. The template provides you with an A4 size exact format with an explanation regarding how to format the paper in an exact manner.

Submitting the Manuscript for Publication

Actual submission of the manuscript

All manuscripts, with the exception of Invited papers and Translation papers, must be submitted via our online submission system. The manuscript will obtain a unique manuscript number, and the author who submitted the manuscript can check the status of the manuscript in the review process on the online submission system, which is accessible via the ITEL website (www.j-itel.org). When a decision is made, the system automatically sends an e-mail about the decision to the authors. Revisions can be submitted through the online submission system.

When submitting or reviewing their manuscript, the authors or reviewers need to provide their names, email addresses, affiliations, and other contact details that will be used for the necessary operations for editing and publishing this journal, including, when necessary, sharing with the publisher (International Academic Publishing, Inc.) or the online journal platform (J-STAGE) and their partners for production and publication. All contributors to the ITEL publication recognize the importance of protecting the personal information collected from users in the operation of these services, and have practices in place to ensure that steps are taken to maintain the security, integrity, and privacy of the personal data collected and processed.

Revision of the manuscript

The authors can view the comments from the reviewers on the online submission system. The authors have to follow all the comments and instructions to achieve publication. The authors also have to explain in detail how they have revised the manuscript in their response letter.

The ITEL Editorial Board provides the authors with ONE (1) opportunity for four (4) weeks for revision before the final decision for the publication in order to polish the manuscript. The reason why the number of revisions is limited is to ensure the promptness of the publication process. If the authors do not submit the revised manuscript within four weeks, the submission will be automatically withdrawn.

Authors who have received a negative decision on their manuscript or have withdrawn their manuscript can make another submission for the manuscript ONLY IF they revise it according to the comments or instructions given by the reviewers. When the authors wish to submit their revised manuscript as another trial, they must submit additional documents that explain how they have revised the manuscript according to the decision letter.

After the decision for publication of the manuscript

When the authors receive the final decision letter confirming that the manuscript has been accepted for publication, the authors have to submit the following materials: the final version of the Accepted Paper (sometimes the authors may need to revise the manuscript to finalize the Accepted Paper because the reviewers or the Editors may ask for some concise revisions to improve the manuscript, but not significant changes), a copyright transfer agreement, and other necessary data that is necessary for publication. There are several proofreading opportunities for the authors before the actual publication. In this process, the authors are also asked to pay for the publication charge.

After finishing the process above, the Accepted Paper is published immediately online on J-STAGE, which is an electronic journal platform for science and technology information in Japan.

Contact

For any further inquiries or questions, please feel free to contact our Editorial Board ( ).