• General Guidelines for Authors
• Voices Inside Schools
• Book Reviews and Essay Reviews

General Guidelines for Authors

The Harvard Educational Review accepts contributions from teachers, practitioners, policymakers, scholars, and researchers in education and related fields, as well as from informed observers. In addition to discussions and reviews of research and theory, HER welcomes articles that reflect on teaching and practice in educational settings in the United States and abroad. Authors can elect to indicate whether they are submitting their manuscript as an article, a Voices Inside Schools article, an essay review, or a book review. HER has a two-stage review process. Manuscripts that pass the initial stage are then considered by the full Editorial Board and receive written feedback. It is the policy of the Review to consider for publication only articles that are not simultaneously being considered elsewhere. Please follow these guidelines in preparing your manuscript for submission.

1. Authors must submit three copies of the manuscript, including a one-page abstract. Manuscripts will be returned only if a stamped, self-addressed envelope is included at the time of submission. In addition, please include a clearly labeled 3.5-inch disk or cd-rom containing an electronic version of the manuscript in Microsoft Word format. If you do not have access to MS Word, please contact us to make other arrangements.
2. Manuscripts are considered anonymously. The author's name must appear only on the title page; any references that identify the author in the text must be deleted.
3. HER accepts manuscripts of up to 15,000 words, including footnotes and references and reserves the right to return any manuscript that exceeds that length.
4. All text must be double-spaced, and type size must be at least 12 point with 1" margins on both sides.
5. Quoted material is extracted in the text when it is more than 45 words, unless the editors determine otherwise. For an example online, please see how the poetry and long quotes are extracted in Mary Ellen Dakin's article, "The Poet, the CEO, and the First-Grade Teacher," at http://gseweb.harvard.edu/hepg/dakin.htm.
6. Authors should refer to The Chicago Manual of Style for general questions of style, grammar, punctuation, and form. Chicago should also be referred to for footnotes of theoretical, descriptive, or essay-like material.
7. For technical and research manuscripts, authors should use the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association for reference and citations format.
8. The Uniform System of Citation, published by the Harvard Law Review, should be used for articles that rely heavily on legal documentation. Because this form is not easily adaptable to other sources, it is usually combined with The Chicago Manual of Style as necessary.
9. Authors should select the style most suitable for their manuscripts and adhere consistently to that style. The Editors reserve the right to request that authors use an alternative style if the one chosen seems inappropriate. Styles may not be combined, with the exception of legal citations.
10. References must be in APA format. We request that authors provide complete references, including page citations in book reviews. Authors should be certain that citations and footnotes in the text agree with those in the references.
11. As a generalist journal, HER discourages the use of technical jargon. We encourage authors to minimize the use of underlining, parentheses, italics, and quotation marks for emphasis in the text. Footnotes should be as few and as concise as possible. Tables and figures should be kept to a minimum.

Voices Inside Schools

The purpose of this feature of the journal is to provide a forum devoted to the voices of teachers, students, and others committed to education within the school community broadly defined who interact with students and who have important knowledge and expertise about life inside schools gained through practice, reflection, and/or research. We value the writing of adults and students who have intimate and first-hand experience with teaching and learning.

Submissions for the Voices Inside Schools section are written by teachers and other professionals in the field of education about their own practice, and by students about their own educational experiences. In the past, HER has published articles by practitioners on a wide variety of issues: a Black educator's experiences teaching writing as a process to minority students, a literacy educator teaching women in a correctional facility, a university professor describing the content and pedagogy of her course on AIDS, and a school principal reflecting on school restructuring. Authors may choose to present their perspective through a range of formats, from data-driven to more reflective essays.

Please visit our Voices Inside Schools page for more information.

Book Reviews

HER accepts reviews of recent publications (within the last 2 publication years) about education. Book reviews, in which the author reviews a book related to education, should be 8-12 double-spaced pages. HER also publishes essay reviews, in which one or more books in a particular field are analyzed and the implications for future research and practice are discussed. These essays should range from 15-20 pages. More detailed guidelines for book and essay reviews are available from the HER office or click here. Please call 617-495-3432, or write to the address below.