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College of Education

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Manuscript Guidelines

  • Manuscripts are judged by their contribution to the understanding of educational leadership and policy issues.
  • Manuscripts must be previously unpublished, not under consideration elsewhere, and should be prepared according to the style recommendations in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th Ed. (2019).
  • Manuscripts of 3000-6000 words (plus abstract) should not list the author(s) name(s) in the title, header, and/or footer. Do not substitute the word author for the author(s) name(s) in the manuscript text, citation, and/or reference.
  • Manuscripts must be accompanied by a cover sheet with each author's current title, position, institutional affiliation, and complete mailing address, phone, fax, and/or e-mail address of each of the authors.
  • Manuscripts may be submitted electronically or mailed (in triplicate) to the Managing Editor.

Notification

  • Upon receipt of the manuscript, the contact author will receive notification. Each acceptable manuscript will ordinarily be reviewed by three independent reviewers. The blind review process normally takes ten to twelve weeks (excluding summer).
  • If the manuscript is accepted for publication, authors will be asked to send a PC-compatible electronic document as well as a pdf file of the manuscript.
  • Authors may be requested to make revisions prior to final acceptance. Authors will receive a copy to proof and approve. The Editor reserves the right to make editorial changes that do not materially affect the meaning of the text.

An Important Message About the New Direction of the Journal

In 2021, the editorial board launched a special edition on Covid-19 and announced a new editorial policy. Future articles appearing in the Planning and Changing journal will include or emphasize social justice and equity concerns as educational leadership and policy analysis is being reimagined. We know that there are scholarly journals devoted solely to critique, and we are not proposing this for Planning and Changing. Instead, we will continue our focus on educational leadership and policy analysis but always with an eye to making sure we are not replicating injustice and inequity by failing to acknowledge the pernicious effects of ignoring them and, thus, failing to find ways to address them. We believe Planning and Changing is a unique publication where a variety of topical articles can find a publication home, but we would be remiss to fail to recognize how uncritical approaches to educational leadership and policy have exacerbated injustice. This reflects our shared understanding that the scholarly enterprise requires a critical focus if we are to address longstanding, seemingly intractable educational inequities. In addition, we renew our commitment to provide a publication venue for new voices, and we encourage graduate students and novice scholars to submit their critical work.

Submit now!

Manuscripts and correspondence can be submitted online or sent in the mail.

Managing Editor, Planning and Changing
Department of Educational Administration and Foundations,
Illinois State University
Campus Box 5900
Normal, IL 61790-5900
(309) 438-2399
Fax: 309-438-8683

Submit online

FAQ on the New Direction of the Journal

  • Under this new direction, will the journal be accepting qualitative and quantitative articles?
Yes, the editorial board and editors plan to publish a blend of qualitative and quantitative research pieces and will consider de-colonizing methodologies and improvement science used in contexts of practice.
  • Beyond content changes, are there any other new guidelines for submitting my work to Planning and Changing?
No. All other submission guidelines will remain the same.
  • Is the journal more open to publishing student and new scholar’s critical work?
Yes, the editorial review board encourages scholars at all experience levels to submit their work. We encourage school, university, and policy actors to partner in publication as well.
  • What type of articles previously accepted no longer fit the direction of the journal?

Planning and Changing is taking a new direction to reduce the managerial focus of the past and include only articles that address or emphasize leadership and policy that serve all communities. We are conscious of the social justice and equity effects of educators’ decisions and actions and their disparate impacts on diverse communities and bear some responsibility to prevent reproduction of past wrongs and broad-based society-wide ills. In the past, we have accepted articles that supported the reification of inequities as most publications have done, often unconsciously, but we are course-correcting. Planning and Changing seeks to alter its role in educational discourse by assembling voices that give critical consideration to the work of educational leaders and policy makers while seeking to respond to long-standing, seemingly intractable social inequities. We understand leadership as transformative and are not interested in articles that are primarily focused on transactional or transformational leadership frameworks.

Authors for the new Planning and Changing will apply critical frameworks and theories that consider race, immigration status, gender, LGBTQIA communities, colonizing structures and policies, and other factors that marginalize and silence entire communities. Submissions to Planning and Changing must be free of biased language and problem-framing that fails to consider how deficits are ascribed to communities of color or others typically subjected to implicit bias. For example, phrases like “achievement gap” reflect a deficit mindset about communities of color. Authors for Planning and Changing will recognize this as biased and chose instead to write about “opportunity gaps.”

  • What are some of the topics the journal will prioritize for publication?

Articles for Planning and Changing may address a variety of topics if the treatment includes consideration of social inequities and look toward a future wherein such inequities are addressed discursively and in practice. In addition, articles may directly address facilitating social justice in education topically and include a reframing of educational discourse using critical lenses. In addition, Planning and Changing advocates for new, de-colonizing methods and conceptual frameworks.

Below is an example of a recent article published by the journal that fits the new direction:

Matthew Davis: Volume 49, Issue 3/4

COVID-19 Special Issue: Volume 50, Issue 3/4

  • What is an example of an article with a managerial focus?
In the past, we have published articles on how principals, superintendents, college administrators, and policy makers have managed problems of practice without considering how their management impacts all communities with a stake in education as a core institution in society. Thus, the topics may be the same, but the treatment will be fundamentally different and reflect deeper praxis and forward-looking scholarship. Changes to practice that may seem radical are required, and Planning and Changing seeks to offer a venue for discussing deep change.

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