We have now received many articles and have been able to identify certain patterns in which submissions the reviewers are recommending for publication or rejection. Based on this experience, we would like to offer a few tips.
1. Use an issue, dilemma or problem as your starting point. It should berecognisable and in one way or another be relatable to teachers and researchers in Higher Education.
This applies to all our different sections. Pieces that simply report a trial, empirical data or a project and where it is unclear why this is important, problematic or interesting are unlikely to be met with approval. Ensure that the issue, dilemma or problem is made clear right from the beginning of the article. For example, this may be done through the use of a specific and representative example or on the basis of a clear description of the situation.
If your angle has a degree of originality, casts new light on a matter or relates to a current issue, this will increase the likelihood that you will be published.
2. Relate to the research front (if it is a research article or a reflection in which this is appropriate), but only choose research and theories that position your issue or problem, or in other ways gives relevant input to your study and your interpretations.
Make it clear how your issue relates to the work you are referencing. Avoid listing research solely for the purpose of demonstrating the breadth of your reading.
3. A description of your method is important if you are reporting an empirical study. Prioritise methodological information that helps the reader to understand your interpretations or in some way may be controversial, and try to minimise redundant information.
If your article is more theoretical or reflective, it is not always necessary to include a separate methodological chapter. Instead, articulate, problematise and discuss your assumptions. Ethical considerations should be included where relevant. If you are unsure, consult sources such as the Swedish Research Council’s ethical principles.
4. If you are researching your own teaching or teaching context, please be aware of the particular ethical challenges this may entail. As a teacher, you generally have access to study and examination data, course evaluations or other materials where students’ understandings and experiences are expressed. Such data may often be used, quite unproblematically, for development of courses and teaching and learning activities. But for research, the same data cannot readily be used without first considering research ethics.
Researching your own teaching or supervision practice also means you take on two roles in relation to your students (or colleagues): the role of the teacher (potentially exercising law-given authority) and the role of the researcher. These roles may be difficult to separate, and there are many questions that legitimately might interest the researcher that the teacher/supervisor never should pose to his/her students.
The ethical principle of informed consent also applies here, i.e. the student should consent to participating in any research before the study begins. Even if you are clear about the fact that you are acting in the role of researcher, it can be very difficult for students to say no to participate or otherwise protect their own integrity if the question is asked by their teacher. It should therefore be ensured that the students are given the opportunity to decline to participate.
We would like to see thematic titles instead of traditional research article headings (purpose, theory, method, etc.). Do not hesitate to depart from the traditional form of an article if it helps to make the article clearer or more reader friendly. However, bear in mind that it should be clear which issues, dilemmas or problems form its basis, what has been done and how this relates to other research and theories. Guide the reader through the article using summaries and metatext. Ensure you actually cover what you set out to cover in the introduction.
Ensure that your use of terminology is clear and articulated (i.e. that it is clear how you understand or use ambiguous terms). Exemplify and specify. Mercilessly review and delete anything that is not important and that distracts from the focus of the article.
Ask a “critical friend” to read through your text and provide you with feedback before you submit. We would like to receive your article in as finished a state as you can get it by yourself. The reviewers then provide their views on whether the article should be published or not, and provide advice for final finishing touches. If the text is not sufficiently ready, it will be rejected unless there are particularly strong reasons not to.
Högre utbildning is a scholarly electronic journal that is freely available following the principle of open access. The journal's overall purpose is to support the development of knowledge relevant for teaching and education at universities and other higher education institutions.
