An education journal is a periodic publication in which articles related to different academic disciplines are published. Education journals contain information on the latest research and development and critique on existing research. Education journals are divided into scientific and qualitative journals, the latter of which deal with social sciences. Research scholars typically submit their articles to academic journals. The journal editor then decides whether to submit the article for review or not. The reviewers and editors determine whether to publish the article or not, and in some cases they return it to the author to rewrite some portions of it. Because the process of review is so lengthy, an article may be published several months after submission.
Education journals distribute highly specific knowledge to experts and students of different subject matters, and contributors are experts of their fields. As such, most articles contain complex language and terms, which may not be understood by an everyday reader.
While journalists produce thoughtful and insightful overviews of current happenings, an expert of a certain field writes about minute details of his research and findings. A brief comparison is found by the titles of articles; while journalists put up eye catching headers and titles, a title of an education oriented journal is long and describes the complete subject and research.
Education journals are printed in annual, semi-annual or quarterly editions and available online and in print form as well. The quality of paper in the print issues is plain, and not glossy. One of the most important part of any research paper is its reference or citation, and education journals include footnotes as well as a full bibliography list. Full data on all sources, whether through different books or the internet is given down to the page number. Images are not included unless specifically relevant to a particular article.
Most journals have few, if any, advertisements. Even if they do, the ads are focused on upcoming conferences, publications or jobs. Journals pay their expenses through government or state grants, and are also provided special funds from universities and educational commissions and agencies. Since the main purpose of such journals is to establish a scholar or a university’s reputation, many famous scholars go on to set up funds for the journals and magazines which published their articles.
The online version of a journal is hosted on university websites, or by non-profit groups, or by students who build up the websites for free as their educational project.
All in all, an educational journal is a wonderful resource for students to find articles and latest developments in their related fields of interest. Many times, an article which contradicts a popular idea or theory is published and received with great interest from the academic community and is a popular subject of discussion among scholars. Research articles can also be easily cited, and most authors can be contacted through the journal’s office.
Research journals are an ideal way for students and scholars to establish themselves and discuss research findings and theories.