PUBLISHING IN VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING JOURNALS

European Conference on Educational Research

10-12 September 2008
Gothenburg, Sweden

SUBMITTING WORK TO THE

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT

Paul Lewis
Editor in chief, IJTD

Important characteristics of the IJTD

• The IJTD is an academic research journal. Its primary purpose is to report

original, empirical, academic research.

• The journal has a strong international focus. It is read in over 70 countries and
most of its readers are outside Europe.

• It is multidisciplinary.

• The scope of the IJTD is training and development/human resource development

but within that the subject-matter is unrestricted.

• The editors seek to encourage comparative work and research which has links to
professional practice.

Considerations flowing from the characteristics of the IJTD

Whether or not the paper contains research

The IJTD is looking to report original, empirical research. This may, however, include
novel analysis of an existing database. The journal is unlikely to accept a paper focusing
on a methodological initiative unless it is also being tested empirically. A literature
review and comment is not likely to be accepted unless it is commissioned by the journal
and relates to a major area of the subject.

Whether or not the paper has sufficient academic merit

If the work is primarily about how to improve professional practice it may be better to
submit it to a professional practice journal rather than an academic one. For example, if it
evaluates a particular training scheme without having any wider contribution it is unlikely
to have sufficient academic merit. On the other hand, if there are wider issues, the work

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may be publishable as long as these issues are the central concern. Papers, and their
titles, quite often need rebalancing to emphasise the issues and present the context as a
case study.

Whether or not the paper is written with the IJTD’s readership in mind

Multinational, national or regional institutions, policies, practices and culture may need
explaining briefly for the worldwide readership.

The technical aspects of a particular discipline may need explaining briefly for those
from other disciplines.

Whether or not the paper is within the scope of the IJTD

Researchers should ensure the work they submit is within the IJTD’s scope. This is not
generally a problem because the journal covers the whole field of training and
development/human resource development.

Much of what the IJTD publishes is corporate human resource development but the
approach to research can be from any point of view, including public policy and trades
unions. Similarly, the IJTD publishes work using different research methodologies. The
key consideration is whether it is high-quality, original research in the training and
development/human resource development field.

Higher priority is likely to be accorded to papers that are comparative or have clear
implications for practice. Authors should draw attention to such characteristics where
present.

General considerations

Emphasis

Misplaced emphasis is a common problem. This can sometimes mean that the IJTD is not
an appropriate journal for the paper. More often, it means that the paper doesn’t
communicate its most important message.

The emphasis should be upon one or more academic issues within the IJTD’s field rather
than being on the context in which the research has taken place. For example, if the
research is about the training of sales managers, is it primarily adding to the sales
management literature or the training literature? This should be decided before
submission and should influence the choice of journal: it is not something that an editor
should have to raise with the author after submission.

An exception to the above would be where the context itself is potentially important.
Examples would be where there has been little or no research in a subject in a particular
country or industry. However, in such cases the author should explain why the results of

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research in their particular context might be expected to differ from the previous research
conducted elsewhere.

Contribution to the literature

The methodology of the work needs to be appropriate and the contribution it makes, and
its limitations, should be addressed. The contribution will be difficult to assess without
the paper being grounded in the literature and this is a common weakness. An example is
research which evaluates a particular training scheme but makes little or no reference to
the evaluation literature. This will not generally be publishable.

Authors should show how their research subject and design have been informed by the
literature and how their work has added to the literature.

Method for reporting research

Research should be reported in the conventional way stating the research objectives and
methods before presenting the results, analysing and discussing them and forming
conclusions. The classical requirement is for the research methodology to be described
sufficiently for the reader to be able to replicate the research. At the very least, there must
be enough detail for the reader to understand what has been done.

The quality of presentation

The paper should be thoroughly checked before submission so that it is free from errors.

The rules governing submissions to the IJTD should be followed.

Papers must be submitted in English and a good standard of English is expected.

Allowance will be made during the reviewing process if the author’s first language is not
English but if the paper is accepted for publication the author may need to arrange and
pay for professional editing.

Further information about the IJTD

• The IJTD was first published in 1997.

• Its publisher is Wiley-Blackwell (USA/UK).

• The IJTD is indexed by Management and Marketing Abstracts, Psychological

Abstracts, International Human Resource Management Abstracts, Prestige
Research Abstracts and PsychINFO (the American Psychological Association).

• The IJTD conducts a preliminary editorial reading of all papers typically within
10 days of receipt. If a paper which is potentially suitable for review is not
considered ready for review the editors will return the paper to the author with a

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 statement of the changes they think are necessary. Otherwise, the paper will either
be sent for review or rejected without review.

• The journal’s acceptance rate in 2007 was 21 per cent.

• In 2007 the mean length of time between submission and decision, following
review, was 20 weeks.

• In the same year, the mean length of time between submission and publication
was 42 weeks.

• The IJTD uses the following categories when giving decisions: acceptance with
minor changes; acceptance with substantial changes; rejection with an invitation
to resubmit; and outright rejection.

• Each paper is sent to two or three reviewers and all papers are reviewed in at least
one country other than the one in which the author is based. Resubmitted papers
have a further review.

• Except where changes are minor, final copy must be accompanied by a separate
document showing where and how the editors’ and reviewers’ comments have
been accommodated.

• All communication is carried out electronically, including the submission of

papers, the provision of reviews and the giving of decisions.

Contact details

Dr P Lewis
Leeds University Business School
University of Leeds
Leeds
LS2 9JT
UK

pl@lubs.leeds.ac.uk

Website: www.blackwellpublishing.com/IJTD

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