Journal of Educational Change: Scope, Impact, and Key Research Areas

The Journal of Educational Change is a research journal dedicated to publishing research related to Social Sciences. Published by Springer Netherlands, it holds the ISSN 13892843. This article delves into the journal's scope, its significance in the field of education, and provides an overview of its key metrics and research areas.

Journal Overview

Journal of Educational Change is a peer-reviewed journal, published by Springer Netherlands, focusing on research within the social sciences. The journal's ISSN is 13892843. It is indexed in several prominent databases, including UGC CARE, Scopus, and Web of Science (SSCI). Indexing signifies that the journal has undergone a rigorous review process, meeting the standards set by the indexing body.

Key Metrics and Ranking

The journal's influence and standing can be evaluated through several key metrics:

Impact Factor: The Impact Factor of the Journal of Educational Change is 2.9. The 5-Year JIF is 3.6. The impact factor (IF) is a measure of the frequency with which the average article in a journal has been cited in a particular year. It is used to measure the importance or rank of a journal by calculating the times its articles are cited.
SCImago Journal Rank (SJR): The SCImago Journal Rank (SJR) of the Journal of Educational Change is 1.306. SJR is an indicator, which measures the scientific influence of journals. It considers the number of citations received by a journal and the importance of the journals from where these citations come.
Quartile: The journal's latest quartile is Q1. Each subject category of journals is divided into four quartiles: Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4. Q1 is occupied by the top 25% of journals in the list.
H-Index: The journal has an h-index of 53. The h-index is a way of measuring the productivity and citation impact of the publications.
Scopus CiteScore: The Scopus CiteScore is 5.5.
Ranking: The journal achieved its highest ranking of 2055 in 2021 and its lowest ranking of 6319 in 2016.

Indexing

The Journal of Educational Change is indexed in the following databases:

UGC CARE
Scopus (coverage from 2005-2025)
Web of Science (SSCI)

Indexing in these databases signifies that the journal has met specific criteria and passed a review process, confirming its quality and relevance within the academic community. The Web of Science Core Collection includes the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Arts & Humanities Citation Index (AHCI), and Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI).

Aims and Scope

The Journal of Educational Change aims to publish research related to social sciences. The journal mainly tackles studies in Pedagogy, Public relations, Context (language use), Accountability and Public administration. The work tackled in Journal of Educational Change goes beyond the discipline of Pedagogy as it also encompasses Process (engineering). Journal of Educational Change facilitates discussions on Public relations that incorporate concepts from other fields like Economic growth, Educational leadership, Quality (business), Order (exchange) and Politics. The study on Educational leadership featured in it expounds on the topic of Instructional leadership in particular. Curriculum development is a focus of the Curriculum works in Journal of Educational Change. Professional development research is concerned with Faculty development in particular.

Publication Details

Publisher: Springer Netherlands
Country of Publisher: Netherlands
ISSN: 13892843
Open Access: No

Most Cited Papers

The most cited papers published in the journal include:

Professional Learning Communities: A Review of the Literature (1308 citations)
Students as Radical Agents of Change (505 citations)
Developing inclusive education systems: what are the levers for change? (384 citations)

These papers primarily focus on research topics in Pedagogy, Public relations, Context (language use), Accountability and Economic growth. Teaching method is a major topic of Pedagogy research in the journal articles. The published articles explore research in Policy analysis and overlapping concepts in Knowledge society to expand the discourse in Public relations.

Recent Topics and Trends

The primary areas of discussion in Journal of Educational Change are Public relations, Pedagogy, Context (language use), Identity (social science) and Curriculum. It explores issues in Public relations which can be linked to other research areas like Narrative, Mandate, Corporate governance, Accountability and Grammar. The journal discusses concepts in Secondary level under Pedagogy and how they intertwine with disciplines like Survey data collection. The featured Context (language use) studies mainly concentrate on Inclusion (education) but also cover areas of interest in Mainstream, Social structure and Sense of agency. The studies in Identity (social science) featured incorporate elements of Resistance (psychoanalysis), Ethnic group, China and Financial literacy. While work presented in it provided substantial information on Curriculum, it also covered topics in Theoretical definition and Operationalization.

The most cited articles from the last journal are:

Read also: Engaging Science Education

Professional learning networks: From teacher learning to school improvement? (7 citations)
The changes we need: Education post COVID-19 (6 citations)
Rejuvenating experienced teachers through Quality Teaching Rounds professional development (5 citations)

Top Authors and Affiliations

The top authors publishing in Journal of Educational Change (based on the number of publications) are:

Dennis Shirley (10 papers)
Kathryn Riley (8 papers)
Brahm Fleisch (7 papers)
Amanda Datnow (7 papers)
Michael Fullan (7 papers)

The top affiliations publishing in Journal of Educational Change (based on the number of publications) are:

Boston College (20 papers)
Institute of Education (16 papers)
University of California, San Diego (14 papers)
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (14 papers)
University of Hong Kong (10 papers)

Publication Chance Based on Affiliation

During the most recent 2021 edition, 8.93% of publications had an unrecognized affiliation. Out of the publications with recognized affiliations, 27.45% were posted by at least one author from the top 10 institutions publishing in the journal. Another 7.84% included authors affiliated with research institutions from the top 11-20 affiliations. Institutions from the 21-50 range included 13.73% of all publications and 50.98% were from other institutions.

Special Issue Themes and Historical Context

The journal has addressed diverse themes throughout its history. A special 20th-anniversary issue highlighted three significant areas: educators’ professionalism, scaling successful innovations, and conflicting views of social justice in schools and societies.

Educators’ Professionalism

This theme explores the meaning and importance of educators' professionalism. One perspective argues that even mid-stakes testing can have negative effects on pupil learning, leading to less innovation and more traditional instruction. Another perspective suggests repositioning learning as the central purpose of schools, while others propose an intermediate strategy that leverages data to improve teaching. Some research indicates that younger teachers may not mind testing as much and are willing to trade off some autonomy for a more collective way of working.

Read also: Planning Education Research

Spreading Educational Change

This theme examines the challenges and approaches to spreading educational change. Some argue against seeking solutions from other countries and emphasize developing indigenous capacity. Others express concerns about strong state-led initiatives and highlight the contributions of vigorous, top-down leadership. There are also perspectives that favor bottom-up social movements and emphasize the moral and professional responsibilities of educators to promote learning.

Justice in Educational Change

This theme focuses on conceptualizations of justice in educational change. Community schools are seen as expressions of social justice that help schools engage in diverse partnerships and authentic community engagement. The importance of local communities as educational resources and the need to consider the needs of transnational students are also highlighted.

Mental Health Focus

Within education, there's a growing emphasis on mental health awareness, its effect on student learning, and the strategies educators can utilize to support emotional and psychological well-being. Recognizing this growing field of interest, the Journal of Educational Change has recently begun including studies that explore educational strategies and practices in conjunction with mental health awareness and support.

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