Information for authors

Template

Please use the following Word template for your submission of research article and researched based report of practice:

PriSE Template

- A4 paper

- Article Title: Candara 18pt

- 1. Heading Style: Garamond 12pt

- 2. Heading Style: Garamond 12pt

- 3. Heading Style: Garamond 12pt

- Text: Garamond 10pt

- Header: Candara 10pt

- 1.0 spacing

 

Prepare manuscript

If you are about to submit your manuscript to this publication, we recommend that you review the About the Journal page for the publication's policies.

The manuscript has to be prepared in accordance with the double-blind review process i.e.:

1. the author(s) must retain from using explicit indications of the authors’ names and institutions.
2. the author(s) should make sure that the manuscript does not reveal author’s identity in any implicit manner.

Authors should have their papers proofread befor submitting. For proofreading in English or French we recommend Alex Brown: communications@alexanderbrown.info

PriSE offers four categories of contributions:

(1) Research Articles

(2) Research-Based Reports of Practice

(3) Registered Research Plans

(4) Book Reviews

 

(1) Reserach Articles

Quantitative and qualitative research articles

Structure of "Research article"

Structured abstract: a structured abstract according to the template is required (see file PriSE Template). Not all entries of the structured abstract will be applicable to a given contribution (e.g. a theoretical one), so obviously necessary deviations are of course accepted. On the other hand, abstracts are extremely important for rapid orientation and information (often also used in information retrieval systems), and structured abstracts are a good way to achieve this. 

Introduction: brief, one paragraph establishing the importance and relevance of the research topic and second paragraph establishing the existing research gap.

Research background: provide an adequate background of existing research, establishing concepts, theories and results necessary for your study, point out the research gap, and derive your research questions and hypotheses from it.

Material and methods: provide sufficient detail to allow for replication; for tests, questionnaires etc. the explicit wording must be available (e.g. in the appendix or supplementary material). For existing methods refer to the literature, give only the informations and characteristics relevant to your work. “Name/term dropping” especially for advanced methods it is not acceptable, a reference (for books with chapter of page numbers) must be given. Make sure that there is a clear and reliable description of all the data and characteristics required by the sample/setting and design/methods sections of the structured abstract.

Results: should be concise and clear, and explicitly refer to your research questions. For empirical work, provide a thorough and understandable documentation of your quantitative results. Some hints: item and instrument analysis according to standard procedures; effect sizes for interventions (best with confidence intervals); labelling in tables and figures should be by explicit variable names or item wordings (if necessary in an adequate short form), not by numbers or cryptic variables names; all values presented in figures must also somewhere be given as numbers; if there are error bars in figures specify whether it is standard error of measurement or standard deviation.

Discussion and conclusions: focus on discussion of your results in view of the research questions and their contribution to the state of knowledge, the strengths and limitations of your study, and on implication for future research and classroom practice.

References: according to APA style (http://www.apastyle.org/)

Supplementary materials: (like video material stating the core results, supplementary data files, additional robustness checks etc.) should be provided as additional files for the manuscript submission. These files are not count toward the word limit of the submission. The contents of supplementary material should not be critical for the proper evaluation of the paper and delivering the core results of the paper (otherwise include these in the main text).

(2) Research-Based Reports of Pratice

Research-based report of practice aims to take a particular look at the practice of science and technology education. They proposes to the authors to publish, after peer-review, their observations and interpretations made in the context of research-based interventions in a classroom or extra-curricular context. Based on these observations, the authors identify and delimit further steps of practice or research in science and technology education. In particular, these reports may lead to the formulation of research questions and hypotheses, or to consideration of the feasibility of an intervention design.

In this way, the focus of research based reports of practice is (i) on the practical application phase of existing research, or (ii) on the development, trial and observation phase, which both are so important in the scientific process of construction and empirical validation of research put into practice.

Researched based report of practice must meet the following quality criteria:

  • a researched based approach, referring to the current state of knowledge and research
  • a precise and, if possible, illustrated description of the educational approach
  • a precise and, if possible, illustrated description of the school or extra-curricular context of the intervention
  • a clear structure
  • a clear and helpful/stimulating discussion (connection to the research background of the study; critical analysis of the intervention and its outcomes)
  • a precise statement about the relevance and the implication of the observations for future research and classroom practice

Structure of "Research based Report of Practice"

Structured abstract: see above, according to the PriSE Template.

Introduction: Brief description of the aim and the results of the study.

Research background: provide a sufficient description of the state of knowledge and the context of the study.

Material and Methods: Description of the intervention, instructional material and methods (provide a sufficient description of the chosen approach and its implementation.

Observations: should be concise and clear, and explicitly refer to the theoretical background and the aim of the study.

Discussion: focus on the discussion of the observations, the strengths and limitations of the intervention, the connection to the research background  of  the study, and on implication for future research and classroom practice.

References: according to APA style (http://www.apastyle.org/)

Supplementary materials: (like video material stating the core results, supplementary data files, additional robustness checks etc.) should be provided as additional files for the manuscript submission. These files are not count toward the word limit of the submission. The contents of supplementary material should not be critical for the proper evaluation of the paper and delivering the core results of the paper (otherwise include these in the main text).

 

(3) Registered Research Plans 

Registered research plans in the sense of PriSE are introduced to give researchers, especially young researchers, the possibility to procure a publication already in the early stages of their study.

Here, the researchers write descriptions and an explanation how they want to conduct their study, including an overview of the project, background theory, background literature, if existing preliminary work, their hypotheses as well as the proposed methods, in as much detail as possible, but without restricting the study itself too much.

This plan is being reviewed as a normal manuscript and – if accepted – published in the respective section of PriSE.

PriSE will publish the article resulting from the registered study, if it is completed within five years of the initial submission and follows the guidelines for acceptance of a standard article in the respective category. The peer-review of this second stage will be based only on :
– the results and discussion section
– potential changes in other changes

 Strucutre (use PriSE-Template for regular articles) 

Structured Abstract

Introducion: no change

Resereach background: no change

Materials and methods: provide sufficient detail to describe your planned study unambiguously ; for tests, questionnaires etc. the explicit wording must be available (e.g. in the appendix or supplementary material). For existing methods refer to the literature, give only the information and characteristics relevant to your work. “Name/term dropping” especially for advanced methods it is not acceptable, a reference (for books with chapter of page numbers) must be given. Make sure that there is a clear and reliable description of all the data sources and characteristics required by the sample/setting and design/methods sections of the structured abstract.

Diskussion an conclusion: focus on discussion of your research plan in view of the research questions and its potential  contribution to the state of knowledge, the strengths and limitations of your planned study, and on its potential implication for future research and classroom practice.

 

(4) Book reviews

Aim: The aim of the book reviews is to offer a scientifically sound and critical look at new scientific studies in the field of science education, nature of science and technology. Critical reviews reflect the reviewer’s personal opinion and are intended to promote scientific discourse.

Structure of the Review:The format of the review is not specified. However, it should consist of approx. 5 pages. Any references to literature should follow APA format guidelines.

 

 

Submission instructions

All manuscripts must be submitted electronically via https://e-publishing.cern.ch/index.php/prise/submit_contribution. PriSE authors are advised to follow the detailed instructions in the system. Authors should contact the Managing Editor if they have any questions or encounter any problems in the system.

 

Data Disclosure

PriSE encourages (but does not require) the disclosure of data associated with the manuscripts to support and facilitate scientific work to continue based on the published works. All the data submitted will be open source licensed.

 

Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.

1. As a condition for submitting to PriSE, the author(s) ensure that they follow standard practices of retaining from plagiarism of their own or others’ works.

2. As a condition of final acceptance of a paper for publication in the PriSE, the author(s) must indicate if the paper is published somewhere else, posted on a website other than the author’s personal website or otherwise may be copyrighted. The author is responsible for ensuring that the submission to PriSE is not copyrighted and that PriSE will not be responsible for such infringements. The copyrights of the published papers remain at author(s) and are not transferred to PriSE.

3. The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in these guidelines as well as the PriSE Template .

4. The instructions in Ensuring a Blind Review have been followed.

5. The submission of a paper to PriSE for reviewing means that:

 (i) the author certifies that the manuscript is not copyrighted;

 (ii) nor has it been accepted for publication (or published) by any peer-reviewed journal;

 (iii) nor is it being reviewed elsewhere at the same time.

 

Copyright Notice

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  • Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal. The applicable licence is https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/, which means

  • You are free to:

    • Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format

    • Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material under the following terms:

    • Attribution: You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.

    • NonCommercial: You may not use the material for commercial purposes.

    • ­ShareAlike: If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.

  • Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.

  • Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (see The Effect of Open Access).