Guidelines for short reports

We are keen to encourage new or experienced writers to submit to the journal and contribute to the growing knowledge community in relation to enhancing the learner experience in higher education. To help authors develop papers ready for submission, detailed guidance for the various article types accepted by the journal are provided below. 

The journal is committed to publishing high quality research-informed articles. Therefore, in developing manuscripts, authors should:

• Explain differences in results that contradict other published results
• Ensure that new, innovative techniques for presenting information contain adequate comparison to currently-accepted approaches for presenting the same information

Here are some examples of content that should be avoided in manuscripts being submitted 

• Subject matter outside of the scope of the Journal (refer to journal focus and scope)
• Significant technical content without substantive pedagogic information
• No insights provided as to how the derivations enhance classroom learning or apply to classroom learning
• Limited evidence of taking the student voice into account.
• Detailed written descriptions but insufficient supporting figures, tables, graphs, pictures, or diagrams

If authors are ensure whether or not their papers are appropriate for the journal, they are welcome to contact the journal for guidance.

Guidelines for short reports

Contributions of up to 2000 words which describe work in progress or a smaller piece of innovative work where a regular length paper would not be appropriate. The papers will therefore usually have a more practical or experimental focus. The work will still be refereed, but as work is usually earlier in the research process this should be reflected in the reviewers comments. The papers will normally include the following:

• An Abstract of 50-100 words outlining the aim, method, findings and conclusion of the study
• A short introduction, only including most relevant literature in the area which provides a basis for identifying the issue to be studied, and leads to a statement of research aims and questions
• A description of methods employed, including explanation of how the student voice was incorporated into the work and a short presentation of results obtained focusing on the student voice.
• Discussion of findings with a focus on implications for the enhancement of learner experiences. For work in progress, authors should indicate where the work will go next and what is still left to achieve.
• A summary of conclusions and their implications for practice, along with recommendations emerging from the work

As the focus of ELEHE is on research engaging with the student voice in HE, though the work being reported is often early work, indicative impact on the student learning experience should be shown.

Manuscript preparation for short reports

The title of the paper should be typed in Times New Roman (boldface 14pt) and is left-justified. The author’s name should be typed in Times New Roman (italics 12pt) and also left-justified. Authors should each supply 25-word biographies for inclusion in the Author section (footer of page 1). The principal author’s email address should be supplied. A 50-100 word abstract is required.

Manuscripts must be typed single spaced using 12 point characters. Only Times, Times Roman, Times New Roman and Symbol fonts are accepted for the text. Section and subsection titles should be typed in Arial or Helvetica fonts using 11 and 10 point characters, respectively. Paragraph spacing for these should be 12pt above and 8pt below the heading.

The text should be left-justified on an A4 page (21 cm x 29.7 cm); the left margin should be 4.5 cm and the right margin should be 2.5 cm. Paragraphs are separated by 6 points and with no indentation. The text of the papers should be written in one column. 

The maximum length of a refereed short paper or article is 2000 words (including References) longer papers should be submitted as research articles.

Figures and tables
Figures and tables should be used sparingly, as appropriate, normally no more than two. If used, they should be left-justified, numbered consecutively throughout the text, and each should have a caption underneath it. Care should be taken that the lettering is not too small. All figures and tables should be included in the electronic versions of the full paper. Figures and tables should be boxed.

Quotations
Quotations of 20 words or less should be incorporated in the text with quotation marks. Longer quotations should be put in a new paragraph without quotation marks and using the Roman script in italics. All quotations should be attributed with Harvard referencing, for example, (Smith, 2000, 12). In longer quotations they should follow on a separate line, right-justified (see examples).

Conclusion
All authors are encouraged to conclude their paper with a section appropriate to the paper’s length describing the practical applications of their research, i.e., answering the “so what?” question. What effect should/could your work have on the HE practitioner? Is there anything the community should be doing differently as a result of your research? Have you identified areas for future research? If so, please state them here.

References
Please use Harvard-style references, inserting the name and year in the text thus (Cook and Davies, 1997). The list of references should be ordered alphabetically according to the first author surname. If there is no author, order alphabetically by title.

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. The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
2. When available, the URLs to access references online are provided, including those for open access versions of the reference. The URLs are ready to click.
3. The text is single-spaced; uses a 12-point font; employs italics, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses); and all illustrations, figures, and tables are placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end.
4. The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the author guidelines.
5. If submitting to a peer-reviewed section of the journal, the instructions in Ensuring a blind peer review have been followed.
6. The submission is a Word document.
7. There is clear articulation of how the article incoporates the student voice

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The Journal Enhancing the Learner Experience in Higher Education can be found at: http://journals.northampton.ac.uk/index.php/elehe/index