Article Types

Bioscience Education publishes the following types of articles:

Full articles

Research articles Bioscience education research (including action research) supported by appropriate background theory and analysis of data.

Descriptive accounts detailing educational practices that have been “tried and tested” and which include evidence of appropriate assessment and evaluation.

Research and descriptive articles will be required to demonstrate appropriate:
  • Pedagogical content
  • Clearly defined goals and expected student outcomes
  • Application to appropriate disciplines
  • References to related educational literature

Essay articles Reviews on key topics related to learning and teaching within the biosciences. May include reviews of current or historical interest in biosciences education, particularly where they provide support for teaching, or essays on biosciences education policy matters such as the teaching of evolution, training issues, etc.

Full articles will be subject to the peer review process. As a guideline research articles are normally 30,000 – 60,000 characters or 5-10 journal ‘pages’ and essays 12,000 – 30,000 characters or 2-5 journal ‘pages’.

Short Communications

Short Communications describe potential teaching materials or approaches and their uses. People are constantly changing their teaching and as a result good ideas are frequently generated and evaluated. However, the extent and depth of these changes/practices may not warrant a full paper. Short communications allow these good ideas/resources to be shared when otherwise they may well not be. Ideally descriptions should be succinct yet sufficiently informative to enable readers to repeat the teaching approach. Where possible short communications should be supported by preliminary data.

Alternatively short communications may be a discussion piece: a dissemination of ideas applicable to bioscience. These pieces may be speculative in nature, but in all cases arguments must be focused and clearly placed within the educational setting. Articles submitted as a short communication should be no more than 1000 words in length and will be subject to editorial review.

Letters to the Editor

Letters to the Editor provide scholarly responses to previously published articles from Bioscience Education. Such articles should provide further data/information/opinion together with appropriate support for views expressed.

Book, Software and Website Reviews

Reviews of books, software or websites appropriate to bioscience education are welcomed. However, the journal does not wish to review the plethora of bioscience text books, and so reviews are limited to core and general topics (e.g. student numeracy, chemistry for bioscientists, education research methods, ethics and experimental design). As a guide reviews are normally 6,000 – 12,000 characters or 1-2 journal ‘pages’.

 

All submitted manuscripts, whatever the type, must be original and not have been published or being submitted for publication elsewhere. The text should be in clear, concise, grammatical English. Citations to relevant published work are essential and tables and illustrations should convey information effectively.

Please read the Instructions to Authors before submitting any manuscript.

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