Journal of Early Childhood Research
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The Journal of Early Childhood Research provides an international forum for the dissemination of early childhood research which transcends disciplinary boundaries and applies theory and research within academic and professional communities. The journal reflects international growth in research on young children’s learning and development and the impact of this on provision. The journal enjoys a wide readership which includes policy-makers, practitioners and researchers in the intersecting fields of early childhood education and care, with early childhood defined as the years from birth to eight.
The Journal of Early Childhood Research publishes original, high-quality, international early childhood research which is at the forefront of current theory and practice. Original studies which push methodological boundaries and generate new knowledge to enhance the lives of young children, their families and educators, is a key feature of this journal. We particularly welcome in-depth, and original qualitative studies which offer new insights into young children and the issues that affect them.
The Journal of Early Childhood Research is interdisciplinary in scope, being true to the tradition that educational studies (and hence early childhood education studies) has traditionally drawn from many different disciplines. The journal welcomes papers from the fields of the arts, education, health, law, social work, therapy, sociology, history, and the arts, and from non-traditional as well as established territories of early childhood education.
This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)
A major resource…
The Journal of Early Childhood Research provides an international forum for the dissemination of early childhood research which transcends disciplinary boundaries and applies theory and research within academic and professional communities. The journal reflects international growth in research on young children’s learning and development and the impact of this on provision. The journal enjoys a wide readership which includes policy-makers, practitioners and researchers in the intersecting fields of early childhood education and care, with early childhood defined as the years from birth to eight.
Leading International Early Childhood Research...
The Journal of Early Childhood Research promotes high-quality, boundary pushing, international early childhood research which leads the field and is at the forefront of theory and practice. The Journal publishes original research, empirical and theoretical, that generates new knowledge to enhance the lives of young children, their families and educators. The journal aims to:
- Contribute to the expanding knowledge base across the disciplines of childhood.
- Expose and stimulate debate on current research issues in the field: theoretical, empirical, methodological and ethical.
- Encourage the consideration of the implications and applications of research findings for the improvement of provision for young children and their families.
- Highlight new thinking in key areas of theory, research design and methodology and evidence-based practice, in the fields of early education, social work, sociology, psychology, philosophy child health, and teaching,
The Journal of Early Childhood Research is interdisciplinary in scope and draws upon a number of related fields in early childhood. The Journal welcomes papers which report original studies which report studies which are breaking new ground in the field. Whilst all forms of research design are considered, of particular interest are qualitative, creative and boundary pushing studies which offer new insights into the lives and learning of young children and their families and which lead the field in terms of findings and research design.
The Journal particularly invites submission of innovative and original qualitative studies focusing on play, curriculum, assessment, children’s rights, inclusion and equity. The Journal of Early Childhood Research also invites papers with an innovative focus on methodological and ethical issues in relation to research with young children. As an international journal papers from all parts of the globe – which address the international issues affecting young children - including collaborative and comparative transnational studies - are also welcome.
| Professor Cathy Nutbrown | University of Sheffield, UK |
| Professor Peter Clough | University of Brighton, UK |
| Professor Paul Connolly | Lancaster University, UK |
| Associate Professor Rebecca New | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA |
| Nathan Archer | University of Leeds, UK |
| Lorna Arnott | University of Strathclyde, UK |
| Liz Chesworth | University of Sheffield, UK |
| Susan Edwards | Australian Catholic University, Australia |
| Helen Hedges | The University of Auckland, New Zealand |
| Jackie Musgrave | Open University, UK |
| Carol Aubrey | University of Warwick, UK |
| R D Bedford | University of Waikato, New Zealand |
| John Bennett | OECD Education & Training Division, Paris, France |
| Sarah-Jane Blakemore | University College of London, UK |
| Marianne Bloch | Curriculum and Instruction, University of Wisconsin - Madison, USA |
| Elizabeth Blue Swadener | Arizona State University, USA |
| Stig Bostrom | Aarhus University, Denmark |
| Barbara T Bowman | Erikson Institute, Chicago, USA |
| Pat Broadhead | Leeds Metropolitan University, UK |
| Doris Cheng Pui-Wah | The Hong Kong Institute of Education, Hong Kong |
| Richard Clifford | University of North Carolina, USA |
| Penny Curtis | University of Sheffield, UK |
| Tricia David | Canterbury Christ Church University, UK |
| Molly De Lemos | Australian Council for Educational Research, Australia |
| Hasina Ebrahim | University of Free State, South Africa |
| Morwenna Griffiths | The University of Edinburgh, UK |
| József Nagy | University of Szeged, Hungary |
| Lilian Katz | University of Illinois, USA |
| Paul Lynch | University of Glasgow, Scotland |
| Sarah Miller | Queen's University Belfast, UK |
| Soula Mitakidou | Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece |
| Susanna Montovani | University of Milan, Italy |
| Peter Moss | Institute of Education, University of London, UK |
| Anbanithi Muthukrishna | University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa |
| Nigel Parton | University of Huddersfield, UK |
| Alan Pence | University of Victoria, Canada |
| Bridie Raban | University of Melbourne, Australia |
| Sylvie Rayna | Institut National de Recherche Pedagogique, France |
| Stuart Reifel | University of Texas, USA |
| Sharon Ryan | Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA |
| Elly Singer | University of Utrecht, Netherlands |
| Richard Smith | University of Durham, UK |
| Nick Spencer | University of Warwick, UK |
| Wolfgang Tietze | Freie Universität Berlin, Germany |
| Celia Valiente | Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain |
| Diny van der Aalsvoort | Leiden University, Netherlands |
| Teresa Maria Vasconcelos | Lisbon Polytechnic Institute, Portugal |
| Karen Winter | Queen's University Belfast, UK |
| Elizabeth Wood | University of Sheffield, UK |
| Martin Woodhead | Learning School of Education, The Open University, UK |
| Leonardo Yanez | The Bernard van Leer Foundation, Netherlands |
| Pan Yuejuan | Beijing Normal University, China |
Manuscript Submission Guidelines: Journal of Early Childhood Research
This Journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics
Please read the guidelines below then visit the Journal’s submission site http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jecr to upload your manuscript. Please note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned.
Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of Journal of Early Childhood Research will be reviewed.
There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this Journal. Open Access options are available - see section 3.3 below.
As part of the submission process you will be required to warrant that you are submitting your original work, that you have the rights in the work, that you are submitting the work for first publication in the Journal and that it is not being considered for publication elsewhere and has not already been published elsewhere, and that you have obtained and can supply all necessary permissions for the reproduction of any copyright works not owned by you. Please ensure that you address each of these statements in your Cover Letter. Papers submitted without a Cover Letter will be unsubmitted until a Cover Letter is included in the submission.
Please note that all correspondence, queries and requests for additional information about the manuscript submission process should be sent to the Journal editorial office: jecr@sheffield.ac.uk
- What do we publish?
1.1 Aims & Scope
1.2 Article types
1.3 Writing your paper - Editorial policies
2.1 Peer review policy
2.2 Authorship
2.3 Acknowledgements
2.4 Funding
2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
2.6 Research Data - Publishing policies
3.1 Publication ethics
3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
3.3 Open access and author archiving - Preparing your manuscript
4.1 Formatting
4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
4.3 Supplemental material
4.4 Reference style
4.5 English language editing services - Submitting your manuscript
5.1 ORCID
5.2 Information required for completing your submission
5.3 Permissions - On acceptance and publication
6.1 Sage Production
6.2 Online First publication
6.3 Access to your published article
6.4 Promoting your article - Further information
1. What do we publish?
1.1 Aims & Scope
Before submitting your manuscript to Journal of Early Childhood Research, please ensure you have read the Aims & Scope.
1.2 Article Types
The Journal of Early Childhood Research publishes original research and theoretical/conceptual articles concerned with early childhood research. Articles should be 4000-7000 words (including references, tables and figures). Please note that papers outside the word limit will not be reviewed. The journal welcomes papers rooted in a range of disciplines from a number of related fields in early childhood (defined as birth to eight).
The Journal particularly invites submission of innovative and original qualitative studies focusing on play, curriculum, assessment, children’s rights, inclusion and equity. The Journal of Early Childhood Research also invites papers with an innovative focus on methodological and ethical issues in relation to research with young children. As an international journal, papers from all parts of the globe – including collaborative and comparative transnational studies - are also welcome.
1.3 Writing your paper
The Sage Author Gateway has some general advice and on how to get published, plus links to further resources. Sage Author Services also offers authors a variety of ways to improve and enhance their article including English language editing, plagiarism detection, and video abstract and infographic preparation.
1.3.1 Make your article discoverable
When writing up your paper, think about how you can make it discoverable. The title, keywords and abstract are key to ensuring readers find your article through search engines such as Google. For information and guidance on how best to title your article, write your abstract and select your keywords, have a look at this page on the Gateway: How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online
2. Editorial policies
2.1 Peer review policy
Submissions to the Journal of Early Childhood Research will be refereed anonymously by at least two referees and we aim to inform authors of the editorial decision within sixteen weeks of submission. This timeframe depends on reviewer availability and it may take longer to review and reach a decision on some manuscripts. Please ensure that author names and contact details are presented separately to the main text of the article and all references to the author are removed before submission to facilitate anonymous peer review.
The Editor or members of the Editorial Board may occasionally submit their own manuscripts for possible publication in the journal. In these cases, the peer review process will be managed by alternative members of the Board and the submitting Editor/Board member will have no involvement in the decision-making process.
2.2 Authorship
All parties who have made a substantive contribution to the article should be listed as authors. Principal authorship, authorship order, and other publication credits should be based on the relative scientific or professional contributions of the individuals involved, regardless of their status. A student is usually listed as principal author on any multiple-authored publication that substantially derives from the student’s dissertation or thesis.
Please note that AI chatbots, for example ChatGPT, should not be listed as authors. For more information see the policy on Use of ChatGPT and generative AI tools.
2.3 Acknowledgements
All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, or a department chair who provided only general support.
Any acknowledgements should appear first at the end of your article prior to your Declaration of Conflicting Interests (if applicable), any notes and your References.
2.3.1 Third party submissions
Where an individual who is not listed as an author submits a manuscript on behalf of the author(s), a statement must be included in the Acknowledgements section of the manuscript and in the accompanying cover letter. The statements must:
• Disclose this type of editorial assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input
• Identify any entities that paid for this assistance
• Confirm that the listed authors have authorized the submission of their manuscript via third party and approved any statements or declarations, e.g. conflicting interests, funding, etc.
Where appropriate, Sage reserves the right to deny consideration to manuscripts submitted by a third party rather than by the authors themselves.
2.3.2 Writing assistance
Individuals who provided writing assistance, e.g. from a specialist communications company, do not qualify as authors and so should be included in the Acknowledgements section. Authors must disclose any writing assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input – and identify the entity that paid for this assistance. It is not necessary to disclose use of language polishing services.
2.4 Funding
Journal of Early Childhood Research requires all authors to acknowledge their funding in a consistent fashion under a separate heading. Please visit the Funding Acknowledgements page on the Sage Journal Author Gateway to confirm the format of the acknowledgment text in the event of funding, or state that: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
Journal of Early Childhood Research encourages authors to include a declaration of any conflicting interests and recommends you review the good practice guidelines on the Sage Journal Author Gateway
The journal is committed to facilitating openness, transparency and reproducibility of research, and has the following research data sharing policy. For more information, including FAQs please visit the Sage Research Data policy pages.
Subject to appropriate ethical and legal considerations, authors are encouraged to:
- share your research data in a relevant public data repository
- include a data availability statement linking to your data. If it is not possible to share your data, we encourage you to consider using the statement to explain why it cannot be shared.
- cite this data in your research
3. Publishing Policies
3.1 Publication ethics
Sage is committed to upholding the integrity of the academic record. We encourage authors to refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics’ International Standards for Authors and view the Publication Ethics page on the Sage Author Gateway
3.1.1 Plagiarism
Journal of Early Childhood Research and Sage take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. We seek to protect the rights of our authors and we always investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of the journal against malpractice. Submitted articles may be checked with duplication-checking software. Where an article, for example, is found to have plagiarised other work or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, or where the authorship of the article is contested, we reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the article; taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the author's institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies; or taking appropriate legal action.
3.1.2 Prior publication
If material has been previously published it is not generally acceptable for publication in a Sage journal. However, there are certain circumstances where previously published material can be considered for publication. Please refer to the guidance on the Sage Author Gateway or if in doubt, contact the Editor at the address given below.
3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
Before publication, Sage requires the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. Sage’s Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement is an exclusive licence agreement which means that the author retains copyright in the work but grants Sage the sole and exclusive right and licence to publish for the full legal term of copyright. Exceptions may exist where an assignment of copyright is required or preferred by a proprietor other than Sage. In this case copyright in the work will be assigned from the author to the society. For more information please visit the Sage Author Gateway
3.3 Open access and author archiving
Journal of Early Childhood Research offers optional open access publishing via the Sage Choice programme and Open Access agreements, where authors can publish open access either discounted or free of charge depending on the agreement with Sage. Find out if your institution is participating by visiting Open Access Agreements at Sage. For more information on Open Access publishing options at Sage please visit Sage Open Access. For information on funding body compliance, and depositing your article in repositories, please visit Sage’s Author Archiving and Re-Use Guidelines and Publishing Policies.
4. Preparing your manuscript for submission
4.1 Formatting
The preferred format for your manuscript is Word. LaTeX files are also accepted. Word and (La)Tex templates are available on the Manuscript Submission Guidelines page of our Author Gateway.
4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
For guidance on the preparation of illustrations, pictures and graphs in electronic format, please visit Sage’s Manuscript Submission Guidelines
Figures supplied in colour will appear in colour online regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in colour in the printed version. For specifically requested colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Sage after receipt of your accepted article.
This journal is able to host additional materials online (e.g. datasets, podcasts, videos, images etc) alongside the full-text of the article. For more information please refer to our guidelines on submitting supplemental files
4.4 Reference styl
Journal of Early Childhood Research adheres to the Sage Harvard reference style. View the Sage Harvard guidelines to ensure your manuscript conforms to this reference style.
If you use EndNote to manage references, you can download the Sage Harvard EndNote output file
4.5 English language editing services
Authors seeking assistance with English language editing, translation, or figure and manuscript formatting to fit the journal’s specifications should consider using Sage Language Services. Visit Sage Language Services on our Journal Author Gateway for further information.
5. Submitting your manuscript
Journal of Early Childhood Research is hosted on Sage Track, a web based online submission and peer review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts. Visit https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jecr to login and submit your article online.
IMPORTANT: Please check whether you already have an account in the system before trying to create a new one. If you have reviewed or authored for the journal in the past year it is likely that you will have had an account created. For further guidance on submitting your manuscript online please visit ScholarOne Online Help.
5.1 ORCID
As part of our commitment to ensuring an ethical, transparent and fair peer review process Sage is a supporting member of ORCID, the Open Researcher and Contributor ID. ORCID provides a unique and persistent digital identifier that distinguishes researchers from every other researcher, even those who share the same name, and, through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, supports automated linkages between researchers and their professional activities, ensuring that their work is recognized.
The collection of ORCID iDs from corresponding authors is now part of the submission process of this journal. If you already have an ORCID iD you will be asked to associate that to your submission during the online submission process. We also strongly encourage all co-authors to link their ORCID ID to their accounts in our online peer review platforms. It takes seconds to do: click the link when prompted, sign into your ORCID account and our systems are automatically updated. Your ORCID iD will become part of your accepted publication’s metadata, making your work attributable to you and only you. Your ORCID iD is published with your article so that fellow researchers reading your work can link to your ORCID profile and from there link to your other publications.
If you do not already have an ORCID iD please follow this link to create one or visit our ORCID homepage to learn more.
5.2 Information required for completing your submission
You will be asked to provide contact details and academic affiliations for all co-authors via the submission system and identify who is to be the corresponding author. These details must match what appears on your manuscript. The affiliation listed in the manuscript should be the institution where the research was conducted. If an author has moved to a new institution since completing the research, the new affiliation can be included in a manuscript note at the end of the paper. At this stage please ensure you have included all the required statements and declarations and uploaded any additional supplementary files (including reporting guidelines where relevant).
5.3 Permissions
Please also ensure that you have obtained any necessary permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. For further information including guidance on fair dealing for criticism and review, please see the Copyright and Permissions page on the Sage Author Gateway
6. On acceptance and publication
6.1 Sage Production
Your Sage Production Editor will keep you informed as to your article’s progress throughout the production process. Proofs will be made available to the corresponding author via our editing portal Sage Edit or by email, and corrections should be made directly or notified to us promptly. Authors are reminded to check their proofs carefully to confirm that all author information, including names, affiliations, sequence and contact details are correct, and that Funding and Conflict of Interest statements, if any, are accurate.
6.2 Online First publication
Online First allows final articles (completed and approved articles awaiting assignment to a future issue) to be published online prior to their inclusion in a journal issue, which significantly reduces the lead time between submission and publication. Visit the Sage Journals help page for more details, including how to cite Online First articles.
6.3 Access to your published article
Sage provides authors with online access to their final article.
6.4 Promoting your article
Publication is not the end of the process! You can help disseminate your paper and ensure it is as widely read and cited as possible. The Sage Author Gateway has numerous resources to help you promote your work. Visit the Promote Your Article page on the Gateway for tips and advice.
7. Further information
Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process should be sent to the Journal of Early Childhood Research editorial office as follows:
The Editors
Journal of Early Childhood Research
email: jecr@sheffield.ac.uk