Action Research
Action Research has developed and published actionable knowledge since 2003. Our intention is to support learning for transformations among people, organizations, communities and societies at multiple levels, inner and outer: personal, organizational, methodological, conceptual/discursive. We also share authors’ blogs and interviews while seeking to provide community for international scholar-practitioners.
Action Research is not a method, but an orientation to inquiry, with diverse schools, labels, theories and practices. We honor the original working definition from the founding of the journal in which we understand action research as a participatory, democratic process concerned with developing practical knowing in the pursuit of worthwhile human purposes, grounded in a participatory worldview which we believe is emerging at this historical moment. It seeks to bring together action and reflection, theory and practice, in participation with others, in the pursuit of practical solutions to issues of pressing concern to people, and more generally the flourishing of individual persons and their communities.
Today, in the face of our eco-social crisis, we highlight what is transforming and how lives of all beings are being improved.
Choicepoints for quality
The journal’s seven quality choicepoints articulate our understanding of action research in practice. We use these for assessing and developing articles. In sharing them we make the review process more transparent.
The quality choicepoints invite a combination of objective, intersubjective and subjective elements that are needed in action research that empowers us to impactfully shape and catalyze the world of our aspirations.
At first an action researcher might read the seven choicepoints as a sequence of priorities; a more seasoned scholar-practitioner may also see the integrative and impactful interdependence. Because action research is constantly evolving, these choicepoints continue to evolve as well.
Please refer to the Submission guidelines for a full description of each choicepoint.
- Quality of intention and transformative purpose
- Quality of partnership
- Quality of contribution to action research theory/practice
- Quality of participative methods and processes
- Quality of sustaining
- Quality of learning as developmental reflexivity
- Quality of writing
Quality matters
Clarifying our view of quality should, on the one hand, allow us to avoid practice that is poorly articulated and, on the other hand, prevent borrowing uncritically from conventional, yet inappropriate, quality standards of Ivory Tower scholarship.
We are aware that action research is difficult work. We do not look for individual papers to be perfect in all seven choicepoints. We invite clarity on choices made as authors navigate a middle path between responding to problems within living communities and contributing to research-based theory while needing to engage the interest of stakeholders or the larger society in grappling with greatest human concerns.
We welcome diverse approaches and labels
Action Research embraces many approaches that meet our quality choicepoints. Our Associate Editors are engaged in debates about the limits of a ‘disinterested’ social science; we are committed to developing the perspectives of diverse schools. We invite a ‘big-tent’ attitude to quality action research when selecting and developing papers and special issues. Our 20+ years of publications point to the breadth of work we have developed to publication. Simultaneously we seek to provide a model of social science for the 21st Century as more scholars and practitioners are encouraged to actively respond to planetary crisis as we work toward and create a just and sustainable world.
Ambition is welcome!
"Action Research offers a greatly-needed forum at a time of growing recognition around the world that engagements between researchers and practitioners are central to generating both new knowledge and innovations in practice relevant to many critical problems." L. David Brown, Harvard University, USA
This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
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Electronic Access:
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Submit your manuscript today at https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/arj
Action Research has developed and published actionable, peer-reviewed knowledge since 2003. Today we foster the widespread impact of the action orientation to knowledge creation in response to our times. In the face of our eco-social crisis we highlight what is changing and how transformations are happening that make the lives of all beings better.
We invite a combination of objective, intersubjective and subjective elements that are needed in action research that empowers us to impactfully shape and catalyze the world of our aspirations. We additionally seek to establish an international community for action researching scholar-practitioners.
The journal’s seven quality choicepoints articulate our understanding of action research:
- Quality of intention and transformative purpose
- Quality of partnership
- Quality of contribution to action research theory/practice
- Quality of participative methods and processes
- Quality of sustaining
- Quality of learning as developmental reflexivity
- Quality of writing
Interdisciplinary
Action Research is essential reading for both academics and professionals engaged within the fields and disciplines of:
- International Development
- Organizations
- Social Work
- Management
- Education
- Policy
- Urban Studies
- The Arts
- Gender and Race
- Healthcare
| Hilary Bradbury | AR + Action Research Plus Foundation |
| Marina Apgar | Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, UK |
| Koen Bartels | University of Birmingham, UK |
| Felix Bivens | The Regenerative School, USA |
| Cherese Childers-McKee | Northeastern University, USA |
| Simon Divecha | Independent Scholar-Practitioner, Australia |
| Victor Friedman | Ruppin Institute, Israel |
| HO, Denny Kwok-leung | Hong Kong Polytechnik, China |
| Micol Pizzolati | University of Bergamo, Italy |
| Chris Riedy | University of Technology, Sydney, Australia |
| Alexandra Stubbings | Talik and Co. |
| Joanna Wheeler | University of Western Cape, South Africa |
| Julia Wittmeyer | DRIFT Institute at Erasmus University, the Netherlands |
| Mary Brydon-Miller | University of Cincinnati, USA |
| Maria Teresa Castillo Burguete | CINVESTAV, Mexico |
| Dusty Columbia Embury | Wright State University, USA |
| Kent Glenzer | Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, USA |
| Paul Gray | Boston College, USA |
| Davydd James Greenwood | Cornell University, USA |
| Hsiao-Chuan Hsia | Shih Hsin University, Taiwan |
| Sofia Kjellström | Jönköping University, Sweden |
| Hok Bun Ku | The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China |
| Miren Larrea | Orkestra-Basque Institute of Competitiveness |
| Ann Mitchell | Open University, UK |
| Alfredo Ortiz | University of the Incarnate Word, USA |
| James Traeger | Hult Ashridge Business School, UK |
| Lyle Yorks | Teachers College, Columbia University, USA |
| Steve Abah | Default for Journals, UK |
| Muhammad Ashiqur Rahman | Research Initiatives, Bangladesh |
| Oguz Baburoglu | Sabanci University, Turkey |
| Frank Barrett | Naval Postgraduate School, USA |
| Richard Boyatzis | Case Western Reserve University, USA |
| L. David Brown | Harvard University, USA |
| Denis Clement | Gent, Belgium |
| David Coghlan | Trinity College Dublin, Ireland |
| John P. Cooke | Stanford University, USA |
| Andrea Cornwall | School of Oriental and Asian Studies (SOAS), London |
| Bob Dick | Southern Cross University |
| Olav Eikeland | Work Research Institute, Norway |
| Ibrahim Abu Elhaija | Masar Institute of Education, Israel |
| Michelle Fine | The Graduate Center, CUNY, USA |
| Werner Fricke | Institute for Regional Cooperation, Germany |
| John Gaventa | University of Sussex, UK |
| Kenneth Gergen | Swarthmore College, USA |
| Bjorn Gustavsen | Work Research Institute, Norway |
| Budd Hall | University of Victoria, Canada |
| John Heron | South Pacific Centre for Human Inquiry, New Zealand |
| Marcia Hills | University of Victoria, Canada |
| David Jamieson | University of St. Thomas, USA |
| Karim-Aly Kassam | Cornell University, USA |
| Stephen Kemmis | Charles Sturt University, Australia |
| Bertha Koda | University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania |
| Donna Ladkin | Antioch University, USA |
| Morten Levin | Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway |
| M. Brinton Lykes | Boston College, USA |
| Judi Marshall | Lancaster University, UK |
| Victoria J Marsick | Columbia University, Teachers College, USA |
| Mwajuma Masaigana | Default for Journals, UK |
| Geoff Mills | Southern Oregon University, USA |
| Meredith Minkler | University of California, Berkeley, USA |
| Susan Albers Mohrman | University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA |
| Sonia Ospina | New York University, USA |
| Peter Park | Fielding Graduate Institute, USA |
| Mike Pedler | Henley Business School, UK |
| Michel Pimbert | Coventry University, UK |
| Ann Rippin | Bristol University, UK |
| Tom Rodriguez-Villasante Prieto | Default for Journals, UK |
| Jenny Rudolph | Boston University, USA |
| Shankar Sankaran | University of Technology, Sydney, Australia |
| Marja-Liisa Swantz | Finland and Tanzania |
| Rajesh Tandon | Society for Participatory Research in Asia, India |
| Steve Taylor | Worcester Polytechnic Institute, USA |
| Katharine Tee | Brigham and Women's Hospital, USA |
| William Torbert | Boston College, USA |
| Philip Tsao | Stanford University School of Medicine, USA |
| Yoland Wadsworth | University of Melbourne, Australia / Action Research Issues Association, Australia |
| Tom Wakeford | University of Edinburgh, UK |
| Ailing Zhuang | NPO Development Center Shanghai CHINA, China |
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/arj 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 Action Research will be reviewed.
There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this journal.
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.
- 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 - 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 Supplementary 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
Before submitting your manuscript to Action Research, please ensure you have read the Aims & Scope.
The journal publishes quality articles on accounts of action research projects, explorations in the philosophy and methodology of action research, and considerations of the nature of quality in action research practice.
All papers submitted ought to link theory and practice, in whatever way the author deems appropriate. It is assumed that the author, in seeking to share their work more broadly will consider the issue of how their contribution builds upon and advances the theory and practice of action research. In most cases we prefer to see theoretical and practical insights intertwined.
The journal will include:
- A strong editorial comment column
- An Open Forum for readers to initiate and sustain debate (see also the Action Research Community blog: http://arj-journal.blogspot.com/)
- Peer reviewed articles that contribute to the practice, theory and method of action research
Articles should be between 5,000 and 7,000 words inclusive.
The SAGE Author Gateway has some general advice and on how to get published, plus links to further resources.
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
Action Research adheres to a developmental double-blind reviewing policy. The identity of both the reviewer and author are concealed from both parties. Under special circumstances, when deemed to support the developmental and collegial nature of our review process, a single blind review may be offered during later revisions where the reviewer may wish to be known to the author.
Upon initial receipt, the editors will either quickly return manuscripts they believe unsuitable for publication in the journal or pass them along for blind reviews from at least two additional sources. The blind reviews, along with a recommendation by the Associate Editor, will be passed back to the Editor-in-Chief for a final editorial decision with regard to acceptance, revision or rejection. The Editor-in-Chief will then contact the contributor. We expect this process to take around 10 weeks.
For further detail on the quality criteria used for assessing manuscripts submitted to the journal, please see the page on Quality Criteria: http://journals.sagepub.com/pb-assets/cmscontent/ARJ/ARJ_Quality_Criteria.pdf
For additional information on the collaborative process through which the Associate Board agreed on the quality criteria, please click here: http://journals.sagepub.com/pb-assets/cmscontent/ARJ/Action_Research_manifesto.pdf
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.
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.
Action 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
Action 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
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
Action 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
Action Research offers optional open access publishing via the SAGE Choice programme. For more information please visit the SAGE Choice website. For information on funding body compliance, and depositing your article in repositories, please visit SAGE Publishing Policies on our Journal Author Gateway.
4. Preparing your manuscript for submission
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 supplementary files.
Action Research adheres to the APA reference style. View the APA guidelines to ensure your manuscript conforms to this reference style.
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.
Action Research is hosted on SAGE Track, a web based online submission and peer review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts. Visit http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/arj 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
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 persistent digital identifier that distinguishes researchers from every other researcher 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 recognised.
We encourage all authors to add their ORCIDs to their SAGE Track accounts and include their ORCIDs as part of the submission process. If you don’t already have one you can create one here.
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. 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).
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
Your SAGE Production Editor will keep you informed as to your article’s progress throughout the production process. Proofs will be sent by PDF to the corresponding author and should be returned 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. Please note that if there are any changes to the author list at this stage all authors will be required to complete and sign a form authorising the change
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.
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. In addition, SAGE is partnered with Kudos, a free service that allows authors to explain, enrich, share, and measure the impact of their article. Find out how to maximise your article’s impact with Kudos.
Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process should be sent to the Action Research editorial office as follows:
Editor-in-Chief, Hilary Bradbury: bradbury@ohsu.edu