Instructions for Authors

Scope and Audience

The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education is an internationally refereed journal which publishes papers and reports on the theory, method, and practice of Indigenous education. The journal welcomes articles that ground theoretical reflections and discussions in qualitative and quantitative studies, as well as examples of best practice with a focus on Indigenous education. While the journal has a particular focus on Indigenous education in Australia and Oceania, research which explores educational contexts and experiences around the globe are welcome. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education seeks to foster debate between researchers, government, and community groups on the shifting paradigms, problems, and practical outcomes of Indigenous education.

Contributions accepted are articles of 5000–8000 words. Please note that Book or Literature Reviews are not accepted; all papers must include new, original data/research. 

The journal is published as two issues per volume per year. The journal is published online.

Publishing Ethics

The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education considers all manuscripts on the following strict conditions:

  • The manuscript is your own original work, and does not duplicate any other previously published work, including your own previously published work.
  • The manuscript has been submitted only to the journal; it is not under consideration or peer review or accepted for publication or in press or published elsewhere.
  • All listed authors know of and agree to the manuscript being submitted to the journal.
  • The manuscript contains nothing that is abusive, defamatory, fraudulent, illegal, libellous, or obscene.

During manuscript submission, authors are required to disclose the nature of any competing and/or relevant financial interest. The statement should describe all potential sources of bias, including affiliations, funding sources, and financial or management relationships, that may constitute conflicts of interest.

The submitting author must provide contact information for all co-authors. The author who submits the manuscript for publication accepts the responsibility of notifying all co-authors that the manuscript is being submitted. If any of the named co-authors moves affiliation during the peer review process, the new affiliation can be given as a footnote. Deletion of an author during the peer-review process requires a confirming letter to the Managing Editor from the author whose name is being deleted. Please note that no changes to affiliation can be made after the manuscript is accepted.

By submitting your paper to The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education you are agreeing to any necessary originality checks your paper may have to undergo during the peer review and production processes. Large Language Models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT, do not currently satisfy our authorship criteria. Notably an attribution of authorship carries with it accountability for the work, which cannot be effectively applied to LLMs. Use of an LLM should be properly documented in the Methods section (and if a Methods section is not available, in a suitable alternative part) of the manuscript.

AJIE complies with the guidelines and best practices set forth by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)  on matters of research errors, authorship complaints, multiple or concurrent (simultaneous) submission, plagiarism complaints, research results misappropriation, reviewer bias, and undisclosed conflicts of interest.

Review Style and Process

The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education uses a double-blind review process.

The fitness of a manuscript for publication is based on:

  • significance/relevance to scope of the journal
  • clear emphasis on education and learning
  • conceptual framework (connections to relevant constructs in literature)
  • methods (if manuscript is an empirical study)
  • appropriateness to questions
  • adequate description of methods (including data collection and analysis)
  • rigorous and appropriate methods
  • findings/conclusions are literature or data-based
  • overall contribution to the field
  • writing style/composition/clarity.

The Review Process

Manuscripts initially are assigned to the editors and screened as above. If these criteria are met, manuscripts are reviewed by at least two qualified referees with documented expertise. When reviews are returned, the editors consider reviewers' comments, independently evaluate the manuscript, and make an editorial decision to reject, request a revision with the stipulation of further peer review, request a revision subject to review by the editors, or accept as is. Authors receive copies of (anonymous) referees' comments. Referees may be informed of the final disposition of the article. Although feedback will usually be provided to authors, the editors reserve the right to reject a manuscript for publication without providing a rationale for the decision. Final decisions regarding acceptance of a manuscript will be made by the editors.

Detailed Instructions to Contributors

Corresponding Author

This journal uses a contributor agreement that allows for just one author (the corresponding author) to sign on behalf of all authors. Please identify the corresponding author for your work when submitting your manuscript for review.

The corresponding author will be responsible for the following:

  • ensuring that all authors are identified on the contributor agreement, and notifying the editorial office of any changes to the authorship
  • securing written permission (via letter or email) from each co-author to sign the contributor agreement on the co-author's behalf
  • completing the copyright or licence to publish forms on behalf of all co-authors.

Although very rare, should a co-author have included content in their portion of the article that infringes the copyright of another or is otherwise in violation of any other warranty listed in the agreement, the corresponding author will be the sole author indemnifying the publisher and the editor of the journal against such violation. Please contact the editorial office if you have any questions.

Authorship

All persons who have a reasonable claim to authorship must be named in the manuscript as co-authors. The corresponding author must be authorised by all co-authors to act as an agent on their behalf in all matters pertaining to publication of the manuscript, and the order of names should be agreed by all authors. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content.

Authorship credit should be based on:

  • substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data
  • drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content
  • final approval of the version to be published.

Authors should meet all conditions. Acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of the research group alone does not constitute authorship.

Manuscript Language and Length

All manuscripts must be in English. The editors require that all authors be attentive to language and terminology, and ask that the authors be clear in ensuring terms used are contextually appropriate and consistently used. We recommend consideration of the issues of language raised in AIATSIS's Guidelines for Ethical Publishing.

Contributions must be typed, double-line spaced, using 12-point Times New Roman font or similar. The first and all major words in headings are capitalised (title case). Do not use more than three heading levels. Number all pages. For further guidance on style, refer to APA Style guide.

The preferred word count is 5000–8000 words for articles.

Abstract: All articles must include an abstract. Abstracts describe the essence of the manuscript, must be 200 words or less, and provide a brief overview of the aims, method, major findings, and learning outcomes, without any citations.

Headings: Headings should be used to help organise a manuscript, clarify the flow of the manuscript, as well as assist the reader in understanding the content of the paper. Section headings should be concise.

Citations: References should be cited in text by author's surname, publication year and page (e.g., Smith, 1988, p. 45). For three or more authors “et al.” (without italics) should be used after the first surname (e.g., Battiste et al., 2005). If multiple references are cited they should be ordered alphabetically and then by publication year, with author's names separated by a semicolon (e.g., Appleby, 1990, pp. 19-25; Childe, 1952; David, 1988; David & Chant, 1995; David et al., 1994; Smith, 2004a, 2004b; White & O'Connell, 1982, pp. 42-50).

Prospective authors should avoid language that can be seen as discriminating against people on account of disability, race or gender.

Uncommon abbreviations and acronyms should be explained. Full stops should not be used in abbreviations or acronyms (e.g., NSW).

Do not use quotation marks to introduce a technical or key term. Instead, italicise the term.

Please use double quotation marks, not single. Single quotation marks are used “only for ‘quotes’ within quotes”.

Double quotation marks are also used to introduce a word or phrase used as an ironic comment, as slang, or as an invented or coined expression. Use quotation marks the first time the word or phrase is used; do not use them again.

Long quotations of 40 words or more should be block indented without quotation marks.

Quotations are not italicised.

Do not italicise names or words from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages. In accordance with AIATSIS and the Australian Government Style Manual, these are Australian languages, not foreign languages. Foreign words are italicised.

Generic references to “traditional owners”, “custodians”, “elders”, “country”, etc. are not capitalised, except when referring to individuals or specific places. Cultural practices such as Acknowledgement of Country and Welcome to Country are capitalised.

Please use footnotes rather than endnotes. Footnotes should be kept to a minimum and only to provide necessary additional information.

Authors should keep Tables and Figures to a reasonable minimum and avoid repeating tabulated data in a graphic.

For the convenience of the peer-reviewers, please use a generous margin and line spacing.

Manuscript Style

At least two separate files need to be submitted online.

Title page: Please provide a title page for the editors. The title page is not shared with the referees. The title page must state the following:

  • The title of the document, up to six keywords, and suggested running head of no more than 50 characters.
  • The name, affiliation, full address (including postcode), telephone number, fax number, and email address of the corresponding author.
  • The name and affiliations (including postcode) of all authors.
  • A short (50–100 word) biographical note of each author.
  • Any acknowledgements, financial support, or competing interest statements that may identify the authors.
  • This manuscript is an original work that has not been submitted to nor published anywhere else.

Article document: The article document should include the complete article without any identifiable author details but including the title, abstract, body of the article, tables if any, figure captions if any, and references.

A list of figure captions should follow the tables in the article document. Captions must include sources and permissions for copyright material.

Tables and Figures

Both Tables and Figures should be titled with a short and concise description, numbered separately but consecutively (Table 1, … ; Figure 1, … ), and referenced in the text. Tables should be clear, concise, and able to stand alone, with footnotes included to clarify entries. Figures should be provided as a high-quality format. For imported scanned material a minimum resolution is 300 dpi. In multi-part Figures, each part should be labelled (Figure 1a, Figure 1b, …).

A list of figure captions should follow the tables in the manuscript.

Figures, graphs, illustrations and photographs (but not Tables) should be prepared to the correct size and each one supplied as an individual file as outlined above. Include placement instructions in the article document, such as "[Insert fig 1 here]". 

For final submission, figures should be submitted electronically as separate files in TIFF, JPEG (maximum quality) or EPS (with preview) format. If figures cannot be submitted as computer files, please submit as black-and-white line drawings or as high-contrast, glossy black-and-white prints. All figures will be published as greyscale images. Figures should be submitted at final size, ready for the publishing process. Figures should be submitted at resolutions of 600 dpi at final size. That is, the figure and its caption should be sized to fit either within the margins of a double columned page (170mm) or a single column (82.5mm). The available space within margins for the full length of a page is 230mm (this leaves room for a one-line caption). Please choose appropriate letter size, line thickness and shading/stippling. Photocopies of drawings are not acceptable. If not your own work, you must acknowledge the origin of all figures and, where applicable, it is the author's responsibility to obtain written unfettered permission to publish from the copyright owner of the original.

Acknowledgements

Acknowledge individuals or organisations who provided advice or non-financial support. If there are no acknowledgements, include the heading “Acknowledgements” followed by the text “None”.

Financial Support

Provide details of the sources of financial and in-kind support for all authors, including grant numbers. Grants held by different authors should be identified as belonging to individual authors by the author's initials. Where no specific funding has been provided for research, please provide the following statement: “This research received no specific grant from any funding agency, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.”

Conflicts of Interest

Conflict of interest exists when an author has interests that might influence their judgement, even if that judgement is not influenced. Authors must disclose potentially conflicting interests. Non-financial interests that could be relevant in this context should also be disclosed. If no relevant interests exist, this should be stated. This requirement applies to all the authors of a paper and to all categories of papers. If there are no conflicts of interest, include the heading “Conflicts of Interest” followed by the text “None”.

References

All references must be complete and accurate on submission. Include all and only those references cited in the paper. Do not cite papers in preparation. Papers may be cited as "in press" where they have been accepted for publication. Papers will be declined for publication if they have references that are found to be incomplete or inaccurate. References should be selective, appropriate, and easily accessible.

For general publication categories the format should follow the examples below. Please pay particular attention to capitalisation, punctuation and spacing. Submissions that do not conform to these referencing guidelines will be returned to authors for correction.

Journal articles:
Csordas, T. J. (1990). Embodiment as a paradigm for anthropology. Ethos18(1), 5–47. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-08286-2_3

Books:
McHoul, A., & Grace, W. (1993). A Foucault primer: Discourse, power and the subject. Melbourne University Press.

Edited books:
Kirklighter, C., Vincent, C., & Moxley, J. M. (Eds.). (1997). Voices and visions: Refiguring ethnography in composition. Boynton/Cook Publishers.

Book chapters:
Gustafson, D. L. (1999). Embodied learning: The body as an epistemological site. In M. Mayberry & E. Rose (Eds.), Meeting the challenge: Innovative feminist pedagogies in action (pp. 249–273). Routledge.

Monographs:
Wickler, S. (2001). The prehistory of Buka: A stepping stone island in the northern Solomons (Terra Australis 16). Department of Archaeology and Natural History and Centre for Archaeological Research, Australian National University.

Theses:
Nakata, M. (1997). The cultural interface: An exploration of the intersection of Western knowledge systems and Torres Strait Islanders positions and experiences [Unpublished PhD thesis]. James Cook University.

Web pages:
Universities Australia. (2017). Indigenous strategy 2017-2020. https://www.universitiesaustralia.edu.au/policy-submissions/diversity-equity/universities-australias-indigenous-strategy-2017-2020/
note: Include a retrieval date only if the work is unarchived and designed to change over time. When a retrieval date is needed, use the following format: “Retrieved September 30, 2020, from https://xxxxx”.

This APA Style guide sets out more reference examples.

Professional Editing Services

The editors recommend that authors have their manuscripts checked by an English language native speaker before submission; this will ensure that submissions are judged at peer review exclusively on academic merit.

Permissions

The corresponding author is responsible for providing copies of permission for lengthy quotations or reprinted or adapted tables or figures. It is the responsibility of the author to check with the publisher or copyright owner regarding specific requirements for permission to adapt or quote from copyrighted material. Appropriate acknowledgement must be given in your manuscript.

Manuscript Submission

The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education accepts submissions only through our Manuscript Tracking System for online submission and peer reviews. Step-by-step instructions are available during the submission process. Track the progress of submissions by logging into AJIE website. See the register/login links at the top right corner of this site. 

There is no submission fee or page charges.

Double-Blind Review: Authors must submit a title page as described above with article title; authors' names, titles and highest academic qualification, and emails; authors' affiliated institutions; and any acknowledgments, financial disclosure information, author notes, and/or other text that could identify the authors to reviewers. This document is separate from the article and not shared with the referees.

The main document that you upload must be blinded and include an abstract of no more than 200 words.

Prior to sending artwork, the separate files of figures, graphs, illustrations, and so on, should be printed by the author to test that the fonts have been embedded correctly and there is no distortion in the artwork (e.g., lines and fonts reproduce cleanly with no jagged lines or fuzzy edges), as any such faults cannot be corrected by the publisher.

Our editorial board evaluates each manuscript in a blinded peer-review process, which takes approximately 3 to 4 months, not including any times of revision by the author.

Accepted Manuscripts

Authors contributing to AJIE agree to publish their articles open access under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 license. Authors retain copyright of their work, with first publication rights granted to The University of Queensland. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post any version of their manuscript to personal or institutional websites, in repositories and similar, prior to and after publication (while providing the bibliographic details of that publication).

Minor amendments may be made by editorial staff following review to ensure that reasonable standards of content, presentation and readability are maintained.

Open Access Policies

Authors contributing to AJIE agree to publish their articles under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 license, allowing third parties to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format, and to remix, transform, and build upon the material, for any purpose, even commercially, under the condition that appropriate credit is given, that a link to the license is provided, and that you 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. Authors retain copyright.