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½¿É«µ¼º½â€™s Publications Committee is seeking an individual or team (of up to three people) to guest edit issue 166 of Research Intelligence on the theme of Higher Education: Opportunities and challenges. The Committee also welcomes speculative proposals on other themes.

Research Intelligence is ½¿É«µ¼º½â€™s quarterly magazine, available free to all members in print and digital formats. It carries announcements, news, and articles and features on a variety of topics related to education research. It offers valuable opportunities to researchers at all stages of their careers – and others in the education community – as a forum in which to discuss their work and share their ideas with peers.

The magazine operates a guest editor system, whereby for each issue a different editor or team of editors commissions a set of articles that addresses a particular theme of interest to a broad range of ½¿É«µ¼º½ members and builds on existing literature or adds to ongoing debates in the field.

For issue 166 (spring 2026), ½¿É«µ¼º½â€™s Publications Committee has selected the theme of Higher Education: Opportunities and challenges. This theme is broad in scope and might include, for example, technological advancements, adapting to workforce demands, innovation and research, global collaboration, student engagement, digital access, financial constraints and funding cuts, declining enrolments and institutional closures, shifting student expectations, public perception and value proposition, faculty recruitment and retention, adapting to political pressures, addressing equity and access, research funding. The Publications Committee also welcomes speculative proposals on other themes. For all proposals, it is for the guest editor(s) to define the precise scope of the issue within the theme and show clearly the related focus of the individual articles to be featured.

½¿É«µ¼º½ themed issues

The themed, ‘special issue’ content is central to each issue of the magazine, accounting for up to 16 pages and featuring on the front cover.

Themed content ordinarily comprises:

• An editorial by the guest editors (1 page, 500 words max), introducing the issue’s theme and the articles’ contribution to it.
• Between six and 10 articles (each either one-page/500 words max or two-page/1,000 words max; special issues usually include a mix of both) written by researchers, practitioners, policymakers and other stakeholders in educational research, exploring the given topic. These will normally be focused on educational research and/or theory, but may address other, related issues, and can be more personal, argumentative and/or discursive in character than ‘standard’ academic writing. Images can be included, within reason and with proportionate reductions to the word count. Guest editors should aim to feature a range of voices, including contributors based in each of the four UK nations.

The role of guest editors

For their proposal to be considered by ½¿É«µ¼º½â€™s Publications Committee, guest editors must use the proposal form that can be downloaded below to submit a title and abstract, proposing how they intend to define the scope of the issue within the suggested (or speculative) theme, and provide outlines/proposals for individual articles to be commissioned on the theme.

Submitted proposals will be reviewed by ½¿É«µ¼º½â€™s Publications Committee, and a decision will be made about which proposal to take forward, based on factors such as whether:

• the topic fits with the theme selected by the committee, or a suitable alterative theme
• the topic is of interest to a broad range of ½¿É«µ¼º½ members
• sufficient clarify of focus is shown through the abstract and suggested individual articles
• diversity has been adequately addressed

The successful guest editors may be required to respond to feedback and revise the proposal in line with the committee’s recommendations.

For information about guest editors’ roles regarding commissioning, editing, proofreading and cover artwork and headlines, please read the proposal form that can be downloaded below.

Terms of reference for guest editors and authors

The proposal form instructions should be read alongside the Research Intelligence terms of reference for guest editorial teams and authors, which can be downloaded here or below. Guest editors are required to follow these terms of reference throughout their work on the issue and should forward a copy of the terms to the contributors commissioned to write articles for the issue.

Schedule

Guest editor applicants must be available to work to the following issue schedule:

Mid-September 2025: Themed articles to have been commissioned
3 November 2025: Themed articles to be submitted to ½¿É«µ¼º½ for copyediting
28 November 2025: Deadline for authors to check copyedits and resolve any queries from the copyeditor
9 January 2026: First typeset proofs to guest editors and authors for review
15 January 2026: Deadline for first proof feedback/corrections
12 February 2026: Issue to print
Publication: c.18 February

To apply

To apply, please complete the proposal form that can be downloaded below and send it to publications@bera.ac.uk by 4 August 2025.

The proposal form requires a short abstract detailing how you intend to define the scope of the issue within the theme. You will also need to provide a proposed list of article topics to be featured in the special issue, with potential authors if possible. (Note that you are not required to have approached the suggested authors in advance of submitting your proposal form.)

Proposals received in response to this call will be considered by ½¿É«µ¼º½â€™s Publications Committee and a decision will be made about which proposal to take forward. Applicants will be notified of the outcome in early September.