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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 168 of Research Intelligence on the theme of ‘Education and the impact of child poverty’. 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 168, ½¿É«µ¼º½â€™s Publications Committee has selected the theme of Education and the impact of child poverty. This theme is broad in scope and might include, for example, the effects on education of poor nutrition, housing instability and homelessness, limited access to health care, intergenerational poverty, inequity in access, the digital divide, lack of enrichment opportunities, underfunded schools and teacher shortages and burnout. 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
• sufficient clarify of focus is shown through the abstract and suggested individual articles
• the topic is of interest to a broad range of ½¿É«µ¼º½ members
• 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, which can be downloaded below.

Terms of reference for guest editors and authors

The proposal form should be read alongside the Research Intelligence terms of reference for guest editorial teams and authors and the ½¿É«µ¼º½ Artificial Intelligence (AI) Statement. Guest editors and authors are required to follow the terms of reference and AI statement throughout their work on the issue and guest editors should forward copies to the contributors commissioned to write articles for the issue.

Schedule

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

By March 2026: Themed articles to have been commissioned
16 April 2026: Deadline for final list of themed article titles and authors to be submitted to ½¿É«µ¼º½
19 May 2026: Deadline for themed articles to be submitted to ½¿É«µ¼º½ for copyediting
9 June 2026: Deadline for authors and editors to check copyedits and resolve any queries from the copyeditor
30 June 2026: First typeset proofs to editors and authors for checking
14 July 2026: Deadline for first proof feedback/corrections
11 August 2026: Issue to print

To apply

To apply, please complete the attached proposal form and send it to [email protected] by Thursday 29 January. 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 by early March.