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Journal of Experiential Education

Journal of Experiential Education

Published in Association with Association for Experiential Education
Other Titles in:
Experiential Education

eISSN: 2169009X | ISSN: 10538259 | Current volume: 47 | Current issue: 1 Frequency: Quarterly

The Journal of Experiential Education (JEE) is an international, peer-reviewed journal which publishes refereed articles on experiential education in diverse contexts. The JEE provides a forum for the empirical and theoretical study of issues concerning experiential learning, program management and policies, educational, developmental, and health outcomes, teaching and facilitation, and research methodology.

The Journal considers replication studies, both qualitative and quantitative, carried out to confirm that a previous scientific finding is reliable and reproducible. We also encourage the submission of studies which may present "null" findings or findings inconsistent with stated hypotheses, as these are viewed as important to the advancement of science.

The Journal welcomes submissions from new and diverse voices, particularly those historically underrepresented in experiential and outdoor settings. The Journal also welcomes submissions also from established and emerging scholars and practitioners writing about experiential education in the context of outdoor adventure programming, service learning, environmental education, classroom instruction, mental and behavioral health, organizational settings, the creative arts, international travel, community programs, and other settings. The Journal is particularly interested in publishing manuscripts which consider social justice, apply critical frameworks that engage in the intersectional examination of social identities, and/or examine historically marginalized perspectives. The JEE is a publication of the Association for Experiential Education.

If you have a question about the suitability of a manuscript, please contact the Editor in Chief Joanna Bettmann Schaefer [jee@aee.org]. For preliminary article inquiries send a short (<200 word) description of the paper concept or outline of the research, send a brief biographical statement discussing your qualifications for authorship along with a current CV.

The Journal of Experiential Education (JEE) is an international, peer-reviewed journal which publishes publishing refereed articles on experiential education in diverse contexts. The JEE provides a forum for the empirical and theoretical study of issues concerning experiential learning, program management and policies, educational, developmental, and health outcomes, teaching and facilitation, and research. 

The Journal welcomes submissions from new and diverse voices, particularly those historically underrepresented in experiential and outdoor settings. The Journal also welcomes submissions from established and emerging scholars and practitioners writing about experiential education in the context of outdoor adventure programming, service learning, environmental education, classroom instruction, mental and behavioral health, organizational settings, the creative arts, international travel, internships and work-study, community programs, or other settings. The Journal is particularly interested in publishing manuscripts which consider social justice, apply critical frameworks that engage in the intersectional examination of social identities, and/or examine historically marginalized perspectives. The JEE is a publication of the Association for Experiential Education.

If you have a question about the suitability of a manuscript, please contact Editor Joanna Bettmann Schaefer [jee@aee.org]. For preliminary article inquiries send a short (<200 word) description of the paper concept or outline of the research.

Editor
Joanna Bettmann Schaefer University of Utah, USA
Associate Editors
Karen Anderson Stonehill College, USA
Ulrich Dettweiler University of Stavanger, Norway
Jocelyn Glazier University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, USA
Annie Jonas Warren Wilson College, USA
Diane Lowenthal American University, Washington, D.C., USA
Lisa Meerts-Brandsma University of Utah, USA
Denise Mitten Prescott College, USA
Christine Norton Texas State University, USA
Jennifer Pipitone College of Mount Saint Vincent, USA
Shirley Sommers Nazareth College, USA
Barri Tinkler Missouri State University, USA
Jennifer Wigglesworth University of Northern British Columbia, Canada
Christian Winterbottom University of North Florida, USA
Chris Zajchowski University of Idaho, USA
Editorial Board
Simon Beames Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Norway
Andrew Bobilya Western Carolina University, USA
Mary Breunig Sacramento State University, USA
Clare Dallat Outdoor Education Group, Australia
Alan Ewert Indiana University, USA
Nevin Harper University of Victoria, Canada
Pete Higgins University of Edinburgh, Scotland
Susanna Ho Ministry of Education, Singapore
Jennifer Johnson-Kebea Drexel University, USA
Seppo Karppinen University of Oulu, Finland
Gary Kirk Dickinson College, USA
Denyse Lafrance Horning Nipissing University, Canada
Mark Leather University of St. Mark and St. John, UK
TA Loeffler Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada
Patrick Maher Nipissing University, Canada
Kathleen Mahon University of Borås, Sweden
Janice McMillan University of Cape Town, South Africa
Michael Mueller University of Alaska, Anchorage, USA
Billy O'Steen University of Canterbury, New Zealand
Moses Okello School for Field Studies, Tanzania
Jill Overholt Warren Wilson College, USA
Kevin Rathunde University of Utah, USA
Jay Roberts Warren Wilson College, USA
Emily Root Niagara University Ontario, Canada
Donna San Antonio Lesley University, USA
Beth Sheehan Southern New Hampshire University, USA
Jim Sibthorp University of Utah, USA
Heidi Smith University of Edinburgh, Scotland
Anita Tucker University of New Hampshire, USA
Jennifer Vadeboncoeur University of British Columbia, Canada
Karen Warren Hampshire College, USA
Heather Wright University of Texas at Austin, USA
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  • To help your submission reach its full potential, please use our How to Get Published resources. 

    The JEE accepts two types of manuscripts for publication:

    Regular articles: Regular articles report research findings, present systematic literature reviews, investigate relevant concepts or theories, or discuss topics of historical interest in experiential education. These manuscripts are between 4,000 and 8,000 words in length, including the abstract and all references, and typically follow the general format of a research article (introduction, review of literature, method, results, discussion, references). Authors seeking to publish reports of qualitative or quantitative research are encouraged to read this article prior to submission, as it describes important guidelines for writing research reports.In order to adhere to the highest standards for scholarly work, systematic reviews and meta-analysis submitted to the Journal of Experiential Education must follow the most current PRISMA guidelines (available here http://www.prisma-statement.org/).

    Book reviews: Book reviews are published infrequently and on a space-available basis. Manuscript length is limited to 750 words. Book reviews are generally solicited. Publishers or review authors wishing to suggest a book for consideration, please email jee@aee.org.

    Audience

    The readership of the JEE consists of academics from across different disciplines engaged in a range of scholarly pursuits and practitioners who depend on scholarship to inform what they do. Therefore, it is critical that authors recognize and address these diverse audiences through their writing. 

    Authors should take care to explain how the topics they discuss address issues related to experiential education, many of which have been explored previously in the pages of the JEE. This includes but is not limited to issues that arise in programming environments such as organizational development and training, traditional and nontraditional classroom teaching and learning, international education/study abroad, service learning, therapeutic practices, and outdoor adventure education. Articles that seek to expand conceptions of experiential education are welcome but should strive to be clear about the advances they represent over existing ideas and practices.

    The JEE is not seeking to publish manuscripts describing single programs, curricular units, or outcome evaluations unless they demonstrate clear relevance to wider issues in experiential education, particularly those discussed previously in the Journal. Authors interested in publishing single case studies of this sort should be sure their manuscripts: state clear research purposes and questions; indicate why the focal case is important to study; articulate a guiding theoretical framework; substantiate claims with evidence or compelling examples; and address the broader implications of their conclusions, especially how their discussion breaks new ground or recontextualizes existing ideas or practices in an innovative way.

    Authors of empirical or philosophical articles should communicate the practical implications of their findings or conclusions in as detailed way as possible. This may be done in a discussion section or in a separate implications section. Communicating research implications is an expectation for publishing in the JEE.

    Manuscript Submission Guidelines

    JEE uses an electronic submission and review process. Manuscripts should be submitted at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jexped, where authors will be required to set up an online account in the Sage Track system. Manuscript submissions will be accepted with the understanding that their content is unpublished and not being submitted for publication elsewhere. Authors must prepare manuscripts according to the most current edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA Style Manual). Instructions on tables, figures, references, statistics, and typing appear in the manual. The JEE requires that authors use inclusive language in their manuscripts-that is, avoid language that could be construed as sexist, racist, or biased in other ways. For guidelines, see the APA Style Manual.

    The Journal encourages authors to include an author positionality statement within the Method section of their manuscript. Authors are not required to disclose any specific part of their identity, but encouraged to do so in order to allow for some transparency in how the authors’ identities connect to and interact with the research conducted. Authors are encouraged to include in their author positionality statement any information about the authors’ identities which they deem relevant to the research conducted in the manuscript. For sample author positionality statements, authors are encouraged to consult Positionality Statements by Melissa Curran and Ashley K. Randall.

    For questions related to submission guidelines or status of submissions, please contact: jee@aee.org

    For questions related to the Sage Track system, login help, or general troubleshooting please see: http://mchelp.manuscriptcentral.com/gethelpnow/ or contact: ts.mcsupport@thomson.com

    1. Manuscript format: All parts of the manuscript, including the title page, abstract, references, and tables and figures, should be provided in MS Word or RTF format, in English. Allow margins of one inch on all sides, and number the manuscript pages consecutively throughout. The title page should include the full title of the paper (no longer than 12 words), the name of each author, the title of each author (e.g., Assistant Professor, Director), the affiliation of each author, the e-mail address of each author, the mailing address and phone number of the principal author, and a word count for the manuscript. Upload the title page as a separate document during the submission process. The first page of text should begin with the full title of the paper, but NOT the name(s) of the author(s). In preparation for anonymized peer review, all author identifiers within the text, citations, and properties should be removed.

    2. Abstract: The JEE requires abstracts to conform to a structured format with the following headings exactly as they appear here: Background, Purpose, Methodology/Approach, Findings/Conclusions, and Implications. Abstracts must be 200 words or fewer. Further guidelines can be found here. The submitted manuscript should begin with a page including the title of the manuscript and the abstract, but NOT the name(s) of the author(s).

    3. Keywords: The JEE appeals to a broad and diverse readership. Three to five keywords should appear three lines after the end of the abstract and should be entered on the JEE website, using the list provided, when submitting a manuscript online. Select keywords that are likely to help attain maximum visibility with all audiences who might find interest in your paper, either within or outside traditional experiential education audiences.

    4. Headings: Appropriate headings should be used to help organize the manuscript and should follow APA Style Manual guidelines. For theoretical manuscripts, authors are encouraged to use headings that clarify the flow of the manuscript as well as assist the reader in understanding the content of the paper. Authors are encouraged to use up to two (2) additional levels of headings in accordance with APA Style Manual guidelines.

    5. Method section: Please note that the Journal of Experiential Education welcomes both qualitative and quantitative research contributions, but you must ensure that your manuscript follows the conventions for Method sections spelled out in the current edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. Specifically, the Method section of your manuscript should include subsections for Participants, Design, Materials (including measures used), Procedures, and Analytic Strategy. For more specific recommendations on Methods reporting, consult Seaman et al., "Joint Recommendations on Reporting Empirical Research in Outdoor, Experiential, Environmental, and Adventure Education Journals." 

    5. Tables and figures: Tables should be titled and numbered at the top of the table. They should be numbered consecutively as they appear in the text. Tables should be clear, concise, and able to stand alone. Complete headings and footnotes should be included to clarify entries. Figures should be numbered consecutively, at the bottom of the figure, with a short and concise description. Fonts used in any table or figure should be compatible with that used in the text. All tables and figures should be included at the end of the manuscript and referred to in the text with a notation made in the manuscript indicating approximately where each should be located (e.g., [insert table 1 here]). Illustrations should be of professional quality and supplied in EPS, tiff, or PDF formats.

    6. Permissions: The author(s) is responsible for providing copies of written permission for lengthy quotations or reprinted or adapted tables or figures. It is the responsibility of the author(s) to check with the publisher or copyright owner regarding specific requirements for permission to adapt or quote from copyrighted material. See the APA Style Manual for guidelines.

    7. Literature cited: All citations and references must be complete and accurate on submission and should follow the APA Style Manual. Manuscripts cannot be reviewed if they have references that are found to be incomplete or inaccurate. All applicable references should include doi numbers with https prefixes and hyperlinks (e.g., https://doi.org/10.1177/1053825917740155).

    8. Length: Regular articles will be no more than 8,000 words, including the abstract and references. Book reviews will be no longer than 750 words. Longer manuscripts will be unsubmitted by the Editor and returned to the author for revision before being considered for review.

    9. Human Subjects: Submitted manuscripts reporting research on human subjects must state in the methods section that the relevant Ethics Committee or Institutional Review Board provided (or waived) approval. Please ensure that you have provided the institution of the review committee in your text. For research articles, authors are also required to state in the methods section whether participants provided informed consent and whether the consent was written or verbal, and whether informed consent provided by the participant or a legally authorized representative. Please refer to the ICMJE Recommendations for the Protection of Research Participants for further information.

    10. Authorship: All parties who have made a substantive contribution to the article should be listed as authors, per the criteria provided in the ICMJE recommendations. Principal authorship and authorship order should be based on the relative scientific or professional contributions of the individuals involved, regardless of their rank or status. Individuals who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed as contributors as described in the ICMJE recommendations (see item #3).

    11. Funding: Journal of Experiential Education 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.

    12. Use of Generative AI in Research: The Journal of Experiential Education requires authors to acknowledge any use of large language models or generative AI in their writing, editing, and other parts of the research process. This acknowledgement should include explicitly noting the use of language models in the manuscript, verifying the accuracy of all content and citations generated by AI, providing a list of sources used to generate content, and acknowledging the limitations of AI language models in the manuscript. The Journal requires all authors to adhere to Sage Publications AI guidelines (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/chatgpt-and-generative-ai-0)

    Conflict of Interest

    Journal of Experiential Education encourages authors to include a declaration of any conflicting interests and recommends you review the good practice guidelines on the Sage Journal Author Gateway.

    Review Process

    Double-anonymized review: The Journal of Experiential Education adheres to a rigorous double-anonymized reviewing policy in which the identity of both the reviewer and author are always concealed from both parties.

    When a manuscript is sent out for anonymized review, the evaluation of the reviewers, along with the Editor(s), will determine if the final recommendation to the author(s) is (a) accept as is; (b) accept with minor revisions; (c) suggest revision and resubmission; (d) reject; or (e) not appropriate for the JEE. If accepted, the author(s) will be requested to resubmit a revised copyedited paper through the website (in Word or RTF format). Prospective authors should anticipate this process to take between six and twelve months.

    Please note: There is no cost for publishing in the Journal of Experiential Education.

    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 in to 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.

    For more information, please refer to the Sage Manuscript Submission Guidelines.

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