Submission Guidelines

Thank you for your interest in writing for the EERA Blog. This blog is open to all members of the National Associations and Networks of EERA members to submit a blog post. Our goal is to provide an educational research blog to benefit society.

 We aim to stimulate debate and different opinions on the same subject may be aired. All submissions must have some link to evidence rather than assertion and should be on substantive issues rather than personal criticism.

 We welcome the following types of content:

  • Short reports or summaries of research
  • Opinion pieces
  • Response to policies
  • Experiences from your life as an educational researcher
  • Experiences from your life as an educator
  • “How To” pieces providing advice for those in education

From Pitch to Published Blog

STEP ONE –  PITCH PROPOSAL

We request that you submit a short pitch proposal to blog-mail@eera.eu before you start writing your blog.  Please include:

  • A short summary of your proposed blog post
  • The point of view or argument that you will present
  • A brief overview of the research on which you base your post
  • What you hope your readers will get from your blog post and/or your call-to-action
  • Your EERA Network or national organisation

STEP TWO – WRITING 

Once your pitch has been approved, we will ask you to fill in the Blog Submission Form below, and begin writing. Please note our Editorial and Style Guidelines. When you have finished writing, please send us:

  • Your blog post as a Word document
  • Your references as a list, and also hyperlinked in the text
  • A square profile photo
  • Any images you wish to include in your post

STEP THREE – THE EDITING PROCESS 

1. Writing check
Your blog post will first be checked by one of our experienced copyeditors. This process is concerned with the actual writing and includes checking grammar, spelling, how the post is structured, etc.

2. Academic check
After the writing check, the post is submitted to our Editorial Team, a group of academics from the EERA Networks, who provide feedback from an academic point-of-view, e.g., if the blog post has adequate and relevant references, whether it engages critically with the subject, what insight it provides to readers, and what conclusion or call to action is provided. 

 3. Initial feedback
We will send you the post with our recommendations with all suggestions marked clearly using the Track Changes tool from Microsoft Word. Any further edits should be marked using the Track Changes tool, or we cannot accept them. 

4. Second feedback loop
If extensive changes are needed, the Editorial Team will check and approve the second draft. For minor changes, this will not be necessary. 

5. Article uploaded to blog
With images, bio, etc. At this stage, you will receive a preview of the blog post for your final approval.

6. Blog post scheduled for publishing
Including on social media

We try to publish blog posts as soon as possible, but the date of publication may be influenced by a number of factors, including the range of issues to be covered and developing current events. If your contribution refers to a particular news story or current event, please make this clear when making your submission.

When submitting a blog proposal, prospective contributors should be aware that their contact details will be shared with the editorial team.

Submission Criteria

Contributors should ensure that their contributions:

  • Follow our Editorial and Style Guidelines.
  • Are research-based
  • Address an international audience and don’t assume readers will be familiar with specific education systems or regional context
  • Provide links to sources where possible
  • Use inclusive and non-derogatory language
  • Do not include obscene or rude content or content that belittles or attacks persons or groups
  • Do not link to profane, obscene, rude or illegal material or sites that knowingly violate intellectual property rights

Writing Style

It is important to us that the blog be accessible to readers from outwith the educational research community. This includes teachers, parents, students, policymakers, and local and international press. If you haven’t blogged for this audience before, then take a look at this blog post on how to write an accessible blog about academic topics. 

When writing, think about how you would explain your research or opinion to a friend who is not an academic and who has little experience in education. And consider how to make your research and findings applicable to the general public. Why would they find your research interesting? What effect could it have on their lives?

This post includes further information on pitching and writing for academic blogs:

Successful Academic Blogging – or how to pitch and be published on the EERA Blog

Copyright and Attribution

By publishing on the EERA blog, writers are agreeing to license their text under the Creative Commons License Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Blog Submission Form

To make it easier for you, you can do this using an online form. Fill in the EERA Blog below or open the submission form in a new tab here.

If you have any issues with the form, contact us at blog-mail@eera.eu.