IJLLS Report 2016

The International Journal for Lesson and Learning Studies
Report for 2016 by retiring Chief Editor, John Elliott

The achievement of recognition by the Scopus indexing system has greatly enhanced the flow of submissions to the journal in a context where we have moved to publishing four issues per year. The editors, Mun Ling Lo and myself, have not relaxed our interventionalist role in response to this. We have developed a clear editorial policy of treating reviewers comments as advisory only, and not a substitute for editorial judgments and decisions about the potential worth of submissions as publishable material. We often actively mediate between reviewers and author(s) particularly when the former disagree by providing positive guidance about how articles can be improved in their light. This guidance has also included giving help with English expression. Given the fact that many authors do not have English as their first language and are submitting articles to an international journal for the first time, Mun Ling and I feel that this active editorial role is important, if the journal is to fairly represent the global development of the theory and practice of Lesson Study across a wide range of national contexts.

We believe that the truly international nature of the issues in Volume 5 this year is evidence of the impact of this active role of the editors, and more generally of the supportive role WALS has played in promoting a global discourse for the development of the theory and practice of Lesson and Learning Studies through its journal and annual conference. The authors of articles in Volume 5 2016 are drawn from 14 countries: Austria, Canada, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Philippines, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. This makes the IJLLS a truly international journal and probably the major resource for those wishing to access global trends in Lesson and Learning Studies and the ‘cutting edge’ aspects of the discourse surrounding them. The editors have tried to promote these aspects through the publication of special issues and regular discussions about and responses to articles.

The 2016 Usage Report (up to end of June) from Emerald our publisher (see attached) suggests that the authors of articles in the journal may well have their work ‘downloaded’ in Indonesia, UK, Sweden, Malaysia, China, the USA and Singapore and read widely in the USA, China, and the UK. All of which suggests that the journal is promoting a flow of information about Lesson and Learning Studies from an increasing number of national contexts.

Recent special issues on ‘Learning Theories and Lesson Study’ (4.3) and ‘Lesson Studies in Initial Teacher Education’ (5.2) have also contained articles by authors working in a wide-range of international contexts, and we anticipate that they will both make significant contributions to the further growth of a ‘cutting edge’ discourse surrounding Lesson and Learning Studies. The publisher’s usage report suggests that Ulla Runesson’s Editorial Review article for 4.3 is already making such a contribution. We have adopted a policy of editors writing such articles, which not only summarise the contents of issues but draw from them ideas and concepts to inform an evolving agenda for developing the theory and practice of Lesson Study. Usage data suggests that these ‘Editorial Reviews’ are effective in this respect.

As retiring Chief Editor I would like to thank Lo Mun Ling, my Co-editor, and our Editorial Assistant Miriam MacGregor, for the way they have both worked so effectively with authors and reviewers of articles, and with Emerald Publications staff, to ensure with me the production of a journal that is now in such good standing. We have worked well as a team with a shared vision for the growth of the WALS journal that was also shared by members of our Advisory and Editorial Boards. I would like to thank the latter for their contributions, not only as thoughtful and conscientious reviewers who saw their role in formative rather than simply judgemental terms, but also as active collaborators in forging editorial policy.

Mun Ling, Miriam and I wish Keith Wood (Universiti Dar Darussalem) and his Co-Editors , Dave Peddar (University of Leicester), Airi Rovio- Johansson (Gothenburg University), Fang Yanping (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore) the very best in forging the further development of the IJLLS. We hope they will feel that we have established a good foundation.

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