Editorial policy

Peer Review

Articles submitted to the Swiss Journal of Educational Research are first assessed by the Editorial Committee, which verifies their formal compliance, scientific relevance, alignment with the journal’s editorial scope, and adherence to ethical requirements. Manuscripts that meet these conditions are submitted to a double-blind peer review process. Two qualified experts, with no conflict of interest with the authors, evaluate the anonymized manuscript according to criteria such as relevance, originality, quality of the theoretical and methodological framework, structural coherence, and formal quality.

The experts provide detailed and constructive comments intended to support the improvement of the manuscript. Based on their recommendations, the Editorial Committee makes an editorial decision: acceptance, request for revisions, possible referral to a third expert, or rejection. Final decisions always remain the responsibility of the Editorial Committee. The list of experts who contributed to the evaluation process is published in the first issue of the following year.

More information about the review process here are in our publication guidelines.

Publication ethics and bad practice

Publication ethics

The Swiss Journal of Educational Research endeavours to ensure the high quality of its publications. It adheres to high standards of ethical behaviour and expects them to be adhered by all parties involved in the publication.
The Swiss Journal of Educational Science follows the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) for the preservation of scientific integrity. These guidelines apply to authors, members of the editorial team, experts and editors.

Conflict of interest

The editorial team ensures that there are no conflicts of interest by applying internal procedures for the selection of experts. Experts are also encouraged to disclose any conflicts of interest.

Plagiarism

Authors submit original texts to the Swiss Journal of Educational Research. Any use of artificial intelligence must be reported and the way in which it is used must be specified. The responsibility for the adopted content lies solely with the authors.

Manuscripts entering the evaluation procedure are examined with regard to their originality. Any manuscript that is plagiarised in whole or in part will be rejected.

In line with developments in open access publishing, texts that have been published on a "preprint" platform are taken into consideration by the editorial team and must be indicated as such by the authors, who commit (in the event of publication) to updating the platforms by associating the preprint with the digital identity (DOI) of the final publication.

Research ethics and fraud

The journal will examine all situations (observed by experts, members of the editorial team, members of the scientific advisory council, or reported by third parties) that call into question the behaviour of authors or experts and will take appropriate action.

The processes defined by COPE (flowcharts) support practices in this area.

Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence Tools

The use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI)  tools by the authors must be transparent and responsible. A GenAI tool cannot be considered an author. Full responsibility for all content, including text, data, images, and references, rests exclusively with the authors. The use of GenAI tools for language correction, rephrasing, translation, or text structuring is permitted, provided that the authors reread, correct, and validate the entirety of the generated content. Any other use of GenAI tools (assisted writing, image generation, etc.) must be explicitly declared in the manuscript, specifying the tool’s name, version, and purpose.

The fabrication of data or references by GenAI, the inclusion of sensitive data, particularly without anonymization, in tools that may record such data, or any undeclared use of GenAI tools constitute violations of research ethics and will not be tolerated under any circumstances.

Reviewers must maintain strict confidentiality regarding all manuscripts they evaluate. They may not upload or input any part of the manuscript (text, figures, or data) into GenAI tools, except with the explicit authorization of the Journal and only if the tool guarantees no data retention or reuse.

GenAI tools must never be used to conduct or write a review or to formulate a judgment on the scientific quality of a manuscript. Their use is only tolerated for minor language editing, provided that such use is declared to the Editorial Committee, and the final content of the review fully reflects the reviewer’s own opinion. All editorial decisions remain entirely human and may not rely on automated systems.

Corrections and retraction

The editorial team of the Swiss Journal of Educational Research systematically proofreads every article before publication to ensure compliance with publication guidelines, adherence to APA-7 standards, and the quality of language, including grammar, spelling, and gender-inclusive phrasing.

The Swiss Journal of Educational Research encourages authors and readers to inform the editorial team of any shortcomings or errors in published articles. Only elements with a significant impact on the article will be considered. If deemed necessary, the editorial team will assess the need to publish an erratum, corrigendum or addendum.

In the case of articles with shortcomings and/or errors to the extent that the data and/or conclusions can no longer be used, a withdrawal procedure will be carried out by the editorial team. Where appropriate, a notice of withdrawal will be published.

Open Access Policy

The Swiss Journal of Educational Research provides immediate open access to its content in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

The content is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.

The Swiss Journal of Educational Research does not charge any Article Processing Charges (APCs) or Article Submission Charges (ASCs) and does allow the author(s) to hold the copyright without restrictions.
Budapest Open Access Initiative