Aims and scope
Journal of Writing Research publishes publishes scientific research exploring the mental and social processes underlying written production, how writing is learned, and how it can be effectively taught, across all ages and educational contexts. We publish papers from a range of perspectives and disciplines unified by a strong commitment to methodological rigour. We provide a forum for both established experts and new talent.
Multi-disciplinary
The Journal of Writing Research publishes papers drawing, in any combination, on research and theory in linguistics, psychology, instructional science, and related disciplines that come under the broad umbrella of writing research.
Articles
Most papers published in JoWR report original research. We also welcome methods papers and literature reviews.
Papers reporting new empirical studies may use any appropriate data collection methods, and we welcome both quantitative and qualitative methods of analysis. Papers describing teaching practice are welcome if they contribute to a theoretical understanding of how writing can be effectively taught, and if they report robust evidence of efficacy through controlled evaluation of effects on writing performance. Papers reporting case studies are considered only where the research question addressed would not have been better answered by other methods.
Most papers in JoWR report behavioural data. We also welcome papers that report linguistic analyses where these directly address questions relating to writing process, development, or instruction. We do not publish papers that report analysis of published text.
Research methods articles introduce emerging or new writing-research methods, including approaches to data collection, coding, scoring, and analysis. They may describe a method, instrument, corpus, database, or technique for writing research. Articles typically have three parts. (1) Evidence for the contribution of the method, making clear what kinds of writing-research questions it will help answer. Authors should provide a detailed summary of previous approaches and make clear the gap that the new method will fill. (2) A precise description of the method giving sufficient detail to allow readers to use it in their own research. (3) Illustrative findings from research using the method. Findings must be unpublished, but could be new analysis of already-reported data, and do not necessarily need to test strong hypotheses.
We invite review papers on any topic relevant to our aims and scope. Papers should address clearly specified research questions. These may use any appropriate review methodology but must demonstrate a rigorous approach to surveying the relevant literature. We particularly welcome reviews that provide a critique of existing research and theory and that identify future directions.
Special issues
The Journal of Writing Research will also consider proposals for special issues on a specific theme.
Audience
The Journal of Writing Research’s articles are primarily intended for use in the scientific community, but the journal’s interdisciplinary nature also makes it accessible to teacher educators, curriculum developers, communication consultants, and other interested practitioners.
