Information for Authors

Aims and Scope

The Journal of Media Literacy Education invites submissions which advance the field of media literacy education in formal and informal educational settings and for various ages, sectors, and contexts. The journal invites three submission formats — Essays, Research Papers, and Voices from the Field.

Essays offer opinion and comments that are significant for the field, situated clearly in relation to work previously published. We encourage essays that offer a well-reasoned point of view that extends the field by contributing new theoretical insights, offering perspectives from under-represented communities, or challenging epistemological power dynamics.

Research Papers must share original and robust research into media literacy education. Research which validates the need for media literacy education or measures the media literacy of people without an educational context or intervention will not be published. Work submitted to JMLE as a research paper must be significant for the field, situated clearly in relation to work previously published, methodologically precise, and with clear and significant findings.

Voices from the Field are practitioner insights which offer recommendations for pedagogy and practice based on evidence from interventions and approaches which move the field of practice forward. While these need not be as developed, conceptually or methodologically, as research papers, they must be clearly based on valid evaluation of practice, and the insights generated must be either justified for generalizability or situated in particular contexts.

First Steps

Before the submission of your manuscript to JMLE, we kindly ask you to:

• review the Focus and Scope of the Journal;
• familiarize yourself with the License and Copyright Agreement for the Journal of Media Literacy Education;
• read the Author Guidelines for the Journal of Media Literacy Education.

We recommend that any data set used in your manuscript is submitted to a reliable data repository and linked to your manuscript through a DOI.

Review and Publication Framework

The Journal of Media Literacy Education (JMLE) is evolving. To meet the demands of a rapidly shifting academic landscape, the emergence of AI, and the accelerating pace of media literacy research, we are implementing a modernized review process designed for transparency, sustainability, and impact. We are moving forward with a more agile framework to:

• Maintain Currency: Ensure JMLE remains a field-leading publication by reducing production delays and ensuring new research reaches global readers in a timely way.
• Enhance Sustainability: Safeguard the journal’s longevity by streamlining editorial workflows.
• Improve Service: Provide authors and readers with a more efficient, responsive experience.

5-Stage Review Process

To optimize quality and speed, JMLE will now operate under the following workflow:

1. Editorial Desk Review: Submissions are immediately screened by a production editor with AI support to ensure the work is original, robust, and strictly aligned with JMLE aims and scope.
2. Posting of Submissions Open for Review: Submissions that pass the initial screening are posted as JMLE Submissions Open for Review with author information removed.
3. Community Consultation: Our global community of practice provides transparent feedback and commentary during an open and public review phase, with reviewers using the Intense Debate platform.
4. Consensus-Based Decisioning: Six times a year, the JMLE Editorial Committee reviews reviewer feedback. We utilize AI-enhanced tools to identify consensus, after which editors make a final determination. JMLE Preprints are published immediately after acceptance.
5. Final Publication: Three times a year, accepted works are formally published in coordination with our production partner LabOA on the JMLE main website.

A Commitment to Efficiency and Transparency

By moving away from the limitations of the traditional peer review process, we are harnessing both human expertise and AI insights to review work collectively. This approach allows us to reach expert consensus faster and move research through the production journey promptly, ensuring JMLE publishes research while it is still current and field-shaping.

Our Terms for Authors

To sustain this collaborative ecosystem, we embrace a reciprocal peer ethos. JMLE will expect all published authors to contribute a minimum of two reviews to the platform. Editorial Committee members will contribute two reviews annually and participate in at least one of the Editorial Review Committee meetings. This ensures a transparent, community-driven cycle of mentorship and scholarly excellence.

In submitting to JMLE, authors agree to:

• present well-developed ideas in a comprehensive, organized argument written in clear, concise English (this includes making effective use of display elements, such as figures, schemes, tables, etc.);
• demonstrate scientific and scholarly rigor supported by up-to-date citations of relevant literature and guided by a rationale for how the work fits into existing knowledge;
• exhibit novelty through original scholarship or a creative/innovative practice;
• share unpublished work openly (with author information removed) as Submissions Open for Review;
• invite global colleagues to participate in the community review process;
• accept the use of AI tools in the review process to aid consensus in editorial decisions;
• promote your published work to your social media network;
• encourage scholars and practitioners to submit relevant work to JMLE.

Submitted manuscripts must adhere to the requirements and the Journal’s policies outlined here and on the Author Guidelines page. We will only consider manuscripts submitted electronically to our Editorial System. We can only accept manuscripts that follow the current rules of the American Psychological Association (APA) citation style.

General Obligations for Authors

• An author’s primary obligation is to present a concise, accurate account of performed research as well as an objective discussion of its significance.
• A paper should contain detail and references to public sources of information sufficient to allow the author’s peers to replicate the work.
• A paper should be as concise as possible but not at the expense of scientific accuracy. Inclusion of a comprehensive abstract (within the word limit) is encouraged in order to promote both scientific conciseness and completeness.
• Papers must be written in English, and authors must ensure correct spelling and grammar.
• Authors must cite publications that have influenced their work and/or would help the reader to understand the submitted manuscript. Information obtained privately, as in conversation, correspondence, or discussion with third parties, must not be used or reported in the author’s work without explicit permission given by those from whom the information was obtained. Information obtained confidentially, such as while refereeing manuscripts or grant applications, should be treated accordingly.
• Papers should provide coherent arguments and avoid inconsistencies.
• It is inappropriate for an author to submit manuscripts describing essentially the same research to more than one journal of primary publication.
• A criticism of a published paper may sometimes be justified; however, in no case is personal criticism considered to be appropriate.
• To protect the integrity of authorship, only persons who have significantly contributed to the research and paper preparation should be listed as authors. The corresponding author attests to the fact that any other individuals named as authors have seen the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication. Deceased persons who meet the criterion for co-authorship should be included, with a footnote reporting date of death. No fictitious names should be listed as authors or co-authors. The author who submits a manuscript for publication accepts the responsibility of having included as co-authors all persons who are appropriate and none who are inappropriate.
• An author should declare any potential conflicts of interest in a special section prior to the acknowledgements.