Author Guidelines

Sustainability Education Review (SuER) is an international, peer-reviewed, Diamond Open Access journal dedicated to advancing research, theory, policy, and practice at the intersection of education and sustainability.

Authors are strongly encouraged to read the journal's Aims and Scope, Peer Review Process, Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement, and other editorial policies before preparing and submitting a manuscript.

Submission of a manuscript indicates that the authors have read and agreed to comply with the journal's editorial and publication policies.

1. Scope and Relevance

Manuscripts submitted to SuER must demonstrate a substantive and explicit relationship between education and sustainability or sustainable development.

SuER considers education to be its primary disciplinary domain and sustainability to be its central analytical and societal concern. A manuscript is therefore not considered within scope merely because it mentions sustainability, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), climate change, environmental issues, or related concepts.

The sustainability dimension should be meaningfully integrated into one or more of the following:

the research problem;
theoretical or conceptual framework;
research questions or hypotheses;
methodological design;
analysis and interpretation;
educational implications;
policy or practice implications.

Studies conducted in a single school, institution, community, region, or country are welcome when they use the specific context to address a clear scholarly problem and explain how the findings contribute to broader debates in sustainability education.

2. Manuscripts That May Be Considered Out of Scope

Manuscripts may be declined at editorial screening when:

they concern general education without a meaningful sustainability dimension;
sustainability or the SDGs are added only superficially to the title, introduction, or conclusion;
they are primarily environmental, engineering, agricultural, technological, economic, or scientific studies without a substantive educational component;
they provide only descriptive accounts of educational activities without a clear research problem or scholarly contribution;
they lack meaningful engagement with relevant scholarship in education and sustainability;
their contribution is restricted to a narrowly local administrative problem without broader conceptual, empirical, methodological, or policy relevance.

3. Types of Manuscripts

SuER considers the following major types of scholarly contributions:

3.1 Original Research Article

Original empirical research using quantitative, qualitative, mixed-methods, experimental, quasi-experimental, longitudinal, comparative, design-based, participatory, case-study, ethnographic, or other methodologically appropriate designs.

Recommended length: approximately 5,000–8,000 words, excluding references, tables, figures, and supplementary material.

3.2 Review Article

Rigorous evidence syntheses including systematic reviews, scoping reviews, meta-analyses, integrative reviews, bibliometric reviews, and other clearly justified review methodologies.

Recommended length: approximately 6,000–10,000 words.

Review articles should present a transparent and reproducible method appropriate to the review design. Systematic and scoping reviews should follow recognized reporting standards where applicable.

3.3 Conceptual or Theoretical Article

Articles that develop, integrate, critique, extend, or reconstruct concepts, theories, frameworks, or scholarly debates relevant to sustainability education.

A conceptual paper must offer a genuine theoretical contribution rather than a narrative summary of existing literature.

Recommended length: approximately 5,000–9,000 words.

3.4 Policy Analysis

Scholarly analyses of educational policies, governance, institutional reforms, sustainability strategies, or policy implementation relevant to education and sustainable development.

Recommended length: approximately 4,000–7,000 words.

Other forms of scholarly contribution may be considered where they clearly fit the journal's aims and scope and provide a substantial contribution to the field.

4. Language

Manuscripts must be submitted in English.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that manuscripts are written in clear, accurate, professional academic English. Poor language should not obscure the research problem, methodology, findings, or scholarly contribution.

The journal evaluates manuscripts on scholarly content rather than the nationality or first language of the authors. However, manuscripts that cannot be evaluated reliably because of serious language or presentation problems may be returned for revision before peer review.

5. Submission File

Manuscripts should be submitted in editable Microsoft Word (.docx) format using the current SuER manuscript template available through the journal's submission page.

Authors should always use the most recent version of the template provided by SuER rather than templates obtained from third-party websites or previous journal versions.

6. Double-Anonymous Submission

SuER applies double-anonymous peer review. Authors must therefore submit an anonymized manuscript suitable for review.

The main manuscript should not contain:

author names;
institutional affiliations;
email addresses;
ORCID identifiers;
acknowledgements identifying the authors;
other unnecessary information that directly reveals author identity.

Author information should be entered separately in the OJS submission metadata and, where requested, on a separate title page.

Self-citations should not be artificially removed when they are necessary for scholarly accuracy, but they should be written in a manner that does not unnecessarily disclose author identity during review.

7. Manuscript Title

The title should be concise, informative, specific, and accurately represent the principal subject of the manuscript.

Authors should:

preferably keep the title to approximately 20 words or fewer where this can be achieved without loss of meaning;
avoid unnecessary abbreviations and acronyms;
avoid overly broad or promotional claims;
identify important constructs, educational contexts, populations, or methodological features when they materially improve discoverability;
avoid inserting “sustainability” or “SDGs” solely to create superficial alignment with the journal.

8. Abstract

Manuscripts should include an informative, self-contained abstract of approximately 200–250 words.

For empirical studies, the abstract should normally communicate:

the research problem or background;
the purpose or research objective;
the methodological approach;
essential information concerning participants, data, or context where relevant;
the principal findings;
the main conclusion and contribution to sustainability education.

For reviews and conceptual articles, the abstract should be adapted to the design of the manuscript but must clearly identify the problem, approach, principal argument or findings, and contribution.

The abstract should not normally contain:

citations;
undefined abbreviations;
information not reported in the main article;
general statements that conceal the actual findings.

9. Keywords

Authors should provide 5–7 keywords that accurately represent the principal concepts, context, population, or methods of the study.

Keywords should facilitate international discoverability and should not simply repeat every word appearing in the article title.

10. Recommended Structure for Original Research Articles

Original research articles will normally include:

Introduction
Method
Results
Discussion
Conclusion
Declarations
References

Separate Literature Review, Theoretical Framework, or Conceptual Framework sections may be included where they improve the logic of the manuscript. Authors should not create unnecessary sections merely to follow a mechanical format.

11. Introduction

The Introduction should establish a convincing scholarly rationale for the study rather than provide an extensive general description of the topic.

A strong Introduction should normally:

define the substantive educational and sustainability problem;
establish its scholarly and societal significance;
synthesize relevant international and context-specific scholarship;
identify what is already known;
identify a genuine limitation, contradiction, unresolved issue, theoretical problem, empirical gap, methodological gap, or policy problem in existing knowledge;
explain why the present study is needed;
state the aim, research questions, hypotheses, or propositions as appropriate;
clarify the anticipated scholarly contribution.

The novelty of a manuscript should arise from its actual contribution rather than merely from claims that “few studies have been conducted” in a particular geographical location.

Authors should avoid formulaic statements such as “no previous study has examined this topic” unless such claims can be supported by a sufficiently comprehensive examination of the literature.

12. Literature and Theoretical Engagement

Manuscripts should engage critically with scholarship that is directly relevant to the research problem.

Authors are expected to:

incorporate relevant international literature;
include important scholarship from the research context where appropriate;
engage with foundational works when theoretically necessary;
use recent literature where current developments are material to the argument;
avoid reference lists dominated by weak, irrelevant, or inaccessible sources;
avoid citation padding and citation manipulation.

SuER does not prescribe an arbitrary percentage of references that must have been published within a specified number of years. The appropriate balance between foundational and recent literature depends on the research problem and discipline.

However, authors are expected to demonstrate awareness of current scholarly developments and should normally engage substantially with relevant peer-reviewed literature from recent years where such literature exists.

13. Method

The Method section must provide sufficient information for readers and reviewers to understand how the research was designed, conducted, and analyzed.

Depending on the research design, authors should report relevant information concerning:

research design;
research setting and context;
participants, population, or data sources;
sampling strategy and eligibility criteria;
sample-size justification where appropriate;
research instruments or measures;
instrument validity and reliability where applicable;
data-collection procedures;
intervention or treatment procedures where relevant;
data analysis;
software and relevant versions where material to reproducibility;
researcher positionality or reflexivity where relevant;
ethical approval and informed consent;
other methodological decisions necessary for evaluation or replication.

Methodological choices should be justified rather than simply listed.

14. Quantitative Research

Quantitative manuscripts should report statistical analyses sufficiently to allow critical evaluation.

Where relevant, authors should provide:

sample characteristics;
measurement properties;
handling of missing data;
assumption testing;
effect sizes;
confidence intervals;
model-fit or diagnostic information;
other statistics relevant to the analytical design.

Statistical significance alone should not substitute for substantive interpretation.

15. Qualitative Research

Qualitative manuscripts should clearly describe the methodological tradition or analytical approach and demonstrate transparency concerning how interpretations were developed.

Where relevant, authors should address:

participant recruitment;
sampling rationale;
researcher-participant relationships;
data generation;
coding and analysis;
reflexivity;
credibility, trustworthiness, or other appropriate quality criteria;
use of quotations or other evidence to support interpretations.

16. Mixed-Methods Research

Mixed-methods manuscripts should explain why integration of quantitative and qualitative evidence is necessary to answer the research problem.

Authors should identify the mixed-methods design, explain the relationship between components, and demonstrate how evidence is integrated at appropriate stages of the study rather than reporting two disconnected analyses.

17. Systematic Reviews and Evidence Syntheses

Systematic reviews, scoping reviews, meta-analyses, and related evidence syntheses must use a transparent and reproducible methodology.

Authors should normally report:

review question or objectives;
databases or information sources;
complete or reproducible search strategy;
search dates;
eligibility criteria;
screening and selection process;
data extraction;
quality or risk-of-bias assessment where appropriate;
synthesis method;
protocol registration where applicable;
limitations of the evidence base.

Recognized reporting guidance such as PRISMA should be followed where appropriate to the review design.

18. Bibliometric Studies

Bibliometric manuscripts must do more than generate descriptive maps or rankings.

They should:

formulate a meaningful research problem;
justify database selection and search strategy;
describe data cleaning and inclusion procedures;
report software and analytical techniques transparently;
interpret bibliometric patterns in relation to substantive scholarly debates;
offer theoretical, conceptual, methodological, policy, or research implications.

A manuscript that consists primarily of software-generated visualizations without substantive interpretation may be rejected during editorial screening.

19. Conceptual and Theoretical Articles

Conceptual and theoretical manuscripts are not required to follow an IMRaD structure.

However, they must clearly establish:

the theoretical or conceptual problem;
the relevant body of literature or debate;
the analytical approach;
the conceptual intervention or argument;
the contribution to sustainability education;
implications and limitations.

A narrative literature summary without an identifiable conceptual contribution is generally insufficient.

20. Results

The Results section should present findings clearly, logically, and accurately.

Authors should:

report findings relevant to the research questions or hypotheses;
avoid selective reporting;
use tables and figures where they improve understanding;
avoid unnecessarily repeating identical information in text, tables, and figures;
report negative, non-significant, contradictory, or unexpected findings when they are relevant to the research problem.

21. Discussion

The Discussion should interpret rather than merely repeat the results.

Authors should:

explain the meaning of the principal findings;
relate findings to relevant theories and previous research;
identify agreements, contradictions, extensions, or refinements of existing knowledge;
consider plausible alternative interpretations where appropriate;
explain the contribution to sustainability education;
address theoretical, educational, policy, institutional, or practical implications where justified;
acknowledge important limitations;
avoid claims that extend beyond the evidence.

22. Conclusion

The Conclusion should provide a concise synthesis of the study's principal contribution.

It should not merely repeat the abstract or list the results.

The conclusion should explain, where appropriate:

what the study adds to existing knowledge;
why the findings matter for sustainability education;
the principal implications;
important limitations;
reasonable directions for future research.

Recommendations must be supported by the evidence presented in the manuscript.

23. Tables

Tables should be numbered consecutively and cited in the text.

Each table should:

have an informative title;
be understandable without unnecessary duplication of the main text;
define abbreviations and relevant statistical notation;
identify sources or permissions for reproduced or adapted material;
present data accurately and consistently.

Authors should use editable tables rather than images of tables whenever possible.

24. Figures

Figures should be clear, legible, relevant, and numbered consecutively.

Each figure must be referred to in the main text and accompanied by an informative caption.

Authors are responsible for obtaining permission for copyrighted material where required.

The creation or alteration of figures, images, and artwork using generative AI must comply with SuER's Artificial Intelligence Policy.

25. References and Citation Style

SuER uses the American Psychological Association (APA), 7th edition citation and reference style.

Authors are strongly encouraged to use reference-management software such as:

Mendeley;
Zotero;
EndNote;
other reliable reference-management systems.

References should be:

directly relevant to the manuscript;
accurately cited in the text and reference list;
drawn substantially from credible peer-reviewed scholarly literature;
internationally relevant where appropriate;
current enough to reflect important developments in the field;
balanced with necessary foundational scholarship.

SuER does not impose an arbitrary minimum or maximum number of references. The number of references should be appropriate to the research problem, article type, and depth of scholarly engagement.

Authors are responsible for verifying the accuracy of references, including author names, publication year, article title, journal title, volume, issue, page range or article number, and DOI where available.

Fabricated, hallucinated, irrelevant, or unverifiable references are unacceptable.

26. Use of DOI

Authors should provide a DOI in the reference list whenever a valid DOI exists and should use the standard DOI URL format:

https://doi.org/xxxxx

27. Reporting Guidelines

Authors should use recognized reporting guidelines where appropriate to the research design.

Examples include:

PRISMA for systematic reviews and meta-analyses;
CONSORT for randomized trials;
STROBE for observational studies where applicable;
COREQ or other appropriate qualitative reporting guidance for relevant qualitative studies;
other established discipline-specific guidelines appropriate to the research design.

Use of a reporting guideline does not compensate for weak research design or analysis.

28. Research Ethics

Research involving human participants, personal or educational data, children, vulnerable participants, communities, or other ethically sensitive material must comply with SuER's Research Ethics and Informed Consent Policy.

Where applicable, authors must report:

the approving ethics committee or institutional review body;
approval or reference number where available;
informed consent procedures;
additional safeguards for vulnerable participants or communities.

29. Data Availability Statement

Empirical articles should include an appropriate Data Availability Statement.

Research data should be made as open as possible and as restricted as necessary.

Authors should not make confidential, identifiable, culturally restricted, legally protected, or ethically sensitive data publicly available merely to meet an open-data expectation.

30. Author Contributions

Manuscripts with two or more authors must include an Author Contributions Statement.

SuER uses the CRediT Contributor Roles Taxonomy as the preferred framework for describing author contributions.

All listed authors must independently satisfy the journal's authorship criteria. Contributor roles do not by themselves establish eligibility for authorship.

31. Funding Statement

Authors must disclose all financial or material support relevant to the research.

Where applicable, the statement should identify the funder and grant number.

Where no specific funding was received, authors may state:

“This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.”

32. Competing Interests

All manuscripts must contain a competing interests declaration consistent with SuER's Conflict of Interest and Competing Interests Policy.

Where no competing interests exist, authors may state:

“The authors declare that they have no competing interests.”

33. Acknowledgements

Individuals or organizations that contributed to the work but do not meet the journal's criteria for authorship may be acknowledged where appropriate.

Authors should obtain permission from identifiable individuals before naming them in the Acknowledgements section where appropriate.

34. Artificial Intelligence Disclosure

The use of generative AI or AI-assisted technologies must comply with SuER's Artificial Intelligence Policy.

AI systems cannot be listed as authors.

Where disclosure is required, authors should transparently state the tool used and the purpose for which it was used.

Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, citations, interpretations, analysis, and integrity of all submitted content.

35. Supplementary Materials

Authors may submit supplementary material when it adds meaningful information that supports the article but cannot reasonably be incorporated into the main text.

Supplementary materials may include:

additional tables or figures;
research instruments;
search strategies;
coding frameworks;
analytical materials;
datasets where appropriate;
other relevant documentation.

Supplementary files must comply with the journal's ethical, copyright, confidentiality, and data policies.

36. Plagiarism and Similarity Screening

Submitted manuscripts may be screened using similarity-detection and research-integrity tools.

SuER does not use a single numerical similarity percentage as an automatic criterion for acceptance or rejection.

Editors evaluate the nature, location, context, attribution, and scholarly significance of textual overlap in accordance with the journal's Plagiarism, Textual Overlap and Similarity Screening Policy.

37. Preprints and Prior Dissemination

SuER permits legitimate preprints and certain other forms of prior scholarly dissemination in accordance with its Preprint and Prior Publication Policy.

Authors must disclose relevant prior versions, preprints, conference papers, reports, or closely related publications where appropriate.

38. Originality and Simultaneous Submission

A manuscript submitted to SuER must not be simultaneously under consideration by another journal.

Authors must disclose substantially related publications or manuscripts where necessary to allow editors to evaluate potential overlap or redundant publication.

39. Publication Fees

SuER is a Diamond Open Access journal.

There are:

no submission fees;
no Article Processing Charges (APCs);
no publication fees;
no mandatory page or color charges.

Payment is not required at any stage of submission, peer review, acceptance, or publication.

40. Copyright and Open Access

Authors retain copyright in their published work and grant SuER a non-exclusive right of first publication.

Unless otherwise indicated, articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Authors should consult the journal's Open Access Policy and Copyright and Licensing Policy for complete information.

41. Editorial Screening

Submission does not guarantee external peer review.

Before peer review, editors may assess:

alignment with the aims and scope;
scholarly significance;
originality and contribution;
methodological adequacy;
research and publication ethics;
quality of reporting;
engagement with relevant literature;
clarity and readability;
compliance with essential submission requirements.

Manuscripts that do not meet the journal's minimum editorial standards may be rejected without external peer review.

42. Peer Review

Scholarly manuscripts that pass initial editorial screening are normally evaluated by at least two independent reviewers under SuER's double-anonymous peer review process.

Reviewer recommendations are advisory. The final publication decision is made by the Editor-in-Chief or an authorized handling editor in accordance with the journal's Peer Review Process.

43. Revisions

When revision is invited, authors should submit:

a revised manuscript;
a detailed point-by-point response to reviewers and editors;
a clear indication of substantive changes where requested.

Authors who disagree with a reviewer recommendation should provide a scholarly explanation rather than simply ignore the comment.

An invitation to revise does not guarantee publication.

44. Final Submission Checklist

Before submitting, authors should confirm that:

The manuscript fits the Aims and Scope of SuER.
The relationship between education and sustainability is substantive rather than superficial.
The manuscript presents a clearly defined scholarly problem and contribution.
The manuscript is written in clear academic English.
The correct SuER template and .docx file format have been used.
The manuscript has been anonymized for double-anonymous review.
The title is informative and appropriately concise.
The abstract clearly reports the purpose, approach, major findings or argument, and contribution.
Five to seven appropriate keywords have been provided.
The research method is described with sufficient transparency.
Ethical approval and informed consent are reported where applicable.
Results and conclusions are supported by the evidence.
The Discussion engages meaningfully with relevant scholarship.
The manuscript explains its contribution beyond the immediate local setting where relevant.
Tables and figures are cited in the text and appropriately labelled.
References follow APA 7th edition and have been checked for accuracy.
DOIs have been included where available.
All references cited in the text appear in the reference list and vice versa.
A Data Availability Statement has been included where applicable.
An Author Contributions Statement has been included for multi-author papers.
A Funding Statement has been provided.
A Competing Interests Statement has been provided.
AI use has been disclosed where required.
Relevant preprints or prior dissemination have been disclosed.
The manuscript is not simultaneously under consideration elsewhere.
All authors have approved the submitted version.

45. Author Responsibility

Authors are responsible for the accuracy, originality, ethical integrity, and scholarly quality of their manuscript.

Compliance with formatting requirements does not guarantee publication. SuER prioritizes manuscripts that demonstrate a meaningful scholarly contribution, methodological rigor, transparent reporting, and clear relevance to international scholarship in sustainability education.