Submission policy

The blog is open to anyone to make a submission. The aim is to stimulate debate and thus differences of opinion will be aired. However, all submissions must have some link to evidence rather than assertion, and should be on substantive issues rather than personal criticism. They must also adhere to the following guidelines.

The editorial team welcome articles of 500-750 words (including any references) that are:

• short reports or summaries of research
• opinion pieces
• responses to policies
• experiences as an educational researcher
• experiences using research.

Prospective contributors should ensure that their contributions:

• are research informed
• avoid jargon and dense language
• do not include excessive references; contributors should use only enough references to support their case, and the number of references should be proportional to the length of the text
• address an international audience, and so do not assume readers’ familiarity with specific education systems or wider regional and/or national contexts
• provide links to sources where possible; if citations and references are included, these should follow American Psychological Association (APA) style
• use inclusive and non-derogatory language
• do not include obscene or rude content, or content that belittles or attacks persons or groups
• do not link to profane, obscene, rude, or illegal material or to sites that knowingly violate intellectual property rights.

Use of images

You are encouraged to include an image to illustrate your blog post. The image should clearly reflect the content of the post and include a caption. The maximum number of images permitted per blog post is three. Images must be supplied as separate JPG or PNG files at a minimum resolution of 72 dpi at the size they should appear. Prior to submission you must have permission from the copyright holder to reproduce the image on the BERA Blog. If any people are identifiable in the image, you must also seek their consent prior to submission, or the consent of their parent/guardian if they are under 18. When you submit your blog post, please state clearly that you have the required permissions and provide any credit lines that must appear alongside each image.

Please note it should not be assumed that images generated using artificial intelligence are copyright free because they may incorporate elements of, or be closely based on, copyrighted material.

How to contribute

Those submitting should include (in the same file as their blog):

• a short biography of themselves (150 words)
• a headshot photo in jpg or png format
• any social media handles (Twitter/X, LinkedIn)

Contributions should be sent to blog@bera.ac.uk, making clear that they contain a potential blog post; file names should include the name(s) of the author(s). 

All attempts to publish blog entries as quickly as possible will be taken by the editorial board. The date of publication can be influenced by a number of factors including the range of issues to be covered and the emergence of news items that may require immediate commentary. The board must also ensure that each blog entry can attract as much visibility as possible on the BERA Blog homepage and via BERA’s communication channels before a new entry is uploaded. We therefore thank authors for their patience between the time they send in their contribution and its eventual publication. Please note that the volume of blog posts awaiting publication varies across the year. As a result, the timeline between submission and publication may increase at particularly busy times, for example before and after the BERA Annual Conference in September. If your contribution is based around a particular news story or event, then please make this clear when making your submission.

Please note that by submitting a BERA Blog, prospective contributors agree to have their contact details shared with the editorial team. All contributors are also consenting for BERA to store any data relevant to their submission and for BERA to share their name, job title, affiliation, photograph, biography and Twitter/X handle (if provided) alongside their blog post on the BERA website. BERA’s full privacy policy is available here.

If you have used artificial intelligence (AI) to prepare your blog post in any way, please read and take note of BERA’s AI statement.

Special issues and BERA Bites

A special issue of the BERA Blog is a collection of between six and eight articles (including an editorial) on a particular theme. The special issue is led by a guest editor (or a team of guest editors), responsible for commissioning and collating the blog posts and writing the editorial. If you are interested in guest-editing a special issue of the BERA Blog, you will need to complete this proposal form and return it to blog@bera.ac.uk

BERA also invites applications from individuals and teams (of up to three people) seeking to guest edit a collection of BERA Bites. The BERA Bites series presents selected articles from the BERA Blog on key topics in education, presented in an easily printable and digestible format to serve as teaching and learning resources for students and professionals. If you are interested in collating and editing an issue of the BERA Bites, please complete this proposal form and return it to blog@bera.ac.uk

You do not need to be a member of BERA to apply for these opportunities.

Comments and responses

There is no direct comments function although we welcome constructive comments and feedback can be included in ‘response to’ submissions. The aim is to generate a dialogue between contributors and others. We operate a ‘notice and take down’ policy for articles. Illegal or offensive material will be removed. To complain about a post, please contact the Executive Director of BERA.

Copyright and attribution

Authors of this blog are agreeing to license their text under Creative Commons Licence Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/