Guidelines for JEiE Field Notes

Articles in the Journal on Education in Emergencies (JEiE) field notes section present practical insights into the EiE field. JEiE field notes feature innovative approaches to EiE practice, including tools, resources, projects, programs, policies, and initiatives. They also provide critical reflections, observations, and lessons learned from the experience of designing and implementing new EiE approaches, and/or commentary or debate on the experience of doing EiE research in the field. 

Like JEiE research articles, field notes are subject to a double-anonymous peer review process. Peer review allows authors to receive and build on feedback from experts with knowledge related to their subject matter. This process ensures that the material JEiE publishes is of the highest quality and maximizes authors’ contributions to the EiE field.

Field notes are distinct from JEiE research articles in that they are shorter and do not typically rely on theoretical or conceptual frameworks. Field notes should be descriptive or exploratory, and they may describe and discuss anecdotes that illustrate the main points in the piece. Field notes do not employ research designs that are intended to answer causal questions and therefore should avoid making the kind of strong causal claims a research article may present. Authors of field notes should not attempt to add data to support causal claims unless they have conducted research that included a rigorous design and employed systematic data collection methods and analysis; if they did so, they should be resubmit the manuscript as a research article.

In contrast, JEiE research articles clearly articulate a research design; situate the work within the relevant literature(s); use an explicit, well-recognized theoretical or conceptual framework; and systematically employ qualitative, quantitative, or mixed-methods research methods. Articles that develop new EiE theoretical or conceptual frameworks or challenge existing ones are considered for JEiE’s research article section.

If you are not sure whether you should submit your manuscript as a research article or a field note, please write to the editorial office at [email protected] with your abstract and title. 

General Requirements for JEiE Field Notes

• Field notes must include a 200-word abstract.
• The maximum length for a field note manuscript is 4,000 words, including the abstract, footnotes, and references.
• Manuscripts must be written in English (unless the Call for Papers indicates that submissions in other languages will be considered).
• Manuscripts must be original and unique. They must present a new program or perspective. No more than 25 percent of the article content should be available publicly in other journals or online resources.
• Manuscripts must use Chicago Manual of Style 16th Edition (author-date format) for the in-text citations and reference list.
• Authors must anonymize their manuscripts. See the Information for Authors page for further details.
• Authors are strongly encouraged to elaborate on ethical considerations and measures to safeguard the beneficiaries of programming or policy approaches described in JEiE field notes, including informed consent/assent, confidentiality, and benefits and risks to the participants. See the Information for Authors page for further details.

Field notes feature practice-based knowledge, but they are not 

• program evaluation reports,
• field guides and manuals,
• needs assessments,
• advocacy briefs, or
• background papers or literature reviews. (Note: Rigorous systematic literature reviews may be considered for JEiE’s Research Articles section.)

Note: While authors may suggest that a tool, resource, practice, project, program, policy, initiative, or approach be taken up and used broadly in the EiE field, authors who are submitting field notes on behalf of their organization should use measured language and reflexive critique of the approach under study.

General Recommendations and Structural Guidelines for JEiE Field Notes

There are two common types of field notes—those that address a particular EiE approach, and those that comment on EiE research. We provide general recommendations and structural guidelines for these two types of field notes below.

Field notes that address a particular EiE approach

Introduction, including:

• A clear indication of the purpose of the manuscript
• A statement about how the manuscript contributes something new to the EiE field
• An argument based on critical reflection from field experience
• A “roadmap” of how the manuscript is structured

Background and/or literature review, including a discussion of the existing body of knowledge (academic and/or practice-based literature) that is relevant for the approach the manuscript addresses. This section may also include:

• Background information on the context in which the approach is implemented

Description of the approach, including a clear, comprehensive discussion of the tool/program/initiative being analyzed. This section may also include:

• Goals and objectives of the approach
• Various components of the approach (i.e., program/project design)
• A discussion of how the approach was developed
• A discussion of the innovation of the approach
• A description of the participants or population the approach targets
• Details about implementation, implementing organization(s), and/or partnerships

Critical reflection, including: 

• Lessons learned for the EiE field, including both positive and negative aspects of the approach (challenges as well as progress, failures as well as successes, etc.). Reflections on lessons learned may draw from any number of sources, including but not limited to feedback from staff, feedback from participants and community members, pilot research, external evaluations, program documents, and author observations.
• Conclusion, including a summary of the manuscript’s key takeaways and a discussion of the implications for practice. This section may also include:
  • Suggestions for possible adaptation(s) and/or revision(s) of the approach
  • Recommendations for policy, practice, or future research

Examples of published JEiE Field Notes that address a particular approach:

• “Catalyst: Expanding Harm-Reduction Education and Youth Participation in the Context of the War on Drugs” by Theo Di Castri (JEiE Volume 6, Number 1)
• “Access to Higher Education: Reflections on a Participatory Design Process with Refugees” by Oula Abu-Amsha, Rebecca Gordon, Laura Benton, Mina Vasalou, and Ben Webster (JEiE Volume 5, Number 1)

Field notes that provide observations or commentary on research

In general, we find that this type of field note is more successful if it breaks from the traditional structure of an academic research article in order to allow for deeper reflections on the research process. We generally recommend the following structure:

Introduction, including:

• A clear indication of the purpose of the manuscript
• A statement on how the manuscript contributes something new to the EiE field
• An argument based on critical reflection on field experience
• A “roadmap” of how the manuscript is structured

Background and/or literature review, including: 

• A discussion of the literature that informed the research and/or a discussion of literature related to some aspect of the research process
• Background information on the context in which the research was carried out

Description of the research, including a discussion of the study that was carried out. This section may also include:

• A description of the methodology used in the study. However, this discussion would be a condensed version of what would typically be included in a traditional academic research article.

Critical reflection, including discussion of the aspect(s) of the research process that provide insights for the EiE field. This section may also include:

• A discussion of results of the research that inform future EiE practice

Conclusion, including a summary of the manuscript’s key takeaways and a discussion of the implications for research and practice. This section may also include:

• Implications or recommendations based on the findings of the research itself (i.e., recommendations for a particular kind of EiE intervention)

Examples of published JEiE Field Notes that provide commentary on research:

• “A School Under Fire: The Fog of Educational Practice in War” by Kathe Jervis (JEiE Volume 2, Number 1)