About the Journal

FOCUS & SCOPE

Teaching & Learning Inquiry publishes scholarly works on the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) in higher education. This includes original research, theory, or commentary and may include empirical and interpretive investigations, theoretical analyses, thought-provoking essays, works about the state of the field, or innovative genres. See Submission Types below for more information.

TLI values quality and variety in its vision of the scholarship of teaching and learning. The journal showcases the breadth of the interdisciplinary field of SoTL in its explicit methodological pluralism, its call for traditional and new genres, and its international authorship across career stages. TLI thus welcomes submissions from all disciplines, research traditions, and perspectives related to teaching and learning in higher education.

There are no charges to authors for article processing (APC's) or for submission.

WHY PUBLISH IN TLI?

Teaching & Learning Inquiry is the flagship publication of the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISSOTL). It represents one of the world’s largest and most active organizations in the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) with a worldwide readership of leading thinkers and those pursuing SoTL at every level of higher education.

In the past decade, TLI has earned a strong reputation for scholarly excellence; for valuing diverse approaches to understanding teaching, learning, and SoTL; and for encouraging creative as well as conventional ways to share that understanding. Our editorial board consists of widely published SoTL researchers and practitioners from eight countries and submissions receive prompt and thoughtful peer reviews from board members and other international experts. Publishing in TLI, then, is an effective way to reach a broad, influential, and international audience and to receive high-quality feedback on your SoTL-work as part of the process.

TLI is a relatively new journal, but its expanding influence is illustrated by h-index and i10-index, available on TLI's Google Scholar page.

SUBMISSION TYPES

Articles: This intentionally broad category encompasses writing products of many disciplines. Examples of articles published in the past include, but are not limited to the following:

Completed SoTL projects (see: example 1, 2,)
Theoretical or scholarly articles situated in SoTL literature (see: example)
Systematic reflections (example)
Syntheses of literature (example)
Reports on the current state of the SoTL field (example)
SoTL around the World

Articles are typically between 5,000 and 8,000 words, including references but not supplemental materials. Articles undergo double-anonymous peer review.

Book Reviews: TLI Book Reviews encompass thoughtful reviews of recent conferences, books, external articles, and other resources relevant to readers of TLI. Book Reviews should analytically and constructively probe main topics, structure, and, most importantly, the relevance and potential applications of the reviewed material to TLI-readers engaged in SoTL. TLI Reviews are typically between 1,000 and 3,000 words, including references. We seek reviews that aim to summarize: What is the central point, argument, or theme of the material? What are the primary strengths? Limitations? How does this contribute to SoTL as a field? TLI Reviews are reviewed by the Editorial Team.

Posters: TLI welcomes submissions of posters presented at the most recent ISSOTL conference for publication in the journal. Include an extended abstract (500 words) describing the overall argument, where this work fits (broadly) in the SoTL literature, and any design elements you want to highlight that help communicate your scholarly work visually. Posters will go through a peer review process and review criteria include design, scholarly content, and connection to SoTL. Each accepted poster will be published in TLI and will have a unique digital object identifier (DOI). Poster Criteria.

SoTL in Process: These shorter articles (2,000 - 3,000 words) provide an opportunity to share reflections on SoTL or ideas in development. They should still be grounded in SoTL literature and practice, but the intention is to generate conversation.

Special Sections: Teaching & Learning Inquiry welcomes proposals for special sections that align with the focus and scope of the journal, including international and interdisciplinary perspectives. Special sections should include a clear, overarching theme that connects individual articles. All articles will complete the normal peer-review process and publication is not guaranteed. Special sections will be published as a group with a foreword written by the organizer. To propose a special section, submit a proposal to TLI Editorial Team <tli@issotl.com> that includes the following: 1) Name and contact information of the special section organizer(s); 2) Description of the special section theme, including clear connections to SoTL, existing literature, unique contribution of this collection of manuscripts, and proposed title for the section [2 pages]; 3) Information about each article to be included in the special section, including author, author institution, title, and abstract; and 4) Description of process for selecting and reviewing articles before submission to TLI and timeline for submissions [1 page].

Website Reviews: The purpose of TLI website reviews are to highlight public, digital resources for readers, especially those who might be new to SoTL and wish to expand and deepen their knowledge about the conversations that are taking place within this field. The main purpose is to bring digital resources into a scholarly conversation as carefully curating digital resources for engaged audiences takes as much time as writing an essay. We ask that reviews analyze the purpose of the resources, evaluate its broader appeal, and determine its relevance for TLI readership. TLI Website reviews are typically between 500-750 words. TLI Reviews are reviewed by the Editorial Team.

PUBLICATION FREQUENCY

Submissions are welcome at any time. Beginning in 2022, TLI transitioned to rolling publication and articles are published monthly. Our goal is to bring new scholarship to the SoTL community quickly and efficiently.

JOURNAL HISTORY

Indiana University Press published the first issue in March 2013. In September 2015, TLI moved to an open-access platform (OJS) hosted at the University of Calgary. On January 1, 2016, all issues of TLI were released via open access. The journal wishes to thank Indiana University Press for support in starting the journal and especially Michael Regoli for his assistance in transitioning TLI to open access. A special thanks to Linda Bannister for the journal cover and page layout design. TLI is hosted by Libraries and Cultural Resources at the University of Calgary. We thank them for their support of this journal.

STATEMENT OF RIGOUR

TLI promotes rigour — defined as quality, precision, and relevance in design, thought, analysis, interpretation, conclusion, and writing — while recognizing a range of ways of achieving it. Submissions to TLI undergo a thorough peer review process, including two to three rounds of revision.

TLI is also accountable to its international Editorial Board and the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. The co-editors of TLI are in regular communication with these two bodies to ensure the journal’s high standards, international representation, and adherence to the values and principles of ISSoTL.

NOTIFICATIONS

We encourage readers to sign up for publishing notifications. Use the Register link at the top of the TLI home page. This registration will result in the reader receiving the Table of Contents by email for each new issue of TLI. This list also allows the journal to claim a certain level of support or readership.

JOURNAL POLICIES

Academic Integrity

Authors are expected to adhere to the standards for intellectual property rights and plagiarism, and authors assume full responsibility for the content of their submissions.

Generative AI

All authors are accountable for the originality, accuracy, and integrity of their submissions. It is expected that generative AI (GAI) and AI-assisted technologies will not be used to generate substantive portions of submission content. Any use of GAI and/or AI-assisted technologies should be acknowledged explicitly and documented appropriately in a Disclosure section of the manuscript. GAI and AI-assisted technologies may not be listed as authors as they cannot take responsibility for the submitted work. If authors use such tools at any stage of the writing and preparation of the manuscript (e.g., generating ideas, editing text, producing images and/or graphical elements, collecting and/or analyzing data), they must be transparent in explaining which AI tools were used and how. This disclosure also applies to submissions about the use of GAI itself (e.g., studying how GAI can be used in teaching practices, treating GAI created content as a data source for analysis). For additional information, please refer to COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) guidelines on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in research publications.

Open Access

Teaching & Learning Inquiry provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. TLI adheres to the BOAI definition of open access: users have the right to "read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of these articles.” There are no fees or charges required for manuscript processing and/or publishing in the journal.

Copyright

Articles published in TLI are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International. The only constraint on reproduction and distribution, and the only role for copyright in this domain, should be to give authors control over the integrity of their work and the right to be properly acknowledged and cited. Reproductions of this work cannot be used for commercial purposes.

To be eligible for publication in TLI, manuscripts should not be shared publicly: 1) while under review (after initial submission or after being revised and resubmitted), or 2) upon notice of acceptance and before publication. Once published, authors are strongly encouraged to share the published version widely, with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in Teaching & Learning Inquiry. Authors are welcome to present their work at conferences.

Authors may enter separate, additional contractual agreements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal’s published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in Teaching & Learning Inquiry. Here are sample statements acknowledging this initial publication:

For reprints: “[article title]” by [authors] ([date]) originally was published in Teaching & Learning Inquiry (TLI), the official journal of the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISSOTL). Articles published in TLI are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. The original article is available at [DOI].

For adaptations: This publication extends or adapts “[article title]” by [authors] ([date]), originally published in Teaching & Learning Inquiry (TLI), the official journal of the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISSOTL). Articles published in TLI are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. The original article is available at [DOI].

Ethical Review of Human Subjects Research

Many SoTL projects involve human subjects research. Authors should ensure that their work meets the research ethics committee guidelines of their institution. A statement to this effect is required in any article submission involving human subjects research.

Disclosure of Conflict of Interest

Authors will disclose any conflicts of interest upon submission. In accordance with Chicago Manual of Style Author-Date guidelines, Teaching & Learning Inquiry requires that all authors provide “notice of any interests that might be seen as influencing the research.”

Reproduction of Copyrighted Materials

Authors are responsible for obtaining permission for use of any copyrighted material in their submissions, including illustrations, and will be asked to provide formal written permission upon acceptance for publication.

Privacy Statement

The data collected from registered and non-registered users of this journal falls within the scope of the standard functioning of peer-reviewed journals. It includes information that makes communication possible for the editorial process; it is used to inform readers about the authorship and editing of content; and it enables collecting aggregated data on readership behaviors, as well as tracking geopolitical and social elements of scholarly communication.

This journal’s editorial team uses this data to guide its work in publishing and improving this journal.

Data that will assist in developing this publishing platform may be shared with its developer Public Knowledge Project in an anonymized and aggregated form, with appropriate exceptions such as article metrics. The data will not be sold by this journal or PKP nor will it be used for purposes other than those stated here. The authors published in this journal are responsible for the human subject data that figures in the research reported here.

Those involved in editing this journal seek to be compliant with industry standards for data privacy, including the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) provision for “data subject rights” that include: (a) breach notification; (b) right of access; (c) right to be forgotten; (d) data portability; and (e) privacy by design. The GDPR also allows for the recognition of “the public interest in the availability of the data,” which has a particular saliency for those involved in maintaining, with the greatest integrity possible, the public record of scholarly publishing

Adapted from: GDPR Guidebook for PKP Users (2018). Version 1.0. Coordinated by James MacGregor, Public Knowledge Project. support@publicknowledgeproject.org