Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership
The Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership (JCEL) publishes, in electronic format, peer-reviewed cases appropriate for use in educational leadership preparation efforts across the globe. The cases provide a narrative and teaching notes with the aim being to prompt rich discussion and inquiry about issues pertinent to educational leadership across global contexts. We encourage cases that are supported by digital media or other creative forms of expression. JCEL is always looking for great ideas regarding special issues. If you would like to consult with us about this process, please reach out to our Editorial Team.
| Curtis Brewer | The University of Texas at San Antonio, USA |
| Mark Giles | University of Illinois Chicago, USA |
| Nathern Okilwa | The University of Texas at San Antonio, USA |
| Mariela Rodriguez | The University of Texas at San Antonio, USA |
| Jo Beth Jimerson | Texas Christian University, USA |
| Zobaria Zulfiqar | The University of Texas at San Antonio, USA |
| Joonkil Ahn | University of Arizona, USA |
| Jasmine Alvarado | University at Buffalo - SUNY, USA |
| Erin Anderson | University of Denver, USA |
| Lisa Bass | North Carolina State University, USA |
| Allison Borden | University of New Mexico, USA |
| Joshua Bornstein | Fairleigh Dickinson University, USA |
| Kelly Brown | Lamar University, USA |
| Lizette Burks | University of Houston, Downtown, USA |
| Mónica Byrne-Jiménez | Michigan State University, USA |
| Shannon Calderone | Washington State University, USA |
| Joshua Childs | University of Texas, Austin, USA |
| James C. Coviello | St. John's University, USA |
| Emily Crawford-Rossi | University of Missouri, USA |
| Linsay DeMartino | Illinois State University, USA |
| Sara Dexter | University of Virginia, USA |
| Bryan J. Duarte | Purdue University, USA |
| David Fisher | Polk County Schools, FL, USA |
| Tanetha Fisher | Texas Christian University, USA |
| Elizabeth Gil | Fordham University, USA |
| Alounso Gilzene | Florida State University, USA |
| Ramon Goings | University of Maryland, Baltimore, USA |
| Detra D. Johnson | University of Houston, USA |
| Taeyeon Kim | University of Nebraska, Lincoln, USA |
| Stephen Kotok | St. John's University, USA |
| Priya La Londe | University of Hong Kong, China |
| Van Lac | University of Texas at San Antonio |
| Kara Lasater | University of Arkansas, USA |
| Melinda Lemke | University at Buffalo, USA |
| Tiffanie Lewis-Durham | University of North Carolina, Greensboro, USA |
| Rebecca Lowenhaupt | Boston College, USA |
| Hilary Lustick | University of Massachusetts, Lowell, USA |
| Matthew S. McCluskey | University of Vermont, USA |
| Ian M. Mette | University at Buffalo, USA |
| Dustin W. Miller | The Ohio State University, USA |
| Michael P. O'Malley | Texas State University, USA |
| Alexandra Pavlakis | Southern Methodist University, USA |
| Whitney N. Roach | University of South Carolina, USA |
| Jason Salisbury | University of Illinois, Chicago, USA |
| Karen T. Stansberry Beard | The Ohio State University, Columbus, USA |
| Kristen C. Wilcox | University at Albany, USA |
JCEL Submission Guidelines
All manuscripts for JCEL should be submitted electronically at: https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jcel
Resources to Assist Authors
We suggest that all potential authors become familiar with JCEL case study formats by reviewing articles already published in the journal. Articles published in JCEL are pedagogical cases, NOT empirical case studies. Please read the following articles before submitting in order to help ensure your manuscript fits the aims and scope of JCEL.
- "The Elements of a Good Case" by R. Fossey & G. M. Crow (2011)
- "Writing the Undisguised Case" by R. Fossey & S. Glover (2006).
- “Using JCEL Case Studies to Meet ELCC Standards” by L. Bass, G. Garn, & L. Monroe (2011).
- "Balancing Communities, Cultures, and Conflict: Lessons Learned From the East Ramapo School District Legal" by P. Ober and J. Decker (2016).
In addition, please review recent Paula Sliver Award Winning Cases:
- "Excavating the Layers of Trauma in Homelands and Hostlands: Supporting Political Refugees in U.S. Schools" by Mehtap Akay and Reva Jaffer-Walker (2021)
- '“You Never Know When You Will See Him Again”: Understanding the Intersectional Dimensions of Immigration, Indigeneity, and Language for Unaccompanied Indigenous Minors' byJosué López and Erica Fernández (2020)
- “Providing a Passport to the Future for Foster Youth: A Case for Educational Leadership and Policy” by Karen Stansberry Beard and Stanley E. Gates, II (2019)
General Instructions
Submitted manuscripts will undergo internal and external review. Manuscripts will be subject to initial editor screening to determine if the manuscript format is appropriate and content is promising. Once a manuscript successfully passes internal review, cases will then be subject to double anonymize peer review. As is customary in most scholarly publications, authors should be prepared to work with the editorial staff in revising manuscripts in accordance with editorial policy.
If you are asked to provide the names of a peer who could be called upon to review your manuscript, please note that reviewers should be experts in their fields and should be able to provide an objective assessment of the manuscript. Please be aware of any conflicts of interest when recommending reviewers. Examples of conflicts of interest include (but are not limited to) the below:
• The reviewer should have no prior knowledge of your submission
• The reviewer should not have recently collaborated with any of the authors
• Reviewer nominees from the same institution as any of the authors are not permitted
Please note that the journal’s editors are not obliged to invite any recommended/opposed reviewers to assess your manuscript.
Cases are reviewed in consideration of the following elements:
Ambiguity
A good teaching case is full of ambiguity. The central problem of a case should not be apparent or easy to identify. On the contrary, there may be a multitude of problems, with some being more important than others. Case discussants should be presented with enough ambiguity that it is not apparent how a problem should be solved or even what the central problem really is. A case teacher will know that a classroom discussion of a case was successful when students present conflicting solutions to a case’s central problem or disagree in their identification of the case’s core issues.
Complexity
Good teaching cases are complex. All of us have read case studies in which the problem presented is so simple or the case characters are so stereotypical that there is very little to analyze or discuss. Complexity has become a major feature of contemporary educational leadership practice, and effective leaders learn to respond to this complexity by using multiple perspectives, understanding ambiguity, and thinking in more fluid, rather than static, ways.
Context
All cases describe a unique setting—typically a school, a university, or a workplace. A good case provides the reader with rich contextual details—information about the organizational setting, the characters, and the community or relevant larger environment. Other contextual details may be important as well: the legal climate, political themes, cultural norms, and historical information, for example.
Relevance
Above all, a good teaching case presents an important problem with broad implications that applies to the case discussants.
Preparation of Manuscripts
All case submissions should be divided into two documents.
MAIN DOCUMENT: The main document should have all identifying information removed (no author or biographical information), but the following information should be included:
- The recommended length of the combined cases, teaching notes, and references is between 15-20 double-spaced pages or 3500-5000 words.
- Text Sections: All sections should be typed in Times New Roman font (12 pt) with page numbers centered at the bottom of the page. Sections typically include:
- Title: Include a descriptive title.
- Abstract: Include a short 100 word abstract describing the topic(s) of the case and a brief synopsis of the case.
- Teaching Case Narrative: Include the elements described above: ambiguity, complexity, context, and relevance.
- Teaching Notes: Include "Teaching Notes" that situate the case in relevant literature
- Classroom Activities and Discussion Questions: Provide ideas for activities and prompts for discussion
- References: Provide contemporary references tightly coupled to the case and teaching notes. References should follow the style in the seventh edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.
- ERIC Descriptors: Three (3) ERIC descriptors suitable for searching should be identified.
SECOND DOCUMENT: The second document should include identifying information, namely:
· Author's name and institutional affiliation.
· Biographical Statement Authors should provide a brief (2-3 sentence) biographical statement.
Figures
Use and submission of figures should be as follows:
· Tables should be used only when they can present information more effectively than in running text. Care should be taken to insure that tables can be effectively presented in html, since articles will be in both html and adobe acrobat (pdf).
· Illustrations Figures should be numbered in series. Symbols (open or closed circles, triangles, squares) and lettering must be clear when rendered in GIF or JPEG format. Please review all figures after converting to GIF or JPEG format to insure that they are readable.
· Original line drawings and graphs should be submitted as GIF or JPEG files.
· Photographs should be submitted as GIF or JPEG files.
Video Embedded Cases
The JCEL editorial staff invites submissions that utilize video simulations to enhance case content or teaching notes. The same review criteria currently in place for text-only cases also apply to video enhanced cases. The use of embedded videos typically requires consent of participants. Questions may be addressed to the managing editor: zobaria.zulfiqar@utsa.edu
Author's Warranty
Authors must assign UCEA copyright of their cases to be published in JCEL and acknowledge that the case is an original work that has not been published elsewhere. UCEA grants its authors the right to republish their own cases wherever they wish, in any format, provided that they cite JCEL as the original source.
Page Layout
The page layout for the main document should follow the example above.
**Note: Because excessive formatting can significantly delay conversion of a manuscript to the html and pdf formats in which the cases are electronically published, use of additional enhancements (headers, footers, automatic outlines, underlines, etc.) is discouraged unless these features are necessary to the content of the document. Authors with questions about formatting may contact Zobaria Zulfiqar, zobaria.zulfiqar@utsa.edu.
English Language Services
Authors who want to refine the use of English in their manuscripts might consider utilizing the services of Sage Language Services, which provides editing services to authors. Sage Language Services specializes in editing and correcting English-language manuscripts written by authors with a primary language other than English. For more information, please visit http://languageservices.Sagepub.com/en/
ORCID
As part of our commitment to ensuring an ethical, transparent and fair peer review process Sage is a supporting member of ORCID, the Open Researcher and Contributor ID. ORCID provides a unique and persistent digital identifier that distinguishes researchers from every other researcher, even those who share the same name, and, through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, supports automated linkages between researchers and their professional activities, ensuring that their work is recognized.
The collection of ORCID iDs from corresponding authors is now part of the submission process of this journal. If you already have an ORCID iD you will be asked to associate that to your submission during the online submission process. If any co-authors wish to have their ORCID iD linked to their published paper, the co-author must update their account in the submission system. We strongly encourage all co-authors to link their ORCID ID to their accounts before the paper is accepted to ensure that the iD will be linked to the published paper. ORCID iDs cannot be added once the accepted paper has been exported to production.
It takes seconds to link an ORCID iD to your account in the submission system: edit your profile, click the ORCID iD link when prompted, sign into your ORCID account and our systems are automatically updated. Your ORCID iD will become part of your accepted publication’s metadata and any future papers associated with your account, making your work attributable to you and only you. Your ORCID iD is published with your article so that fellow researchers reading your work can link to your ORCID profile and from there link to your other publications.
If you do not already have an ORCID iD please follow this link to create one or visit our ORCID homepage to learn more.
For more information, please refer to the Sage Manuscript Submission Guidelines