We welcome articles of around 1000 words (there is no strict limit) from educational researchers in Australia who have an affiliation to a university, that are:

• opinion pieces
• responses to policies
• short reports on your research
• an anecdote about an exciting moment/epiphany/encounter you have experienced in your work as an educational researcher
• short summaries of your publications

*Please note we only take submissions from educational researchers who have an affiliation with a university. Authors should submit a short bio and head shot with their post. The photo should be clear. A plain background is preferred.

Prospective contributors should ensure their contributions:

• avoid jargon and dense language
• Use active voice
• replace all academic referencing with links
• provide links to sources where possible
• use inclusive and non-derogatory language
• Please use short sentences where possible

We accept co-authored posts.

Our intended audience is the broad community. It includes parents, teachers, educational leaders, members of school communities, journalists and politicians.  The editor of the blog writes the headlines and chooses the photos.

In the age of impact and engagement, our blog is very effective at disseminating research. This is particularly so because Altmetric is now monitoring and tracking engagement of any linked publications (with a DOI) from this blog. (More about Altmetric below.)

Journalistic tips for new bloggers

There is no right way to write a blog post. However a good post will immediately grab a reader’s interest and, at the same time, tell a reader what the blogger is posting about.

Blogs are personal so don’t be afraid to use first person ( that is, use ‘I’ and ‘we’ when talking about your work).

Opinion writers are more effective if they hit out with their main comment in the first paragraph. Whether readers agree or not they will read on to see how well the opinion is justified.

Academic writers usually leave the best bits and strongest wording for conclusions. Bloggers usually do the opposite. Think about the most interesting part of your research, the most compelling argument for your comment piece and start with that.

More about Altmetric

EduResearch Matters is working with Altmetric which tracks a range of publication sources to monitor and report on the attention they receive. For example, Altmetric has begun tracking the EduResearch Matters blog. This means that any mention of a research output (e.g. journal article or book – which has an identifier like a DOI or ISBN in the mention) included in an EduResearch Matters blog will be picked up by Altmetric. Then, if the blog is mentioned (with a link) on social media such as Twitter or Facebook, it will also be captured by Altmetric.

So for example, if you publish a journal article and you write an EduResearch Matters blog on this article (including a link), this will contribute to the Altmetric score for the article. Similarly if someone tweets about the article, which might be talked about on the blog, it will be picked up by Altmetric.

Ensuring research linked in a EduResearch Matters Blog is captured by Altmetric

If you blog about research, the best way to make sure that your post gets picked up by Altmetric is to include a direct link to scholarly publications. You can include a link to publications in a variety of different formats including direct links via DOI, the publisher site, or even the repository. For example:

• A link to the DOI URL. e.g., https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0628-9
• A link to the journal article on its publisher website. e.g., https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13384-016-0221-8

Republish button

We now have a Republish This Article button that will be attached to each of our posts. (If authors do not want the button on their post please let Jenna know before the post is published.) The button allows other services ( such as SBS, ABC and other outlets) to republish your post online or in print under under Creative Commons License 4.0 subject to following our guidelines. This button is similar to the one used by The Conversation.

We believe by allowing your post to be republished it will increase the reach of your work.

The Republish This Article guidelines for republishers are as follows

1. Do not edit the article unless you obtain approval from the author.
2. Credit the author and their institution.
3. Credit EduResearch Matters and link to our home page.
4. If you are republishing online use our REPUBLISH THIS ARTICLE button.
5. Our articles available for republishing cannot be sold but can be republished on a page containing advertisements.
6. If you want to republish the images in our articles you have to confirm that you are licensed to do so.
7. You cannot systematically republish all of our available articles without contacting and confirming with us.

EduResearch Matters is edited by Jenna Price on behalf of AARE

Please submit contributions, along with a short bio, profile photo*, your Twitter and your LinkedIn account to jenna@aare.edu.auor contact Jenna if you would like to discuss an idea.

*Note about profile photos! Ideally they are in focus, looking straight to camera and don’t have distracting plants or books growing out of your head. A plain background is best.