The International Journal of Vocational Education Studies (IJVES) is a peer-reviewed, Diamond Open Access journal dedicated to advancing the field of vocational education and training (VET). Our mission is to foster international academic exchange by publishing high-quality research that contributes to the understanding and critical reflection of VET systems worldwide. As a Diamond Open Access journal, IJVES provides free access to all articles without subscription fees or charges for authors, ensuring that research is widely available to scholars, practitioners, and policymakers globally. All members of the editorial team work on a voluntary basis. IJVES is independend from profit-oriented publishers or other institutions.
Scope
IJVES publishes high-quality research that contributes to understanding and improving VET systems, policies, and practices internationally. Our primary focus is on the structure and function of VET systems, their genesis, and development, in order to enhance understanding of how vocational education and training operates in different contexts. Despite this focus, we welcome submissions from a broad range of perspectives. We accept contributions from various academic disciplines–including education, sociology, economics, and political science–provided they address issues relevant to VET. Articles should demonstrate critical engagement with the field, drawing on existing scholarly literature and contributing to ongoing debates in VET research. We value methodological diversity and recognizes that research in VET can take many forms. Whether a study is qualitative, quantitative, or employs mixed methods, what matters most is that the chosen approach is well-suited to the research question and context, and that the rationale for the approach is clearly explained. At the same time, openness to diverse approaches does not mean that "anything goes." High-quality research is characterized by transparency, rigor, and coherence. Authors should demonstrate careful design, clear reasoning, and credible interpretation of data, whether working with qualitative case studies, surveys, longitudinal datasets, or mixed methods. Research should engage critically with relevant literature and contribute meaningfully to ongoing debates in the field of VET. Our goal is to foster a pluralistic and reflective approach to research: one that values methodological diversity while maintaining scholarly integrity, encouraging studies that are both innovative and robust.
IJVES is committed to fostering comprehensive and nuanced scholarship in vocational education and training. While many journals impose strict limits on manuscript length, we recognize that some research questions require greater space for theoretical elaboration, methodological detail, and contextual discussion. For this reason, we welcome longer submissions, typically up to around 18,000 words, provided the length is necessary for the argument and enhances the scholarly contribution. What matters most is that manuscripts demonstrate clarity, rigor, and relevance to the field of VET, rather than conformity to a restrictive word count. By allowing space for extended treatments, IJVES seeks to support work that engages critically with the literature, presents robust empirical evidence, and contributes meaningfully to international debates on vocational education and training.
Frequency and Section Policy
IJVES publishes two issues per year. While the first two volumes were released on fixed dates in Spring and Autumn, since Volume 3 articles are published continuously within each issue, allowing for ongoing updates. Each year, the first issue covers January 1 to June 30, and the second issue covers July 1 to December 31. This change in publication policy also affects our section structure. The first volumes included a General Section and a Thematic Section, but since Volume 3, we no longer make this distinction. We continue to publish Calls for Papers on our website to highlight thematic topics, but all submissions are now considered within a single, unified structure.
Open Access and Copyright Statement
IJVES is committed to the free and open availability of research, supporting the global exchange of knowledge. All articles are freely accessible from the moment of publication, and publication in the journal is free of charge for authors.
All articles are published under the Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license, which allows anyone to copy, redistribute, remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, including commercial use, while the copyright remains with the authors. Unlike more restrictive licenses such as CC BY-SA, CC BY ensures that research can circulate widely without being constrained by mandatory “share-alike” conditions, enabling ideas to be freely adapted and used for the greatest possible impact.
In line with this policy, IJVES encourages authors to share their manuscripts on personal websites, institutional repositories, or other platforms both prior to and after publication, while providing bibliographic details that credit the article’s publication in the journal. By submitting their manuscript, authors agree to these conditions, embracing the principle that knowledge should be a public good rather than a commodity.
Editorial process
All submissions are initially screened by a member of the editorial office. If a manuscript meets the journal’s formal and content requirements (see Author Guidlines), it is sent out for peer review. One of the reviewers will typically be a member of the editorial team. If any of the authors of a submitted manuscript are associated in any way with a journal editor, the manuscript will instead be reviewed by two external experts to ensure impartiality. Once the peer reviews are received, they are shared with the authors. Based on the reviewers’ feedback–whether suggestions for revision or requests for clarification–authors revise their manuscript. The revised version is then submitted and read again by one of the lead editors. If all reviewer comments have been addressed, the manuscript proceeds to copyediting. If any issues remain, it is returned to the authors for further revision. The editorial office also re-checks the manuscript to ensure it complies with the journal’s formal requirements. Any remaining issues are sent back to the authors for a final revision. Once all requirements have been satisfied and revisions completed, the manuscript is approved for publication.
The average duration of the publication stages are:
- 5 days from submission to first decision
- 35 days from submission to first post-review decision
- the duration from acceptance to publication varies depending on the time between acceptance and the production deadline for the issue
The acceptance rate is 50%.
Peer-Review Policy
All research articles in this journal have undergone rigorous peer review, based on initial editor screening and refereeing by at least two reviewers.
IJVES is a peer reviewed journal with a two-option system: The first option is a closed double blind peer review. The names of the reviewers are hidden from the authors and vice versa. Submitted manuscripts undergo a pre-review by the assigned handling editor. If successful, the manuscript will then be forwarded and reviewed by two experts. If it comes to a split decision, a third review will be invited.
The second option is an open peer review. The names of the reviewers are known to the authors and vice versa. Submitted manuscripts undergo a pre-review by the assigned handling editor. If successful, the manuscript will then be forwarded and reviewed by two experts. If it comes to a split decision, a third review will be invited.
Authors are asked to mention their preferred option when submitting a manuscript. If nothing has been mentioned to the editorial office, we will proceed with a double blind peer review.
When evaluating the manuscript, we ask reviewers to provide feedback on the following points:
(1) The relevance of the contribution to the field of VET,
(2) the appropriateness of the methods used to answer the research question,
(3) the coherence and comprehensibility of the argumentation,
(4) the appropriateness of the content as well as the critical discussion of the literature presented in the paper,
(5) the discussion of limitations of the study, and, finally,
(6) the suitability of the article for an international readership.
Open Citation Data
Our publisher, transcript, complies with the goals of The Initiative for Open Citations I4OC and deposits reference lists from all its journal articles to Crossref and allows reference distribution, along with other bibliographic metadata that we send to Crossref. This allows references to be distributed without restriction through all of Crossref's Metadata Delivery services, including the REST API and bulk metadata dumps, to any interested party.
Long-Term Preservation
Transcript stores all electronic publications (books and journals) in the German National Library and with Portico (USA)