Submissions

This page contains information on Middle Grade Review’s submission process, including details on formatting, required documents, and more. It is designed to help you ensure your submission is ready for and fits the scope of the journal. Following this guidance will help your paper get reviewed quickly and will ultimately provide a smoother path toward final acceptance and publication.

See Final Manuscript Preparation Guidelines prior to submitting your manuscript.

Before You Begin

MGR recently migrated from another platform, so please read these instructions carefully.

  1. If you have not done so already, register with Janeway and ORCID. You will be asked to log in to Janeway and provide your unique ORCID identifier as part of the submission process. All registrations are free. When registering for an account on this site, UVM affiliates must choose a username and password combination that does not duplicate any elements of a UVM NetID or password.
  2. To ensure you receive important communications about your submission, add the domain journals.uvm.edu and the addresses mgr-uvm@mail.janewaysharedhosting.com and mgreview@uvm.edu to your email client’s approved sender list.
  3. Gather all required files and information, including names, emails, and ORCID iDs for all authors; your cover letter, manuscript, and any supplementary material; and your signed Author Agreement Form.

The submission system will guide you through the process of entering your information and uploading your files. If you need accommodations in order to make a submission, please contact Aimee Diehl, MGR Managing and Production Editor, to discuss how we can make this process work best for you.

Preparing Your Submission

Before you begin, please be sure you have the following items:

  • Completed Author Agreement Form (PDF) that includes the article information, the corresponding author’s signature, and the signature date (this form can be filled and signed electronically)
  • Your article title
  • Author and co-author information including full name, email address, institution, and ORCID ID for each author
  • An abstract (separate from the article body, to be entered into a text field)
  • Keywords (up to five) for your article
  • Manuscript in Microsoft Word format
    Submit without a title page, abstract, or page numbers. Remove any identifying information about the authors. Turn off tracked changes, comments, and file sharing restrictions. Unlink citations from outside references managers such as Zotero.

No part of the submission is final until all steps have been completed and you click the final “Submit” button. The review process begins as soon as MGR receives a readable article, along with the abstract and article title. 

Starting Your Submission

After reading all the information on this page, click on the “Start Submission” button below. If you are unable to complete your submission in one sitting, you may save your work and finish later. You will receive an email confirming your completed submission.

Register Login

About

Middle Grades Review provides a provocative forum for debate within the field of middle grades education. Inviting a critical perspective, MGR is a peer-reviewed, open access venue for scholars and practitioners who wish to broaden the discourse of middle grades education by challenging conventional wisdom. MGR seeks pieces that explore three themes: Democratic Education, Innovation, and Social Justice in relation to middle grades education and young adolescents.

Aims and Scope

Middle Grades Review (MGR), a publication of Middle Grades Collaborative, provides a provocative forum for debate within the field of middle grades education. Inviting a critical perspective, MGR is a peer-reviewed, diamond open access, multi-media venue for scholars and practitioners who wish to broaden the discourse of middle grades education by challenging conventional wisdom.

MGR seeks pieces that explore three themes: 

  • Democratic Education,
  • Innovation, and
  • Social Justice

in relation to middle grades education and young adolescents.

MGR uses a diamond open access model to make its published content free for readers and free for authors. All articles in MGR are free to access immediately from the data of publication. There are no article processing or submission charges. 

MGR is published by Middle Grades Collaborative in partnership with the University of Vermont Press. 

Submission Checklist

Authors of written submissions to MGR must ensure their work complies with all the items listed here. Written submissions that do not adhere to these guidelines may be returned to authors for correction prior to review.

  • The manuscript meets the journal’s Aims and Scope.
  • The manuscript has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal or book for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in the cover letter). The author agrees not to submit the material to another journal while it is under consideration by MGR.
  • The manuscript is in Microsoft Word (.docx) file format.
  • The manuscript does not exceed the word count for the submission category. Suggested word counts are for the introduction through the conclusion excluding references.
  • The manuscript cites sources according to APA Style, 7th edition and includes complete references. The author is responsible for ensuring that both in-text citations and the reference list are complete and accurate. (Reference lists generated by citation managers are prone to error and must always be checked by the author prior to submission.)
  • If manuscript reference software (such as Zotero or EndNote) has been used, end references have been unlinked from in-text citations. This prevents problems with file corruption.
  • Functioning DOIs or URLs are provided for all online references. Links do not lead to password-protected resources.
  • Tables, figures, and/or charts appear in the text after first mention and are designed for web accessibility. All tables, figures, and/or charts are properly attributed to their source. Prior written approval has been obtained for reuse of any copyrighted or previously published tables, figures, charts, or other material.
  • The abstract does not exceed 300 words and is available to the author during the submission process.
  • The cover page and abstract are not included as part of the manuscript file.
  • The Author Agreement Form has been prepared using the provided template and is in PDF (.pdf) file format. All form fields are complete, including signature and date. (A digital signature is acceptable.)
  • All documents have been proofread.
  • Any file access restrictions have been turned off prior to submission.

Copyright Notice

Middle Grades Review is published by Middle Grades Collaborative in partnership with the University of Vermont Press under a diamond open access model. All content, unless otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC-ND), which permits unrestricted noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided that it is properly attributed. Authors of published work retain their copyright.

If the journal accepts an article for publication:

  • The authors grant a Creative Commons copyright license in the article to the general public, in particular a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).
  • The authors agree to require that a citation to the original publication of the article in MGR be included in any attribution statement satisfying the attribution requirement of the Creative Commons license.
  • The authors retain ownership of all rights under copyright in all versions of the article, and all rights not expressly granted in the author agreement form.
  • To the extent that any edits made by the publisher to make the article suitable for publication in the journal amount to copyrightable works of authorship, the publisher hereby assigns all right, title, and interest in such edits to the authors.

Please refer to the Author Agreement Form for a full explanation of the publication agreement.

Peer Review

This journal uses double anonymized peer review, as defined by the National Information Standards Organization: 

Identity transparency: double anonymized. Reviewer identity is not made visible to author, author identity is not made visible to reviewer, reviewer and author identity is visible to decision-making editor.

Reviewer interacts with: editor. Communication between editor and reviewer (traditional model). Also known as ‘independent review’.

Review information published: None. No information about the review process or editorial decision process is published.

Post-publication commenting: None.

Each submitted manuscript is screened by the Managing and Production Editor for adherence to submission guidelines and undergoes a SimilarityCheck through Crossref. This information is forwarded, along with the manuscript, to the Co-Editors for initial consideration. If deemed suitable for peer review, an Associate Editor invites two independent experts to review the manuscript. The Co-Editors then discuss the reviews, agree on a final decision, and notify the author.

MGR is under no obligation to publish any submitted manuscript.

License

CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes. NoDerivatives — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material. No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.

Publication Cycle

MGR is open to submissions according to its calls for manuscripts. It publishes articles on a rolling basis.

The corresponding author of an accepted manuscript will work with the Managing and Production Editor to prepare it for publication, including any final corrections and submission of high-resolution graphics.

Sections

Section or article type

Public Submissions

Peer Reviewed

Indexed

Essay

Research and Inquiry

Practitioner Perspective

Response