About the Journal

Focus and Scope

The Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology (CJLT) is a peer-reviewed journal that welcomes papers on all aspects of educational technology and learning. Topics may include, but are not limited to: learning theory and technology, cognition and technology, instructional design theory and application, online learning, computer applications in education, simulations and gaming, and other aspects of the use of technology in the learning process. An important aim of this journal is the contribution to learning theory within the field of educational technology. Manuscripts may be submitted either in English or in French. CJLT is available free-of-charge to anyone with access to the Internet, and there are no article submission or access charges for publication.

CJLT Indexing

CJLT is indexed in Scopus, Web of Science (ESCI), ERIC, DOAJ, Ulrichs, Google Scholar, EBSCO, and others.

Peer Review Process

Note: CJLT is experiencing a significant increase in the number of submissions, and as a result, the timeline for publication is approximately 18 months. We thank you in advance for your patience and understanding.

The Journal Editors screen submitted articles for relevance, quality, contribution, originality, accuracy, and interest before assigning a decision of decline or sending them out for review. Submissions sent for review are then distributed to a minimum of two qualified reviewers. The Journal Editors determine what will be included in the Journal by consulting the reviewers’ assessment and comments.

Submissions are assigned a decision of decline or send for review within two months of receipt. Typically, authors receive reviewer feedback and the Editor’s decision on their submission within nine months; however, timelines for submission of reviews varies pending the availability of qualified peer reviewers. If accepted, submissions are usually published in the next available issue.

The Journal may use software to screen for plagiarism. No data, text, or theories by others may be presented as if they were the author’s own (‘plagiarism’). Proper acknowledgements to other works must be given, including material that is closely copied (near verbatim), summarized and/or paraphrased. Quotation marks must be used to indicate words taken from another source or for verbatim copying of material, and permissions must be secured for material that is copyrighted.

Please refer to the Publication Ethics statement below and consult the Submissions page for detailed submission guidelines.

Peer reviewers are asked to evaluate and judge submissions using the following criteria:

  • complete, coherent, and well-organized presentation;
  • sufficient explanation of the significance of the problem;
  • clear demonstration of the relevance to the field;
  • original contribution;
  • compelling presentation of the problem within a theoretical framework (where appropriate);
  • article is within the scope and focus of the Journal;
  • appropriate research design and method;
  • accurate and useful interpretation;
  • sound argument and analysis; and
  • effective conclusion.

Peer reviewers are asked to indicate their assessment based on the above criteria and offer comments. Reviewers’ comments are extremely important to help the authors revise and improve their papers.

Reviewers for CJLT are previous CJLT authors or experts in the field. The full list of those who completed at least one review in 2021 is available here.

Manuscript Categories

Manuscripts may take any of the following forms: / Les textes peuvent prendre l’une ou l’autre des formes suivantes:

Research Papers: Both quantitative and qualitative research papers are encouraged. Such reports describe the design and methodology, and present the results of a study of an innovation or the application of theory to the facilitation of learning with technology. They typically contain a statement of problem or description of the issue to be explored, a review of the research literature, a section describing research methodology, the results of the study, and implications for future research. Research papers must have a word count within 4000-7000 words, including all references, appendices, tables, and figures.

Literature Reviews: Literature reviews can be in the form either of a qualitative or a quantitative summary (i.e., meta-analysis). Reviews explore the research literature on a topic in order to determine major issues of importance for future research, to understand these issues in relation to theory and application, to find the frontier of research on a problem, to relate a problem to existing theory, or to put a conceptualized problem in the context of previous research. Literature reviews must have a word count within 4000-7000 words, including all references, appendices, tables, and figures.

Critical Scholarship: Scholarship in this category involves working within contemporary alternative research paradigms, grounded in critical theory, philosophy, narrative studies, postmodern and post-structural studies, historical research, discourse analysis, post colonial and feminist studies. These papers typically identify and explicate the type of analysis to be used, followed by the analysis itself. Submissions must have a word count within 4000-7000 words, including all references, appendices, tables, and figures.

Position Papers: Position papers can describe a problem or an issue, then suggest a solution or direction. They should support the position with both logical argument and a review of theory and/or the research literature. Submissions must have a word count within 4000-7000 words, including all references, appendices, tables, and figures.

Case Studies: Case studies describe a particular case setting or event, and a problem or issue within that narrow framework. They present what theory and/or the research literature reports on the problem or issue, what was done to try to solve or explore it, the results of the project, and implications and suggestions for others. Case studies must have a word count within 4000-7000 words, including all references, appendices, tables, and figures.

Book Reviews: The CJLT welcomes book reviews that fall within the aims and scope of the journal (maximum of 4000 words). Following is a resource for writing and critiquing academic books: http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/specific-types-of-writing/book-review. If you are interested in submitting a book review to CJLT, please contact our Book Review Editor (cjlt@ualberta.ca).

Notes Section

Special sections for written treatises are available in some scientific journals. These sections are meant to differentiate between the protocols of regular publishing and the more creative and novel writing, although still focused on the same field of study or discipline available in special sections. These additional sections are, in writing and perspective, bringing something new to the current narrative and offering opportunity for further debate. (Spoelstra, 2017). 

The Notes section of the Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology is a place for applicable reports and discussion of germane current issues. Non-empirical reviews of current and potential future states of our field are also included. Published documents in this section of CJLT are not double-blinded or peer-reviewed. They are most often included at the request of the Editors and are normally below 4000 words. These publications are offered to contextualize and reference the research articles in the main section of a CJLT issue. Currently, CJLT issues include a minimum of five empirical peer-reviewed research articles in each of at least three issues per year. Documents in the Notes and Book Review sections are included when available.  

Spoelstra, S. (2017). A note on notes: On the rise of 'special sections' in academic journals. Ephemera17(3), 609-618

Section Policies

Editorial: Indexed
Articles: Open Submissions, Indexed, Peer Reviewed
Research Report: Indexed
Book Review: Indexed
Canadian Journal of Educational Communication (1982 – 2002): Indexed
Media Message (1972-1981): Indexed

Archiving

This journal utilizes the LOCKSS system to create a distributed archiving system among participating libraries and permits those libraries to create permanent archives of the journal for purposes of preservation and restoration.

Special Issue Policy

Open Competition and Guidelines for Special Issues

The CJLT publishes a maximum of one special issue per year. All proposals submitted for Special Issues undergo an open call followed by a formal peer review by the CJLT editorial team.

The guidelines for a special issue proposal in the CJLT, are outlined below. Once you have met all the requirements, your written proposal must be sent to the CJLT managing editors (cjlt@ualberta.ca).

Special Issue Proposal Guidelines

A Special Issue proposal should contain the following information:

  • The title of the proposed special issue.
  • The names, institutional affiliations, emails, and positions of the proposed Guest Editor(s) together with brief biographical details.
  • A brief description of the rationale, fit with aims and scope of the CJLT, its innovative nature and significance in relation to existing published work in educational technology, contribution to learning theory, and a statement on why this special issue will appeal to our readership (not to exceed 1500 words).
  • Names and position of each proposed contributor and a 200-word abstract of their planned paper, together with an indication of their commitment to contribute to the special issue.
  • A statement that all manuscripts submitted are not currently under review elsewhere, the material is original, and has not been published in prior conference proceedings, journals, or other scholarly fora.
  • Provision of at least three names and corresponding emails, per manuscript, of arm’s length academics (not personally affiliated with any of the authors and/or the guest editors) with a brief statement of the reviewers’ research expertise in the area.
  • Proposed timelines for the special issue manuscript submissions to the managing editor that are ready for peer review (e.g., the guest editors have reviewed each manuscript for APA format, references have been cross-checked, writing is free from editorial errors, etc.).

NOTE: The CJLT editors and managing editors oversee the peer review process for special issues and make the editorial decision to accept, accept with revisions, revise and resubmit for review, or reject. This process typically takes 12-18 months from the proposal submission deadline to the publication of the special issue. CJLT will provide copyeditors for the special issue, however, all copyediting costs must be paid directly to the copyeditors by the Special Issue team.

All manuscripts for the special issue will be subject to standard peer review and must adhere to the CJLT issue guidelines and timelines (e.g., published in a spring, summer or winter issue; 5 manuscripts per issue). Manuscript word count should fall between 5000-6500 words (not to exceed 7000 words) including references, figures, diagrams and tables. Guest Editor(s) are required to adhere to a publishing agreement with the CJLT once a special issue proposal has been accepted by the Editorial Team.

Special issues are managed via the Open Journal System (OJS) used by the CJLT and overseen by the managing editors. Normal CJLT refereeing procedures (at least two referees per paper) apply.

If you have any questions, please contact the managing editors at cjlt@ualberta.ca.

Open Access Policy

This journal 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.

Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

The Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology / La revue canadienne de l’apprentissage et de la technologie is a peer-reviewed journal that welcomes papers on all aspects of educational technology and learning. Manuscripts may be submitted either in English or in French. There is no charge or fee to authors for article submission or processing. All manuscripts received by the editor(s) will be judged for suitability, contribution, accuracy, and interest before being forwarded on to a minimum of two anonymous reviewers. Final decisions on all manuscripts are made by the English or French Editor after reviews have been submitted.

This journal 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. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under an International Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (CC-BY-NC 4.0) that allows others to share the work for non-commercial purposes, with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.

Journal funding is provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), Aid to Scholarly Journals (ASJ). SSHRC is governed by a council appointed by the Canadian federal government to represent the interests of the academic, public and private sectors. The goal of SSHRC, ASJ is to increase dissemination, access to, and readership for, original research results in the social sciences and humanities through Canadian scholarly journals. It also assists Canadian journals as they seek to take advantage of advances in digital technologies. ASJ grants are awarded to help defray the costs of publishing scholarly articles, to assist with distribution costs, and to support Canadian journal organizations in transitioning to and maintaining digital formats. SSHRC recognizes that peer Canadian reviewed scholarly journals are a primary tool for fostering intellectual debate and inquiry.

This journal is committed to upholding the highest standards in research publication ethics. The editors are committed to eliminating plagiarism and other forms of publication misconduct and fraud within our journal. Any detected cases of misconduct are vigorously pursued. This journal fully endorses the COPE International Standards for Editors and Authors. As such, there are a number of responsibilities that all stakeholders are expected to uphold relating to the publication process. These responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following statements.

Editors must:

  • Evaluate manuscripts solely on the basis of intellectual content.

  • Maintain confidentiality by not disclosing any information about the author, except to editors, editorial board members and/or the publisher, if appropriate.

  • Maintain confidentiality by not disclosing any information about the submitted manuscript, except to potential reviewers, editors, editorial board members and/or the publisher, if appropriate, until that manuscript has been rejected or published.

  • Ensure that the names, email addresses and other personal information entered in the journal site are used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and are not made available for any other purpose or to any other party.

  • Ensure that each submission is anonymously reviewed by at least two qualified peer reviewers.

  • Maintain objectivity in reviewing manuscripts, providing authors with constructive feedback that is free of personal criticism.

  • Not request any charge or fee to authors for article submission or processing.

  • Not accept funds, goods, services or other forms of sponsorship in exchange for publishing a manuscript.

  • Take responsive action when there are ethical or conflict-of-interest concerns raised regarding a submitted manuscript or published paper. These actions will be determined on a case-by-case basis, and may result in a number of outcomes, including (but not limited to) amending the paper, publishing an erratum document or retracting the paper.

Authors must:

  • Ensure that their manuscript adheres to the highest standard of academic integrity and ethical practice.

  • Alert the editor(s) to any potential conflict(s) of interest related to the manuscript and/or study.

  • Submit a manuscript that is an entirely original work, that has not be copied in whole or in part from other works. If the manuscript contains copyrighted materials, the author should note this in their cover letter and forward letters of permission to the editor(s).

  • Provide the editor(s) with a letter stating that the manuscript is original material that has not been published and is not currently being considered for publication elsewhere.


  • Ensure that the work of others is cited and/or quoted accurately and completely. Plagiarism takes many forms. It is the author’s responsibility to ensure that their manuscript does not contain any plagiarized content.

  • Represent the research data that underlies the manuscript accurately.

  • Maintain accurate and complete copies of study data associated with the submitted manuscript.

  • If applicable, maintain accurate and complete records of ethics documentation for research involving human subjects from their home institution(s).

  • Make no knowingly fraudulent or inaccurate statements in the manuscript.

  • Provide enough detail in the methodology section of the manuscript to allow for the work to be replicated.

  • Limit authorship to individuals who made a significant contribution to the study and/or manuscript.

  • Report errors or inaccuracies in the manuscript to the editor immediately upon discovery so that efforts can be made to correct or retract the paper.

Reviewers must:

  • Maintain confidentiality by not disclosing any information about the submitted manuscript with anyone except the journal editors.

  • Provide a timely review that does not unnecessarily lengthen or hinder the peer review process.

  • Provide an accurate and objective review that contains constructive feedback and is free of personal criticism.

  • Provide meaningful feedback that contributes to the academic rigour of the paper and assists the editor in making an editorial decision.

  • Identify instances of unacknowledged sources within the manuscript to the best of their abilities.

  • Alert editors of any potential conflicts of interest in reviewing the manuscript, including conflicts related to the authors of a manuscript, content of a manuscript or funding sources related to the study.