Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning

Since the year 2000, much has changed in adventure education, outdoor learning, and related fields. Much has also changed in the world! To honour the upcoming 25th anniversary of the Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning, editors Maher, Blaine and Brown are leading a project that showcases those changes. This call asks potential authors to specifically target an article from the journal’s “early days” (2000-2012) and provide an updated perspective. Has a particular practice now changed, as the world has changed? Has a theory become more refined, or is no longer in use, due to additional data and discussion? Has adventure education and outdoor learning expanded into new areas of the globe, in new/different/exciting ways?

Authors much submit a 150-word abstract, direct to the guest editors ([email protected]), where they clearly identify their authorship team, as well as the earlier article upon which they will offer new perspective. The guest editors will be seeking to provide the most breadth possible and thus if one early article sees many abstract submissions, they may seek to combine authorship teams, and if many submissions arrive with the “usual suspects” from the “usual countries” they will seek to extend and diversify the pool of submissions. We encourage authorship teams comprised of established scholars, emerging scholars, students, practitioners, etc. from across the world.

Once abstracts have been reviewed by the guest editors, authors of accepted proposals will be asked to work on their papers and then submit those directly into the normal rigorous process of peer review (see http://www.tandfonline.com/raol). Authors should clearly indicate on their submission that it is for the 25th anniversary special issue.

Unique to this special issue is that we hope to ask a number of our senior scholars to write an overview paper on the state of the field across the last 25 years (in addition to our guest editorial), and we will also seek to engage with the authors of those “early year” papers, in response to the new perspective papers (separate to, and following, full peer review). We hope that these extra touches will allow for a more holistic examination of where we’ve come from and where we’re headed.

We request abstracts (150 words), by March 1, 2024. The abstracts should identify an early paper (or papers) to be examined/critiqued/updated, as well as the perspective the new paper would take (i.e. the practice has changed, the theory has changed, the world has opened up, etc.).
The editorial team will accept a certain number of abstracts, which provide the best breadth for the Special Issue, and indicate to authors by April 1, 2024 that they should start writing. Full manuscripts would be due September 30, 2024.

We would aim to have the first round of reviews completed by the end of 2024 (or earlier); at which time, where possible, original article writers would be offered time to write a brief response. Any additional rounds of review would hopefully occur by the end of February 2025 (or earlier); plus responses written.

Thus, the special issue would be the second issue of 2025.

If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Pat, Judy and Mike jointly at [email protected].

Instructions for AuthorsSubmit an Article