About the Journal

 

 

Mission and objective

The Zeitschrift für Hochschulentwicklung  (Journal for Higher Education Development) is a peer-reviewed online journal that publishes scientific contributions with practical relevance for current topics in higher education development. The main focus is on didactic, structural and cultural developments in teaching and learning. Preference is given to topics that are innovative and still seen as open for development in terms of design options.

 

Thematic emphases

The journal is published 4 times a year and focuses on the following thematic areas:

  • didactic developments regarding student learning processes
  • educational developments relevant to a degree course
  • developments regarding student populations
  • developments in steering teaching and learning
  • developments in teachers’ higher education didactic competence
  • developments regarding the framework conditions for studying and teaching
  • developments in steering innovative processes
  • developments in the field of further scientific education at universities

With one English language special issue per year, the ZFHE is increasing its efforts to inform the international community about developments in German-speaking countries.

 

Scientific profile

In terms of methodology, the ZFHE has a pluralistic orientation. Empirical-quantitative contributions are just as welcome as those based on qualitative social research approaches, design-based research, action research or other devised methodologies. Theoretical and conceptual papers are welcome as well, as long as they are innovative and offer new insights.

 

Target group

The ZFHE sees itself as a link between higher education research and reflected practice design. In addition to the scientific community that focuses primarily on higher education research, the new higher education professionals ("Third Space") are a central target group of the ZFHE.

 

Categories

Research contributions should meet the following criteria. The paper:

  • addresses a systemic question in transdisciplinary, interdisciplinary or subject-specific contexts;
  • has a research gap as its starting point;
  • is extensively embedded in current scholarly discourse;
  • has a robust methodological approach;
  • includes reflection on the author’s own work;
  • explains the research methodology;
  • employs a method that is suitable for answering the research question;
  • presents the scientific discourse in a reflective manner;
  • makes a clearly recognizable contribution to answering the research question or to the research discussion;
  • consistently follows relevant citation rules (APA style, current edition);
  • comprises between 20,000 and 33,000 characters (with spaces, including cover page, bibliography and author information).

Research-driven development contributions should meet the following criteria. The paper:

  • features a higher education development perspective with a sound research base;
  • discusses and differentiates a systemic problem in teaching development;
  • is an academically grounded "institutional research" contribution;
  • is supported by a literature review;
  • meaningfully addresses the interaction between science and praxis and/or the link between the two poles of "research and development"
  • consistently follows pertinent citation rules (APA style, current edition);
  • comprises between 20,000 and 33,000 characters (with spaces, including cover page, bibliography and author information).

Development contributions should meet the following criteria. The paper:

  • deals with a concrete problem in higher education development in the (author’s) higher education institution;
  • addresses a practical need;
  • is embedded in the scientific discussion and literature (without claiming to provide an overview of the literature);
  • offers suggestions for teaching and university development, with recommendations for action (if applicable);
  • offers a systematic and transparent discussion (e.g. no incomprehensible references to specifics or details in a field of practice);
  • elaborates on generalisable aspects relevant to theoretical development;
  • addresses considerations related to the transfer to practice;
  • mentions possibilities for further research;
  • consistently follows relevant citation rules (APA style, current edition);
  • comprises between 20,000 and 33,000 characters (with spaces, including cover page, bibliography and author information).

Free submissions (submissions beyond the scope of the main foci described in the CFP) can be aligned with any of the three categories.

 

Call for Papers

Call for papers for issue 20/1

Psychological findings for university teaching

Editors: Immanuel Ulrich (Frankfurt am Main), Carla Bohndick (Hamburg), Josef Buchner (St. Gallen), Roland Grabner (Graz), Elisabeth Mayweg-Paus (Berlin), Martina Mörth (Berlin) & Tobias Ringeisen (Berlin)
Publication date: March 2025

Submission deadline for complete articles is September 30, 2024.

Details and more information in the announcement (HTML / PDF).

 

Call for papers for special issue 20/SH-KI

Künstliche Intelligenz in der forschungsgeleiteten Hochschullehre

Editors: Tanja Jadin, Ortrun Gröblinger, Gerhard Brandhofer & Michael Raunig
Publication date: February 2025

Submission deadline for complete articles is August 26, 2024.

Details and more information in the announcement (HTML / PDF).

 

Call for papers for issue 19/4

Studying with digital study assistance systems

Editors: Maren Lübcke (Hannover), Johannes Schrumpf (Osnabrück), Katharina Schurz (Osnabrück), Funda Seyfeli-Özhizalan (Hannover), Tobias Thelen (Osnabrück), Klaus Wannemacher (Hannover), Felix Weber (Osnabrück)
Publication date: December 2024

Submission deadline for complete articles is June 17, 2024.

Details and more information in the announcement (HTML / PDF).

 

Peer-review

All submitted contributions will be examined in a double-blind peer review process to guarantee scientific quality. The editors of the current issue propose the reviewers for the respective theme and allocate individual contributions to the reviewers; they also determine which contributions will be accepted. The selection of reviewers and the review process for each thematic issue are always supervised by a member of the editorial board.

 

Publishing frequency

As a rule, the ZFHE is published quarterly. If many contributions are submitted for a particular theme, a double issue is occasionally published.

 

Open-access guideline

This online journal provides open access to its content with the goal of promoting global knowledge exchange by making research freely available to the public.

All contributions can be downloaded free of charge.

Since January 2024 all contents of the web portal are subject to the
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en

Before January 2024 all contents of the web portal were subject to the Creative Commons License "Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Austria" (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) or https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Creative Commons Lizenzvertrag