Jazz Education in Research and Practice

About Jazz Education in Research and Practice

Jazz Education in Research and Practice — Journal Profile

Jazz Education in Research and Practice (JERP, styled JAZZ on its current journal platform) is the peer-reviewed scholarly journal of jazz education published by Indiana University Press in association with the Jazz Education Network (JEN) research community. It carries the print ISSN 2639-7668 and the online ISSN 2639-7676 — the two identifiers stored on this JournalsWorld record and confirmed together in OpenAlex, which resolves both to source S4210200688 with Indiana University Press as host organisation. Its first works appear in OpenAlex in 2019, and its volumes have appeared annually since, with the Jazz Education Network noting that new volumes are published yearly and made available around the JEN conference in January. The journal exists for a specific conversation: how jazz is taught and learned — in school and university ensembles, in studios and classrooms, in community programmes and online — and what rigorous research, reflective scholarship and documented classroom innovation can teach the people who do that teaching. Jazz studies has many homes for history, analysis and criticism; this is its dedicated home for education research.

Identity and basic facts

The verifiable facts first. Full title: Jazz Education in Research and Practice. Print ISSN: 2639-7668. Online ISSN: 2639-7676. Publisher: Indiana University Press (IU Press), confirmed by OpenAlex's host-organisation field and by the journal's presence on Indiana University's ScholarWorks journal platform, where its full submission guidance is published. Country: United States, as stored on this record. Field: jazz education — the intersection of music education research and jazz studies. Frequency: annual volumes, per the Jazz Education Network's research pages, which offer volumes 1–7 for reading or purchase through the JEN member portal at the time of checking. Peer review: the journal describes itself on its submission pages as an international, peer-reviewed journal, with anonymised main texts (authors submit a separate title page, and the main file carries nothing that identifies the author). Open access: OpenAlex does not mark the source as open access — it counted only 1 open-access work among 105 works at checking time — so readers should expect access through IU Press, library holdings or the JEN member portal rather than through a fully open archive. A Directory of Open Access Journals listing could not be verified: the DOAJ search API returned no result for either ISSN when checked for this profile, and that interim zero is recorded as unverified status, not as proof about any other directory. Article processing charges: no APC figure is stated in the sources fetched, so none is quoted here. The earlier thin record for this post showed only a numeric code, 4150, for its publisher; the correct publisher, verified as above, is Indiana University Press.

Origins: JEN, JENRInG and a journal the field needed

The journal grew out of the Jazz Education Network, the international organisation dedicated, in its own summary, to building the jazz arts community by advancing education, promoting performance and developing new audiences. Within JEN, the Research Interest Group — JENRInG, named throughout the journal's own guidance — built the scholarly infrastructure an education-research journal needs: research presentations at the annual JEN conference, a mentoring initiative pairing aspiring jazz researchers with published authors, and a network newsletter. The journal is the durable, citable form of that activity. Its editorial identity reflects the combination: Monika Herzig — jazz pianist, Doctorate in Music Education and Jazz Studies from Indiana University, longtime chair of JEN's research committee and author of David Baker — A Legacy in Music (IU Press) — served as the journal's founding-era editor and remains on its editorial committee, as JEN and university biographies retrieved for this profile consistently describe. That lineage matters for authors: this is a journal edited from inside both the university and the practitioner community, and its pages keep research articles, reflective essays and classroom accounts in deliberate conversation rather than in separate silos.

Scope: what counts as jazz education research

The journal's own submission pages define the scope with unusual clarity. It welcomes original manuscripts on any aspect of jazz teaching and learning, including improvisation, composition and arranging, theory, history and performance, and other related areas, provided submissions meet rigorous academic standards with analytical depth and critical engagement with relevant literature and/or primary sources. In practice that spans: how improvisation is learned, practised and assessed; curriculum and method in school, university and private-studio settings; ensemble pedagogy and rehearsal practice; jazz in general music and in interdisciplinary programmes; teacher preparation and professional development; equity, access and representation in jazz programmes, including the field's ongoing reckoning with gender and race in its canons, classrooms and festivals; community and intergenerational learning, from the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians tradition to contemporary community programmes; technology in jazz teaching; assessment, policy and programme evaluation; and the history of jazz education itself, from David Baker's Indiana programme onwards. Work that is purely a concert review, a teaching anecdote without scholarly framing, or jazz criticism with no educational stake sits outside the scope — the journal's guidance is explicit that even its most practical section must be situated in existing research.

Article types — read the lengths before you write

Four manuscript families are defined on the journal's submission pages, each with stated lengths. Research Articles (5,000–8,000 words) present original, empirical, data-driven studies and must address objectives or purposes, a review of relevant literature, theoretical framework and method, results or substantiated conclusions, and a discussion placing findings in current research. Scholarly Essays (3,000–8,000 words) offer critical, interpretive or argument-driven work drawing on philosophy, history, pedagogy or reflective practice, across teaching, learning, curriculum, assessment, policy, technology and community — with the guidance noting that classroom-based practical strategies generally belong instead in Classroom Hits. Classroom Hits (1,200–1,500 words) are concise, scholarly accounts of innovative teaching strategies that connect theory with classroom or ensemble practice, presented step by step so other educators can replicate or adapt them, with observed outcomes or documented impact. Book Reviews (1,800–2,500 words in the current overview; the journal's longer-standing guidance caps reviews at 2,500 words including endnotes) critically evaluate recent books in jazz education beyond mere summary. Every article carries an abstract of 150–200 words and three to five keywords, and no article may exceed 8,000 words including endnotes, citations and abstract. These are the journal's own published parameters at checking time; confirm them on the live submissions page before submitting, because category guidance is periodically refreshed.

Editorial process and mentoring

Review is anonymised from the author's side: the title page carries title, submission type, author names, affiliations, email addresses and funding information, while the main text file must contain nothing that identifies the author, with self-citations recast in the impersonal form the guidance specifies. References follow APA 7 style unless the journal's style sheet directs otherwise, with DOIs included where they exist; manuscripts are set in 12-point Times New Roman, double-spaced, with one-inch margins under the published style sheet. Two features distinguish this journal's process. The first is the JENRInG Mentoring Initiative, a service the journal itself advertises: published JENRInG writers assist aspiring jazz researchers one-to-one, matched by field and research style, with the mentoring chair named on the submissions page — an unusually concrete answer to the field's many practitioner-researchers who are expert teachers but new to scholarly publishing. The second is the conference pathway: JEN's research track at its annual conference solicits original research presentations on jazz history, pedagogy, industry and performance practice, and the journal's annual rhythm is tied to that meeting, so work developed for the conference has a natural journal destination. Plagiarism and duplicate submission are dealt with plainly in the guidance: plagiarised work is rejected and no future manuscripts are accepted from its authors, and work published or under consideration elsewhere is not accepted.

Metrics — small, young, and to be read as such

OpenAlex, resolving the ISSN pair to source S4210200688 at checking time, counted 105 works and 59 citations, with summary statistics of h-index 4, i10-index 1 and two-year mean citedness of about 0.11, first publication year 2019 and last year 2024 in its record at that moment. The h-index of 4 agrees with the value stored on the thin record this profile replaces, which also labelled the journal Q4 — a plausible recent SCImago quartile for a young specialist title, though no SCImago page for this exact title was retrieved for this profile, so the quartile is reported here as the stored value rather than as independently re-verified. Interpretation matters more than the digits. A journal founded in 2019, publishing one volume a year in a practitioner-heavy niche, accumulates citations slowly by design: much of its readership teaches rather than publishes, and its Classroom Hits are written to be used on Monday morning, not to be cited. Judged on trajectory and function — an IU Press imprint, a defined community, a mentoring pipeline, annual volumes sustained through volume 7 in JEN's listing — it is doing the work it was founded to do. Authors who need a high citation metric for a tenure metric should look at the general music-education journals listed below as well; authors who need their work read by the jazz education community itself are in the right place.

Indexing, access and how readers find it

OpenAlex indexes the journal's contents (it is the source of the counts above) and lists the source in the Finnish JUFO register at level 1 in its listed-in data at checking time. Beyond that, this profile makes no further indexing claim: no Scopus, Web of Science or DOAJ listing was verified from sources fetched, and readers should check their own library catalogues for holdings. Practically, access runs through Indiana University Press and the ScholarWorks platform where the journal's pages live, and through JEN: the network states that anyone may order the journal, that electronic access is included for JEN members at the Full Individual level through its member portal, and that volumes 1–7 were offered at checking time. That member-portal route is worth knowing — for many school and community educators, JEN membership is a more realistic access path than an institutional subscription.

Fees

No article processing charge, submission fee or page charge is stated in the journal's submission guidance or other sources fetched for this profile, so this profile quotes no fee. Subscription and single-volume prices are commercial matters handled by IU Press and JEN and change over time; check the press and network pages for current prices rather than relying on any directory figure.

How to submit — a worked sequence

Begin on the journal's ScholarWorks submissions page and read the category definitions in full; choosing between Research Article, Scholarly Essay and Classroom Hits is the most consequential decision you will make, and the guidance is candid that misplaced practical pieces are redirected. Draft to the stated length for your category, with the required components — for research articles, the five elements the journal enumerates, from objectives through discussion. Prepare two files: the title page with full author details and funding, and the anonymised main text with abstract and keywords, self-citations neutralised. Format references to APA 7 with DOIs. If you are new to scholarly publishing in this field, contact the JENRInG mentoring service before you submit, not after a rejection — that is what it exists for. Submit through the channel the submissions page directs, keep the work out of every other journal while it is considered, and expect the annual volume rhythm to shape the calendar: this is not a continuous-publication journal, and planning a submission around its yearly cycle, and the January JEN conference, is simply competent practice.

Similar journals

Authors and readers in this space also use the Journal of Research in Music Education and Music Education Research for general music-education research; the International Journal of Music Education for international and comparative work; Research Studies in Music Education for research with strong practice links; Jazz Perspectives and the Jazz Research Journal for jazz studies beyond education, including history and analysis; and Popular Music and Society where jazz teaching meets cultural context. JERP's distinction within that set is its exclusive focus: it is the venue where a study of improvisation pedagogy is the main event rather than a special-issue guest.

Frequently asked questions

Who publishes Jazz Education in Research and Practice? Indiana University Press, on Indiana University's ScholarWorks platform, in association with the Jazz Education Network research community. A numeric code on the earlier version of this record was not a publisher name.

What are its ISSNs? Print 2639-7668 and online 2639-7676, confirmed together in OpenAlex for this profile.

Is it peer reviewed? Yes — it describes itself as an international, peer-reviewed journal, with anonymised main manuscripts and a separate title page.

What lengths does it accept? Research Articles 5,000–8,000 words; Scholarly Essays 3,000–8,000; Classroom Hits 1,200–1,500; Book Reviews 1,800–2,500 — per its submissions page at checking time.

Is it open access? OpenAlex does not classify it as an open-access source; access is via the press, libraries and the JEN member portal. A DOAJ listing could not be verified for this profile.

Can practitioner-teachers publish here? Yes — practitioner-researchers are an explicitly welcomed authorship, and the JENRInG mentoring initiative exists to support first-time scholarly authors.

What are its metrics? OpenAlex at checking time: 105 works, 59 citations, h-index 4. Read the metrics section above before drawing conclusions from a young annual journal's numbers.

Why this journal matters to its field

A word about why a single-subject education journal earns its place. Jazz education before journals like this one lived in method books, festival adjudication sheets, summer-camp lore and the oral tradition of great teaching programmes — powerful, but hard to build on, because none of it accumulated as citable scholarship. A peer-reviewed annual changes the epistemics of the field. A study of how beginners actually learn to improvise, once published here with its method exposed, can be repeated in another country, argued with in a scholarly essay two volumes later, and distilled into a Classroom Hit that a school teacher can run next term. The mentoring initiative closes the loop by bringing the practitioners who hold the tacit knowledge into print. The conference closes it again by letting authors meet their readers face to face every January. Directories that count only citations will always under-record a journal built this way; the field it serves, which had no research journal of its own a decade ago, records it differently — in syllabi, in dissertations that now have somewhere to send their best chapters, and in the slow professionalisation of jazz teaching as a research-informed practice.

For doctoral students and early-career researchers, the journal also functions as a map of what the field currently counts as a question. Reading a run of recent volumes shows the centre of gravity moving: from method comparison toward equity and access; from the university ensemble toward community and lifelong learning; from improvisation as a single skill toward improvisation as a social, embodied practice; and from the American heartland of the music toward its global classrooms. A manuscript that speaks to those movements, with evidence, will find editors and reviewers ready for it. A manuscript that repeats what the field settled in the method-book era, however competently, will be asked what it adds. That is not gatekeeping; it is what a mature journal conversation sounds like, and its existence is the clearest sign that jazz education research has become a field in its own right rather than an annex of either jazz studies or general music education.

One further practical note for authors: because volumes are annual, the journal rewards patience and punishes haste in equal measure. Build the submission calendar backwards from the volume you hope to appear in, leave room for revision after anonymous review, and use the interval productively — present the work at the JEN research track, let the mentoring readers see a late draft, and let classroom colleagues test any strategy you describe before the printed version fixes it in place. Scholars who treat the annual rhythm as a feature, giving a study time to mature inside the community that will use it, consistently publish stronger work here than those who treat the journal as a slower version of a quarterly. The editors, drawn from that same community, can tell the difference, and so, in time, can the readers who cite, teach and build on what the journal prints.