Evaluating Research Papers in Mathematics Education

Abstract

I would like to address, from two different perspectives, the question of the criteria used in evaluating research papers in mathematics education. The first perspective, which I will call theoretical, encompasses the principles on which an evaluation is said to rest. A scholarly journal would normally spell out such principles in a policy statement, which would take the form of a set of guidelines and a list of criteria, supported by a rationale. In most cases such a policy statement would represent the best efforts of the board of editors in setting out how they believe the merits of a research paper should be judged. The editors would expect that reviewers (themselves included) would have a good understanding of these criteria and would apply them consistently to research papers submitted to the journal.