BYU mathematics education professors Keith Leatham, PhD and Steven Williams, PhD, recently published research ranking 20 of the top mathematics education journals.
The article, entitled “Journal Quality in Mathematics Education” appeared in the July issue of the Journal For Research in Mathematics Education, and included comprehensive data ranking the 20 most-cited mathematics education journals into “very high”, “high”, “medium-high” and “medium” quality categories.
“We hope this article will provide a foundation for groups of mathematics educators, either within departments of mathematics or of teacher education, to argue for the relative value of their work,” Leatham commented. “We also think it can provide some important guidance to those who are trying to decide where they might submit their work for publication.”
Through their research, Leatham and Williams ranked the Journal for Research in Mathematics Education and Educational Studies in Mathematics as the top two research publications in the Mathematics Education field. The five journals falling into the “high” category were the Journal of Mathematical Behavior, ZDM Mathematics Education, the Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, Mathematical Thinking and Learning and For the Learning of Mathematics.
Data for the review were collected through two far-reaching studies. Leatham and Williams first compiled a citation count by collecting every reference to all mathematics education journals in more than 1000 journal articles published over a three year time-span. The second study presented the results of a detailed survey administered to nearly 1000 mathematics education researchers.
Leatham and Williams also compared their results to previous related rankings to include a discussion about how their results might inform authors, editors, and evaluators in their efforts to publish and recognize quality research in mathematics education.
“ Although mathematics education is a small field, it is nevertheless a legitimate field of its own,” Leatham concluded. “Research in mathematics education should not need to be compared with that from other fields in order to be considered high-quality work.”
Interested parties can access the article, as well as a complete ranking list, through their NCTM account. Those without an account can purchase the article here.