Manuscript Readiness Level
The Manuscript Readiness Level (MRL) is a pre-submission framework used by the Journal of Educational Research and Practice (JERP) to help authors assess whether their manuscript is ready for editorial screening and peer review. The MRL is intended as a practical readiness guide. It is not a measure of research quality and does not guarantee acceptance or publication of the manuscript.
1. Manuscript Readiness Criteria
Before submission, the authors should review the following areas.
| No. | Readiness Area | What Authors Should Check |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Relevance to JERP | The manuscript should fit the aims and scope of the JERP, address a relevant educational issue, and show a clear contribution to educational knowledge, policy, or practice. |
| 2 | Clear Research Purpose | The manuscript should clearly explain the research problem or scholarly issue, the purpose of the study, the research questions or objectives, where applicable, and why the study is needed. |
| 3 | Appropriate Literature | The manuscript should engage with relevant scholarly literature, explain the research gap or rationale, and use appropriate and credible sources to support its claims. |
| 4 | Clear Method or Scholarly Approach | For empirical studies, the manuscript should clearly describe the research design, participants or data sources, data collection procedures, data analysis and relevant ethical procedures. For review, conceptual, or theoretical papers, the manuscript should clearly explain the approach used to select, analyse, synthesise or interpret the literature or evidence. |
| 5 | Clear Findings or Arguments | The manuscript should present findings, evidence, synthesis, or arguments clearly, directly address the research questions or objectives, and use tables or figures only where they support understanding. |
| 6 | Appropriate Discussion and Conclusion | The manuscript should interpret the findings in relation to the relevant literature, explain the contribution of the study, acknowledge relevant limitations, and avoid claims that go beyond the evidence presented. |
| 7 | Ethics and Research Integrity | Where applicable, the manuscript should include ethical approval, informed consent, privacy and confidentiality, funding, competing interests, data availability, and the use of artificial intelligence. All data, citations, references, and other research materials must be accurate and verifiable. |
| 8 | Technical Readiness | The manuscript should follow the JERP template, be anonymised for double-anonymous peer review, use APA 7th Edition for citations and references, verify all references against the original sources, ensure that the abstract and keywords accurately represent the study, and include all required submission files. |
2. Manuscript Readiness Levels
Authors may use the following checklist to estimate the readiness of their manuscript before submission.
| Level | Readiness | Description |
|---|---|---|
| MRL 1 | Not Ready | Several essential elements are missing or unclear in this study. The manuscript requires substantial development before it can be submitted. |
| MRL 2 | Developing | The main sections are present, but important aspects of the literature, methods, findings, ethics, or presentation still require improvement. |
| MRL 3 | Nearly Ready | The manuscript is generally complete but requires several revisions before submission. |
| MRL 4 | Review-Ready | The manuscript is clear, complete, appropriately reported and generally ready for editorial screening and peer review. |
| MRL 5 | Strongly Review-Ready | The manuscript is particularly clear, coherent, complete, and well-prepared for editorial assessment. |
Authors are encouraged to submit manuscripts at MRL 4 or MRL 5.
3. Important Notes
The MRL is intended only as a pre-submission readiness guide for authors. Reaching MRL 4 or MRL 5 does not guarantee that a manuscript will be peer-reviewed or accepted for publication. A manuscript may still be declined during editorial screening or peer review if:
- falls outside the aims and scope of the JERP;
- has substantial methodological, analytical, or ethical concerns.
- does not provide a sufficient scholarly contribution.
- contains unreliable, unverifiable, or inappropriate information.
- does not comply with the journal's publication ethics; or
- does not meet submission requirements.
A similarity score alone does not determine whether a text is plagiarised. Any textual overlap will be considered based on its source, extent, nature, and context. Editorial decisions remain the responsibility of the journal editors and are informed by independent peer reviews, where applicable.
4. Purpose of the MRL
The MRL is intended to help authors with the following:
- identify areas that require improvement before submission.
- prepare manuscripts that can be effectively assessed by editors and reviewers;
- reduce avoidable technical and reporting problems during editorial screening; and
- better understand the basic requirements for submitting manuscripts to the JERP.
The authors are encouraged to use the MRL as a self-assessment tool before submitting their manuscript.
