February 2026

The 2025–2027 editors of AERA Open—Gustavo Fischman and Audrey Amrein-Beardsley (both at Arizona State University)—have set forth a vision for the remainder of their term in a new editorial vision statement. Positioning AERA Open as a forum for rigorous, timely, and engaged scholarship, they outline their priorities for the journal during a period of political and academic unrest.

The editors point to the suppression of ideas; attacks on diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility initiatives; cuts to research funding; skepticism toward science; and ongoing concerns over the gaps between research, policy, and practice. These challenges intersect with pressures specific to scholarly publishing, including “research nationalism” and the tendency to overlook transnational education dimensions; overburdened peer reviewers and editors; and the continuous ambiguity regarding artificial intelligence (AI) and how to ethically leverage it.

Within this context—and acknowledging the pioneering work of past editorial teams—the editors describe how they plan to innovate AERA Open to address these issues and reaffirm the journal’s commitment to advancing accessible and responsive research:

• New AERA ReOpened Section: In October 2025, the editors launched a streamlined manuscript type that revisits foundational AERA articles through contemporary lenses to cultivate dialogue across generations and methods.
• Diverse Formats: The editors welcome varied scholarly communication such as theoretical essays, methodological reflections, critical analyses, and multimodal scholarship.
• Enhanced Collaboration and Engagement: They encourage interdisciplinary submissions, a strength-based feedback approach, and nontraditional ways of disseminating findings, with the aim of reaching broader audiences beyond academia.
• Broadening Perspectives: They emphasize author engagement with diverse global contexts and international and multilingual research.
• Ethical AI Integration: They are exploring how to use AI to support editorial work in ways that are cautious, confidential, and attentive to biases.
• Other Initiatives: Subject to AERA approval, they are proposing Open Peer Review as an alternative option to standard, double-anonymous peer review.

The editors underscore that evidence-based, trustworthy education research is a public good and that improving how its published can “equip us with the tools to think critically, examine policies, explore practices with nuance, and envision better education futures.” They close with their belief in AERA Open to “be more than just another good journal” but also a “dynamic space for reasonable experimentation, knowledge creation, and exchange…[that] should engage scholars worldwide to join…in reimagining how education research is produced, reviewed, and shared.”

About AERA Open:

AERA Open is a peer-reviewed, open access journal published by the American Educational Research Association. AERA Open aims to advance knowledge related to education and learning through rigorous empirical and theoretical study, conducted in a wide range of academic disciplines. AERA Open publishes studies of education and learning in various contexts, such as early childhood, after-school, primary and secondary, and post-secondary education.

About the Editors:

Gustavo E. Fischman, PhD, is professor of Educational Policy and Comparative Education in the Mary Lou Fulton College for Teaching and Learning Innovation at Arizona State University and serves as Co-Editor-in-Chief of AERA Open. His scholarship focuses on understanding and improving the production, circulation, and public use of educational knowledge across scholarly, professional, policy, media, and civic communities.

Audrey Amrein-Beardsley, PhD, is professor of Educational Policy and Educational Measurement in the Mary Lou Fulton College for Teaching and Learning Innovation at Arizona State University and serves as Co-Editor-in-Chief of AERA Open. Her research examines education policy, measurement, and research methods, with emphases on quantitative approaches, survey research, and evaluation.