About the Journal

The International Journal for Research in Vocational Education and Training (IJRVET) is a double blind peer-reviewed journal. This journal provides full open access to its content on the principle that making research freely and independently available to the science community and the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge and the further development of expertise in the field of technical and vocational education and training (TVET). IJRVET is since the beginning independent from any non-scientific third party funding. The establishment of the journal was supported between 2013 and 2014 with grants from the European Educational Research Association (EERA). All members of IJRVET work on a honorary basis. The journal is hosted by the State and University Library Bremen, Germany.

Publisher

IJRVET is the official journal of VETNET, the European Research Network in Vocational Education and Training, founded in 1996 (umbrella organisation: EERA European Educational Research Association). The Editorial Office is based at the University of Bremen, Institute of Technology and Education / Institut Technik und Bildung (ITB), Germany.

Scope

IJRVET covers all topics of VET-related research from pre-vocational education (PVE), initial vocational education and training (IVET) and career and technical education (CTE) to workforce education (WE), human resource development (HRD), professional education and training (PET) and continuing vocational education and training (CVET). Some themes within these areas are as follows:

  • Comparison of VET cultures and governance of VET systems
  • Qualifications frameworks, competence-based education and training, and competence assessment
  • Work-based learning, skills matching and apprenticeship
  • Teachers' and trainers' professional development
  • VET careers, school-to-work transitions, vocational guidance and counseling
  • Green skills, green jobs, greening TVET and sustainable development
  • Social issues in VET and social impact of VET
  • Transversal skills and transferable skills
  • Pedagogic support by digital media
  • Digitalisation of work and learning, industry 4.0 and industrial internet of things
  • Permeability of the education system, hybrid qualifications & dual studies
  • History of VET

Submission

  • IJRVET accepts literature reviews, empirical studies, theoretical articles, methodological articles and case studies. An article should be about 6.000 to 8.000 words in length. Literature review articles are considered only if they provide a substantial contribution to knowledge, go beyond a descriptive summary of existing research, and generate new insights.
  • Book reviews: In December 2017 we started with the section book reviews. In December 2019 we closed this section to have more space for articles.

Publication costs

Publishing in IJRVET requires no article processing charges (APC) or other publication fees (e.g. article submission charges). Publishing is free of costs.

Acceptance Rate

Articles undergo a rigorous initial screening followed by a rigorous double blind peer-review. Acceptance rate in 2025: < 5 %. As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with several items (e.g. structured abstract, ethics statement, AI statement). Submissions will be rejected already in the  initial screening that do not adhere to these requirements.

Publication frequency

  • Issues (online): Three issues per year plus rather seldom special issues.
  • Early Access (online) IJRVET publishes also since 2026 Early Access. Early Access articles are final versions of record published ahead of the formal publication of the regular volume and issue in which they will appear. They are fully citable by DOI.
  • Yearbook (print): In addition to online issues, we publish all articles annually in the IJRVET Yearbook.

Archiving

Why considering IJRVET as a venue for your work?

  • IJRVET is operated by an international community of researchers and it is therefore highly appreciated within the international research community.
  • IJRVET is independent from any non-scientific third party funding or publisher. IJRVET is a non-commercial academic journal committed to the dissemination of high-quality research as a public good. IJRVET is fully open access. Publication is 100 % free of costs (also no hidden costs). 
  • Authors retain copyright. IJRVET is listed in Jisc (Sherpa Romeo is now Jisc).
  • All articles are indexed in major curated databases (such as SCOPUS, Web of Science) and various repositories (such as DOAJ), and therefore shared around the globe.
  • All articles published 2026 and later are licenced under the Creative Commons License CC BY 4.0; they are approved for free cultural work. All articles published between 2022 and 2025 are licenced under the Creative Commons License CC BY-SA 4.0. All articles published between 2014 and 2021 are licenced under the Creative Commons License CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
  • Your article will be published digitally and also be included in the IJRVET Yearbook (print). IJRVET Yearbooks are available from Amazon (com, de, es, it, uk, jp) and other retailers. The Yearbooks are also open access. Yearbook 2017 is the first edition. Yearbooks of the years 2014 to 2016 are not available. To keep the price of the printed version down, free copies of the printed Yearbook are not available.
  • The journal is open for all authors worldwide, including those unrelated to VETNET/EERA or CINTERFOR/ILO. We are an open community of researchers.
  • Long-term preservation service to maintain permanent access to your work is provided by the German National Library.
  • We also use the LOCKSS system (Lot of Copies Keep Stuff Save), developed at Stanford University Libraries, and DOIs (digital object identifier, provided by Crossref) for each article to maintain permanent access to your work.