Journal profile · Social Sciences-Education
Empirical Research in Vocational Education and Training
ISSN 1877-6337 · eISSN 1877-6345 · Springer Nature · United Kingdom
Empirical Research in Vocational Education and Training: CAS Zone 3 · Education (2025 upgraded edition); diamond open access (no APC); no APC; review about 13 weeks (community reports); 27 articles in 2025; indexed in ESCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Empirical Research in Vocational Education and Training is published by Springer Nature and is in Zone 3 of Education in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Labor market dynamics and wage inequality, Education Systems and Policy and Higher Education and Employability, together about 30.9% of its articles. Its main subfields are Education. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
The main focus of this journal is to provide a platform for original empirical investigations in the field of professional, vocational and technical education, comparing the effectiveness, efficiency and equity of different vocational education systems at the school, company and systemic level. The journal fills a gap in the existing literature focusing on empirically-oriented academic research and stimulating the interest in strengthening the vocational part of the educational system, both at the basic and higher education level. Contributions published in this journal cast new light on a broad range of topics related to teaching and learning in vocational education, such as: pedagogy practices apprenticeship competence development validation of test instruments and assessment professional challenges with certain labour-market conditions classroom experience Offering evidence and reports from basic education and training to continuous or adult learning, Empirical Research in Vocational Education and Training will appeal not only to academics and researchers in the field of vocational education, but also to policy-makers, policy planners and administrators, school leaders and trainers. The journal encourages the submission of high-quality contributions aimed at: sharing comprehensive accounts on vocational education improving the quality and appeal of vocational/professional pathways keeping up with current changes on the labour market Topics addressed through contributions within the journal might include, but will not be restricted to: international comparisons of vocational education systems the relationship between context and learning in vocational settings measurement of competencies in vocational education and training the relationship between the labour market and vocational education educational pathways and returns to vocational education and training evaluations of reforms in vocational education and training efficient workplace learning settings and outcomes learning throughout working lives
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Social Sciences-Education
Editor-in-chief Stefan C. WolterPublisher website
Editorial board by country: none in mainland China; most named Germany 12, Switzerland 7, United States 4, Australia 2, Netherlands 2 (31 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Labor market dynamics and wage inequalityEconomics, Econometrics and Finance16.1%
- Education Systems and PolicySocial Sciences7.8%
- Higher Education and EmployabilitySocial Sciences7%
- Youth Education and Societal DynamicsSocial Sciences6.6%
- Vocational Education and TrainingSocial Sciences5.9%
- Innovative Education and Learning PracticesSocial Sciences5.7%
- Competency Development and EvaluationPsychology4.9%
- Retirement, Disability, and EmploymentSocial Sciences4.7%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Education Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Education | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Education & Educational Research | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Education Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Education | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Education & Educational Research | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
Database indexing
ESCIScopusDOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Editions, and major and minor categories, are shown separately and never merged into one zone; check which edition your institution uses before you submit or report.
Metrics
Impact metrics and publication volume
Impact
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 4.3LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.54LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.11LetPub ·
- h-index
- 33OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 134OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 3.6OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 13.6%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 25LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 283 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 12 | 12 | 2 |
| 2025 | 27 | 27 | 79 |
| 2024 | 21 | 21 | 135 |
| 2023 | 15 | 15 | 186 |
| 2022 | 11 | 11 | 223 |
| 2021 | 24 | 24 | 433 |
Sources count differently and were observed at different times, so each source's own value is kept; "publisher" marks figures from the journal's website.
Review & acceptance
Review time and acceptance
Review time from article dates manuscript dates registered with PubMed · to
Too few articlesOnly 4 articles from the last 24 months carry both submission and acceptance dates, too few for a median
Only articles that were accepted and published are counted, not the time spent on rejected manuscripts, so this usually runs longer than a publisher's "time to first decision".
Other sources
- Average review time (community reports)
- about 13 weeksLetPub ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 13 weeksDOAJ ·
- Peer review
- Double anonymous peer reviewDOAJ
Community reports come from authors' own submissions (confidence 0.5) and are not a promise from the journal; for publisher figures, the journal's own definitions apply.
Fees & open access
APC and open-access policy
Diamond open access (no APC)DOAJ
Every article is open access and authors pay no article processing charge.
| Source | APC | Fee waiver | License | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DOAJ | No APC | No | CC BY | |
| OpenAlex | USD 0 | — | — | |
| LetPub | No APC | No | — | |
| Publisher website | Yes, amount not published | — | — |
The journal's website is authoritative for fees; sources were observed at different times and each keeps its own value, without averaging.
Submission
Article types and submission policies (journal website)
What to prepare1 items from the author guidelines
- Suggested reviewers
- Optional
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteData availability, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review
- Data availability Formatting the 'Availability of data and materials' section of your manuscript
The following format for the 'Availability of data and materials section of your manuscript should be used:
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright Licensing and copyright
Creative Commons licences Model summary
Creative Commons licences Open access articles in Springer Nature journals are published under Creative Commons licences. These provide an industry-standard framework to support easy re-use of open access material. Under Creative Commons licences, authors retain copyright of their articles. Empirical Research in Vocational Education and Training articles are published open access under a CC BY lic…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Benefits of open access
Publishing open access (OA) offers a number of benefits, including greater reach and readership for your work: Cited more 1.6x more citations of OA articles than non-OA articles across all subjects Downloaded more 4x more downloads of OA articles than non-OA articles Greater impact 2.5x more Altmetric attention. OA articles attracted 1.9x more news mentions and 1.2x more policy mentions Open acces…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer review policy
Peer review is the process used to evaluate the quality of a manuscript before publication. Independent researchers in the relevant field assess submitted manuscripts to check their validity and robustness. Their feedback guides editors in making publication decisions. Typically, two or more experts evaluate each manuscript based on three main criteria: scientific robustness: is the research metho…
Source ↗Publisher website ·
Excerpts are quoted from the journal's website; "model summary" lines are written by Workers AI and checked against the text. The journal's website is authoritative.
Profile
Publication details and official links
- Publisher
- Springer Nature
- Country or region
- United Kingdom
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 1877-6337
- Electronic ISSN
- 1877-6345
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗DOAJ
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Author guidelines ↗DOAJ
- Aims & Scope ↗DOAJ
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
- APC information ↗DOAJ
- Open access statement ↗DOAJ
- License & copyright ↗DOAJ
- Peer review process ↗DOAJ
- Editorial board ↗DOAJ
- Plagiarism policy ↗DOAJ
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Empirical Research in Vocational Education and Training
What CAS zone is Empirical Research in Vocational Education and Training in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Empirical Research in Vocational Education and Training is in Zone 3 of Education, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Education & Educational Research. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 2 of Education. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
How long does peer review take at Empirical Research in Vocational Education and Training?
Authors report an average review time of about 13 weeks. Article statistics cover accepted papers only, publisher figures follow the journal's own definitions, and community reports come from authors' own submissions; none is a promise from the journal.
Where are the editorial board members of Empirical Research in Vocational Education and Training based?
Of the 31 board members whose country the journal's board page names, none are in mainland China; the countries named most often are Germany (12), Switzerland (7) and United States (4). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Empirical Research in Vocational Education and Training?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Empirical Research in Vocational Education and Training is indexed in ESCI, Scopus and DOAJ.
Is Empirical Research in Vocational Education and Training open access, and what is the APC?
Empirical Research in Vocational Education and Training is a diamond open-access journal (no APC). It charges no article processing charge.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, OpenAlex, DOAJ, Publisher website; every figure is tagged with its source and the date it was observed, and conflicting values are kept per source. LetPub source page: view ↗ (archived 2026-08-26). Last updated: .