Higher Education Research & Development

Higher Education Research & Development is published by Taylor & Francis 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 Evaluation of Teaching Practices, Higher Education Practises and Engagement and Higher Education Governance and Development, together about 32.7% of its articles. Its main subfields are Education. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)

Higher Education Research & Development (HERD) is an international peer-reviewed journal, established in 1982 as the principal learned journal of the Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA). Higher Education Research & Development informs and challenges researchers, teachers, administrators, policy-makers and others concerned with the past, present and future of higher education. The journal publishes scholarly articles that make a significant and original contribution to the field of higher education. Empirical, theoretical, philosophical and historical articles that address higher education in any of its dimensions will be considered. We welcome research that interrogates, challenges and reflects upon pressing issues in higher education, drawing on a range of theoretical and methodological frameworks. All articles must propose fresh critical insights into the area being addressed and be appropriately framed for an international audience. HERD seeks to foster conversations around particular HE issues and topics over time. To this end, we ask authors to review former issues of HERD and, where possible, engage with previously published articles as part of preparing your manuscript for submission to us. Please note that the journal does not publish: studies that do not establish their significance and originality case studies that are not contextualised and theorised development studies research (e.g., papers focused on economic growth, poverty reduction, environmental sustainability that do not consider the role of higher education in addressing these issues or engage with higher education research and scholarly debates) quantitative studies that lack critical discussion of the results single discipline or single institution studies which do not consider implications for the broader field of higher education qualitative studies that are descriptive but lack critical analysis and discussion of wider implications school or vocational education research book reviews Disclaimer

From the journal's Aims & Scope

Research area (LetPub): EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH

Editorial board by country: 1 in mainland China (about 33%); most named Mainland China 1, Hong Kong, China 1, New Zealand 1 (3 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website · 2026-09-29

CAS Journal Ranking

JCR / CiteScore quartiles on the journal's website

• JCR Q1 · best quartile · 2025
• CiteScore Q1 · 2025

Publisher-reported: JCR figures are Clarivate's and CiteScore figures Scopus's to confirm; both are a different system from the CAS zones.Publisher website

Database indexing

SSCIScopusLetPub

International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub

Indexing the journal's website claims

SCIEWeb of ScienceERICPublisher website

Other: ProQuest, OCLC

As the journal's website lists them, not checked against each database; for Web of Science editions the records above apply.

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.

Impact

Impact factor

3.62LetPub · 2026-09-13

Impact factor (publisher) 2025

3.7Publisher website · 2026-09-29

5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025

3.9Publisher website · 2026-09-29

CiteScore 2026-06

8.6LetPub · 2026-09-13

CiteScore (publisher) 2025

8.6Publisher website · 2026-09-29

SJR 2026-06

1.34LetPub · 2026-09-13

SJR (publisher) 2025

1.34Publisher website · 2026-09-29

SNIP 2026-06

2.06LetPub · 2026-09-13

SNIP (publisher) 2025

2.06Publisher website · 2026-09-29

h-index

144OpenAlex · 2026-10-01

i10-index

1,639OpenAlex · 2026-10-01

2-year mean citedness

4.7OpenAlex · 2026-10-01

Self-citation rate

10.8%LetPub · 2026-09-13

Share of gold OA articles

27.75%LetPub · 2026-09-13

Volume

Articles per year

163LetPub · 2026-09-13

Downloads per year (publisher)

888,000Publisher website · 2026-09-29

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.

Other sources

Acceptance rate (publisher)

11%Publisher website · 2026-09-29

Submission to first decision

28 daysPublisher website · 2026-09-29

First decision after review

114 daysPublisher website · 2026-09-29

Acceptance to publication

43 daysPublisher website · 2026-09-29

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.

A hybrid journal charges the APC only when the author chooses open access; publishing under the subscription model is usually free.

The journal's website is authoritative for fees; sources were observed at different times and each keeps its own value, without averaging.

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.

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

ISSN

0729-4360

Electronic ISSN

1469-8366

Society / sponsor

Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia

Latest issue on the website

Volume 45, Issue 6 (2026)

Official links

• Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
• Submission system ↗Publisher website
• Special issues ↗Publisher website