In the spirit of the IPJP’s aim to encourage research in the social sciences within a phenomenological paradigm, the journal aims to have series of special editions, each focussing on particular aspects or categories of phenomenological research and theory.

Undergraduate Submissions

In line with the spirit of the IPJP's vision of actively promoting the development and advancement of phenomenology - in all its many variations and expressions - the journal wishes to encourage students to give consideration to submitting work in the field of phenomenological thought and action. Examples of such work might be term papers, synopses of minor research projects, class papers and so on.

Submissions will be subject to a specific review process which will take into account the nature of these undergraduate submissions while simultaneously providing a quality assurance. 

Theme:

Phenomenology in Education

The thought-provoking editorial of the 2002 (September) issue of the IPJP asks for a broadened understanding and acceptance of varied phenomenological orientations to research. Robert Schweitzer draws attention to research apparently inspired by the Duquesne school of phenomenological research, which some believe to be at odds with the rationale and purpose of Husserlian phenomenology.

Over the past 30 years scholars associated with this School (particularly Amedeo Giorgi) have indeed established a tradition of empirical phenomenological research where the focus is on the lived-experience of research participants rather than on how the phenomenon presents itself to the researcher. This approach has found fertile ground in the field of education, perhaps for obvious reasons. Education (and all its associated activities and processes, such as learning, teaching, leading and managing) remains a phenomenon which defies definition and is profoundly about being human. In this regard, the editors are aware of studies in areas such as education leadership (particularly of female leadership), students’ experience of learning (particularly of second or foreign languages), students’ acquisition of academic discourse (again, particularly of non-mother tongue learners), and values in leadership.

The first Special Edition dealing with phenomenology and education was released in February 2008.

The journal hopes to publish a second issue entirely dedicated to research in education, but not necessarily confined to the empirical orientation to phenomenology. Researchers working in the field of education are encouraged to submit articles, either of completed studies or work in progress.

The IPJP will monitor responses and publish a second special issue as and when a sufficient number of quality articles has been received.

The usual peer-review process will apply. Please submit contributions in this specialist area to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Theme:

Method in Phenomenology

The journal is aiming to release a series of periodic special issues devoted to method in phenomenology as distinct from research per se within a phenomenological paradigm. As such, the submitted papers should focus on substantive foundational issues pertaining to the notion of method within the broad ambit of the phenomenological paradigm. There are no specific deadlines for submission of papers since each issue will be released once a suitable number of between four to six papers has been accumulated.

The first Special Edition dealing with method in the field of phenomenology was released in August 2006.

The usual peer-review process will pertain. Please submit contributions in this specialist area to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Theme:

The Teaching of Phenomenology in Psychology

One of the aims of the IPJP is to encourage the development of phenomenological scholarship.

To improve the depth as well as the reach of both scholarship and research from within this perspective requires that we attend not only to the question of what readings could or should be recommended to a relative neophyte, and perhaps an advanced undergraduate or postgraduate student, but also the question of how phenomenology is taught in different disciplines and at different levels.

In the conclusion of a 1973 chapter on phenomenological psychology, Misiak and Sexton wrote that for phenomenological psychology to remain a viable movement and an enriching influence it would have to:

• accept some common conceptual core or proclaim some phenomenological creed which would identify and unify the dispersed phenomenological family;
• develop and constantly improve phenomenological methodology;
• be ever cognizant of scientific advances in all psychological fields;
• maintain a continuous dialogue with other psychological movements; and
• remain in close touch with phenomenological philosophy.

Whatever the merit and status of this assessment, we are now, 35 years later, in a vastly changed world with a constantly changing higher education landscape and therefore in a different position to re-assess the “what” and “how” of teaching phenomenology in various disciplines.

Using the discipline of psychology as a case study, what might we learn if we ask questions about “what” phenomenology is taught and “how” it is taught with respect to themes such as:

• different styles and levels of difficulty in the teaching of phenomenology;
• exposition of basic phenomenological ideas;
• application and exercising of methodological principles;
• treatment of important figures in the history of the phenomenological movement;
• bibliographical information;
• new developments within this approach;
• discussion of the relationships of phenomenology to other traditions and, finally,
• the relationship of phenomenology to disciplines other than philosophy?

While it is not possible to attend to all of these issues in a single edition of the IPJP, the above agenda could serve as a guiding map for contributions to this proposed Special Edition.

The usual peer reviewed process will apply. Please submit contributions in this specialist area to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Theme:

Early Childhood Education and Phenomenology

The IPJP Special Guest Editor, Will Parnell, invites papers dealing with any aspect of early childhood education and phenomenology.

Early childhood education teachers and learners tend often to hold onto the experiences and meanings that arise from these early years, and all that happens at all age-levels and in the broad contexts that we call schools (for young children). Teachers, parents and guardians, and young children are thus ideal research participants where lived-experience is a primary focus of the research. Seminal in this area of interpretative phenomenology is the foundational work of Dr Max van Manen.

Interested researchers should send submissions to  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it after ensuring that their submission adheres to the journal guidelines. The usual peer-review process will pertain.

Theme:

Evidence-Based Pedagogical Approaches and Practises in Phenomenology:

Facilitating the Understanding of Lived Experience 

This special edition will focus on the ways in which phenomenological inquiry can facilitate embodied relational understanding within a pedagogical context. The term 'embodied relational understanding' has been used to refer to ways of knowing that have often been neglected in traditional educational contexts. These involve ways of knowing that are inclusive of the 'head, hand and heart', and do not excessively separate knowing from practical contexts that include the aesthetic, empathic, embodied and relational dimensions of understanding. The challenge to phenomenology has to do with the contribution it can make towards facilitating a range of pedagogical strategies that may empower this more inclusive form of knowing. For example, we can ask: How can narrative, poetry, mythology, film and literature be drawn upon in phenomenologically sensitive and rigorous ways in order to facilitate lived understandings in others (our students, our clients, our professional colleagues)? What pedagogical approaches can guide practice in education, psychotherapy, health and social care, media studies, ecology, cultural studies, archaeology and other disciplines which benefit from understandings of 'what it is like'?  How can we teach and communicate existential issues in ways that facilitate 'touched understandings'? This edition - co-edited by Kate Galvin and Sally Borbasi - will provide an opportunity to bring together contributions that approach these concerns from a number of different perspectives.

Interested researchers should send submissions to  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it after ensuring that their submission adheres to the journal guidelines. The usual peer-review process will pertain.