Journal history

AJET in brief

The Australasian Journal of Educational Technology is a refereed academic journal publishing research and review articles in educational technology, information and communications technologies for education, online and e-learning, educational design, multimedia, computer assisted learning, and related areas. AJET is published by the Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education (ASCILITE). Prior to Volume 20, 2004, AJET was published under the title Australian Journal of Educational Technology. In December 2007 AJET announced the retirement of its printed version, the last printed issue being Volume 23, Number 4. Thereafter AJET became an open access, online only journal, ISSN 1449-5554.

Publishing History

AJET was established in 1985 by the Australian Society for Educational Technology (ASET). From 1987 to 1996 publication was undertaken by AJET Publications, conducted by James Steele, John Hedberg and Sue McNamara. During 1997-2005, AJET was published jointly by ASET and the Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education (ASCILITE) under the editorship of Ron Oliver and Roger Atkinson. In 2002 Ron Oliver retired as editor and was replaced by Catherine McLoughlin, with Roger Atkinson continuing as production editor. Following the dissolution of ASET in 2005, ASCILITE became the sole managing society, publisher and business manager for AJET. Up to Volume 19, 2003 AJET was published under the title Australian Journal of Educational Technology with ISSN 0814-673X. With Volume 20, 2004, AJET adopted a new title, Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, with the new ISSN 1449-3098 (print) 1449-5554 (online). The reasons for the change of name were detailed in Editorial 20(1). In 2007 IJET (International Journal of Educational Technology) merged with AJET. Also in 2007 e-JIST (e-Journal of Instructional Science and Technology) also merged with AJET. Currently AJET is published in six issues per year (prior to 1999, two issues per year; 1999-2004, three issues; 2005-07, four issues; 2008-09, five issues). In 2012 Roger Atkinson and Catherine McLoughlin retired as editors and were replaced by an interim team led by the ascilite executive and subsequently by a new team with lead editors Sue Bennett, Barney Dalgarno and Gregor Kennedy. Since then new lead editors have joined the team on a rolling basis, including Michael Henderson, Eva Heinrich, Chwee Beng Lee, and Petrea Redmond.

AJET is indexed in ACER's Core Journals indexed in AEI(Australian Education Index), in the National Library of Australia's Australian Journals Online, in Vocational Education and Training Research Database, and in a number of international indexes including Ulrich's Periodicals Directory, ERIC, Scopus, Thomson Reuters, Educational Research Abstracts Online, EBSCO, Socolar, DOAJ and others.

AJET's print version history spans the years 1985 to 2007, Volumes 1 to 23 inclusive. All issues were printed and bound in A5 size. In December 2007 AJET announced the retirement of its printed version, the last printed issue being Volume 23, Number 4. Thereafter AJET became an open access, online only journal, ISSN 1449-5554.

Copyright History

Since its inception in 1985 AJET’s aim was to follow open access principles, to ensure that no charges be levied upon readers or educational institutions by royalty or copyright fee collection agencies, or by database vendors, for reader access to AJET's online, free to the Internet articles.

In March 2019 the AJET Management Committee changed the copyright statement to take effect from the first issue of Volume 36.

Prior to Volume 36 the following was the copyright statement:

Copyright in individual articles contained in Australasian Journal of Educational Technology was vested in each of the authors in respect of his or her contributions. Copyright in AJET is vested in ASET (1985-86), AJET Publications (1987-1996), ASCILITE and ASET (1997-2005), and ASCILITE (2006 onwards). No part of AJET (other than single copies for private study purposes) may be reprinted or reproduced without permission from the publishers, except that authors (or an author's employer at the time of publication) may make multiple printed copies and public website or institutional repository copies of their own articles (subject to identifying each copy as an article which was published originally in AJET).

This key part of this statement indicates that AJET does not compel authors to transfer copyright to AJET, although copyright in the compilation of articles in each issue and volume belongs to AJET. The phrase "Copyright... is vested in each of the authors..." should be interpreted to include cases in which an author's employer is the copyright owner.

However, AJET's Management Committee reserved the right to approve requests for the making of copies for non-profit educational purposes. Authors should note that requests for a copyright permission are infrequent, owing to AJET's policy of open access. Any copies that are made, either in print or on a website, whether by the authors or by other persons, must be identified as having been published in AJET. Copies of the PDF file that constitutes the definitive print version for pre-2008 articles, with embedded bibliographic information and page numbers, may be obtained from the Editors, or from the website in the case of post-2007 articles. In the case of the HTML version, ensure that the 'Please cite as' section in the file footer is included in any copies or remounts.

AJET's Management Committee reserved the right to make agreements with the publishers of database products and indexing and abstracting journals to include AJET content and to receive electronic copies of AJET content for these purposes. These agreements do not affect authors' retention of copyright or the open access status of AJET content. 

Website History

During the period December 1996 to May 1997, Volumes 1-12 were placed on a website under the URL http://cleo.murdoch.edu.au/gen/ajet/, succeeded in 2002 by the website at http://ascilite.org.au/ajet. Republishing of pre-1997 issues in AJET's website is by permission and was undertaken by Roger Atkinson, using scanning and optical character recognition applied to printed copies.From 11 December 1996 to 26 March 2002 the AJET website maintained by Roger Atkinson was hosted on cleo in the Teaching and Learning Centre and its predecessors at Murdoch University. Relocation to the ascilite website commenced on 26 March 2002 and was completed on 26 September 2002. During 1997-2007, the web version for each issue was subject to password controlled access for an 'embargo' period of three months from the date of commencement of the distribution of the printed version. Members of ASCILITE and a supporting society, ISPI Melbourne, were provided with a login name and password, via their members only emailing lists. Library subscribers to AJET were provided with a domain name exemption from password requirements. The password restriction was lifted after three months and the articles were then accessable to any Internet user. In December 2007, following the decision to retire the printed version, access controls for the web version of AJET were discontinued.

Inaugural Editorial Board 1998-2006

Professor Ron Oliver Edith Cowan University Editor in Chief, 1997-2001 ASCILITE
Cathy Gunn University of Auckland Member, 1998-2001 ASCILITE
Barry Harper University of Wollongong Member, 1998-2001 ASCILITE
Clare McBeath Curtin University of Technology Member, 1998-2001 ASET
Sue McNamara Monash University Member, 1998-2001 ASET
Professor Rod Sims Southern Cross University Member, 1998-2001 ASCILITE
Elizabeth Stacey Deakin University Member, 2002-2004 ASET
Mary Jane Mahony University of Sydney Member, 1997-2005 ASET
Trish Andrews University of Queensland Member, 2002-2005 ASET
Carolyn Dowling Australian Catholic University Member, 2002-2006 ASCILITE
Mike Keppell Hong Kong Institute of Education Member, 2002-2006 ASCILITE
Lori Lockyer University of Wollongong Member, 2002-2006 ASCILITE


Editorial Board 2009-2014

  • Professor Dr Baharuddin Aris, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Malaysia
  • Associate Professor Helen Carter, University of Canberra, Australia
  • Associate Professor Chen Chwen Jen, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Malaysia
  • Associate Professor Cheung Wing Sum, NIE, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
  • Professor Gráinne Conole, The Open University, United Kingdom
  • Professor Geoffrey Crisp, University of Adelaide, Australia
  • Dr Iain Doherty, University of Auckland, New Zealand
  • Associate Professor Mark Freeman, The University of Sydney, Australia
  • Professor Peter Goodyear, The University of Sydney, Australia
  • Dr Cathy Gunn, University of Auckland, New Zealand
  • Emeritus Professor Barry Harper, University of Wollongong, Australia
  • Professor John G Hedberg, Macquarie University, Australia
  • Professor Jan Herrington, Murdoch University, Australia
  • Associate Professor Tony Herrington, University of Wollongong, Australia
  • Dr Dale M Holt, Institute of Teaching and Learning, Deakin University, Australia
  • Associate Professor Gregor Kennedy, The University of Melbourne, Australia
  • Professor Mike Keppell, Charles Sturt University, Australia
  • Mr Colin Latchem, Educational Consultant, Australia
  • Professor Kar-Tin Lee, Queensland University of Technology, Australia
  • Associate Professor Catherine McLoughlin, Australian Catholic University, Australia
  • Professor Carmel McNaught, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, China
  • Professor Ron Oliver, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Edith Cowan University, Australia
  • Dr Meg O'Reilly, Southern Cross University, Australia
  • Associate Professor Rob Phillips, Murdoch University, Australia
  • Dr Quek Choon Lang, NIE, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
  • Professor Thomas C. Reeves, The University of Georgia, USA
  • Dr Rod Sims, School of Education, USA and Knowledgecraft, Australia
  • Associate Professor Elizabeth Stacey,Deakin University, Australia
  • Dr Gail Wilson, Southern Cross University, Australia
  • Associate Professor Allan H.K. Yuen, The University of Hong Kong, China
  • Professor Alan Smith, University of Southern Queensland
  • Professor John O'Donoghue, University of Central Lancashire, UK

Editorial Board 2015-2020

  • Sue Bennett, University of Wollongong, Australia
  • Chen Chwen Jen, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Malaysia
  • Grainne Conole, Bath Spa University, United Kingdom
  • Laura Czerniewicz, University of Cape Town, South Africa
  • Barney Dalgarno, Charles Sturt University
  • Robert Fitzgerald, University of Canberra, Australia
  • Cathy Gunn, University of Auckland, New Zealand
  • John Hedberg, Macquarie University, Australia
  • Jan Herrington, Murdoch University, Australia
  • Gregor Kennedy, The University of Melbourne, Australia
  • Paul Kirschner, Open University of the Netherlands
  • Allison Littlejohn, Open University, United Kingdom
  • Lori Lockyer, Macquarie University, Australia
  • Martin Oliver, Institute of Education, University of London, United Kingdom
  • Thomas Reeves, University of Georgia, USA
  • Neil Selwyn, Monash University, Australia
  • Gail Wilson, Southern Cross University, Australia
  • Allan H.K. Yuen, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Editorial Board 2021-2023

  • Professor Sue Bennett, University of Wollongong, Australia
  • Professor Barney Dalgarno, University of Canberra, Australia
  • Professor Robert Fitzgerald, Charles Darwin University, Australia
  • Professor John Hedberg, Macquarie University, Australia
  • Professor Gregor Kennedy, The University of Melbourne, Australia
  • Professor Lori Lockyer, University of Technology Sydney
  • Professor Paul Kirschner, Open University of the Netherlands
  • Professor Martin Oliver, Institute of Education, University of London, United Kingdom
  • Associate Professor Gail Wilson, Southern Cross University, Australia
  • Professor Allan H.K. Yuen, College of Early Childhood Education, Hong Kong