The American Educational Research Journal has as its purpose to carry original empirical and theoretical studies and analyses in education. The editors seek to publish articles from a wide variety of academic disciplines and substantive fields; they are looking for clear and significant contributions to the understanding and/or improvement of educational processes and outcomes. Manuscripts not appropriate for submission to this journal include essays, reviews, course evaluations, and brief reports of studies to address a narrow question.

The Social and Institutional Analysis section of AERJ (AERJ-SIA) publishes scholarly research that addresses significant political, cultural, social, economic, and organizational issues in education. This section publishes research analyzing the broader contextual and organizational factors affecting teaching and learning, the links between those factors and the nature and processes of schooling, and the ways that such "external" domains are conceptualized in research, policy, and practice. The section invites manuscripts that advance the theoretical understandings of the social and institutional contexts of education and that encompass the diverse communities of schooling and educational research to achieve social justice in education. The Social and Institutional Analysis section welcomes research across a wide range of methodological paradigms, including ethnographic, historical, narrative, legal, experimental/quantitative, critical, and interpretive approaches; the section also invites studies that make the nature and uses of educational research itself the subject of social and cultural inquiry.

The Teaching, Learning, and Human Development section of AERJ (AERJ-TLHD) publishes research articles that explore the processes and outcomes of teaching, learning, and human development at all educational levels and in both formal and informal settings. This section also welcomes policy research related to teaching, learning, and learning to teach. It publishes articles that represent a wide range of academic disciplines and use a variety of research methods.