Focus and Scope

The WINHEC: International Journal of Indigenous Education Scholarship is an open access, peer-reviewed publication celebrating Indigenous Knowledges. As a multidisciplinary publication, the WINHEC Journal is dedicated to the exploration and advancement of issues related to Indigenous education, research, culture, and language central to the lives of WINHEC nations and members.

Peer and Review Process

The WINHEC Journal is an international peer-reviewed publication. Every article that appears in the Journal is appraised by two peer reviewers. The peer review process is confidential and double-blind. Double-blind means the author's identity is not revealed to the reviewers, and the reviewers name and affiliation are not revealed to the authors.

Publication Frequency

At this stage, the WINHEC: International Journal of Indigenous Education Scholarship aims to publish at least one issue a year.  We strongly encourage Indigenous academics, teachers, leaders, schools, post-secondary educators, language experts, practitioners, or graduate students working in Indigenous Education contexts to submit their special issue ideas or proposals to the WINHEC Editor-in-Chief winhec.editor@uvic.ca

Open Access Policy

This WINHEC Journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

Authors contributing to the WINHEC Journal agree to release their articles under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 Unported license. This licence allows anyone to share their work (copy, distribute, transmit) and to adapt it for non-commercial purposes provided that appropriate attribution is given, and that in the event of reuse or distribution, the terms of this license are made clear.

Article Processing Charges (APCs)

The journal doesn’t have APC or any submission charge.

Author Self-Archiving Policy

This journal permits and encourages authors to post items submitted to the journal on personal websites or institutional repositories both prior to and after publication, while providing bibliographic details that credit, if applicable, its publication in this journal.

Sources of Support

• University of Victoria
• University of Victoria Libraries

Journal History

Our History 

In 2005, under the leadership of Danica Waiti and her team at the Te Tauihu o Ngā Wānanga based in Porirua, Wellington the inaugural issue of the World Indigenous Nations Education Consortium: International Journal of Indigenous Education Scholarship was published. It was an ambitious step in academic publishing, inviting community to be a part of the peer review process and focussing on community-based, collaborative, participatory research alongside Indigenous Peoples and their communities.  

The 2006-2007 issues built on the 2005 inaugural issue and encouraged the use of “Indigenous Voices in Exploring the Visions of Indigenous Peoples”. The 2007 theme presented papers based on a series of interviews completed with Indigenous women and men in Hawai’i, North America, New Zealand, Australia and Canada highlighting their lived realities, challenges, aspirations and needs in various educational contexts.  Unfortunately, the 2006-2007 issues are not available to post. If you, or anyone you know has a copy of these issues please contact the WINHEC Editor-in-Chief at winhec.editor@uvic.ca  so we can add them to the on-line Journal archive – many thanks!

In 2008-2009, Rachael Shelby, a lecturer at Massey University, as well as a kaiāwhina at Te Wānanga-o-Raukawa, Ōtaki, New Zealand led the publishing duties for this issue.  The 2008 theme, “Indigenous Voices, Indigenous Places” attracted contributions from the Sámi peoples in Norway, iwi Māori from Aoteraoa New Zealand, the Ularai people in Australia as well as, the Ojibwe/Anishinaabe/Diné peoples in Canada. The 2009 theme, “Indigenous Voices, Indigenous Symbols” attracted seven exceptional articles from Alaska, Norway, United States, Australia, and Canada. 

From 2010-2013, Professor Veronica Arbon based at Deakin University, and in 2013 the University of Adelaide was responsible for the publishing duties.  The 2010 theme, “Indigenous Voices, Indigenous Research” was the sixth issue, and drew on ancient local knowledge and how the journey of research is not only about healing and empowerment but also about restoration of Indigenous sovereignty, and service. The 2011 theme, “Elders and Knowledgeable Others in Higher Education” presented articles that addressed matters ranging from institutional change to the importance of acknowledging Indigenous knowledge holders and Indigenous approaches to conducting research in higher learning settings, and not just in academia. The 2012 theme, “Indigenous Youth, Change and Sustainability”, drew papers from the inaugural WINHEC Research Conference in Taiwan as well as other papers that were not presented. And, the 2013 theme, “Global Indigenous Leadership” showcased how Indigenous leadership is inextricably linked to Indigenous values, histories and ways of knowing.  

In 2015, Dr Marit Henriksen and Máren Palismaa based at Sami University of Applied Sciences in Kautokeino, Norway led the publishing duties of the Journal, and in collaboration with the World Indigenous Research Alliance (WIRA, aka Research and Journal Working Group), established in 2014 WINHEC AGM at the University of Hawaii, West O’ahu, Hawaii) worked on envisioning new possibilities and opportunities.

In 2017, Dr. Peter Anderson (Queensland University of Technology) in Melbourne, Australia became editor of the Journal.  The 2017 theme, “Indigenous Voices, Indigenous Aspirations” created the space for contributors to be future-focused, and to contribute research that has helped to move Indigenous research forward in the areas of language revitalization, land-based development, teaching and curriculum, as well as graduate studies. Dr. Paul Whitinui and Dr. Onowa McIvor were invited to oversee the 2017 issue as guest co-editors which was offically published in March, 2018.

In October 2018, Dr. Paul Whitinui from the University of Victoria, BC, Canada assumed publishing duties for the Journal and in doing so moved the Journal to host University of Victoria, BC, along with the establishment of a new Editorial Board. The Editorial Board members include Indigenous peoples from Taiwan, Canada, Australia, Hawaii, United States, Aotearoa New Zealand, and Norway.

In November 2019, a special issue on “Indigenous Cultural Leadership” included contributions from First Nations Peoples from Canada, New Zealand and Australia.  The special issue highlights the innovative and creative ways Indigenous artists, scholars, and community members are working to have their Indigenous rights, ways of knowing and world views included and respected. A key point of reference is that our ancestors' legacy for learning and teaching is timless, and based on the collective values, lore and practices each author argues are just as important today as they were before colonization.

Message from Editor:

I look forward to supporting the Journal's on-going vision of “Indigenous peoples conducting research as Indigenous peoples to benefit Indigenous peoples' educational aspirations and needs”.

To access archived issues please go to:  https://journals.uvic.ca/index.php/winhec/issue/archive