Aims and Scope
Journal Focus
Aims & Scope
Decision, Learning, and Human Development (DLHD) advances interdisciplinary scholarship on human development across the life course, with particular attention to how learning, cognition, decision-making, agency, and contextual experiences shape developmental processes and outcomes.
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Aim
Advancing understanding of how people learn, decide, adapt, and develop across the life course.
DLHD aims to provide an international scholarly forum for theoretically grounded and methodologically rigorous research that deepens understanding of human development across different stages, transitions, and contexts of life.
The journal is particularly interested in research examining the dynamic relationships among learning, cognition, decision-making, motivation, agency, identity, wellbeing, and developmental change. It encourages scholarship that connects individual developmental processes with educational, social, cultural, organizational, institutional, and technology-mediated environments.
Our Intellectual Focus
Rather than treating learning, decision-making, and human development as separate domains, DLHD examines how these processes interact over time and contribute to developmental trajectories, transitions, adaptation, capability, and human flourishing.
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Core Scope
Four interconnected domains define the journal's scholarly identity.
HD
Human Development Across the Life Course
Developmental processes, trajectories, transitions, adaptation, capability, identity, wellbeing, resilience, and psychosocial development from childhood and adolescence through adulthood and later life.
LC
Learning, Cognition & Development
Learning processes, cognition, motivation, self-regulation, metacognition, learning strategies, developmental learning differences, educational experiences, and lifelong learning across diverse settings.
DA
Decision-Making, Agency & Behavior
Judgment, choice, agency, behavioral regulation, developmental decision-making, risk perception, academic and career decisions, autonomy, and the cognitive and psychosocial mechanisms underlying human action.
CX
Development in Context
Social, cultural, educational, family, community, organizational, institutional, policy, digital, and technology-mediated environments that shape learning, decision-making, development, and human capability.
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Topics of Interest
DLHD welcomes research within, but not limited to, the following areas.
Lifespan and life-course development
Developmental and educational psychology
Learning sciences and developmental learning processes
Cognition, metacognition, and cognitive development
Motivation, engagement, and self-regulated learning
Judgment, choice, and developmental decision-making
Agency, autonomy, and behavioral self-regulation
Identity, self-concept, and psychosocial development
Wellbeing, resilience, adaptation, and human flourishing
Educational and developmental transitions
Adolescent, emerging-adult, adult, and later-life development
Lifelong learning and continuing development
Academic, professional, and career development
Career choice and career decision-making
Professional learning and workplace development
Family, peer, community, and social influences on development
Culture, diversity, inclusion, and developmental experiences
Digital environments and human development
Technology-mediated and AI-supported learning
Human-AI interaction in learning and developmental contexts
Developmental assessment and measurement
Interventions supporting learning, development, and wellbeing
Social and institutional conditions shaping human capability
Policy and practice relevant to learning and human development
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Research Approaches
Methodological diversity is welcomed when aligned with a clear scholarly contribution.
DLHD welcomes quantitative, qualitative, mixed-methods, longitudinal, cross-sectional, experimental, quasi-experimental, comparative, cross-cultural, and interdisciplinary research. Studies employing advanced measurement, psychometric, developmental, behavioral, or computational approaches are also welcomed when they directly contribute to understanding learning, decision-making, or human development.
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Article Types
The journal publishes substantive contributions that advance knowledge within its core scope.
Original Research ArticlesSystematic ReviewsMeta-AnalysesScoping ReviewsTheoretical ArticlesConceptual ArticlesMethodological StudiesCross-Cultural StudiesLongitudinal Studies
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What DLHD Looks For
Manuscripts should contribute more than a local description of a phenomenon.
Theoretical Contribution
Clear connection to relevant concepts, theories, or scholarly debates.
Methodological Rigor
Appropriate design, transparent procedures, and defensible analysis.
Broader Relevance
Insights extending beyond a narrowly localized research setting.
Meaningful Contribution
Clear implications for scholarship, policy, education, or practice.
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Out of Scope
Maintaining a coherent scholarly identity is central to DLHD's editorial direction.
Manuscripts may be considered outside the journal's scope when their primary contribution does not address learning, decision-making, or human development.
DLHD generally does not prioritize manuscripts that are primarily technical, descriptive, administrative, or discipline-specific without a meaningful connection to the journal's developmental framework.
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Pure software, engineering, or algorithm-development studies without a human learning or developmental focus.
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General business, finance, operations research, or organizational decision models without a human developmental dimension.
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Descriptive educational studies that provide no substantial theoretical or developmental contribution.
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Technology evaluations focused exclusively on system performance, usability, or technical efficiency.
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Clinical or biomedical research without a clear behavioral, learning, psychosocial, or developmental contribution.
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Policy analysis unrelated to learning, capability, developmental outcomes, or human wellbeing.
Scholarly Positioning
Understanding development through learning, decision-making, and lived contexts.
DLHD serves researchers and scholars across human development, developmental and educational psychology, learning sciences, applied psychology, life-course studies, behavioral science, and related interdisciplinary fields. The journal particularly values research that connects robust theoretical perspectives with evidence capable of advancing understanding across populations, contexts, cultures, and stages of life.