Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Thoughts on academic freedom, scholarly publishing, and mundane practices This post is something I initially wrote for my newsletter. I had come across something that I wanted to write about even though I didn’t have a neat conclusion or lesson. I value freedom and autonomy. I know freedom and […]
Read More »Communicating scholarly knowledge
Publishing is an important part of your work as a scholar. Posts in this category address all times of publishing, understood as making your knowledge public: more or less formal methods, publishing for scholarly audiences, publishing for wider audiences.
For an introduction to how I approach the topic start with Communication vs Validation: Why are you publishing.
Revision following peer review is a normal part of the scholarly writing process
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Revision following peer review is a normal part of the scholarly writing process Upon the publication of my 4th Short Guide: Peer Review, I had a lively discussion with Katherine Firth to mark the occasion. One of the things that came up was the frustration that comes from the […]
Read More »Peer review supports academic writing!
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Peer review supports academic writing This post is an excerpt from the 4th book in my Short Guides series, Peer Review (A Short Guide), was published on 15 November 2019. I also offer a class called Dealing With Reviewer Comments which is based on the principles elaborated in this book. […]
Read More »Scholarly writing as a collective project to advance knowledge
It saddens and frustrates me that so many scholars lose sight of how meaningful their academic work is (or was) for them in the face of external pressures. Too often the collective process of advancing knowledge has been obscured by competitive pressures that lead to bullying and a distraction from the work itself to focus […]
Read More »What does citation mean? Values and practices in scholarly work
Helen Kara has written a though provoking piece about citation and scholarly friends: To Cite or Not to Cite your Friends. One of her scholarly interests is ethics, so it’s not surprising that she would think about this in relation to the ethics of citation. Is citing your friends cronyism? Is it “gaming the system”? What […]
Read More »Peer Review and emotional labour
This is an excerpt from my most recent Short Guide: Peer Review (A Short Guide) which was published on 15 November 2019. The one sentence summary that has been guiding my own revisions is “Peer review supports academic writing!” The book has 3 main chapters: One giving an overview of peer review in scholarly publishing. […]
Read More »Sneaky ways your gremlins try to get you not to actually publish
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Sneaky ways your gremlins try to get you not to actually publish One of the Studio members asked this question: I’m struggling a bit with my book because it’s going to be one of those £80 books that are marketed to libraries and basically no one reads. Modesty aside, […]
Read More »The value of voluntary peer review labour
What follows is a excerpt from my most recent Short Guide to Peer Review. I approach peer review as primarily editorial labour, with the goal of improving scholarship. I question the use of “gate keeping” as a metaphor for the role of peer reviewers in making recommendations to editors regarding publishing decisions, while recognising that […]
Read More »The relationship between writing for scholarly audiences & for wider audiences
My approach to academic publishing is focused on its importance for communicating what you have learned from your research with others. I also argue that writing (and publishing) for scholarly audiences is important and is often quite different than what you would write for practitioners, activists, policymakers, or other wider audiences (see What is the point […]
Read More »What is the point of publishing peer-reviewed articles if you care about changing things out there in the world?
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Peer-reviewed articles and changing things out there in the world I want to write more about some of the practical applications of the general point I made in Communication vs Validation: Why are you publishing?. In particular, I want to connect my approach to writing and publishing with the […]
Read More »Selecting a Journal
The third volume in the Short Guides series, Scholarly Publishing, was published in January 2019. In this edition, I focus on the big picture of publishing for scholarly audiences. After discussing the purpose of publishing for scholarly readers and what is meant by making a contribution to the advancement of knowledge, I look in detail […]
Read More »Being an academic in dystopian times: Valuing your academic work
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Being an academic in dystopian times: valuing your academic work As I write this, there has been an escalation of white supremacist activity in the US, and the generally difficult political climate in both the US and the UK has not really become less difficult than when I wrote […]
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