Keith Smyth, Karen Strickland, Panos Vlachopoulos & David Walker

Writes of passage: developing an inclusive open journal in academic practice

www.jpaap.napier.ac.uk

@jofpaap

Background to the journal development:

•Collaborative venture, between Edinburgh Napier University, University of Dundee, Aston University in Birmingham and University of Auckland in New Zealand

•Online open access journal for new and established authors in academic practice

•Unique developmental focus, supportive of new authors, new reviewers and those wishing to gain editorial experience

Scholarship of learning and teaching

• No longer the preserve of educational specialists, theorists and researchers

• However challenges remain for academics (particularly in the disciplines) who are aspiring to publish their academic practice in relevant journals, e.g. writing out with the academic conventions of their own discipline

• We might also recognise a challenge for more experienced authors who may wish to broaden their engagement in the field of education and academic practice through other kinds of professional activity (e.g. reviewing)

• Question: What are your own experiences in first writing for publication in education or academic practice, or in helping others to do so?

Trends in Open Academic Publishing

•Political and technological reforms challenging established rules of academic publishing

•Finch Report (2012) recommended expansion of access to publically funded research – all outputs to be available subscription free. Green and Gold publishing routes subsequently established.

•Shift to open access to be broadly welcomed – but open access routes, in particular payment system, may have negative impact on early career researchers, PhD students and those not in receipt of large grant income.

•How open and inclusive is this in reality?

Journal themes include:

•LTA and curriculum innovation

•Academic staff development

•Institutional policy and strategy relating to academic practice

•Responding to the changing tertiary education landscape

Submission types include: Original research, reflective analyses, review papers and case studies in ‘Long paper’ format (written or interactive); plus ‘On the Horizon’ short papers; Opinion Pieces, and book reviews.

Developing capacity in academic publishing

•Developing authors

•Developing reviewers

•Developing editors

•Providing opportunities for the wider academic community: Special Issues

Open Peer Review

•Blind peer review open to bias and abuse (Peters, 2013) – unattributed negative feedback can be highly damaging for inexperienced scholar

•Open peer review supports greater transparency and embodies the journals collegiate approach – names and institutions of author and reviewer known to each other

•Blog post by Cristina Costa (JPAAP Reviewer)“Open peer review is a welcome step towards transparency, but heightened visibility may also mean vulnerability” http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2013/09/17/peerreviewcosta/

Overview of Issue 2

http://jpaap.napier.ac.uk/index.php/JPAAP/issue/current

An invite to engage

Please take a few moments to discuss:

•How the kinds of professional development activities the journal is supporting could be adapted to or be of value in your own institutional contexts?

•Whether the journal itself could offer opportunities for your colleagues?

Future plans

•Identifying potential new partners

•Continue to reflect on and learn from process

•Sharing our experiences and offering support to otherswho may be seeking to establish similar journal initiatives

References

Finch, J. (2012) Accessibility, sustainability, excellence: how to expand access to research publications. Report of the Working Group on Expanding Access to Published Research Findings. (http://www.researchinfonet.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Finch-Group-report-FINAL-VERSION.pd)

Peters, M . A. (2013) Open Science, Philosophy and Peer Review. Educational Philosophy and Theory, DOI: 10.1080/00131857.2013.781296 (http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00131857.2013.781296#.Ui2CTH9lhH1)