Copyright Sociological Research Online, 1997

Getting Published: A Study of Writing, Refereeing and Editing Practices

Introduction

Getting Published is an ESRC funded project based jointly at South Bank and Warwick Universities from April 1996 to March 1998. The project aims to offer a critical assessment of academic publishing in the fields of education, sociology and psychology. It seeks to answer such questions as 'who gets published?', on what basis?', 'for what purposes?' and 'for what readership?'

The project team would like to hear from anyone who has an experience to relate, or a story to tell, concerning the issues raised in the project.

Background To The Project

This study is a response to a growing interest in the criteria and means by which writing is accepted for publication in academic journals. Recent changes in the funding and structure of higher education have resulted in greater competition for research funding. This in turn has placed increased pressures on academic staff to carry out research and publish their findings in order to boost their own (and their university's) research credentials. Given this pressure to publish we need to know more about how academic journals operate and to make transparent the processes involved in getting published.

We are also interested in how publishing will adapt to the electronic revolution. It has been suggested that electronic journals will alter forever the economic, professional, organisational, and disciplinary relationships within the academic world. Electronic journals may largely replace paper journals because they are cheaper and easier to produce and we could be approaching the end of an era in academic publishing.

The project aims to address the issues described above by investigating current and future practice in journal publishing. We also hope to provide practical insights for those involved in writing and publishing.

Aims Of The Project

The specific aims of the project include:

• identify trends in authorship, content, methodology and linguistic features of selected journal articles;
• investigate the different stages of text production, i.e. writing, refereeing and editing;
• identify criteria used by editors and referees in recommending articles for publication;
• consider the role of publishing in the construction and dissemination of knowledge within a discipline;
• explore the impact of technological change on the production of journals;
• provide practical information for those aiming to have their work published.

A textual analysis of journals published between 1986 and 1995 will be carried out with the main focus on education, and a smaller selection taken from sociology and psychology. We hope to include the official journals of the British Educational Research Association (BERJ), the British Sociological Association (Sociology) and the British Psychological Society (British Journal of Psychology). The remaining journals have been selected to represent different levels of journal circulation and different subject areas within each of the disciplines.

Questionnaires to, and interviews with, selected journal editors, authors and readers will be carried out in order to investigate writing, refereeing and editorial practices, and the impact of technological change on publishing.

If you have any enquiries or comments on the project, please contact us at any of the following addresses:

Dr Angela Packwood Institute of Education University of Warwick Westwood, Coventry CV4 7AL	Margaret Scanlon School of Education Politics and Social Science South Bank University 103 Borough Road London SE1 OAA	Professor Gaby Weiner School of Education Politics and Social Science South Bank University 103 Borough Road London SE1 OAA
Tel: 01203 524 238 Fax: 01203 524 110	Tel: 0171 815 7979 Fax: 0171 815 5799	Tel: 0171 815 8063 Fax: 0171 815 5799 weinerg@vax.sbu.ac.uk

Copyright Sociological Research Online, 1997