Nuts and bolts of writing for publication and creating a publication pipeline.

CRICOS No.00213JCRICOS No.00213JCRICOS No.00213J
Dr. Mark David Ryan
Screen Studies Association of Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand (SSAAANZ) Conference, The
Uses of Cinema: Film, Television, Screen, Monash University, November 21-23, 2018.
Film, Screen, Animation, Queensland University of Technology
Email: m3.ryan@qut.edu.au; Twitter: @Markdavidryan
Nuts and Bolts of Writing for Publication
and Creating a Publication Pipeline

• Traditional research outputs
• Becoming a productive researcher
• Research and writing cycles
• Maximising research outcomes
• Working in teams
Focus

Depends on the individual:
• Insight and intellectual satisfaction
• Making a contribution to the field
• Acknowledgment
• Teaching/research nexus
• Promotion
Publishing is increasingly an expected and integral component of being a well-
rounded academic
Why Publish?

A Social Model of Academic Writing
Source: Murray, R., & Moore, S. (2006).

If you’re preparing to publish – there must be an idea, basic argument, basic research
However, before the actual writing process begins, authors need to identify a publication
to write for.
Each journal has a specific focus, theoretical emphasis and audience
By writing for a specific publication, from the outset you are writing for:
• A specific audience – national/international?, inter-disciplinary/disciplinary?,
practitioner-focussed/academic.
• A set style and referencing system.
• A set word count
• A deadline
Without these elements in place before drafting commences, you can flounder without a
clear objective
Preparing to publish/where to begin?

• Choose an appropriate journal
• Read authors guidelines
• Read articles from the publication
In terms of book chapters:
• Present at conferences
• Respond to Call for Papers
So …

• Submitting to the wrong journal
• Article has the wrong emphasis for a particular journal
• Article is not written to journal specifications – rejection!!!
• The article is not a journal article and doesn’t follow journal
article format
• Has to have an argument of some kind
In my field:
• Screen
• Studies in Australasian Cinema
• Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural studies
• Metro Magazine
• Media International Australia Incorporating Culture & Policy
Pitfalls

Introduction (several hundred)
-Introductory statement/background
-Research problem/gap in knowledge
-Contribution of this study/research direction
-Argument
-signposting
Section 1: Theory/conceptual framework section (1,000 words+)
Section 2 (1,000 words+)
Conclusion (several hundred)
References
5,000-7,000 words (suggested word counts vary for each article)
Journal Article Structure

Q1 journal articles – how do we identify a Q1 journal?
If you have never published before – writing a Q1 journal article is tough
Book collections can depend on reputation or established networks
Write papers for conferences
Begin with smaller or non-refereed forms of writing:
• Book reviews
• Non-refereed conference papers – scale up to journal article
• Non-referred articles
• Co-author with established authors
Developmental approach to publishing

Publishing must be a priority – want to publish!
Academic staff, different environmental moderators to Research-intensive staff:
- Less time & a broader range of task competing for attention
- Writing during semester near impossible
Plan for writing cycles
- Plan writing for substantial gaps in teaching semesters
- Revisions, incremental writing during semesters
- Create writing days in weekly schedule
Planning for Writing

HERDC categories
- Book/monograph
- Journal article
- Book chapter
- Refereed conference paper
Non-weighted academic categories
- Edited Book
- Non-refereed articles
- Editorials
- Book reviews
- Conference presentation
- Technical reports, white papers
- Blogs and other forms of online writing.
NTROs
Publication Types
Traditional
research
Teaching and
Learning
scholarship
NTROs
Book
Journals articles
Book chapters
Conference papers
Book
Journals articles
Book chapters
Conference papers
Creative works
Designs
Performances
Recordings etc

Publication Timeframes
Publication timeframes
submission – publication
Pros/cons
Book Can be 2-3 years Most impact
Profile raising
Most significant contribution
to knowledge
Journal article 1-2 years
High impact
Widest dissemination
Profile raising
Strong contribution to
knowledge
Book chapter
2-3 years Less impact
Not as rigorously refereed
Less prestigious
Long lead times
R/conference paper
6 months – 1 year Short turn about
Less prestigious
Less impact

To achieve an average of 3-4 per outputs per year:
- Have several publications under review or in development each year
- Publication across multiple types: book chapters, Journal articles etc
- Use summer and semester breaks for substantial writing
- Maximise outputs
Creating a Production Pipeline

“Maximising research outputs is crucial to becoming a productive researcher. Within
a research environment, workloads are fragmented between writing journal articles,
book chapters, research consultancies, competitive grants, unpublished discussion
and concept papers, lectures, and online blogs. Being strategic about your
knowledge creation with the intention of publishing can potentially increase research
outcomes” (Ryan 2012).
Conference publications - a key way to develop an article/book chapter
Turn raw research or non-published research into research outcomes
- PhD thesis
- Grant applications
- Funded reports
- Consultancies
- T&L deliverables and findings
Maximizing Outcomes

Financing Creative Industries in Developing Countries – Cunningham, Stuart, Ryan, Mark
David, Keane, Michael, & Ordonez, Diego (2004)
30, 000 words – three cases: China, Latin America, Indigenous Australia
Research Outcomes
• Keane, Michael A., Ryan, Mark David, & Cunningham, Stuart D. (2005) 'Worlds apart?
Finance and investment in creative industries in the People's Republic of China and Latin
America'. Telematics and Informatics, 22(4), pp. 309-331.
• Cunningham, Stuart D., Ryan, Mark David, Keane, Michael A., & Ordonez, Diego (2008)
Financing creative industries in developing countries. In Barrowclough, Diana & Kozul-
Wright, Zeljka (Eds.) Creative industries and developing countries : voice, choice and
economic growth. Routledge, pp. 65-110.
• Ryan, Mark David, Keane, Michael A., & Cunningham, Stuart D. (2008) Australian
Indigenous Art: Local Dreamings, Global Consumption. In Anheier, Helmut & Raj Isar,
Yudhishthir (Eds.) Cultures and Globalization: The Cultural Economy. Sage Publications, Los
Angeles and London, pp. 284-291.
UNCTAD report

Two key options:
• Book
• Journal articles/book chapter
Book
• Does it translate to a book?
PhD to journal article
• PhD is a huge pool of data for research outcomes
• Turn 2-3 of the best chapters into articles
• Each chapter is typically the raw argument/data
• Each chapter will need a new introduction
• Each chapter will need to be conceptually framed
• New conclusion
Turning a thesis in publication outputs

Sharples’ (1999) proposes a parallel, sequential and reciprocal model of co-authorship:
• Parallel – working on different sections in parallel
• Sequential – each author works on a draft incrementally
• Reciprocal – co-authors working together to talk through ideas, or physically writing
together in front of a computer screen).
Benefits:
• Create scales & increases productivity
• A more time-efficient means of producing articles
• Provides motivation/incentive to write
• It can pool ideas and build layers of perspective
• De facto mentorship and personal development for early-career researchers or post-
graduate students.
Writing in teams

• Silverman (1999, pp. 144-146) identifies 11 factors for successful writing collaboration:
• Satisfactory comfort level between co-authors.
• Co-authors should be dependable
• Equally enthusiastic about the project.
• Co-authors must be able to prioritise writing tasks
• Complementary Knowledge in the field
• There should be compatibility between critical perspectives.
• Mutual respect,
• A willingness of co-authors to compromise and negotiate.
• Co-authors must have writing ability and a compatible writing style
Factors to Consider when Forming a Writing Team

Professional identity and transdisciplinary
Film and screen studies has long valued disciplinary depth
Digital disruption and the complex nature of the industry, the shift towards
engagement and end-user benefit for research are increasing the need for
interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research
Challenges of inter(trans)disciplinary research:
• Not always in control
• Need for applied research
• Publication in non-disciplinary journals
• Much be strategic in engagement to shape professional identity

Identify an appropriate publisher or publication series
Must be compelling!
Why is the book needed - what is the gap in knowledge?
Convince the academic readers not the publisher
Demonstrate that you can write this book
Proposal must articulate strongly that you know the field
Proposed structure, stated aims and goals – must add up
Book proposals

Pros
• Raise your profile in the field
• Creates a national/international network
• Makes a contribution to the field
Cons
• Not a research outcome
• Huge amount of work
• An editor can do a lot of work for other people
Edited books?
Source: Ryan and Goldsmith 2017

• What do I already have that can be a starting point?
- Data set
- Report
- Thesis
- T&L project
- Article draft
• Plan 2-3 key outputs for rest of the semester/summer break
• What publications are they targeted for?
• What does your writing cycle look like for the coming year?
• What support do you need to complete these outputs?
• Who can I work with on a research output?
Preparing for Publication Over Summer …

Germano, William. (2015) From Dissertation to Book. 2nd Edn. Chicago: University of Chicago
Press.
Murray, R., & Moore, S. (2006). The Handbook of Academic Writing: A fresh approach. Berkshire,
United Kingdom: Open University Press.
Ryan, Mark, David. (2012). Writing and publishing research articles in teams. Australian Journal of
Communication, 39(3), pp. 143-160.
Ryan, Mark David and Goldsmith, Ben (Eds.). (2017). Australian screen in the 2000s. Palgrave
Macmillan, Cham, Switzerland.
Sharples, M. (1999). How we write: Writing as creative design. London: Routledge.
Silverman, F. H. (1999). Publishing for Tenure and Beyond. Westport: Praeger Publishers.
References

Nuts and bolts of writing for publication and creating a publication pipeline.

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

Similar to Nuts and bolts of writing for publication and creating a publication pipeline.

Similar to Nuts and bolts of writing for publication and creating a publication pipeline. (20)

More from Mark David Ryan

More from Mark David Ryan (8)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Nuts and bolts of writing for publication and creating a publication pipeline.