Gerard Goggin talk for postgraduate researchers, Dept of Media & Communications, University of Sydney, 11 Sept 2015

1. writing academic
journal articles
Gerard Goggin
Dept of Media and Communications
University of Sydney
11 September 2015

2. why journal articles?
• important part of advanced research (i.e. higher
degrees by research) is disseminating your work by
publishing
• journals remain important part of this
• many reasons for this: they define the field; they are
laboratories for thinking; they are now – more or less –
accessible via databases & Internet search; they allow
people (e.g. future academic employers) to evaluate
your work and potential; they offer great way to get
feedback – peer-review – from experts in the field;
they provide way for other researchers to know,
interact with, and cite, your work

3. contemporary context for research
• local university context
• International context: discipline & fields (standards, norms,
questions, agenda)
• quality discourses & frameworks: Excellence Research Australia
(ERA)
• justifying research: expectations of different publics
– ‘end-users’, ‘stakeholders’, ‘media’, ‘taxpayers’, ‘communities’
• expectation that researchers will seek funding
• new emphasis on collaborative, team-based research in humanities
• new idea of the research career in humanities & social sciences (cf.
sciences)
• Expectation that researchers will work across disciplines,
universities, and sectors (i.e. with industry, communities)

4. contemporary context for journals
• the quality turn: Excellence Research Australia;
ranking of journals (ISI listing; university & national
rankings)
• means greater emphasis on quality/standing of
journals – and pressure to publish in top journals in
field
• other factors: great proliferation of journals;
transnational companies that dominate academic
journal publishing (Taylor & Francis; Sage; etc);
Internet/new media models of circulating journal
content; emergence of open access journals; issues
concerning independent journal publishing; Google
Scholar (and emergence of h-index in academia)

5. writing & publishing
• build writing into your research – and research
career – early on
• aim to publish 2 very good journal articles by time
you have finished your PhD
• develop strategies for sustaining your writing
practice
• seek different kinds of feedback for your work
• think strategically about where you publish
• gain experience in academic publishing (reviewing;
editing; publishing)

6. Journal selection
• It’s important that you familiarize yourself
with academic journals
• Which are the journals in your field/s
• Which are ‘best’/most influential
• What the characteristics/style of journal &
what kind of work they publish
• Who their communities are

7. Journal selection
• What are the journals in your field?
• What are the top journals?
• Which do you wish to publish in?
• Are their journals that aren’t best, but are
important for communicating with particular
audiences – e.g. national audiences,
professional/practitioner audiences?
• Where you do want to publish over a 3-5 year
period?

8. Top journals
Most widely accepted (still problematic) ranking
is ISI Journal Citation reports
For communication, ISI lists 76 journal journals
& measures their number of citations and
impact factors
You can access this via the USYD library
Google Scholar is rising in importance, it offers
an alternative ranking of journals now - see, for
instance, its ‘top publications - communication’

9. Which journal for this paper?
• Think about which journals you wish/need to
publish in;
• Think which journal is best fit for this
paper/piece of research
• Know the journal! – read it, understand its
place in field/history/etc
• Take advice from your supervisor, other
academics, colleagues about suitability of
journal

10. rationale
• Why are you writing this paper?
• What’s its point?
• What your approach/methods?
• With whom are you hoping to communicate?

11. writing a journal article 1/3
• abstract
• journal – sense of audience/outlet
• drafts of paper
• conference paper are great way to work up draft
& get feedback (quickly revise afterwards for
submission)
• pre-review critique
• adhere to style (as many don’t); keep to length;
be professional in dealings with editor
• article submitted; will be assessed; then, if
thought suitable, will go to review

12. writing a journal article 2/3
• follow up to see if reviews have been received
(after time journal stipulates – e.g. usually 2
months); NB: always follow up – don’t wait for
months or years
• editor will advise decision, and include
reviews
• usually: accept w/o revisions; minor revisions;
major revisions; reject. Or points of this
spectrum.

13. writing a journal article 3/3
• when editor advises decision (even rejection), do write back, be professional, and
acknowledge email
• negative reviews are tough to receive; so read them, feel the pain, then make
considered decision (in consultation with trusted advisors)
• be careful about understand what decision actually was – e.g. editor will signal if
they want paper, even if one (or more) review was harsh
• revise quickly, and resubmit; include cover letter detailing response to reviewer
feedback (take all reviews seriously: don’t try to dismiss out of hand; but there is
an art-form to responding to reviewer comments)
• if accepted, the paper will go into production
• deal with any further requirements (final queries; proofs; contracts; etc) quickly
and professionally
• create an open access version of your paper to put on website/in repository
before it is finally published
• when article is published, especially if in special issue, please consider thanking the
editor (whose contribution is generally unsung)
• send copies of paper/links to it to interested colleagues
• Create an open access (OA) version of your paper through a repository

14. publishing strategies
• publish in the journals that
– help you communicate your work to the audiences you
wish to reach & be read, & cited by
– affirm and place your contribution, to the intellectual
communities and traditions, in which you wish to
belong
• ensure you publish in top journals in field because
– It lifts & endorses the quality of your work
– Australian & international universities will increasingly
require it

15. publishing strategies
• continuing publishing in other, less prestigious or top, journals too,
as they will often
– be the most suitable & reach the audience with whom you wish
to communicate
– be where the cutting-edge thinking is happening
• Think about your other publication, and communication strategies
– Always put your work in open access & institutional repositories,
as well as publishing it in books & journals
– Give conference papers, talks, media, on your research
– Write op-eds in newspapers; esp. new online publications (Inside
Story; Online Opinion; New Matilda; The Conversation)
– use potential of digital & social media to distribute &
communicate your work & ideas (website, blogs, Twitter,
Facebook)

16. publishing
• Book publishing
– While book publishing is changing dramatically (esp. sustainability
of academic and quality presses; and new publishers emerging
specializing in print-on-demand, e-books, or publishing theses),
there are many opportunities for publishing your research as a
book-length study
– Depending on the expectations of your field, publishing a book is
important to do, so devote some time to thinking about suitable
publishers, and learning how to approach them
• Book collections & chapters will remain important
– in the humanities, especially, book collections can be field-
defining, and enormously important, so it is worth publishing
book chapters in well-conceived, influential anthologies (&
proposing book collections)

17. resources on writing & research
Excellence Research Australia: http://www.arc.gov.au/era/
Rowena Murray, The Handbook of Academic Writing: A Fresh Approach (Open UP, 2006), and Writing
for Academic Journals (Open UP, 2006)
William Germano, Getting It Published, 2nd
, (Chicago UP, 2008)
Lagoze, C., Edwards, P., Sandvig, C., & Plantin, J.--C. (2015). Should I stay or should I go? Alternative
infrastructures in scholarly publishing. International Journal of Communication, 9, 1052-1071.
Publishing discussion by 6 editors of leading media & communications -- Australian Journal of
Communication, 35.1 (2008): 90ff
John Hartley, Graeme Turner, Roslyn Petelin & Richard Nile, ‘Beyond the classroom: publications,
career development, and further academic study’. Australian Journal of Communication, 27.3
(2000): 143-162
Graeme Turner, ‘The ERA and journalism research’ Australian Journalism Review, 33.1. (2011); 5-7.
Graeme Turner and Kylie Brass, Mapping the humanities, arts, and social sciences in Australia.
Canberra: Australian Academy of the Humanities.
Special section of Communication Research and Practice, 1.3 (2015), including Terence Lee and Sue
Turnbull, ‘ “Parochial Internationalism’: Publication in Australia’, DOI
10.1080/22041451.2015.1079151
& Gerard Goggin. ‘The Surprising Value of Regional Journals in International Media and Communication
Research and Publishing.’ Communication Research and Practice 1. 3 (2015). DOI:
10.1080/22041451.2015.1079152