Wednesday, 2 July 2008

OUBS research week - publishing


Dave Wilson talked to us about writing and publishing in international academic journals, both in a general context, and from a PhD.

The first depressing thing he said was that publishing in highly ranked journals improved the perceived quality of a business school, which gave rise to pressure to publish in top journals, which would want high quality business schools to write for them. It sounds cyclical - at least that's how I sketched it. He referred to Barley (2006) who wrote about "transgressive papers" (slightly misquoted) that get normalised by a process that stifles innovation. Citation clubs exist to boost their own publication rates (Cynic). The lesson is that you should cite.
Advice:
  • submit to special issues
  • write with others to demonstrate you can work in a team
  • write for A and B rated journals
  • have a theoretical or methodological or empirical core message
  • address the "so what?" question "This work is important because .."
  • be able to describe your PhD in 4-5 sentences
  • match the subject to the journal
  • don't try to rush it! (this was so depressing because you may not publish till four years after your PhD)
  • use your conclusion of your first draft as an introduction to your second draft
  • if you get a "revise and resubmit" response, that's a reason for champagne-opening!
The greatest buzz is when you get cited!

No comments: