From Pipedreams to Pipelines Scholarly Publishing and the Art of Having Fun

Topics for Conversation  Why publish?  What to publish?  Where to publish?  How to publish? Technical aspects Psychological aspects

Why Me?  Editorships Review of Educational Research Journal of Experimental Education Florida Journal of Educational Research  External reviewer Educational Researcher American Educational Research Journal Psychological Methods Educational and Psychological Measurement  Published in a variety of journals for 20+ years

Five Not-So-Easy Pieces  Have something worth saying  Say it well  Find the right place to say it  Persevere  Enjoy

Why Publish?  Mandated Professional responsibilities Educational preparation  Choice Prestige Perks Pleasure

What’s Worth Saying?  Problem/Questions Trivial vs. Substantive New twists and insights Know the literature  Research of the finest kind Every compromise a weak link Why waste your time on junk?  How much more effort?  Good problems + good methods = success

What’s Out There?  Empirical studies  Reviews & syntheses of others’ work  Descriptions of “my stuff”  Advocacy  Criticism & re-interpretation  Book reviews  Theoretical papers

Things Well Said  Read, read, read  Write early, write often  Know your audience Good writing is good teaching The intelligent but naïve reader Target a journal and follow a model  Seek advice from the published Mentors, co-authors and friendly critics The promise and the peril of the “next draft”  The good-enough principle

Things Well Said (Cont’d)  Series of steps First draft  Internal proof and revise Second draft  Friendly critics  Proof and revise Third draft  Conference presentation  (Hopefully) friendly critics  Proof and revise Fourth draft  Editors

Anatomy of a Scholarly Paper  First: Accuracy and clarity  Second: Style and interest

Choosing an Outlet  Know the field Major journals Major authors (where do they publish?) Sources you’ve cited The web is not enough  Target the best journal with the best fit Appropriate content first Academic reputation second  Model your paper Follow recently published examples Instructions for authors

What Makes a ‘Good’ Journal?  Readership and circulation Practitioners Researchers/scholars General public  Impact factors Total citations by others Long-term citations by others  Selectivity Acceptance rates/rejection rates Not a very meaningful criterion, but some folks are impressed with these statistics

Editorial Process: The Editor  Submission to editor/editors Pre-submission query? Cover letter Paper/electronic: follow the rules!  Be patient but not too patient  Reject/Revise/Send out for review Appropriate content Appropriate quality

Editorial Process: The Reviewers  Anonymity of author(s) and reviewer(s)  Reviewer expertise?  Decision letter from editor Accept without revision (extremely rare!) Accept with minor revision (rare!) Revise and resubmit (common) Reject (common)  Be patient but not too patient!

Editorial Process: Resubmission  Which revisions to make? Mandatory revisions Suggestions  Explicitly address all criticisms  Same reviewers or different reviewers  Cover letter to editor/editors Detail changes (page numbers) Defend your work Be gracious

Editorial Process: Rejection  Consider reviews carefully Fatal flaw in your work? Misunderstanding by reviewers? Poor fit with journal?  Does ‘no’ really mean ‘no’? Major revision and submit as new manuscript?  Don’t criticize the critics Conversation with editor

Editorial Process: Acceptance!  Congratulate yourself and your co- authors  Keep copy of acceptance letter or Immediate publication credit Manuscripts get lost (changes in editorships)  Page proofs Check for typos No major changes – only corrections Quick turn-around  Purchase reprints?

The Psychology of Scholarship  Habits Publishing is an important part of our profession (teaching, research, service) Finite time and energy to see a manuscript through the publication process (be selective) Reading, writing, keeping up with the field Feeding your soul Colleagues and co-authors

The Psychology of Scholarship  Willing to take risks “Rejection” is a harsh word, but a helpful one  An error in conversation is limited in time and breadth  An error in publication lasts forever and can be seen by anyone Every rejection holds a lesson for us  Thick skin Critics are your friends Don’t take things personally John Tukey and Jacob Cohen: publication challenges in their careers

Professional Perseverance  Patience and the lengthy pipeline Avoid the temptation to double dip  Same reviewer pool for multiple journals  “Least publishable unit”  Multiple papers from single project  Self-plagiarism Multiple, staggered projects  Pleasures of “Revise and Resubmit”  Pleasures of “Reject” Tough skins and the love of flowers Plethora of potential publishers

The Art of Having Fun  Joining a grand conversation  Leaving your mark on the world  Building a reputation  Building professional relationships  Learning and growing  Shoulders of giants