Richard Fay and I are working together on an edited volume that brings together the voices and experiences of a wide network of early career researchers, reflecting on their early publishing attempts. The collection, entitled Doctoral Study and Getting Published: Narratives of Early Career Researchers, will be published by Emerald in late 2024, as part of their Surviving and Thriving in Academia series.
This edited collection focusses on researcher development/education, with emphasis on the often high-stakes, pressurised, and stressful process of publishing during, as, from, and after a doctorate. It brings together 15 narratives, reflections, and advice from early-career researchers regarding publishing.
From doctoral student to published author
Pressure to share research findings in the form of academic publications has meant that, early on in their process, doctoral candidates are encouraged, required even, to develop skills that will help them engage with the competitive publication market. Although in many contexts, this process of developing publication skills and an author identity is driven by the students themselves, increasingly doctoral programmes offer structured opportunities to develop as an author.
Doctoral Study and Getting Published is intended as a supplementary resource for use by doctoral students and early career researchers in the Humanities and Social Sciences, whether they are enrolled in academic writing programmes or working individually to develop their authorial identity. The book is a synthesis of narratives and reflections contributed by early career researchers focusing on their early career publication experiences. Although each contribution can be read independently and function as a catalyst for reflection, the full set of contributions will be framed and given shape by narrative and ecological lenses, thus ensuring coherence and suitability for use as a whole.
The volume will consist of 15 narratives that are given conceptual coherence through the use of an ecological perspective. The narrative approach that underpins the collection brings to the fore the lived experience of the participants and gives them voice. Ecological perspectives are increasingly used to conceptualise education because they help to foreground the interconnections between (intra)personal and societal influences that shape action. Together, the two perspectives will offer a powerful, yet nuanced insight into the way early career researchers develop their authorial identities.
Who is this book for?
The book will appeal to two main audiences. Firstly, it will be of immediate relevance to doctoral students and early career researchers who are in the process of producing their early publications. This publishing endeavour may form part of their doctoral studies (e.g., as a doctorate by publication) or, in an extension of thesis-based doctorates, be a dissemination of the findings.
It might also form part of some other publishing endeavour, perhaps collaborative, which is tangential to the doctorate itself. For this first audience, the narratives may resonate with their own experiences, offering additional insights into the opportunities for, and challenges of, early career publishing. Secondly, the book should be of use in the increasingly prevalent doctoral training courses which focus on writing for publication. In this context, the narratives and reflections that make up the volume may be exploited as case studies or examples to trigger discussion and reflective engagement.