Call for Expressions of Interest: Special Issue - Research Culture

2023-10-03

Please Note: We regret that this special issue call is only open to contributors and delegates who attended the International Research Cultures Conference in September 2023.

The International Research Cultures Conference was a landmark event hosted at the University of Warwick in September 2023[1]. It brought together researchers, practitioners and policy makers to foster meaningful conversations and build an inclusive community of practice. To continue the conversations and to propagate knowledge further we have partnered with Warwick’s interdisciplinary open-access journal Exchanges (exchanges.warwick.ac.uk) to produce a special issue based on the event. This Research Cultures special issue will contain papers derived from conference sessions and the discourse which emerged around them. As such, all presenters or delegates[2] are warmly invited to submit pieces for publication consideration in the issue. The special issue’s publication is anticipated for summer 2024.

Expressions of Interest

Initially, we invite outline expressions of interest to be submitted to Exchanges Editor-in-Chief (Dr Gareth J Johnson) via email (exchangesjournal@warwick.ac.uk) by 31st October 2023. These expressions should include author name(s), proposed paper name and a brief description of the article’s proposed contents. Where proposals directly mirror information in the symposium programme, authors are welcome to simply include a suitable link. Successful authors will be invited from early November to draft their full articles as detailed below.

Manuscript Submission Deadlines

Submission of manuscripts for consideration should be completed by Fri 26th January 2024 via the Exchanges online portal:

When submitting your manuscript, you will need to first login to your preexisting, or register a new, Exchanges account. During the submission process, in the Comments for the Editor box please add a note: This paper is for the Research Culture 23 special issue.

There is no requirement to preformat submitted manuscripts, although authors are encouraged to minimise the use of any specialist plug-ins. Further brief guidance on formatting and shaping your article is given below. Prospective authors are recommended to review Exchanges’ policies on authorship, rights retention and conduct ahead of their submission:

Format Guidance

All manuscripts submitted for consideration should be between 1,000-4,000 words, normally reflecting the content of an author’s presentation. These will be considered under the journal’s flexible and popular ‘critical reflections’ format, which typically comprise discussions of the key ideas, debates and value written and addressed to a broad, interdisciplinary audience.

While scholarly in content, creating a critical reflection piece is intended to be relatively achievable in a short timeframe. Moreover, critical reflections undergo a generally swift editorial-review process helping to ensure a rapid transit to a publication decision, with author revisions normally achieved through a co-productive editorial dialogue.[3]

Critical reflections typically employ elements of critique, rather than present a simple narrative or illustrative recounting. Manuscripts should therefore aim to outline or introduce a topic, explore any key terminology, acronyms and jargon with which readers may be unfamiliar, before exploring any specific elements. Ideally the pieces should conclude with a critique, personal reflections or insights before a brief conclusion reiterating the key arguments, discussions or outcomes from the text.

Authors whose manuscript proposals might fall outside these guidelines are welcome to discuss their ideas with the Editor.

Readership

Exchanges is typically read by early career and post-graduate researchers across the disciplinary spectrum, along with members of the public with academic interests. As such, submitted authors are encouraged to address their work to people with this expected degree of expertise, rather than to senior peer-scholars. Manuscripts then should be written in a semi-formal to formal voice, although authors are encouraged to incorporate elements of personal voice or observations too, if desired or appropriate. Further advice on structuring effective critical reflections can be found in our podcast episode: Creating Critical Reflections[4], from past critical reflections published by the journal or via the Editor.

Images & Illustrations

Full-colour illustrations, pictures and images are welcome and encouraged in submitted manuscripts, provided accepted copyright practices are followed and source citations provided throughout. Please see our author guidance or speak with the Chief Editor for more on copyright clearance for third-party materials.

References & Citations

References can and should be included as necessary and while these should adhere to a single style, there is no requirement to use a specific format in your submission. In text citations though should ideally adopt the (Name, Year) or (Name, Year: Page(s)) where specific page numbers are cited. Exchanges does permit the use of endnotes, although any directly cited or utilised sources should appear in the references list. Conversely, Exchanges does not use footnotes in its published articles, and any included will be converted to endnotes during the later editorial processes.

About the Exchanges Journal

Exchanges: The Interdisciplinary Research Journal (ISSN 2053-9665) is a non-fee charging, open-access, scholar-led, interdisciplinary journal, published by Warwick’s Institute of Advanced Study (IAS) since 2013. It attracts articles from scholars and practitioners around the world, which are read by an international and multidisciplinary audience. The journal also has a particular mission to support the development of emerging authors, reviewers and editors within the research community. Past authors also regularly contribute insights and publication advice to its Exchanges Discourse podcast series, available via most podcasting platforms.

Contact & Further Information

In the meantime, for more information, advice or further author guidance, please visit our website[5] or contact the Editor-in-Chief directly. We look forward to reading your submissions.

Endnotes

[1] 25th September 2023, https://warwick.ac.uk/research/ncrc/ircc

[2] While this call is directly address to contributors at all keynotes, papers, panels or poster sessions, we also welcome critical reflections from non-presenting delegates too inspired by the day’s events.

[3] Editorial review includes an initial scoping consideration by the Chief Editor, to ensure general suitability for the journal, along with a later revision dialogue with the author.

[4] Also available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.