Writing articles for international peer-reviewed journals in the humanities and social sciences

This workshop by Josie Dixon (Lucian Consulting) focuses on the key criteria involved in journal editors’ selection processes and peer-review, and how to meet them. Based on the inside knowledge of an experienced academic publisher, it is designed to develop essential skills in writing articles in order to increase researchers’ chances of placing their work in premium scholarly journals.

The workshop is built around examples from the participants’ draft articles, and covers the use of English for scholarly purposes, presenting an argument and addressing international audiences, as well as practical issues on what editors look for, the peer review process, copyright, licensing and open access.

The training features an intensive session on academic writing in English for non-native speakers, focusing on effective scholarly communication in an international context and writing an abstract. The material is closely tailored to the needs of the group, with a mixture of presentation, discussion and interactive exercises.

The following topics are addressed in the workshop:

• why publish, and where to publish?
• what journal editors look for
• addressing your readership
• writing tips
• presenting a scholarly argument
• use of secondary scholarship
• the peer-review process
• article publication
• copyright, licensing and open access
• writing an abstract for your article

Learning outcomes

After attending this workshop, participants will...

• understand what differentiates journals and be able make an informed choice
• be aware of open access and its implications for their publishing choices
• understand journal editors’ criteria for selection, and apply those to their own article
• be able to specify the target readership and what they will gain from reading the article
• have learned how to present a scholarly argument effectively, with greater awareness of strong and weak moves in the articulation of the argument
• have learned how to develop a confident critical engagement with secondary sources
• have thought about developing the larger implications to broaden the readership
• understand the peer review and publishing process
• understand authors’ responsibilities on copyright and licensing
• have learned to write a structured and effective abstract in 3 stages of drafting, editing and learning from a test reader

Competences

An important part of preparing for any further professional step is becoming (more) aware of the competences you have developed and/or want to develop. In the current workshop, the following competences from the UHasselt competency overview are actively dealt with:

• academic research competences
  • publication skills
• interpersonal competences
  • written communication
  • persuasion
  • presentation skills
• personal effectiveness
  • self-confidence

For whom?

• The workshop is open to Humanities & Social Science PhD students and postdocs, but priority is given to PhD students. It is aimed at people in the later stages of their PhD, with some original research findings to publish and preferably a draft to submit.
• There is room for 10 participants submitting draft articles, and 6 additional non-submitting participants (see below).

When and where?

• The workshop will take place on April 22-23, 2026 - 09:30 - 16:30.
• Participation on both days is required.
• Campus Hasselt, old prison, yellow room (22/04) and green room (23/04).

Registration?

• Registration is possible here as from January 08 until March 15, 2026.
• As places are limited, registering does not automatically imply that you will be able to participate. You will be notified by email after the registration deadline has passed.
• Please cancel your registration at least one week in advance in case you cannot make it (cf. cancellation & no-show policy).

Preparation?

• Participants are invited to submit a writing sample (up to 5,000 words) so that the examples and exercises can be built around their own work - Ideally the writing samples will be draft articles (or part thereof); if you don't have a draft article ready yet and are submitting a section from your PhD thesis, it should be a section with an original research contribution (not literature review or methodology chapters).
• Please be informed that the selection for participation will be done at March 16, 2026. In case of selection, you will be invited to submit a writing sample. The deadline for submitting the draft article will be March 29, 2026. The workshop will be for a maximum of 10 participants submitting articles, and a maximum of 6 non-submitting participants. For those who are not ready to submit an article but would like to attend, please identify for your own use a piece of work in progress that you would like to develop for publication as an article (so that you can still do the exercises with reference to your own project (e.g. identifying the readership, testing out the claims of their argument against journal editors’ criteria,...).
• Please note that those who submit writing samples in advance stand to benefit most directly, with feedback on their own writing in the training materials. Therefore, in case you are at the right stage to submit your work-in-progress, please do submit your draft article. 

Acknowledged as?

• category 'research management & communication skills' - workshop on general research skills