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, you will ...

• understand what differentiates journals, enabling an informed choice
• understand journal editors’ criteria for selection, applied to your own draft article
• know how to identify the target readership and what they will gain from reading the article
• have developed techniques for how to present a scholarly argument effectively
• have developed a confident critical engagement with secondary sources
• understand the peer review and publishing process
• understand authors’ responsibilities on copyright and licensing
• have the ability and confidence to write a structured and effective abstract

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
    
    

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 May 07-08, 2024 - 09:30 - 16:30.
• Participation on both days is required.
• Campus Hasselt, old prison, room FR-1.02

Registration?

• Registrations are closed as from March 28, 2024.
• 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 the end of March. The deadline for submitting the draft article will be April 07, 2024.

Acknowledged as?

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