December 21, 2023

Well, That About Wraps It Up for 2023: Reflecting back on the year that was

Writing about web page https://exchanges.warwick.ac.uk/index.php/exchanges/exchangeshistory

The Editor-in-Chief takes a look back over the year that was for Exchanges

Santa GooseIt has been a year, and what a year it has been for the Exchanges journal as we celebrated ten years of publication. It has certainly been a very busy year, with three issues of the journal published and no fewer than five issues currently underway for publication in one degree or another. It’s also been a year when our special issue programme really took off, and if certain potential projects are funded, we’ll be able to expand what we considerably. Which means behind the scenes we’ve been welcoming and training more associate editors than ever before.

Certainly, there have been some particular highlights worthy of especial attention. First among these was the launch back in February of our monthly email newsletter, which lets subscribers [1] keep up to date with the month to month operations of the journal. If you want to make sure you know what’s happening with Exchanges, and where there are opportunities to contribute or get involved, sign up for the newsletter is a great way to do that. Alongside that we saw those three issues, one of which celebrated the end of a two-year collaboration with the universities of Delft and Nottingham – it was very well received by the readership.

Collaborations, Publications & New Pages

Looking more to the future, 2023 was also the year we established two productive collaborations, firstly with the National Centre for Research Culture(NCRC) and secondly with Warwick’s Modern Records Centre(MRC). If plans come to fruition, the NCRC collaboration may be a longer-term engagement too, going beyond the production and publication of a single issue. Watch this space [2] for more details as and when that arrives as this is exciting news for the whole Exchanges team. Speaking of the team, we were also pleased this past year to welcome four new Editorial Board members, including the first new member from Monash University in four years. This was because we’d said farewell to a number of longstanding Board Members as their careers and lives moved on, and so we wished them well in their future endeavours. [3]

Mid-year we were delighted to launch a new suit of pages on and about Exchanges on our host department’s, the IAS (Institute for Advanced Study), website. We used to have a page but, this was pulled a few years ago – so having an enlarged space to talk about the journal was only to our advantage. Have a look if you haven’t already, as you may be surprised by what you find, especially in regard to what our editors, Board and associates actually do.

Social Media, Guidance & Podcasting

There were a few minor developments too – we rolled out alternatives to the Twitter/X microblogging sites with accounts on Mastodon and Bluesky.Social, which are both slowly building a following. We – and I should really say ‘I’ here – finally found time to not only update our editorial guidance handbooks, but also revise and refresh all our online author guidance as well. This was a task long in the delivery, and I was pleased to at last have a little time spare to tackle it, as it has sat on my ‘to do list’ for far, far too long for my personal taste. If you’ve not had a look as of yet and are thinking of submitting to us in 2024, I’d really encourage you to go have a good glance over the guidance. I hope you find it helpful![4]

The Exchanges Discourse podcast continued from strength to strength as well, with 13 episodes largely dedicated to interviews with past authors, but also a few focussing in on what makes a good critical reflection or conversation, and our most recent special issue call for contributions too. This marks the fourth season of the podcast(!), and I can’t believe that next year marks our fifth year of producing it – at times it still feels like a new idea! [5] I’ve already got one interview lined up for early 2024, with a second one pending the author’s availability, so there’s plenty of content still to come. We also hosted a range of symposium, workshops and seminars covering topics from publication strategies, effective editorial and reviewing work, book publication and publishing for post-graduate researchers. Each of these sessions was varied, and often called upon old ‘friends’ of the journal to contribute as panellists – to whom I’d like to add a note of thanks!

Behind Closed Doors

Of course, like an iceberg, much of what Exchanges does – and certainly what I get up to on a daily, weekly and monthly basis – is hidden ‘beneath the water’, in terms of keeping the wheels spinning, supporting my editors, liaising with authors and reviewers alike. 2023 saw the first year the Warwick University Press Journals group came together to seriously discuss some of the challenges we all face running our journals, and to explore routes in which the institution and ourselves could work smarter, better and more effectively. While more concrete developments here are still pending senior stakeholder buy-in, I’ve already been talking about a phase II piece of related work with one of my fellow chief editors, which bodes well for the medium to long term health of Exchanges and the WUP itself too.

And this doesn’t even touch on all the work I do promoting the journal in one way or another in conversations, personal appearances and in promotional materials. It might be less ‘note-worthy’ and even arguably ‘less tangible' in visibility but by Grabthar’s Hammer, if we didn’t do it – all the other stuff wouldn’t happen.[6]

Looking Ahead

So yes, undoubtedly a busy, busy year with many successes. But as we head into the new year, and the 11th of publication for Exchanges, we are not resting on our laurels. This is certainly because 2024 is shaping up to be even busier, so rest isn’t on the agenda for now! [7]

So I do hope you’ll be joining us, contributing or attending one of our events next year, or maybe even simply listening to our podcasts or reading the journal. I’m sure you’ll find it well worth your time.

Other than that, on behalf of the Board and associates, thanks for reading, and see you in the new year.[8]

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Endnotes

[1] In the sense they join the list, there’s no charge for the newsletter, naturally. :)

[2] The blog in general that is, not this actual specific post. But then you probably knew that already.

[3] It may be too early to tell, but I’d expect to see more new Board members in 2024 – assuming any of the current long-standing members feel the time is right to depart.

[4] If it’s not helpful – let me know too, as I’m always interested in areas of information we can improve upon or better clarify.

[5] There are plans – hush hush and TBC at the moment – to launch a new podcast series associated with Exchanges. But I’ll talk more about that if and when I can.

[6] Does the university get a fair ROI out of their investment in me and the journal? I’d argue they do magnificently well! Of course, were they to invest more, we could do so much more of course.

[7] Christmas/New Year vacation time aside that is.

[8] By a strange freak of nature, this makes the 44th entry for the blog this year...tying us with last year! How many posts in 2024? Possibly just as many...if not more!


December 20, 2023

Exploring the Queerness as Strength Call for Papers

Writing about web page https://exchanges.warwick.ac.uk/index.php/exchanges/podcast

One last podcast for 2023 looks at our exciting new special issue call

There’s always room for one more – podcast episode that is! Bringing 2023 to a close I am pleased to say we have a fabulous conversation to share with you between the highly energised Jacob Thomas (Monash University, Australia) and myself. Jacob’s our newest Editorial Board member, but they are also the special issue lead for our Queerness as Strength future issue which we announced a week or so ago. At the time I promised you a behind the scenes look at the issue – and here it is! Listen in to our conversations here:

So, in this episode we talk about Jacob’s life, work and passions and how these have informed their proposed special issue call. As such we explore the ideas and hopes behind the call, along with considering some of the areas of discussion and insight we hope to see coming from contributors. Naturally, Jacob and myself both of us expected to be surprised, challenged and delighted by the variety of topics authors will be choosing to tackle.

We talk too about our concerns in making sure how members of the ‘global majority’ and other marginalised voices can find a place in our pages – ideally aiding in rebalancing some of the prevailing global north narratives or experiences. Our conversation also touches on how the issue resonates with Exchanges mission to bring forth and celebrate emerging debate, discussion and insights, in a thrilling way.

Naturally, the episode includes some guidance on how to get involved with the call and submit your expressions of interest by the deadline. You could of course just read the call for expressions of interest via the link below, but I think you’ll find it comes to life far more when you read in and listen to the podcast too!

To skip to the most relevant part of the episode – here’s an index to our discussions.

Timecode

  • 0:00 Opening
  • 0:50 Introductions
  • 3:38 Exploring the Call
  • 4:55 Inspirations & Origins
  • 8:05 Alignment with Exchanges’ Mission
  • 11:47 Globality & Representation
  • 14:45 Why Submit to this Issue?
  • 17:58 Authentic Lives & Experiences
  • 22:17 Practicalities & Deadlines
  • 26:06 Closing & Outro

For more on publishing with Exchanges generally, see our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠online guide for authors⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

And I’ll see you all back here tomorrow for an end of year wrap up post – bring games and snacks, it’s the last working day of 2023!


December 14, 2023

New Episode: Conceptual Association, Advertising & Hydropathy

Writing about web page https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/mBJlx1mJwFb

The third podcast from Exchanges 10th birthday issue gets into the water cure and historical advertising

Today I’m bringing you the third in our series of 10th birthday issue celebration conversations over on the Exchanges Discourse podcast. This episode sees me in conversation with linguist, cultural historian and conceptual association scholar Constance de Silva (School of Languages, Literatures, Cultures and Linguistics, Monash University, Australia) about her recent paper and ongoing research. We had a few technical challenges so the recording is considerably shorter than Constance and my actual full conversation – although you still get well over 20 minutes of considered content! [1]

Listen in here: https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/mBJlx1mJwFb

In the episode we begin by discussing Constance’s beautifully illustrated article The Rise of Conceptual Association and Linguistic Register as Advertiser Persuasive Instruments: An Australian study of press artefacts 1800s–1950s, which was in Vol 11.1 of Exchanges. There’s a lot to say and we touching along the way on elements [2] from the rise of the water cure (hydropathy) to emerging new concepts and meanings within advertising and every day language. Constance also graciously provides some related insights from her work into the changing roles and perceptions of women in medicine too. As always, the conversation moves along to discuss her ongoing publishing activities and plans for future papers, before we close with a range of advice for fellow authors on getting published.

To help you skip around the episode – here’s guide to our discussions:

Timecode

  • 0:00 Opening
  • 0:51 Introductions & Context
  • 3.34 Exploring the Article
  • 13:06 New Words, New Meanings
  • 15:44 Hydropathy, Women & Future Papers
  • 18:52 Publishing Advice
  • 22:30 Closing & Outro

This isn’t the last podcast for the year – surprisingly – as I recorded one earlier this week, which I hope to bring you before the Exchanges HQ closes for Christmas next week. I think you’ll find it an exhilarating listen, so stay tuned.

And of course, catch up with every episode of The Exchanges Discourse podcast, via our series index here:

https://exchanges.warwick.ac.uk/index.php/exchanges/podcast

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Endnotes

[1] For those keeping score, we actually chatted for about 90 minutes, and got into some really interesting areas of thought and research after we stopped the recording.

[2] No pun intended!


December 13, 2023

New Special Issue Call for Participation – Queerness as Strength

Writing about web page https://exchanges.warwick.ac.uk/index.php/exchanges/announcement/view/55

A new call for contributors goes live as we wrap up a busy year for Exchanges

This has probably been the busiest year on record for Exchanges, not least of which being the build up to and celebrations around our 10th anniversary issue. There’s been a lot of work behind the scenes both exploring and reconsidering our future direction and operations, alongside various events, training and lecturing contributions too. And what better way is there to cap off 2023 than with announcing our 10th special issue call for participation!

This time I am thrilled and delighted to announce we’ve partnered with scholars at Monash University, Australia to ask for contributions on the fascinating theme of Queerness as Strength. As we’ve been developing this call, it has become increasingly clear the potential wealth of fascinating research such an issue can bring to the fore. Moreover, this issue will most certainly prove to be both an interdisciplinary one alongside highlighting potentially marginalised elements of research discourse. These, as I am sure you will agree, are two aspects which speak well to Exchanges’ primary missions to enable challenging, interdisciplinary and international discourse.

You can read the details of the call here on our announcement pages:

As we’re doing this as a call for expressions of interest first, followed by invitations to submit, there are a few key dates of which potential authors might want to be aware:

  • · Deadline for expressions of interest: Friday 1st March 2024
  • · Deadline for manuscript submission: Friday 31st May 2024
  • · Anticipated Publication: Sumer 2025 [1]

Unlike some of our recent calls, like Research Culture or the MRC @ 50, this time we’re asking for papers in all our formats – from peer-reviewed articles through to the shorter editorially reviewed critical reflections and the like. This, we hope, offers potential authors the widest scope possible to contribute their thinking.

We are also hoping we will see some strong contributions not only from the global north, but from scholars based in the global majority countries too: something myself and special issue lead Jacob Thomas would strongly encourage. As always both of us are also only too happy to talk over potential submissions ahead of the deadlines if it will help authors shape their work accordingly.

We will have a special episode of the Exchanges Discourse podcast where Jacob and I talk over our hopes and ambitions for the issue coming out next week - so look out for that too!

In the meantime, we look forward to reading your submissions – happy writing!

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[1] As with all Exchanges publication dates, this will vary depending on the transit time of both peer-review and authorial revisions. However, this is our current aim, and we will update authors as the editorial work progresses.


December 07, 2023

New Episode Tackles ChatGPT, Reviewers from Hell & Linguistic Challenges

Writing about web page https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/WxxCEwd4kFb

Two new podcast episodes in one week – it’s almost like it’s Christmas

Beth Montague-HellenPodcasts are like buses – none for ages and then two come along at once. Which is why I am pleased to announce we have another episode to share with you this week, following the one with Jean Marshall. This time, and continuing our 10th birthday issue celebrations, I chatted with senior librarian and former biology Beth Montague-Hellen (Library and Information Services, Francis Crick Institute).

Listen in to the episode here:

https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/WxxCEwd4kFb

As always on the Exchanges Discourse podcast we talked about Beth’s recent paper and ongoing work, as a practitioner and former biological researcher. We started by discussing her article, Placing ChatGPT in the Context of Disruptive Technology in Academic Publishing which led to a very healthy debate around the pros and cons of generative AI in publishing, but also the power they have to assist in coding. Interestingly we moved on to discuss Beth’s experiences both as a researching library practitioner and within the biological fields, which seemed to be considerably different, especially from the peer-reviewer practices. We especially touched on the emotional affect and impact which overtly harsh reviewers can engender – especially on researchers early in their career.

Our conversation moves on to talk about the difficulties some authors have when publishing in Anglosphere journals, when their first language is not English. Noting again, the less than helpful comments some face from reviewers. We closed off our chat by exploring Beth’s considered publication advice to scholars working on their earliest articles.

Episode Index

  • 0:00 Opening
  • 0:50 Introductions
  • 2:24 Discussing Beth’s Paper
  • 11:31 Coding, Statistics & AI Accuracy
  • 13:34 Reviewer Experiences
  • 19:19 Publishing in the Anglosphere
  • 21:44 Publications in Progress
  • 23:48 Advice to Authors
  • 26:30 Closing & Outro

You can of course catch up with ALL of our past episodes on Spotify, or through our handy episode index.

https://exchanges.warwick.ac.uk/index.php/exchanges/podcast

Next week – another episode…and maybe even a fourth one to round out 2023 as part of our final big announcement of a busy, busy year for the journal.


December 05, 2023

New Episode – Sustainability, Batteries & Pringles

Writing about web page https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/NS2xyNqOhFb

Jean Marshall & Gareth J Johnson

10th birthday celebrations continue with the first in a series of author conversations.

It has been a while, but at last I'm pleased to bring the first in a series of new podcast episodes to your ears. As part of our 10th birthday issue celebrations, I had the pleasure of chatting with Jean Marshall (WMG, University of Warwick) about her recent paper and ongoing research. We start as usual by discussing her paper, Sustainability: Getting Everyone Involved, and especially about the multifactorial issues involved in achieving a greater global sustainability culture.

Listen to the episode here:

As is often the case with the Exchanges Discourse podcast our conversation expands to related topics such as battery technologies, polymer chemistry and recycling of multilayer materials. In case you are wondering, yes, we do talk about the challenges of recycling a Pringles can - a surprisingly complex operation. As always in these episodes, we talk about the author's publication experiences. From manuscripts Jean has under development along with her reflections of being a publishing academic. Finally, as is typical we close with advice for other scholars moving towards their first publications.

Episode Index

  • 0:00 Opening
  • 0:51 Introductions
  • 3:39 Exchanges Paper
  • 6.44 Electric vs Fossil Fuel Vehicles
  • 9:02 Recycling Challenges
  • 13:59 Multilayer Materials
  • 15:22 Publication Plans & Battery Technologies
  • 17:53 Publication Experiences
  • 22:09 Advice for Scholarly Authors
  • 24:25 Closing & Outro

Keep you ears open - as we've two more episodes coming your way very soon!

As always, you can find past episodes on the journal pages: https://exchanges.warwick.ac.uk/index.php/exchanges/podcast


November 29, 2023

Author and Style Guidelines Updated

Writing about web page https://exchanges.warwick.ac.uk/index.php/exchanges/guidance

Updated guidelines means easier submission experience for authors

A task I’ve been meaning to get around for some months [1] has been to go through our Author and Style guidance pages and refresh the content. Finding the right moment has been trickier than I thought, but in the wake of our recent 10th birthday issue, it seemed the ideal time to revisit this vital guidance to our authors, and make some judicious changes. Going through I could spot areas where the advice has been lightly tweaked over the years, and as a result some elements of it were mildly contradictory. Indeed, I strongly suspect it hasn’t come in for anything like a systematic review since I first came aboard the journal, and I don’t believe I’ve really had a look at the style guide quite as closely as I have in recent weeks.

The good news is that the changes are all now live, and both guides are – hopefully – a lot clearer.

Now, if you’re an author whose article is already underway – don’t panic! We’ve not made any major changes! We’re the same journal with fairly broad and welcoming requirements which make it as easy as possible for authors to contribute. This exercise was rather about bringing this online guidance more closely into line with what we advise authors in our 1-2-1 consultations.

Naturally though, we can’t claim to be perfect – so if there’s any aspect you’d like to see more about on these pages, let us know. We’re only too happy to keep refining and improving this guidance to ensure it continues to be fit for purposes for the next decade of Exchanges.

---

Endnotes

[1] Maybe even years.


November 16, 2023

Exchanges – Now Available on Bluesky

Writing about web page https://bsky.app/profile/exchangesjournal.bsky.social

For some years now, well actually since I took over running the journal in early 2018, we've had a fairly active Twitter/X account. We use this quite heavily to promote calls for papers and other news from the journal, and I'm pleased to say we have built up a good following. It’s unlikely you missed in recent news coverage how much Twitter/X's new owner has rather...reduced the site in many people's eyes, and there's an increased possibility these days that everything will eventually disappear behind a paywall.

Now, given the open access principles that Exchanges was founded and runs on, this really wouldn't be something we'd be too keen to remain associated. Which is why I've been hoping for some months to start running a new microblogging account on the 'Founded by Former Twitter Chiefs' Bluesky platform. This is still in its early days, and has a slowly growing community. Unlike Mastodon, which seems to have strongly attracted the more tech-savvy user community, Bluesky seems to be a place where more and more academics are hanging out. Hence, getting an account here as an alternative to Twitter/X seemed a no-brainer.

Problem being, you only can get an account currently with an invite code via a lengthy waiting list, or alternatively via a friend/colleague already on the platform providing an invite code. Luckily, I got a personal account on there a month ago, and with my first provided invite code this week, I welcomed @ExchangesJournal.bsky.social into the digital world.[1]

For the time being I'll be running the Twitter/X and Bluesky accounts in parallel, but I suspect as Bluesky grows and Twitter/X (probably) tailspins, I'll be favouring the latter option all the more.

So, if you're on Bluesky - come and follow us for all your regular updates on the journal and social chat about publishing. Of course, if you're not on there, you can still, for now, follow us over on Twitter/X!

---

Endnotes

[1] or just plain old @ExchangesJournal, to give the short version of our new handle.


November 07, 2023

Submission Guidance Video Leads to Smoother Submission Experience

Writing about web page https://exchanges.warwick.ac.uk/index.php/exchanges/about/submissions

A new video offers to smooth the route to paper submission.

As part of the preparations for our various special issues, I’ve been working on some new advice for submitting authors on the practical steps they need to take. I strongly believe in diminishing as many of the mechanical barriers to submission as possible, and offering a stepwise guide is one way to address this. While I might not be able to tweak the underlying OJS code on which we run Exchanges[1], there are still at least some ways I can try and make the submission experience easier.

Case in point: While writing the two page ‘here’s what you do next’ guide for the authors, I found myself thinking ‘I wish we had a handy video talking people through the steps involved in manuscript submission’. Such a compulsion might be a holdover from my long-ago days as an academic librarian – I wrote so many printed and media guides back then – but as I said, any barrier is a barrier too many in my book (journal). I thought this would be an easy task, maybe taking a couple of hours or so at most to script, record edit and share.

I was wrong. But you can click on the screenshot below to watch the final video all the same:

Submission video guide

You see, as part of the process of writing and creating the guide I had to go through the actual submission process myself with a dummy paper. I have to do a submission when I add the editorial each issue, but I generally don’t pay a lot of attention to what I’m doing – just need to get the paper into our workflows! However, this time going through the process more carefully, and observing each aspect was really helpful because it caused me to notice a couple of elements of our ‘submission wizard’ [2] which I wasn’t happy about.

One of them was the wording on our clickthrough publishing licence’. The phrasing here seemed less than clear in places, and I confess I suspect no one has looked at this since the journal first launched. As a result, after a little fiddling around on OJS I found where I could edit and revise them. Hopefully, now the phrasing is better than it was – let me know your thoughts on this if you have them.

I also discovered a strange glitch which was restricting the article submission types which were visible to non-editors. This isn’t too much of an issue in the editorial process, as we can shift the type easily – but at submission, I suspect this might be off-putting to an author. As I normally look at the site in ‘uber’ editor mode, this is the sort of detail which is easily missed too. In preparing for my video though, I switched to my alt-author account which as a result highlighted the issue! It appeared from what I could see that the article type categories available to authors clearly weren’t as they should be – with some options not displaying – and others erroneously still showing.[3] Certainly, they were far from clear and as far as I was concerned – a barrier to submission!

My apologies to our authors if you’ve experienced this glitch! I’ve no idea when it arose – I’m hoping it’s not been too long, but I have my suspicions. Nevertheless, I can assure you it’s been cleaned up. Now, the options to submit are in our five major formats: peer-reviewed article or review, and editorially revied conversation, critical reflection or book review.

Phew.

With this sorted (and despite a computer that insisted in BSODing me once) the new guidance video still went live last week. And while this might have all taken me much longer than I anticipated to resolve, hey, at least it also means I had an opportunity to hopefully streamline the submission process slightly.

---

Endnotes

[1] More is the pity here.

[2] It doesn’t wear a pointy hat, nor an eight-pointed star.

[3] I was fairly sure we weren’t interested in submissions to the special section of the journal published in 2014.


November 01, 2023

New Call for Papers: Becoming a Productive Publishing Scholar

Writing about web page https://exchanges.warwick.ac.uk/index.php/exchanges/announcement/view/53

A new call for papers for the October 2024 issue of Exchanges considers productive authorship.

As you’ve hopefully read in Exchanges’ recent editorial, we have rolled out a new themed call for papers for the regular journal. While we’ve a number of ongoing calls for special issues currently, the Board and me thought it was overdue time to explore a themed section in the journal itself. And what better area to explore than one which we’ve been discussing for the past couple of years in researcher workshops here at Warwick.

However, the short version is: we’re interested in papers exploring the paradigms, praxis or process which academics, at any career stage, encounter when balancing published output against the other demands on their time. Hence, papers on everything from overcoming challenges, through to effective strategic approaches or even ones arguing against the pressure to publish as a measure of academic esteem would be welcome. Critical reflections which examine personal experiences and coping mechanisms would be especially welcome, as these would be very well received by our readership I suspect.

Plus, as an interdisciplinary journal we’re aware that ‘productive publication’ has different meaning and imperatives across the disciplines. That has certainly been a theme we’ve heard about in our workshop discussions from participants. So, as a result, we would be especially interested in papers which either explore publication nuances from within particular disciplines, or those which alternatively offer comparative studies across a range of fields. Likewise, perspectives from early, mid or established career scholars would be equally valid and interesting, as I have no doubt in mind at all that there will be variations and subtleties worthy of exploration.

There’s plenty of time to get involved, or indeed have a chat with myself about potential papers, as the submission deadlines [1] run through to 2024. As always, myself and my editors look forward t reading your submissions! Happy writing.

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Endnotes

[1] There’s a longer deadline for editorially reviewed material like critical reflections, over peer-reviewed pieces.


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