Journal Work Academy

Date and times TBA

For inquiries, contact:
Journal Work Academy (Carli Coetzee)

Organisers: African Studies Association of Africa in collaboration with the African Studies Association UK
Funded by The British Academy

Summary: The Journal Work Academy will involve structured sessions of practical exercises and collaborative work. The participants will be divided into “editorial teams”, and each team will work with one or two editors and with one or more senior scholars. In the simulated journal office, we shall constitute our editorial boards. Each journal team will write a short mission statement that reflects on the chosen theme(s) and will formulate the joint project and members will read and comment on one another’s abstracts (not on the full papers at this session). Scholars will provide guided feedback to one another’s work (following the protocols developed in the Journal Work Academy). Each author will receive detailed feedback from the others in the group, as well as one-on-one feedback from senior scholars and journal editors. This has the aim of improving individual papers, but also of strengthening future scholarly networks and building intra-African networks of collaboration.

This workshop will support the work of editors and editorial boards and contribute to training the next generation of peer reviewers and journal editors, in collaboration with senior scholars and editors based at African institutions.

Rationale: The outcome of the Journal Work Academy will be to create resources that can be adapted to different contexts, enabling tailored capacity building from the ground up. Participants will have the benefit of discussing their work with their peers from other institutions and thinking of their individual projects in terms of networked intellectual debates and future collaborations. The seminar-style format encourages collaborative work and understands journal publishing not simply as a step to career advancement but as an engaged and contextual scholarly practice. Through the collaborations between journal editors and the African Studies Association of Africa (ASAA), publishing cultures become a central part of a future-oriented academy.

Eligibility and application criteria

1. Applications are to be submitted in English.
2. The article under discussion must not have been submitted to a journal, or be under review by a journal.
3. Journals and journal editors are invited to contribute through the involvement of their editors and editorial committees and also by encouraging a candidate to attend the Academy. Independent candidates are also eligible to apply.

In order to be included in the workshop, participants need to be available between 10 and 16 April 2022 and must agree to submit their 6000-word draft paper to the organisers by 01 March 2022 for distribution to others in the workshop.

Space will be limited to 15 participants. Participants in the Journal Work Academy will be chosen carefully, in collaboration with our partner journals and with the organisers of the conferences, with regard to diversity of background, experience, theme, discipline, and other concerns. Applicants selected for participation will be notified by the organiser, Carli Coetzee by 28 February 2022. Successful applicants will have their conference registration paid and may be considered for sponsored accommodation. There is some limited funding, but being selected for the workshop is not a guarantee of sponsorship. All participants will be responsible for their own travel costs.

Submissions

Applicants should please prepare and submit the following by 14 February 2021:

1. An abstract of no more than 200 words
2. A personal statement of no more than 200 words
3. A two-page résumé or recent CV including all previous publications and editorial experience
4. A declaration that the work has not yet been submitted to a journal and is not under review with a journal.