MAC Wk 3 – Leadership: Is That Your Final Answer?
After digging a little deeper into all of the journals I listed in my last post I determined that I was way off the mark. The old adage is true, “never judge a book by its cover.” Most of the journals I found last week were either tied directly to a University and had limited, if any type, of distribution outside of the campus boundaries, or the focus and scope did not match my research.
So I started over and after a period of struggle where nothing seemed to be the right fit, I finally decided on the following two periodicals.
1. Techniques – Techniques is the primary publication of the Association for Career and Technical Education. I’m drawn to this publication for a number of reasons. First, my CBR was implemented in a CTE class. Secondly, they have an entire series within the publication dedicated to career readiness. This topic is directly related to my literature review, and much of my data indicates the challenge-based learning process enhances career readiness. I also had the opportunity attended a regional ACTE conference last week, and listened to many great presentation and participated in a number of excellent round tables. So needless to say I am still feeling a bit euphoric and would love to add my voice to this organization.
2. Contemporary Issues In Education Research (CIER) – This publication appears to be a bit more formal than the first but a few elements interested me in the CIER as well. The CIER has an open access policy based on the principle “that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.” I was turned off by many of the “members only” policies I found at many of the other journals I encountered. This makes me think of a bunch of old academics that close-minded to anything outside of their own research, so the open access policy of the CIER was a welcome relief. I also believe that my research about the CBL process along with career and college readiness fits nicely with their goal of “understanding cutting edge issues in education.” The only down side I discovered about this journal is the $60 submission fee and the $250-$450 publication fee. I suppose if they deem my article worthy this is a small price to pay to add my voice to the evolution of human discovery.
Posted on April 21, 2012, in Uncategorized and tagged contemporary issues in education, education, research. Bookmark the permalink. 4 Comments.
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Great job revisiting your choices…. excellent.
Carl, in “Leadership: Is That Your Final Answer?” you made a very profound statement on judging a book by its cover. Like you, I too had limited information on the academic publishing world and did not realize that there was more to it than meets the eye.
In my post last week, I listed a few publications I would be interested in mainly based off of the name and limited information I had. My goal as a future doctoral candidate and writer was to have my writings academically published to give myself the academic writing credential I assumed I needed to be in this space. Needless to say, it was probably more about my ego than sharing with the world my writing.
Also, I appreciated the fact that you found time to be a part of the ACTE conference last week. Many times regardless of the discipline, we tend not be a part of the voices that represent the discipline we dwell in because we are usually neck-deep in the work. I have commented on your CBR project throughout our time here in the EMDT program and I must agree that your assessment is correct; your project is in total alignment with Techniques ideologies on career readiness.
Moreover, regarding CIER’s collegiate readiness and their commitment to understanding cutting edge issues in education, you are on the right track and although I agree that paying to be published whether the fees are administrative in nature or not is a bit more than I would expect on this level. However, I feel that your research and findings would make an excellent contribution to CIER, but I guess when they tout that they are focused on making academic research freely available they weren’t talking about the fees associated with being published in their journal.
Carl,
It was refreshing and interesting to read your post about digging deeper into the reality of the distribution of the journals you were looking into. Many people would simply have looked t the titles, submitted the papers and be done with it. Your dedication to really reaching out and striving to make a genuine difference in the methods and attitude in education is amazing.
I find I also admire your willingness to start over and re-start your search because the what you found didn’t meet your needs (and high standards). Again, I think a certain number of people would have said “whatever” and not taken that extra time.
Your comments about “feeling a bit euphoric” resonated with me. I too am quite excited about submitting to the journals i have chosen, and find myself nervous, excited, and anxious, all at once, at the idea of submitting.
I am glad my journals do not have the high publication fees yours does. Yikes! I must admit, again, your dedication is outstanding if you are willing to pay that publication fee. It would honestly make me think twice (Where is all that money going to anyway?)
But I wish you the best. I loved your last sentence: “I suppose if they deem my article worthy this is a small price to pay to add my voice to the evolution of human discovery.”
(even if I think the fees are too high myself) 🙂
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