Publishing Engaged Scholarship

Initial Curator: Diane Doberneck, Ph.D., Michigan State University

Introduction

The transformative power of service-learning and community-engaged scholarship partially rests on the commitment faculty, academic staff, and students make to disseminate and publish their research, teaching, and practice findings. Peer reviewed publishing, however, is challenging for a number of reasons, including competing academic responsibilities, dedication to work-life balance, limited collegial support and mentoring, professional isolation, and lack of knowledge about where and how to publish service-learning and community-engaged scholarship. This Campus Compact Knowledge Hub addresses the last constraint by providing an overview of interdisciplinary community-engagement journals dedicated to publishing rigorously reviewed scholarship. This Knowledge Hub also includes journal articles on the best practices for publishing this kind of scholarship, highlights national organizations that host special sessions on publishing service-learning or community engaged scholarship and lists book publishing houses and presses that frequently publish about service-learning and community-engaged scholarship.

Key resources

A) Annotated List of Interdisciplinary Community Engagement Journals

• Annotated List For each interdisciplinary community engagement journal, this annotated list provides details about who publishes the journal and how often; availability in print, on-line, or both; the number of articles per volume; and journal sections.

B) Selecting an Interdisciplinary Community Engagement Journal for Your Article

• Journal Section Comparison Table This Journal Section Comparison Table lists 22 interdisciplinary community engagement journals and compares the types of journal articles accepted for publication in each journal. The last three journals accept articles written by undergraduates only.

C) Advice on Publishing Service-Learning and Community-Engaged Scholarship

• Ahmed, S. M., & Palermo, A. S. (2010, August). Community engagement in research: Frameworks for education and peer review. American Journal of Public Health 100(8), 1380-1387.
• Bordeaux, B. C., Wiley, C., Tandon, S. D., & Horowitz, C. R. (2007). Guidelines for writing manuscripts about community-based participatory research for peer-reviewed journals. Progress in Community Health Partnerships: Research, Education, and Action 1(3), 281-288.
• Doberneck, D.M., & Carmichael, C. E. (2020). The Unfurling Tool: Unpacking your community-engaged work into multiple scholarly products. Journal of Higher Education and Community Engagement 12(3), 5-19
• Doberneck, D.M., & Dann, S.L. (2019). The Degree of Collaboration Abacus Tool. Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement 23(2), 93-107.
• Forchuk, C., & Meier, A. (2014). The article idea chart: A participatory action research tool to aid involvement in dissemination. Gateways: International Journal of Community Research and Engagement 7(1), 157-163.
• Forester, J. & Sims Bartel, A. (2022). Writing and Publishing Community-engaged Scholarship: Advice for Junior Faculty on Promotion, Publishing and Craft  . Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education, 14(2). 
• Franz, N. K. (2011). Tips for constructing a promotion and tenure dossier that documents engaged scholarship endeavors. Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement 15(3), 15-29.
• Smith, L., Rosenzweig, L., & Schmidt, M. (2010). Best practices in the reporting of participatory action research: Embracing both the forest and the trees. The Counseling Psychologist 38(8), 1115-1138.

Organizations & Exemplars

• Pen to Paper: A Writing Retreat Focused on Writing With, For, and About Service and Engagement Pen to Paper is an academic writing retreat designed to provide time, space, and resources to guide faculty, professional staff, graduate students, and community partners working on (or planning for) journal manuscripts related to service and community engagement. This two-day retreat features journal editors from prominent interdisciplinary community engagement journals and senior academics who serve as writing coaches.
• The Writing Academy, University of New Hampshire An interdisciplinary, summer-long, learning community focused on advancing faculty careers through focused writing on scholarly pieces and grant proposals. Applications, Writing Academy Agenda, past participants, and past scholarly coaches are available on this website.
• Engagement Scholarship Consortium Annual Meeting Community Engagement Journal Editors Panel—offered annually Each year, the ESC conference hosts a session with journal editors from prominent interdisciplinary community engagement journals to discuss peer reviewed publishing.
• International Association for Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement Conference Pre Conference Workshop (half day)—offered annually Getting Service Learning Research and Community-Engaged Scholarship Published This workshop builds faculty and advanced doctoral student capacity to be successful in publishing their work. Two journal editors explore potential research directions ripe for publication, review scholarship assessment criteria, practice evaluating article submissions, critique attendees’ own writing plans, offer writing recommendations, and review potential publication outlets.

Other Useful Information

A) Book Publishers for Service-Learning and Community Engagement

• Campus Compact's Partnership with Stylus Publishing
• Michigan State University Press—Transformations in Higher Education: Scholarship of Engagement
• Stylus Publishing

B) Understanding Peer Review Processes for Scholarly Publishing in General

• Elselvier Publishing Campus—Navigating the Peer Review Process
• Whitesell, N., & Salvador, M. (2016). Demystifying Peer Review. Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, US. Department of Health and Human Services.
• Stylus Publishing. Guidelines for Authors and Prospective Authors. Guiding for Submitting Proposals. Guidelines for Submitting Manuscripts. https://styluspub.presswarehouse.com/how-to/submit-a-manuscript
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C) Academic Writing and Publishing in General

• Anfara, V. A., Brown, K. M., & Mangione, T. L. (2002). Qualitative analysis on stage: Making the research process more public. Educational Research 31, 28-38.
• Belcher, W. L. (2009). Writing your journal article in 12 weeks. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
• Germano, W. (2013). From Dissertation to Book, 2^nd edition. Chicago, IL: Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing, University of Chicago Press.
• Goodson, P. (2012). Becoming an academic writer: 50 exercises for paced, productive, and powerful writing. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publishers.
• LaMott, A. (1995). Bird by bird: Some instructions on writing and life. Harpswell, ME: Anchor.
• Owen, W. J. (2006, February 6). In defense of the least publishable unit. Chronicle of Higher Education.
• Thomson, P., & Kamler, B. (2012). Writing for peer reviewed journals: Strategies for Getting Published. New York, NY: Routledge.