Planning for publication and impact

I had the privilege of speaking at the Law and Society Association of Australia and New Zealand Postgraduate and Early Career Researcher Workshop 2024 on understanding impact and disseminating law and society research. The workshop offered a wide-ranging discussion of publishing, impact and navigating an academic career as an ECR. If you aren’t yet a member of the LSAANZ, do consider it.

As part of that workshop, with A/Prof Bridgette Toy-Cronin of the University of Otago, I put together some handouts and activities to help ECR attendees think about their publication choices and how to embed and plan for research impact. I thought those questions and prompts were worth sharing here, too.

1. Planning for publication

Where do you hope to be in five years? 10 years?

Do you hope to gain or be promoted in an academic job?
Or work in industry or government?

What publications are valued in your chosen career path, or at your institution, or at other institutions?

If you don’t know, ask around.
Is a book required to get a job? Or be promoted?
Is there a ranking of journals?

If you decide to publish a book:

Who is the audience? Are they in Australia? New Zealand? International?
- Which publisher will reach that audience?
Which publisher is well regarded in your area? (If you don’t know, ask around)
Which publisher will look after you as an author?
- Think about, for example:
  - The royalties (a certain % of sales)
  - Do they provide the index? (Or do you have to produce it?)
  - Are their copy editors any good?
  - How will they publicise the book?
  - How long will it take in production?
  - How have other people found them?
What is required in a book proposal? (Look at their website)
(And, once the book is published:
- How can I promote my book? Can I launch it? Can I ask people to endorse it? Can I ask people to review it? Can I apply for prizes?)

If you decide to publish article(s):

Is there a ranking of journals at my institution? (Or an informal ranking?)
Who is the audience for my research? Does this journal reach that audience?
Is the journal open access? (See the CAUL agreements: https://caul.libguides.com/read-and-publish)
Is it double blind peer review?
How long does it take to acceptance and publication?

*You can publish both a book and articles! Publishers often provide guidance about how to attribute / use your work when it has been published elsewhere.

2. Planning for impact

This material was adapted from The University of Auckland ResearchHub: https://research-hub.auckland.ac.nz/research-impact/foundations-of-research-impact/planning-for-impact

Use this 5-step process to help plan your research impact pathway.

Step 1: Identify the research need

What problem, issue, or gap does your research address?
What is the magnitude of this issue, where is it felt, and by whom?

Step 2: Define your (potential) impact

What might be the potential impact from your research? Be specific and realistic about the impacts that might be able to occur.
What are the indicators that your research has made a difference? How will you know that you have achieved ‘impact’? How can you monitor or track ‘impact’?

Step 3: Map your stakeholders

Who has an interest in your research? Why?
- What are your existing links (if any) to the stakeholders?
- Who will you engage with first?

Prioritise stakeholders according to their interest in the issue, their alignment to your approach, and their ability to influence change.
Use the Influence-Interest Matrix to help you determine which stakeholders to prioritise engaging with.
Are there any potential conflicts or alliances between the stakeholders and how will you work around them? Also, consider if anyone will be negatively impacted by your research and how you will mitigate those impacts.

Step 4: Develop an engagement strategy

Consider engagement activities for each stakeholder or group of stakeholders
- Articulate the aim and output of each activity
Consider your resources and time to carry these out

Step 5: Piece together your implementation plan

Create a plan with budget, responsibilities and deadlines.