Scholarly publishing is an important aspect of the archival profession. It is how we discuss ideas, share practices, and further our professional development. There are multiple platforms to share our knowledge, only two of which are books and journals. It’s easy to write about archives in blogs, social media, and newsletters, but it’s harder to publish a journal article, book chapter, or entire book.
As a journal editor and a future book author, I have frequent discussions with people about publishing. I recognize and empathize with the fear, intimidation, and the unknown of how publishing works. The more involved I become in various aspects, the more I realized that there are few resources available to archivists to embark on this rewarding experience.
This blog will focus primarily on book and journal publishing. While I have been involved in publishing for only a few years, I have learned a tremendous amount about it. One of the best ways I’ve learned is from feedback on my submitted writings, talking with colleagues, being a member of the SAA Publications Board, and reading the peer-review reports from Provenance submissions. As the adage goes, the more I learn, the less I know.
My goal for this blog is to create a forum to ask and answer questions, exchange ideas, and to engage the profession in the topic of scholarly publishing. Some ideas for topics are: how to get started; what to write about; how to write an abstract, book review, literature review; writing before you finish school; writing structure; how to deal with peer-review feedback; and citations. This list is not comprehensive and all ideas are welcome. Additionally, I encourage contributors. Multiple voices and perspectives from authors, editors, publishers, reviewers, and others are imperative in developing writing techniques and styles.
I hope current and future authors will find this helpful.
Publishing in the Archives Profession 