Bailey, Adrian

Dowling, Robyn

Little, Jo

Naylor, Simon

Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers

English

Adrian Bailey

Robyn Dowling

Jo Little

Simon Naylor

Crossref

Editorial

Enlighten

     Bailey, A., Dowling, R., Little, J. and Naylor, S. (2017) Editorial. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 42(1), p. 1.  There may be differences between this version and the published version. You are advised to consult the publisher’s version if you wish to cite from it.  Bailey, A., Dowling, R., Little, J. and Naylor, S. (2017) Editorial. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 42(1), p. 1. (doi:10.1111/tran.12167)  This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.    http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/155100/               Deposited on: 12 January 2018      EDITORIAL In taking up editorial responsibility for Transactions we assumed carriage of a journal that publishes geographical scholarship of the highest quality, from around the world, and across the whole range of the discipline. Over the past months we have had multiple opportunities within and outwith geography to reflect on the distinctive role of the journal “to stimulate and shape the research agenda in geography; publish ‘landmark’ articles that make a major theoretical, conceptual or empirical contribution to the advancement of geographical understanding; publish formative papers across the whole spectrum of research in geography; act as the leading record of the intellectual development of the discipline; identify and debate connections between geography and other disciplines”. In this editorial we talk about our plans to implement this commitment to increasing the diversity of the journal’s materials and practices, and how these can enable Transactions to publish the very best geographical scholarship from around the world. In name and in practice, Transactions is a British journal, evidenced most simply in the preponderance of authors with United Kingdom institutional affiliations and the preponderance of UK-oriented case studies utilized in its papers. We recognize of course that knowledge is increasingly globalized, or to put it another way, that ‘British’ geography is constituted through networks of knowledge that emanate and spread from both near and far. We believe that the global nature of knowledge networks needs to be reflected in the Journal’s Editorial Board (just as it is reflected in the Editors’ institutional affiliations). Editorial boards, as our predecessors have recognized, are important for shaping the journal, most recently through the commissioning and shepherding of virtual issues. In this spirit we are pleased to announce a refreshed editorial board for Transactions. We also gratefully and graciously acknowledge the commitment and support that has been received from those colleagues whose terms of office are ending. We look forward to working with the new editorial board in both existing and new ways. In particular, as well as being available to provide specific advice on individual papers (especially, and very usefully, where we need knowledge outside the disciplinary expertise of the Editors) we hope that the Editorial Board will be central to the ‘new’ forms of papers that we want to propose, which are outlined in more detail below. We will also draw on their expertise and networks in developing our emerging ideas around new forms of paper into the future.    Geography is a diverse discipline that spans the social sciences, humanities and sciences.  Our desire is for Transactions to reflect this unique positioning and we intend to achieve this in a number of ways. We will continue the journal’s distinctive mission of publishing work that makes substantial contributions to geographical knowledge by encouraging full-length paper submissions from across the breadth of the discipline and beyond. That said, we recognize that the forms in which knowledge is produced and disseminated are proliferating, including through social media and shorter article summaries such as appear in the RGS-IBG’s Geographical Directions, the associated online site for the Society’s journals. We are keenly aware of the vagaries of academic publishing trends, and also of the ongoing debate about ‘fast’ and ‘slow’ science. We are also mindful of the potential for different formats to help build a platform for wider scholarly exchange between geographers and colleagues from the academy, government, and civil society more broadly. To that end, we have begun commissioning Themed Interventions that, led by a guest editor, assemble four or five short (2000 word) pieces of writing around a common theme. The primary aim of these Themed Interventions is to serve as a platform for a range of ideas about the state of the art in geographical scholarship and practice, or for discussion of a significant process, movement or event whose geographical components demand interrogation. Contributions are not intended to be very short versions of the standard research article. While claims need to be properly documented and justified, contributions do not necessarily need to contain original research or extensive references to the scholarly literature. We encourage authors to bring their expertise and knowledge to bear on an issue in an original, creative way.  We will also welcome contributions that break the mould of the standard and popular 10,000 word paper by using significantly fewer words and other forms of data representation. For papers that are significantly less than 10,000 words (for example 6,000 words) we would not wish to prescribe a structure but would encourage authors to consider sections that address: specific contribution; problem statement; gap/barrier/limit/challenge in existing scholarship; case; and conclusion. A cursory examination of the various word lengths employed by flagship journals in other social science and science disciplines re-assures us that diversity of format does not equate to diminution of quality and supports our view that different arguments are often best expressed in different formats.   We believe that through these incremental changes to our practices we can enable the journal to continue to publish the very best scholarship from across the world and across the discipline. We are sanguine enough to know this will not happen without the proactive support of the readership of the journal and the wider geographic community, so we end with a call for your engagement.   Adrian Bailey, Robyn Dowling, Jo Little and Simon Naylor  

Enlighten: Publications

 
 
 
 
 
Bailey, A., Dowling, R., Little, J. and Naylor, S. (2017) 
Editorial. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 42(1), p. 1. 
 
There may be differences between this version and the published version. 
You are advised to consult the publisher’s version if you wish to cite from 
it. 
 
Bailey, A., Dowling, R., Little, J. and Naylor, S. (2017) 
Editorial. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 42(1), p. 1. 
(doi:10.1111/tran.12167) 
 
This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with 
Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.  
 
 
http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/155100/ 
     
 
 
 
 
 
 
   Deposited on: 12 January 2018 
 
 
 
 
 
EDITORIAL 
In taking up editorial responsibility for Transactions we assumed carriage of a journal 
that publishes geographical scholarship of the highest quality, from around the world, 
and across the whole range of the discipline. Over the past months we have had 
multiple opportunities within and outwith geography to reflect on the distinctive role 
of the journal “to stimulate and shape the research agenda in geography; publish 
‘landmark’ articles that make a major theoretical, conceptual or empirical contribution 
to the advancement of geographical understanding; publish formative papers across 
the whole spectrum of research in geography; act as the leading record of the 
intellectual development of the discipline; identify and debate connections between 
geography and other disciplines”. In this editorial we talk about our plans to 
implement this commitment to increasing the diversity of the journal’s materials and 
practices, and how these can enable Transactions to publish the very best 
geographical scholarship from around the world. 
In name and in practice, Transactions is a British journal, evidenced most simply in 
the preponderance of authors with United Kingdom institutional affiliations and the 
preponderance of UK-oriented case studies utilized in its papers. We recognize of 
course that knowledge is increasingly globalized, or to put it another way, that 
‘British’ geography is constituted through networks of knowledge that emanate and 
spread from both near and far. We believe that the global nature of knowledge 
networks needs to be reflected in the Journal’s Editorial Board (just as it is reflected 
in the Editors’ institutional affiliations). Editorial boards, as our predecessors have 
recognized, are important for shaping the journal, most recently through the 
commissioning and shepherding of virtual issues. In this spirit we are pleased to 
announce a refreshed editorial board for Transactions. We also gratefully and 
graciously acknowledge the commitment and support that has been received from 
those colleagues whose terms of office are ending. We look forward to working with 
the new editorial board in both existing and new ways. In particular, as well as being 
available to provide specific advice on individual papers (especially, and very 
usefully, where we need knowledge outside the disciplinary expertise of the Editors) 
we hope that the Editorial Board will be central to the ‘new’ forms of papers that we 
want to propose, which are outlined in more detail below. We will also draw on their 
expertise and networks in developing our emerging ideas around new forms of paper 
into the future.   
 
Geography is a diverse discipline that spans the social sciences, humanities and 
sciences.  Our desire is for Transactions to reflect this unique positioning and we 
intend to achieve this in a number of ways. We will continue the journal’s distinctive 
mission of publishing work that makes substantial contributions to geographical 
knowledge by encouraging full-length paper submissions from across the breadth of 
the discipline and beyond. That said, we recognize that the forms in which knowledge 
is produced and disseminated are proliferating, including through social media and 
shorter article summaries such as appear in the RGS-IBG’s Geographical Directions, 
the associated online site for the Society’s journals. We are keenly aware of the 
vagaries of academic publishing trends, and also of the ongoing debate about ‘fast’ 
and ‘slow’ science. We are also mindful of the potential for different formats to help 
build a platform for wider scholarly exchange between geographers and colleagues 
from the academy, government, and civil society more broadly. To that end, we have 
begun commissioning Themed Interventions that, led by a guest editor, assemble four 
or five short (2000 word) pieces of writing around a common theme. The primary aim 
of these Themed Interventions is to serve as a platform for a range of ideas about the 
state of the art in geographical scholarship and practice, or for discussion of a 
significant process, movement or event whose geographical components demand 
interrogation. Contributions are not intended to be very short versions of the standard 
research article. While claims need to be properly documented and justified, 
contributions do not necessarily need to contain original research or extensive 
references to the scholarly literature. We encourage authors to bring their expertise 
and knowledge to bear on an issue in an original, creative way. 
 
We will also welcome contributions that break the mould of the standard and popular 
10,000 word paper by using significantly fewer words and other forms of data 
representation. For papers that are significantly less than 10,000 words (for example 
6,000 words) we would not wish to prescribe a structure but would encourage authors 
to consider sections that address: specific contribution; problem statement; 
gap/barrier/limit/challenge in existing scholarship; case; and conclusion. A cursory 
examination of the various word lengths employed by flagship journals in other social 
science and science disciplines re-assures us that diversity of format does not equate 
to diminution of quality and supports our view that different arguments are often best 
expressed in different formats.  
 
We believe that through these incremental changes to our practices we can enable the 
journal to continue to publish the very best scholarship from across the world and 
across the discipline. We are sanguine enough to know this will not happen without 
the proactive support of the readership of the journal and the wider geographic 
community, so we end with a call for your engagement.  
 
Adrian Bailey, Robyn Dowling, Jo Little and Simon Naylor 
 


http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/155100/7/155100.pdf

Editorial

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Crossref

Enlighten

Enlighten: Publications