Editorial Publishing in a Practice-Oriented Journal: Why and How You Should Do It

Abstract

Academics publish in academic outlets. So far, this is nothing new. However, publishing in such journals leaves a big gap. Traditional academic peer-reviewed journals have a limited readership. First, academic articles are usually written in a technical language, using specialized jargon that makes it difficult for a nonexpert to follow. Second, such journal articles are usually very narrow on a specific topic. So, if you want to get an understanding of a bigger topic, you must collect different articles from various journals. Third, papers focus on describing how the research contributes to theoretical advancement, not on how the research can be used by managers in companies or policymakers. Even though there is usually such a section, this is a rather minor focus. Fourth, peer-review processes can take a very long time, sometimes even years. So, whatever you read, especially in high-ranked outlets, is research that was mostly completed several years ago. Last, more easily accessible formats, such as books or printed magazines, are less and less available, in general. Earlier, it was a common practice to publish books that managers and policymakers purchased regularly. The same is true for openly accessible (conference) proceedings, with some notably exemptions, such as information systems or computer science. Reaching the nonacademic audience has become more and more detached from regular academic work.