Call for Applications: Professional Development Workshop on Academic Publishing in English
- Are you an aspirant or researcher in the humanities or social sciences, based in Kyrgyzstan?
- Are you keen to publish your research in English, or required to by your institution, but unsure how to go about choosing a journal or pitching an article?
- Are you keen to critically reflect on the politics and pragmatics of publishing in different linguistic and epistemic traditions?
- Do you have an article-in-progress in Kyrgyz, Russian or English that you would be willing to discuss and share with colleagues?
- Are you able to commit to attending 4 weekly workshop sessions in April 2024?
If so, you may be interested to apply to the UCA’s Professional Development Workshop in Academic Publishing in English.
Workshop dates: 1st, 8th, 15th and 22nd April 2024, 2-4pm, University of Central Asia, Bishkek.
This professional development workshop, hosted by UCA’s Graduate School of Development is aimed at aspirant and early career researchers in the humanities and social sciences from Kyrgyzstan who are keen to publish their academic research in English for personal or professional reasons, including the requirements of the Kyrgyzstan VAK (Higher Attestation Commission). It is led by researchers and former journal editors from the University of Central Asia, with invited mentors from a number of universities in Bishkek and research centres, all of whom have had experience publishing in different languages and scholarly traditions.
The workshop aims to critically analyse the specifics of journal publishing in English so as to give participants the skills required to: identify a suitable journal for their work; tailor an article-in-progress for the specific audience of that journal; frame or reframe their analysis to reach a wide scholarly audience; respond to peer review, including requests to ‘revise and resubmit’; amplify the scholarly impact of their published work through an understanding of journal altmetrics; and to avoid ‘predatory’ or ‘pay-to-publish’ outfits. While offering practical guidance on getting published in English, we will also attend to the politics of citation and referencing; questions of epistemic and linguistic stratification, and strategies to amplify the reach of research published by scholars at Kyrgyzstani institutions.
The workshop will be hands on and interactive, fostering a supportive community of fellow researchers. Participants are expected to engage actively and professionally with the work of other participants, and to engage with practical exercises between the workshop sessions.
Workshop discussions will be held in Russian and/or Kyrgyz, depending on selected participants’ preferences and the language of the submitted work-in-progress.
Participants should have reading knowledge of English sufficient to be able to read and engage with scholarly work in English, as the workshop will be based around discussion of ‘real world’ examples of journal mission statements and submission sites, as well as examples of original submissions and final published articles so as better to understand the peer review process and the role of journal editors.
Participants are expected to:
- Submit a part of an academic work-in-progress (max. 5 pages) in Kyrgyz, Russian or English along with an outline structure of their article by 25 March 2024.
- Engage professionally with the scholarly work of fellow workshop participants.
Commit to attending all four of the workshop sessions, to be held 2-4 pm on Mondays in April 2024.
The workshop is free for selected participants. Those who attend all four sessions will be presented with a certificate of completion.
Numbers will be capped at 15 to ensure close discussion and peer engagement with participants’ work.
Preference will be given to participants who (a) work on topics broadly aligned with the thematic expertise of workshop leaders and invited mentors; and (b) who do not already have extensive experience of publishing scholarly work in English. Participants based in Bishkek will be expected to attend in person; a remote option will be available to participants from beyond Bishkek who are not able to attend in person.
Applicants should submit:
A 500-word summary of the research they are working on and the article that they would like to have discussed during the workshop;
- A brief CV detailing their research and teaching experience
- Contact details for an academic referee or doctoral supervisor (no letters required at this stage)
The information above should be submitted to uca.publishingworkshop@gmail.com by 12 March 2024. Selected participants will be informed by email.
