Publishing as a graduate student (peer review, open access, embargoes & more)
Repost from April 15, 2024
I'm excited to share that my article "Revelations about the seeds we planted: Huikau, kūʻē, and the Lāhui" will be published soon in AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples. As the product of two chapters of my dissertation proposal, this publication feels like the culmination of months of furiously writing and revising my thoughts on internalized oppression and resistance within a Kanaka ʻŌiwi ʻohana context. After meeting with my co-advisor and dissertation chair Dr. Daniel Solórzano, I began thinking about potential homes where this manuscript could thrive. I selected AlterNative because I wanted to publish this article in a journal that values and respects Indigenous ways of knowing and being. Although this paper will be the first to use Kanaka ʻŌiwi wisdom to conceptualize internalized oppression, it is in good company with Emery-Whittington and Davis' recent article (2023) on the phenomenon from an occupational lens.
This article's timeline from acceptance to publication has been quite long. I think it's been almost three months since I received my acceptance in January 2024. I just submitted a licensing agreement and am currently waiting for proofs from the publisher. As a result, I've spent some time processing and reflecting on my experience publishing peer-reviewed articles as a graduate student and a first-generation college graduate.
The following is a list of six lessons I've learned about the peer-review and production processes.
Lesson #1: Do research to find your manuscript's potential home. In addition to familiarizing yourself with a journal's aims and goals, look for graduate student-friendly publications, special issues, and opportunities to publish conference papers, research notes, commentaries, and book reviews.
Lesson #2: Peer review is a marathon, not a sprint. Receiving a decision may take several months. Keeping busy, whether academically, professionally, or personally, has prevented me from fixating on the period a manuscript is under peer review. Check the average time from submission to decision of each publication you're considering to determine which option works best for you and your timeline.
Lesson #3: Read the "fine print." I don't always pay attention to terms and conditions, but with this most recent publication, I did a more thorough *skim* of AlterNative and Sage Journals' terms of service agreement, copyrights, and licensing information for my article, and I feel more comfortable knowing my work can be shared and protected as my own.
Lesson #4: Consider getting your article processing charge (APC) for open access covered by your institution. Currently, the UC libraries and Sage Journals have an agreement guaranteeing UC will foot the bill to support open access publications. This is a HUGE HELP, considering how much money it costs to publish peer-reviewed articles. (Some journals even charge just to submit an article for peer review!)
Lesson #5: Without open access, you can still avoid paywalls and share your work. Check out the embargo period of your respective publication. I didn't have the funds to make my article in Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education open access (the agreement between UC and Taylor & Francis is a discount, not full coverage), but legally, I can post the accepted manuscript of this article on personal sites immediately after publication.
Lesson #6: Be prepared for feedback. As a master's and PhD student, I got used to submitting papers and only receiving a final grade. Although it is certainly a hierarchical, elitist, and somewhat exclusionary practice, peer review is useful for understanding how readers interpret your work. Moreover, if editors assign reviewers who are extremely familiar with your area of study, chances are the peer reviewers can offer insight to help develop and advance your manuscript, making it an even stronger piece.
While I'm still figuring things out as I go, I feel more comfortable with the publishing process. These lessons have come to me through trial and error and a mix of rejections and acceptances, all of which I carry as I continue disseminating research in academic and community spaces.
Click here to access an accepted manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Diaspora, Indigenous, & Minority Education on November 9, 2023, available at https://doi.org/10.1080/15595692.2023.2278193.
