3rd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ACADEMIC COMMUNICATION JOURNALS

Abstracts

Sarah Riley

 Title: The practice, mission and impact of Feminism & Psychology –  keeping the vision in changing times.

 Abstract: Founded in 1991, Feminism and Psychology, was predicated on a radical promise and a sense of transformative possibility for dismantling social inequalities and transforming women’s lives. Since then, its editorial teams have sought to play a leading role in stimulating new directions in the theories, methods, and practices of feminist psychology. This has borne fruit, with Feminism and Psychology receiving an award for ‘Distinguished Leadership on Behalf of women in Psychology’ from the Committee on Women in Psychology of the American Psychological Association.

 In the context of historical continuities, subtle changes and some dramatic discontinuities, the foundational aims of the journal remain relevant. These have been extended and reinterpreted by the current editorial board to underscore three issues: 1) the global focus of the journal by increasing submissions from those outside the most wealthy countries; 2) recognise the importance of intersectionality thinking and publish pieces that provide insights into gendered realities along multiple intersecting dimensions of difference, privilege and inequalities and their impact on people’s lives, experiences and dilemmas of living; 3) incorporate a full range of feminisms and psychologies, including indigenous psychology. In these priorities, we recognise that there are no clear cut answers or directions, and instead employ an approach that encourages reflexivity and debate on these issues.

 We publish empirical research based on qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods, which is rigorous, ethical and theoretically informed, the results of which should contribute to critical feminist psychology projects and foreground the locatedness of the research. And we invite critical engagement with theories, methods of inquiry, concepts, and disciplinary and professional practice. Current challenges for the editorial team include the impact of homogenization of acceptance criteria, neoliberal institutional practices in Universities that reduce and/or marketize work once done as ‘good will’, and exclusionary factors for those working outside English speaking, Anglo-American research-intensive institutions.
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 Dr Cynthia Carter

 Title: Feminist Media Studies Matters: Reflections on an Evolution in Media Research, Editing and Publishing

 Abstract: Feminist media studies research has always mattered – it’s just that its scholars haven’t always enjoyed the institutional support necessary to realise the full potential of its critique for the academy as well as for the wider society in which its insights ought to have been circulating. Historically, feminist media scholarship has tended to be regarded by many as ‘supplementary’, ‘specialised’ and ‘peripheral’ to ‘mainstream’ research. As such, it’s impossible to measure just how much the under-valuing of feminist enquiry since the earliest days of the field has affected intellectual efforts to rethink and challenge the ways in which unequal gendered power relations have been constructed, reconstructed and circulated via the media. Nor can we know just how much this has held back the advancement of women not only in the academy but also much more widely in society. It was in this context that US feminist media scholar Lisa McLaughlin and I launched, in 2001, the Routledge journal Feminist Media Studies. Our principle aim was to create, for the first time, an international, supportive scholarly/activist home and sense of community for feminist media researchers. Today, almost 20 years since its first issue was published, feminism appears to have become regarded much more favourably, at least in some countries, and its critique no longer typically regarded as marginal to the study of the media. Has feminism really gone ‘mainstream’?  Is feminist media studies scholarship no longer regarded as marginal within the field (and if so, is this a good thing)? To address these and related questions, I offer a brief survey of the context in which Feminist Media Studies was conceived in order to better understand the strength of support for its establishment and ongoing sense of collective ownership and identification by many feminist scholars. I also reflect upon some of the scholarly preoccupations of researchers in the journal’s early years comparing them with today’s intellectual concerns to gain a better sense of what I think are some of the exciting opportunities, complex challenges and constraints shaping the journal and contemporary feminist scholarship more broadly.

  
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 Stuart Allan

 Title: “New Strategies for Academic Publishing”

 Abstract: This presentation begins by highlighting current issues in academic publishing in the fields of journalism, media and cultural studies before turning to consider their implications for PhD candidates and early career researchers. A range of pertinent strategies will be outlined, including advice regarding how best to identify and approach book publishers and peer-reviewed journals, the preparation of research for publication, and how to motivate oneself to make the most of publishing opportunities. Examples will be used to illustrate the challenges involved, and also to share good practice as learned from personal experiences, both as an author and editor.
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 Rafael Repiso

 Title: What value do scientific journals have for the universities that publish them?

 Abstract: The University edition of scientific journals is a significant factor in the world, especially in Latin America and very prominent in the areas of Humanities. However, despite being a majority, the journals published by universities barely occupy proper positions in their respective areas; it is the private scientific and publishing societies that capture most of the leading journal market. This paper aims to reflect on the benefits that journal publishing has to bring to universities that carry it out and the conditions in which university journals are published. All this in the belief that journals are an intangible undervalued by some universities despite the value they bring.
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 Krista M. Brumley

 Title: The Vital Importance of Gender Studies

 Abstract: In this address, I discuss the recent backlash against gender studies, situating it within contemporary conceptions of gender as socially constructed and as a form of performativity. I argue that the backlash emerges from the erosion of the idea that a gender binary is necessary for social stability. I discuss efforts to remove gender studies from university contexts and recent issues with “hoax” papers. I then describe the mission of Gender & Society and offer a sense of current trends in gender research. I end by providing specific tips and general directions for publishing in the journal.
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 Pilar Rico Castro

 The evaluation of scientific journals of FECYT

 Abstract: Since 2006, the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT) provides the research community with an evaluation service for national scientific journals, with the aim of contributing to their professionalization and internationalization. The work developed by many journals and publications services to meet the editorial and scientific quality indicators required in the FECYT evaluation calls has, in many cases, led to a real change in strategy in their editorial processes that have become the present part of the day-to-day work of journals. In this workshop, the role of FECYT as a standardization agent of good practices and editorial quality and the value of the FECYT Seal as a quality indicator in the processes of evaluation of research merit will be addressed.

Dates Event local time

Feb

4^th

'19

00:05 Registration opens

Mar

15^th

'19

09:00 Starting date

Mar

15^th

'19

10:00 Registration closes

Mar

15^th

'19

18:30 Closing date

Event place

3rd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ACADEMIC COMMUNICATION JOURNALS

Organized by Departament de Comunicació - UPF