Addressing challenges and finding solutions: navigating the informal curriculum of publication training within higher education

ABSTRACT

The peer-review process used in most academic journals is critical for curating evidence-based knowledge. Although many graduate programmes expect students to engage in the research process, these programmes often do not mandate formal training for the publication process. With few studies examining the graduate student experience in the publication process, the current study sought to help address this gap. Specifically, we used a reflexive thematic analysis approach to look at 18, hour-long, semi-structured interviews with Education graduate students at the master’s and doctoral level. Using a revised version of Kolb’s experiential learning theory to contextualise the results, we highlight three main areas related to participants’ experiences engaging in the publication process: a) experiences and motivations, b) challenges, and c) pathways to publishing. Based on these findings, we offer implications for higher education to support graduate students’ readiness to engage in the publication process as future scholars.

KEYWORDS:

• Graduate studies
• publication process
• scholar development
• scholar impact
• higher education

Acknowledgments

We would also like to thank Dr. Jingzhou Liu and Alison Sheaves for their support with data collection and data organisation, respectively.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning at the University of Calgary for the Teaching and Learning Grant [grant number 10018592].