Speakers
Description
This session aims to explore the process and challenges of publishing in planning research, featuring editors from planning journals, such as: Habitat International, Progress in Planning, Journal of Planning (Planlama) and plaNext. Each editor will have 10–15 minutes to share advice on publishing—highlighting their do’s and don’ts of submitting a paper—and offer their critical perspective on the future of publishing in planning academia. Key questions to be addressed include: What makes a good (international) paper? What should authors be mindful of when submitting a paper? Who should be the co-author of a paper? What is the ‘best’ journal to publish and how significant are metrics in choosing where to publish? What is the most effective way to respond to reviewers’ comments? How long should the review process take? What is the role of AI in the future of publishing?
While publishing remains a critical aspect in terms of developing as a scholar, the publishing landscape is becoming increasingly complex and confusing, especially for early career researchers. Challenges include the proliferation of journals—both legitimate and predatory—rising publication costs, delays in the review process due to the growing workload of academics and increasing levels of submissions, and contentious metrics for evaluating journal and article quality, ranging from citation counts to social media mentions. At the same time, structural inequalities persist, such as the underrepresentation of global south contexts and universities on editorial roles and in published outputs, compounded by the dominance of English as the primary language for international dissemination, which creates its own distortions in terms of knowledge construction.
Rather than avoiding such complex issues, the purpose of this roundtable session is to engage in a moderated Q&A with researchers—particularly PhD students and early-career scholars—and to facilitate a constructive discussion on this evolving landscape, while providing practical advice for navigating its challenges.
| Keywords | publishing; planning; journals; editors |
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