Over the course of the weekend I attended the Association for Asian Studies 2018. There I was at a roundtable “Publishing in Scholarly Journals on Japan” that featured a lot of really useful information for those of us in the humanities and social sciences seeking to publish our scholarship in places like Monumenta Nipponica, Japan Forum,  Journal of Japanese Studies, Pacific Affairs, Social Science Japan Journal, or Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies.

Though I live-tweeted much of the event, this was the one day the internet in the hotel venue was TERRIBLE, so I ended up having to switch between my phone and computer rapidly as I troubleshooted and it didn’t end up all in one thread. Sorry about that! Here I am compiling the various threads from the roundtable in one place. If you click on each of the embedded tweets below, it will take you to the individual thread on a given topic. Sadly embeds don’t let you click “view thread” directly like on Twitter. But at least all of the sub-threads are in one spot now and hopefully will be useful to folks both in Japanese and other area studies. Enjoy!

Publishing in Scholarly Journals on Japan:

Attendee: Is being non-faculty a barrier to publishing in these academic journals?

Panel: In theory, no. But not being involved in academic dialogues in the writing is a problem. #AAS2018

— Paula R. Curtis (@paularcurtis) March 23, 2018

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Pubs in Japan Journals on submit/review process:

Panel: Sometimes times to review a manuscript vary by our backlog, the time of year in our publishing cycle, etc. Also at the mercy of willing reviewers & their return of the review. We want something substantial that really helps

— Paula R. Curtis (@paularcurtis) March 23, 2018

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Scholarly Pubs Japan #AAS2018:

Panel: On rejection at desk review level: 50%-60% submissions are rejected at the desk review stage– authors didn’t adhere to guidelines of the journal, or it wasn’t appropriate content for the journal.

— Paula R. Curtis (@paularcurtis) March 23, 2018

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Scholarly Pubs Japan #AAS2018:

Comment: Why should we publish in Japan-focused journals?

Panel: Our journals allow you to get into the nitty-gritty of the sources, the Japanese scholarship, etc in a way a more general one would not.

— Paula R. Curtis (@paularcurtis) March 23, 2018

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Scholarly Pubs on Japan #AAS2018:

Comment: More recently younger scholars have remarked they want to work more on publishing in edited volumes instead of journals b/c they get a sense of community and being shepherded through the process of publishing more than with journals.

— Paula R. Curtis (@paularcurtis) March 23, 2018

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Scholarly Pubs Japan #AAS2018:

Panel: What can you take away from a boiler plate rejection? Honestly, it’s not you, it’s the paper! Rework and try again. 📝

— Paula R. Curtis (@paularcurtis) March 23, 2018

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Scholarly Pubs Japan #AAS2018:

Panel on book reviews:

We choose book reviews from major university presses; associate editors often choose reviewers though you can sign up too.

Some journals have limited issues and therefore space for reviews.

— Paula R. Curtis (@paularcurtis) March 23, 2018

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Scholarly Pubs Japan #AAS2018:

Panel: Book reviewing for younger scholars is an important part of engaging w/ scholarship, intellectually stimulating and rewarding work, but they’re also in a more vulnerable position. Challenge is being considerate, thoughtful, & diplomatic.

— Paula R. Curtis (@paularcurtis) March 23, 2018

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Scholarly Pubs Japan #AAS2018:

How important is the “impact factor” of a journal?

Panel: Bibliometrics! You can’t ignore it, but it shouldn’t be the deciding element of why you select a journal. Five-year impact factor is something you should consider (rather than 1)

— Paula R. Curtis (@paularcurtis) March 23, 2018

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Scholarly Pubs Japan #AAS2018:

Panel: Yes, as editors of journals we are the “gate-keepers” so to speak, but we’re looking for reasons to hold the gate open for you.

— Paula R. Curtis (@paularcurtis) March 23, 2018

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Scholarly Pubs Japan #AAS2018:

How can journals be more transparent?

Panel: More professionalization. Become familiar with basic best practices with reviewing/editing. Most programs don’t have that, but journals are in a good position to convey that information.

— Paula R. Curtis (@paularcurtis) March 23, 2018

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That’s all! If you check out the #AAS2018 hashtag or sift through other recent tweets you’ll find other panels I livetweeted on premodern and early modern Japan/East Asia, as well as the thread on the new publication of the Cambridge History of Japan to be released in the next year. Enjoy!