I thought I had better add a new post as it is now 2010 and I have not updated my blog since late November of last year! 
I have been pretty busy of late with research etc. but hope to get quite a few more postings and updates on here…
Luckily for me the first post of 2010 is good news as I have managed to get a journal paper accepted in the journal “The Learning Organization”, publication for May 2010. The paper is called: ‘Organisational blogs: benefits and challenges of implementation’.
The writing of this paper was of great benefit to my research as it allowed me to examine and focus upon organisational issues that might impact on the implementation of new technology in an organisation. The technology that I was concerned with addressing were blogs. In my paper I also devised a set of practical guidelines for management who may be contemplating using blogs in their organisation but who are unsure of how to successfully implement them. These guidelines can also be referred to by academic practitioners who may be interested in conducting their own study of blog use within an organisation.
I am just providing details of a new Peer-Reviewed International Journal from IGI Global that will be launched in a few months time (Vol. 1 No. 1 currently in press). The journal is called the “International Journal of Human Capital and Information Technology Professionals.” For further details about the journal can be obtained via the prior link.
I was told last week that the paper I submitted to the ‘International Journal of Collaborative Enterprise’ has been accepted for publication. This was a special issue on “Organizational Learning.” It was surprising to be told this news by the publishers as at one point I thought that the special issue had collapsed. The title of my paper is “The use of blogs as organisational learning tools within project-based environments.” I am currently investigating the use and applicability of blogs within project environments, particularly with reference to an ICT environment. It shall be interesting to see how this area of inquiry transpires as I am sure that within most organisations there are mixed views about the merits and indeed negatives about blogging within a work related context. Having worked in IT related posts for large corporate organisations prior to commencing my PhD studies I feel I am well suited to evaluate negative or positive feedback about blog use from an industry perspective. Here’s hoping anyway!
I am so happy to hear that the journal papers that I have recently submitted for two special issues have been accepted for publication. One paper examines: “How can organisations learn: an information systems development perspective” and the other paper is entitled: “The socialisation of organisational learning through learning technology.” The writing and subsequent publication of these papers has been a very rewarding experience for me due to the numerous peer reviews and revisions required for each paper.
Though I feel that I have been fortunate to get two papers published as this stage of my thesis, I still consider myself to be undergoing the learning process about publishing in the world of academia. The best piece of advice I would give anyone wishing to publish a paper for the first time is to try and identify and target journals that are relevant to your discipline. It is also good to try and submit to special issues as this means that you are writing to a specified time frame and you’ll also know when your paper will be published (subject to acceptance). I usually just do regular searches on google and type in word combinations such as “organisational learning special issue” etc. Sometimes it is also worthwhile to search on the journal websites themselves or subscribe to their newsletters which keep you informed of new journal titles, special issues and any news deemed relevant to prospective authors.
A final piece of advice I would give to anyone starting out writing and submitting a journal paper for the first time is not to be too down-hearted if you receive any negative feedback or comments from the reviewers. What I have found is that it appears to be the norm that there is always usually one reviewer who is more critical than the other. The best thing to do is to acknowledge and thank them for their feedback and address their comments and defend your research paper/position in a non-aggressive manner. Normally, the reviewers are providing you with constructive critiicism and feedback so they are generally trying to be more helpful than obstructive. These are just some of my initial observations about writing and submitting papers…
Gavin Baxter
