The imagined research abstracts, and their imagined researchers were constructed by real academic staff, research staff, and research students. We, Dr Kay Guccione (connect on LinkedIn here) and Dr Matthew Cheeseman, produce a new Volume of the Journal of Imaginary Research each November, as November is Global Academic Writing Month.
In the early phases we used a workshop of imaginative writing practices (download the workshop materials here) to support writers to construct and refine fictional abstracts and biographies that are freed from the confines of day-to-day research projects. Each piece is rooted in a real image, carried into the workshop by a real researcher.
In developing this workshop we wanted to introduce creative writing concepts to researchers working in any and all disciplines, as a way to support people who felt tense, anxious, about writing, or had fallen into a negative relationship with their writing.
The pieces in these volumes were by-products of our workshop, helping researchers reflect on how they can creatively communicate their own research projects, and how they can find the joy of creativity within the grind of productivity. Creativity is a property of all writers and the privilege of all researchers.
We now accept submissions each November from any writer who sees the value of using creative processes, and writing for fun. Our next call will be announced on this blog site, when we are ready to receive new submissions.
The Journal of Imaginary Research is now accepting submissions of new short fictional pieces for our annual volume produced each November to celebrate Global Academic Writing Month. We publish imaginary research abstracts, and all our volumes are available as free downloads.
Deadline 5pm on Friday 5th December, 2025
What do we mean imaginary research abstracts?
We mean short works of fiction, that take a format that is familiar to us as researchers and academics. An abstract is the summary of an academic paper, that gives us a succinct overview of the research that has been done, and the new outcomes or ideas that the research has generated.
The 2025 theme: Shrinkage
For this year’s theme we’ve been considering the concept of making things smaller – shrinking them, becoming lesser.
We ask you, how can we research what is shrinking? This may relate to specific (imagined) research studies about shrinking, or it may relate to us as researchers, in our research work, in our disciplines, and in ourselves and our students? What might shrinkage mean for the support we receive from funders, the media and even our family and friends? What or who is shrink prone, shrink resistant, or pre-shrunk? What might we desire to shrink? What would we choose to minimise or miniaturise about research life, if we could?
When faced with a large intimidating endeavour we shrink away from it, and retaliate in kind by breaking it down into smaller, more manageable chunks. We can be asked to shrink ourselves to ‘fit in’, taking up less space, and being more digestible. We are regularly asked how we will shrink our carbon footprint.
Shrinkage can represent reduction, miniaturisation, withdrawal, withering, or decay — how things diminish but still carry meaning. An animal, shrinking away, might reflect vulnerability, dejection or fear. We humans can shrink from each other’s touch.
Can making things smaller make them more essential, pure and minimal? Safer even? Perfect? When we want to store something safely, we deploy shrink-wrap methods to protect and preserve. In doing so we shrink the risk of it perishing. But have you seen the size of a chocolate bar these days, another target of shrinkflation?
We’d like you to interpret the theme in your own way so that your submission relates to shrinkage in some way. You don’t need to explain this to us or within your piece. It’s fine to take the theme literally, after all you are writing a short précis or abstract of an imaginary larger work. It’s also fine to use the theme as a way to kick start your imagination. Where will your imaginary research go to?
Remember too, that the biography of the imaginary researcher that accompanies your fictional abstract is a good way of introducing links, expansions, satire, commentary and drama into your work. What sort of researcher might produce the imaginary research you describe? Is there a counterpoint in their biography, or something that affirms the work they are doing? How can you use the biography to enhance the fictional aspect of your work. This is your opportunity to indulge in both characterisation and worldbuilding.
TOP TIP! To avoid outdated colonial and/or racist terms, we ask you not to submit pieces referring to psychiatrists as ‘shrinks’.
Keep reading to find out how to get started and how to submit your writing…
Why do we publish fictional research?
We publish imagined research abstracts as works of fiction firstly because writing for enjoyment is a good thing to encourage. We spend a lot of time trying to reduce our anxiety about writing, and so writing imaginatively is a good way to reshape our relationship with writing into something creative and enjoyable.
Secondly, writing fiction in a familiar format, helps us to reflect on how we can creatively communicate our other research projects, and how we can find the joy of creativity within the grind of productivity. Creativity is a property of all writers and the privilege of all researchers. It allows us to dream and hope.
Can I see examples?
The imaginary abstracts we have published in Volumes 1–10 and our summer 2020 Special Issue were written by real academic staff, research staff, and research students. These volumes of our Journal-zine provide plenty of examples of the different approaches and styles, some funny, some serious, all completely made up.
How to get started with your submission: just choose an image…
How you approach your imaginary Abstract is open to you. We’d like you to use an image as writing prompt, and accompaniment to your finished piece. Start with an image; any copyright free image or photograph you choose. Use this as a prompt for your writing. Perhaps begin by noting down observable facts about the image, then add some invented facts from your imagination. Combine the observed and the imagined and think about other notions, words, and concepts you associate with your developing ideas. What imaginary research project could help you articulate, investigate, or explain what you see and what you imagine from the starting point offered to you by the image? You can deviate quite strongly from the literal image in the photograph, it’s just a starting point for your creativity.
Consider your imagined abstract and imagined researcher biography as a piece, together. Who is the researcher who would do this work? What are they like? Where do they work? What have they achieved in their career?
TOP TIP! Don’t send your completed piece straight away. Give it a day or so then return to refine it. Try it out on your pals and colleagues, and see what they think. Give it time to mature, iterative drafting is your friend.
To have your creative work considered for inclusion, please submit, in one MS Word file:
A title for your fictional study
A 200-word imagined (fictional) research abstract
A 100-word imagined (fictional) researcher biography
Due to the volume of submissions we are now receiving, we have a fast and simple editorial process. When we receive your submission, we will do one of the following:
accept and publish your submission without edits,
make minor edits to your work and publish it in the current issue, or
send your submission back to you with some suggestions on how to resubmit it for the next issue.
That means that your piece may be published with minor edits that you have not seen. If you would prefer that this doesn’t happen, then let us know when you submit. We haven’t had disappointed any writers yet, but we want you to be aware of our editorial processes so you can make an informed decision. In all cases you maintain the copyright on your submission, and no money is made by the sale of your writing.
TOP TIP! We commonly return submissions unpublished, when:
They are not submitted in the Abstract genre – as in, they are not discernibly written in the style of a Research Abstract.
There contain a large number of typographical errors or it is difficult to follow the logic and flow of the piece.
They express discrimination or use hate speech or derogatory language against a group of people.
They contain a lot of crude or toilet humour.
They are very close in theme/topic to another piece within the same volume (pieces where the Imagined Researcher is a dog, cat, or robot are very commonly submitted)
Enjoy it!
TOP TIP! This is for fun!
A key aim of our journal-zine is to encourage academic colleagues to embrace writing simply for enjoyment, as an act of care, or as a reflective act. We also hope that reading and writing our imagined works, will bring an enjoyable diversion into your work lives.
Editors: Kay Guccione (on LinkedIn), and Matthew Cheeseman
The Journal of Imaginary Research is now accepting submissions of new short fictional pieces for our annual volume produced each November to celebrate Global Academic Writing Month. We publish imaginary research abstracts, and all our volumes are available as free downloads.
Deadline 5pm on Friday 6th December, 2024
What do we mean imaginary research abstracts?
We mean short works of fiction, that take a format that is familiar to us as researchers and academics. An abstract is the summary of an academic paper, that gives us a succinct overview of the research that has been done, and the new outcomes or ideas that the research has generated.
Well, what if our research projects and agendas get it right? What if we flourish? What if our research creates positive momentum? What if because of our work, more people are thriving? What might this mean for our work and for the disciplines that we work in? What might this mean for the support we receive from funders, the media and even our family and friends? We’re not suggesting that you cure cancer or end war, but we are asking you to imagine a future that is flourishing as a result of research. What would take us there, What work is still left to be done? What are the next steps we will take from this imaginary space of flourishing? Perhaps there have been great costs in achieving such a future, perhaps new problems have presented themselves, or perhaps—even—it’s more of the same.
We’d like you to interpret the theme in your own way so that your submission relates to flourishing in some way. You don’t need to explain this to us or within your piece. It’s fine to take the theme literally, and write with a flourish. It’s also fine to use the theme as a way to kick start your imagination. Where will your imaginary research go to?
Remember too, that the biography of the imaginary researcher that accompanies your fictional abstract is a good way of introducing satire, commentary and drama into your work. What sort of researcher might produce the imaginary research you are concocting? Is there a counterpoint in their biography, or something that affirms the work they are doing? How can you use the biography to enhance the fictional aspect of your work. This is your opportunity to indulge in both characterisation and worldbuilding.
Keep reading to find out how to get started and how to submit your writing…
Why do we publish fictional research?
We publish imagined research abstracts as works of fiction firstly because writing for enjoyment is a good thing to encourage. We spend a lot of time trying to reduce our anxiety about writing, and so writing imaginatively is a good way to reshape our relationship with writing into something creative and enjoyable.
Secondly, writing fiction in a familiar format, helps us to reflect on how we can creatively communicate our other research projects, and how we can find the joy of creativity within the grind of productivity. Creativity is a property of all writers and the privilege of all researchers. It allows us to dream and hope.
Can I see examples?
The imaginary abstracts we have published in Volumes 1–9 and our summer 2020 Special Issue were written by real academic staff, research staff, and research students. These volumes of our Journal-zine provide plenty of examples of the different approaches and styles, some funny, some serious, all completely made up.
How to get started with your submission: choose an image
How you approach your imaginary Abstract is open to you. We’d like you to use an image as writing prompt, and accompaniment to your finished piece. Start with an image; any copyright free image or photograph you choose. Use this as a prompt for your writing. Perhaps begin by noting down observable facts about the image, then add some invented facts from your imagination. Combine the observed and the imagined and think about other notions, words, and concepts you associate with your developing ideas. What imaginary research project could help you articulate, investigate, or explain what you see and what you imagine from the starting point offered to you by the image? You can deviate quite strongly from the literal image in the photograph, it’s just a starting point for your creativity.
Consider your imagined abstract and imagined researcher biography as a piece, together. Who is the researcher who would do this work? What are they like? Where do they work? What have they achieved in their career?
To have your creative work considered for inclusion, please submit, in one MS Word file:
A title for your fictional study
A 200-word imagined (fictional) research abstract
A 100-word imagined (fictional) researcher biography
Due to the volume of submissions we are now receiving, we have a fast and simple editorial process. When we receive your submission, we will do one of the following:
accept and publish your submission without edits,
make minor edits to your work and publish it in the current issue, or
send your submission back to you with some suggestions on how to resubmit it for the next issue.
That means that your piece may be published with minor edits that you have not seen. If you would prefer that this doesn’t happen, then let us know when you submit. We haven’t had disappointed any writers yet, but we want you to be aware of our editorial processes so you can make an informed decision. In all cases you maintain the copyright on your submission, and no money is made by the sale of your writing.
We commonly return submissions unpublished, when:
They are not submitted in the Abstract genre – as in, they are not discernibly written in the style of a Research Abstract.
There are a large number of typographical errors or it is difficult to follow the logic and flow of the piece.
They express discrimination or use hate speech or derogatory language against a group of people.
They contain a lot of crude or toilet humour.
They are very close in theme/topic to another piece within the same volume (pieces where the Imagined Researcher is a dog, cat, or robot are very commonly submitted)
Enjoy it!
A key aim of our journal-zine is to encourage academic colleagues to embrace writing simply for enjoyment, as an act of care, or as a reflective act. We also hope that reading and writing our imagined works, will bring an enjoyable diversion into your work lives.
Editors: Kay Guccione (on LinkedIn), and Matthew Cheeseman (on X)
The Journal of Imaginary Research is now accepting submissions of new short fictional pieces for our annual volume produced each November to celebrate Academic Writing Month. We publish imaginary research abstracts, and all our volumes are available as free downloads here.
What do we mean imaginary research abstracts?
We mean short works of fiction, that take a format that is familiar to us as researchers and academics. An abstract is the summary of an academic paper, that gives us a succinct overview of the research that has been done, and the new outcomes or ideas that the research has generated.
The 2023 theme
Deal (and dealings) is our theme this year. It’s Old English and means to divide, to portion out, so that everyone has their due share. There’s a fairness to dealing: everyone gets their portion (unless, of course, the dealer cheats). To deal can mean inclusion, of bringing someone into an undertaking, giving them a share or a part. It can be a request: deal me in, I deserve it. But not all deals are equal. We heard a lot of that through Brexit, about getting a good deal, one that suited and was advantageous. Many of the nation’s recent strikes have been part of the process of bargaining for a deal. The recently announced themes heralding a ‘New Deal for Postgraduate Research’ have entered a process of sector consultation. This references the fuzzy logic of dealing, the approximations and negotiations that come with ‘striking’ a deal. Sometimes this can take a while to prepare, in other cases the deal is something that happens quickly. It’s made and it is done. Just like violence; a blow is dealt and punishment doled out, whether it is deserved or not. We deal with various things: papers, inboxes, even the dinner, where we might ‘deal with the vegetables’ in preparing a dish. So to deal with something means also to sort it out, to get it done, to administer. Sometimes there is something hard-nosed and efficient about it. Other times it’s a way of coping, of dealing with something, of processing it. While there might still be justice in dealings, too often justice is obscured, hidden or deferred, as the practical ‘horse trading’ takes place underground. Deals are often hidden away. As such it’s a euphemism for sex, ’they had some dealings with someone in Southampton, if you know what I mean.’
What dealings do we make in research?
What deals do researchers strike?
What do disciplines deal with? How do disciplines deal with other disciplines? With knowledge and understanding?
What are the consequences of deals and dealings that people have to come to terms with, and how might our research investigate them?
We’d like you to interpret the theme in your own way so that your submission relates somehow to deals and dealings. You don’t need to explain this to us or within your piece; it’s fine to take the theme literally and write about fair treatment and card games, but it’s also fine to use the theme as a mood, a way to enter your imagination. Trade. Fairness. Power. Violence. Justice. Games. Sex. Where will your imaginary research go to? What will your imaginary research deal with? What deals will you broker with your imagination this time?
Keep reading to find out how to get started and how to submit your writing…
Why do we publish fictional research?
We publish imagined research abstracts as works of fiction firstly because writing for enjoyment is a good thing to encourage. We spend a lot of time trying to reduce our anxiety about writing, and so writing imaginatively is a good way to reshape our relationship with writing into something creative and enjoyable.
Secondly, writing fiction in a familiar format, helps us to reflect on how we can creatively communicate our other research projects, and how we can find the joy of creativity within the grind of productivity. Creativity is a property of all writers and the privilege of all researchers. It allows us to dream and hope.
Can I see examples?
The imaginary abstracts we have published in Volumes 1–8 and our summer 2020 Special Issue were written by real academic staff, research staff, and research students. These volumes of our Journal-zine provide plenty of examples of the different approaches and styles, some funny, some serious, all completely made up.
How to get started with your submission
How you approach your imaginary Abstract is open to you. We’d like you to use an image as writing prompt, and accompaniment to your finished piece. Start with an image; any copyright free image or photograph you choose. Use this as a prompt for your writing. Perhaps begin by noting down observable facts about the image, then add some invented facts from your imagination. Combine the observed and the imagined and think about other notions, words, and concepts you associate with your developing ideas. What imaginary research project could help you articulate, investigate, or explain what you see and what you imagine from the starting point offered to you by the image? You can deviate quite strongly from the literal image in the photograph, it’s just a starting point for your creativity.
Consider your imagined abstract and imagined researcher biography as a piece, together. Who is the researcher who would do this work? What are they like? Where do they work? What have they achieved in their career?
To have your creative work considered for inclusion, please submit, in one MS Word file:
A title for your fictional study
A 200-word imagined (fictional) research abstract
A 100-word imagined (fictional) researcher biography
Due to the volume of submissions we are now receiving, we have a fast and simple editorial process. When we receive your submission, we will do one of the following:
accept and publish your submission without edits,
make minor edits to your work and publish it in the current issue, or
send your submission back to you with some suggestions on how to resubmit it for the next issue.
That means that your piece may be published with minor edits that you have not seen. If you would prefer that this doesn’t happen, then let us know when you submit. We haven’t had disappointed any writers yet, but we want you to be aware of our editorial processes so you can make an informed decision. In all cases you maintain the copyright on your submission, and no money is made by the sale of your writing.
We commonly return submissions unpublished, when:
They are not submitted in the Abstract genre – as in, they are not discernibly written in the style of a Research Abstract.
There are a large number of typographical errors or it is difficult to follow the logic and flow of the piece.
They express discrimination or use hate speech or derogatory language against a group of people.
They contain a lot of crude or toilet humour.
They are very close in theme/topic to another piece within the same volume (pieces where the Imagined Researcher is a dog, cat, or robot are very commonly submitted)
Enjoy it!
A key aim of our journal-zine is to encourage academic colleagues to embrace writing simply for enjoyment, as an act of care, or as a reflective act. We also hope that reading and writing our imagined works, will bring an enjoyable diversion into your work lives.
The Journal of Imaginary Research is now accepting submissions of new short fictional pieces for our annual volume produced each November to celebrate Academic Writing Month. We publish imaginary research abstracts, and all our volumes are available as free downloads here.
What do we mean imaginary research abstracts?
We mean short works of fiction, that take a format that is familiar to us as researchers and academics. An abstract is the summary of an academic paper, that gives us a succinct overview of the research that has been done, and the new outcomes or ideas that the research has generated.
The 2022 theme
This year our theme is ‘service’. It’s an old word that first related to ceremony or worship, like a church or wedding service. Servants are engaged in service, but so too are leaders. Service means giving time or performing duties for a person, idea or cause. There is sometimes a sense of loyalty, duty and length, but also the quick and easy service of consumerism, of waiting tables, selling with a smile, emotional labour. It’s a word deployed by the armed forces and department stores. We can service abstract things like education or science, people, institutions, or appliances like washing machines. It is both a euphemism for sex and also the word used to describe delivering a ball over the net to start a game of tennis.
We’d like you to interpret the theme in your own way so that your submission relates somehow to service. You don’t need to explain this to us or within your piece; it’s fine to take the theme literally and write about the provision of public transport, but it’s also fine to use the theme as a mood, a way to enter your imagination. Where will your imaginary research go to? What will your imaginary research service? Or should, indeed, imaginary research service anything at all?
Keep reading to find out how to get started and how to submit your writing…
Customer Service CentreChurch Service
Why do we publish fictional research?
We publish imagined research abstracts as works of fiction firstly because writing for enjoyment is a good thing to encourage. We spend a lot of time trying to reduce our anxiety about writing, and so writing imaginatively is a good way to reshape our relationship with writing into something creative and enjoyable.
Secondly, writing fiction in a familiar format, helps us to reflect on how we can creatively communicate our other research projects, and how we can find the joy of creativity within the grind of productivity. Creativity is a property of all writers and the privilege of all researchers. It allows us to dream and hope.
Can I see examples?
The imaginary abstracts we have published in Volumes 1–7 and our summer 2020 Special Issue were written by real academic staff, research staff, and research students. These volumes of our Journal-zine provide plenty of examples of the different approaches and styles, some funny, some serious, all completely made up.
How to get started with your submission
How you approach your imaginary Abstract is open to you. We’d like you to use an image as writing prompt, and accompaniment to your finished piece. Start with an image; any copyright free image or photograph you choose. Use this as a prompt for your writing. Perhaps begin by noting down observable facts about the image, then add some invented facts from your imagination. Combine the observed and the imagined and think about other notions, words, and concepts you associate with your developing ideas. What imaginary research project could help you articulate, investigate, or explain what you see and what you imagine from the starting point offered to you by the image?
Consider your imagined abstract and imagined researcher biography as a piece, together. Who is the researcher who would do this work? What are they like? Where do they work? What have they achieved in their career?
To have your creative work considered for inclusion, please submit, in one MS Word file:
A title for your fictional study
A 200-word imagined (fictional) research abstract
A 100-word imagined (fictional) researcher biography
Due to the volume of submissions we are now receiving, we have a fast and simple editorial process. When we receive your submission, we will do one of the following:
(a) accept and publish your submission without edits, (b) send your submission back to you with some suggestions on how to resubmit it for the next issue or (c) make minor edits to your work and publish it in the current issue.
That means that your piece may be published with minor edits that you have not seen. If you would prefer that this doesn’t happen, then let us know when you submit. We haven’t had disappointed any writers yet, but we want you to be aware of our editorial processes so you can make an informed decision. In all cases you maintain the copyright on your submission, and no money is made by the sale of your writing.
Enjoy it!
A key aim of our journal-zine is to encourage academic colleagues to embrace writing simply for enjoyment, as an act of care, or as a reflective act. We also hope that reading and writing our imagined works, will bring an enjoyable diversion into your work lives.
The Journal of Imaginary Research is now accepting submissions of new short fictional pieces for our annual volume produced each November to celebrate Academic Writing Month. We publish imaginary research abstracts, and all our volumes are available as free downloads here.
What do we mean imaginary research abstracts?
We mean short works of fiction, that take a format that is familiar to us as researchers and academics. An abstract is the summary of an academic paper, that gives us a succinct overview of the research that has been done, and the new outcomes or ideas that the research has generated.
This year our theme is departure. A departure can describe the action of leaving, or it can represent a deviation from an accepted, prescribed, or expected course of action. A departure could be an innovation, or it might be a retirement. What is the departure from? Where is it going to? We’d like you to interpret the theme in your own way so that your submission relates to departure in some way. You don’t need to explain this to us or within your piece. It’s fine to take the theme literally and imagine research into airports or into leaving the room in anger. It’s also fine to use the theme as a way to kick start your imagination. Where will your imaginary research go to?
Why do we publish fictional research?
We publish imagined research abstracts as works of fiction firstly because writing for enjoyment is a good thing to encourage. We spend a lot of time trying to reduce our anxiety about writing, and so writing imaginatively is a good way to reshape our relationship with writing into something creative and enjoyable.
Secondly, writing fiction in a familiar format, helps us to reflect on how we can creatively communicate our other research projects, and how we can find the joy of creativity within the grind of productivity. Creativity is a property of all writers and the privilege of all researchers. It allows us to dream and hope.
Can I see examples?
The imaginary abstracts we have published in Volumes 1–6 and our summer 2020 Special Issue were written by real academic staff, research staff, and research students. These volumes of our Journal-zine provide plenty of examples of the different approaches and styles, some funny, some serious, all completely made up.
How to get started with your submission
How you approach your imaginary Abstract is open to you. We like to use images as writing prompts, and you could try this out. Start with an image; any copyright free image or photograph you choose. Use this as a prompt for your writing. Perhaps begin by noting down observable facts about the image, then add some invented facts from your imagination. Combine the observed and the imagined and think about other notions, words, and concepts you associate with your developing ideas. What imaginary research project could help you articulate, investigate, or explain what you see and what you imagine from the starting point offered to you by the image?
Consider your imagined abstract and imagined researcher biography as a piece, together. Who is the researcher who would do this work? What are they like? Where do they work? What have they achieved in their career?
To have your creative work considered for inclusion, please submit:
A title for your fictional study
A 200-word imagined (fictional) research abstract
A 100-word imagined (fictional) researcher biography
Due to the volume of submissions we are now receiving, we have a fast and simple editorial process. When we receive your submission, we will do one of the following:
(a) accept and publish your submission without edits, (b) send your submission back to you with some suggestions on how to resubmit it for the next issue or (c) make minor edits to your work and publish it in the current issue.
That means that your piece may be published with minor edits that you have not seen. If you would prefer that this doesn’t happen, then let us know when you submit. We haven’t had disappointed any writers yet, but we want you to be aware of our editorial processes so you can make an informed decision. In all cases you maintain the copyright on your submission, and no money is made by the sale of your writing.
Enjoy it!
A key aim of our journal-zine is to encourage academic colleagues to embrace writing simply for enjoyment, as an act of care, or as a reflective act. We also hope that reading and writing our imagined works, will bring an enjoyable diversion into your work lives.
Journal of Imaginary Research 