About the Journal of Imaginary Research

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The Journal of Imaginary Research publishes short works of fiction in the genre of the Research Abstract. The imagined research abstracts, and their imagined researchers were constructed by real academic staff, research staff, and research students. We 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.

Below, Kay presents a paper on the origin story and pedagogical underpinnings of the Journal at the Creative Experiment in the Classroom Conference, GCU London, June 2020.

Dr Kay Guccione (@kayguccione) Senior Lecturer in Academic Development, and Dr Matthew Cheeseman (@eine) Associate Professor in Creative Writing — Editors.

Call for Abstracts – the utopian – Volume 6, November 2020

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graphic reads: the utopian, the hopeful, the better future

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. 

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. 

This year we’d like to emphasise the utopian, the hopeful, the better future, in our abstracts to help us to remember that sometimes it’s the little acts of hope and imagination that are the most resonant. 

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. 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. The imaginary abstracts we have published in Volumes 1-5 and our summer 2020 Special Issue were written by real academic staff, research staff, and research students.

To have your creative work included, use a copyright free image as a writing prompt, to produce:

  • A title
  • A 200-300 word imagined research abstract and 
  • A 100 word imagined researcher biography. 
  • You also need to send a high resolution copy of the copyright free image you used — by all means take a photo specifically for this purpose or see these resources if you don’t have a stash of your own: https://pixabay.com , https://unsplash.com , https://broadlygenderphotos.vice.com  (gender inclusive) and https://affecttheverb.com/collection/  (disabled, Black, Indigenous people, People of Color). The first 5 Volumes of the Journal provide plenty of examples of the different approaches and styles.

Submit these four things for consideration to kay.guccione@gcu.ac.uk by 5pm on Friday 4th December, 2020

NOTE: 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.Editors: Kay Guccione (@kayguccione ) and Matthew Cheeseman (@eine )

Call for Abstracts – special issue 2020

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a banner reading 'call for abstracts' in black text on a blue background

The Journal of Imaginary Research is now accepting submissions of new fictional pieces for a special issue, to be published in summer 2020. A key aim of our journal is to encourage our colleagues to embrace writing simply for fun, as an act of care. We also hope that reading and writing our imagined works, will bring an enjoyable diversion into your work lives. We are putting together a special issue in recognition that a fun diversion might be welcomed at this unprecedented time.

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. 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, so writing just for fun is a good way to reshape our relationship with writing into something enjoyable.

Secondly, writing fiction in a familiar format, helps us to reflect on how we can creatively communicate real 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. The imaginary abstracts we have published in Volumes 1-5 were written by real academic staff, research staff, and research students.

To have your creative work included, use a copyright free image as a prompt, to produce:

  • A title
  • A 200-300 word imagined research abstract and 
  • A 100 word imagined researcher biography. 
  • You also need to send a high resolution copy of the copyright free image you used — by all means take a photo specifically for this purpose or see these resources if you don’t have a stash of your own: https://pixabay.com, https://unsplash.com, https://broadlygenderphotos.vice.com (gender inclusive) and https://affecttheverb.com/collection/ (disabled, Black, Indigenous people, People of Color). The first 5 Volumes of the Journal provide plenty of examples of the different approaches and styles.

Submit these four things for consideration to kay.guccione@gcu.ac.uk by Friday 24th April, 2020

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.

Editors: Kay Guccione (@kayguccione) and Matthew Cheeseman (@eine)

CALL FOR PIECES: volume 5 of the Journal of Imaginary Research

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The Journal of Imaginary Research Vol 5 is now open for new fictional pieces!

We publish imaginary research abstracts.

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.

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, so writing just for fun is a good way to reshape our relationship with writing into something enjoyable.

Secondly, writing fiction in a familiar format, helps us to reflect on how we can creatively communicate real 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.

The imaginary abstracts we have published in volumes 1-4 were written by real academic staff, research staff, and research students each November, during Global Academic Writing Month.

To have your creative work included, use a copyright free image as a prompt to produce:

The first 4 volumes of the Journal are available here as free downloads and provide plenty of examples of the different approaches and styles.

Submit these four things for consideration to kay.guccione@gcu.ac.uk by Friday 6th December.

EDITED TO ADD:

Due to the volume of submissions we are now receiving, we have a fast and simple editorial process. We will:
(a) accept and publish your submission without edits,
(b) send your submission back with some suggestions on how to resubmit for next year’s edition or
(c) go ahead and edit your work and publish it in this year’s edition. 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 any writers disappointed yet, but we want you to be aware of our editorial processes so you can make an informed decision.

Just so you know, in all cases you maintain the copyright on your submission, and no money is made by the sale of your writing.