The Journal of Imaginary Research is now accepting submissions of new short fictional pieces for its annual volume produced each November to celebrate Academic Writing Month.  A key aim of the journal/zine is to encourage academic colleagues to embrace writing simply for enjoyment, as an act of care, or as a reflective act.  It is also hoped that reading and writing the imagined works will bring an enjoyable diversion into your work lives.

The Journal publishes imaginary research abstracts, and all the volumes are available as free downloads here.  What is meant by imaginary research abstracts?  This means 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.  Imagined research abstracts are published 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 published in Volumes 1-5 and the Summer 2020 Special Issue were written by real academic staff, research staff, and research students.

This year the publishers would 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. 

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 4 December 2020

Due to the volume of submissions that are now being received, there is a fast and simple editorial process.  When your submission is received, the editorial team 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 please state this when you submit.  The Editors haven’t had disappointed any writers yet, but they want you to be aware of the 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 )