The Journal of Imaginary Research is now accepting submissions of new short fictional pieces for a special issue, to be published in summer 2020. A key aim of the journal/zine is to encourage 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. Feel free to forward this to any other colleague or postgraduate researcher who might benefit.
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 Colour). 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 24 April, 2020
Due to the volume of submissions being received there is a fast and simple editorial process. When your submission is received the editors 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)