Hi, everyone! My name is Valerie Marshall, and I served as a Junior Editor for New Directions for Evaluation (NDE) in 2024. From July through September 2024, NDE surveyed past Guest Editors, authors, and readers to better understand their experiences with and perspectives on the journal. In this blog, I will share key survey findings from 161 responses that we received, hot tips, and lessons learned from the process.
- Support matters. Among 56 authors surveyed, the biggest help in getting manuscripts across the finish line was support—especially from guest editors—plus clear timelines, guidelines, and expectations. Good news—most guest editors (93.8%) said they felt “supported” or “very supported” by NDE’s Editors. And most authors (80.6%) felt “supported” or “very supported” by guest editors.
- Process and people are key. Guest editors (15 of them) said what helped most were responsive NDE Editors, having clear deadlines, teaming up with other guest editors, and working with experienced collaborators.
- Barriers? Timing, flow, and word count. Top challenges for guest editors included keeping authors on schedule (64.7%), making sure articles connected conceptually (47.1%), and staying within word limits (41.2%).
- Authors felt it too. Among 63 authors, word count restrictions (28.1%) topped the list of barriers, followed by unclear publishing processes (17.2%), frustrations with the submission system (14.1%), and some challenges working with guest editors (14.1%).
- Who are we writing for? Guest editors prioritized evaluation students (87.5%), professors/educators (75.0%), and practitioners (75.0%), while authors most wanted to reach evaluation researchers (71.8%), practitioners (67.1%), and students (65.9%).
Hot Tips
Survey respondents also offered recommendations on how to best support others in writing for peer-reviewed journals or on other writing projects. They asked that NDE:
- Create opportunities to learn from past guest editors
- Develop guides on reviewing and editing manuscripts, the submission process, and key deliverables
- Provide timeline and workplan templates
- Put decolonized author agreements in place
NDE authors and readers suggested that Guest Editors and Co-Editors-in-Chief provide the following to assist first-time authors:
- Communicate instructions, expectations, and desired outcomes
- Provide model papers, templates, or writing guides
- Offer support services, such as peer-mentoring, skill development workshops, or writing and editing support from internal or external sources
- Consider tailored guides for different types of authors, covering topics such as style, citations, writing, or resource guides that explain the publication process
- Engage potential authors through a variety of outreach and marketing efforts to reach academic and non-academic audiences
Lessons Learned
- Having multiple people review and provide feedback on survey questions and response options was invaluable to crafting a survey that provided both depth and breadth of topics, but was not burdensome for respondents.
Asking different audiences (i.e., guest editors, authors, and readers) about their perspectives on the target audiences and purposes of something (e.g., a journal) can reveal important differences that help inform future directions of work.
The American Evaluation Association is hosting New Directions for Evaluation (NDE). The contributions all this week to AEA365 come from the NDE team. Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this AEA365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the AEA365 webpage so that we may enrich our community of practice. Would you like to submit an AEA365 Tip? Please send a note of interest to AEA365@eval.org. AEA365 is sponsored by the American Evaluation Association and provides a Tip-a-Day by and for evaluators. The views and opinions expressed on the AEA365 blog are solely those of the original authors and other contributors. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of the American Evaluation Association, and/or any/all contributors to this site.