Where to Publish? An Interdisciplinary Guide

When research is externally evaluated, and even when it isn’t, the choice of venue for your research publications could hardly be more important. The journal you choose, or the publisher you contract with, determine the readership for your research writings, and – to some extent - determine, in addition, the quality ascribed to your work. Whether or not this is as it should be is a separate issue to that of having to respond (a) to the fact that different journals and publishers have diverse strengths and weaknesses, and (b) that hierarchies of judgement will be applied to your work on publication.

In my field, design history, there are only a handful of dedicated journals. The Journal of Design History is world-leading, while Design Issues and Design and Culture each relate to design cultures in distinctive ways. Beyond this small group, many of the journals in which design historians choose to publish are either design journals, more broadly defined, or journals representing the large number of neighbouring or other fields which connect in various ways with the diverse subject of design and its histories. The former group includes The Design Journal, and more specialised journals such as Interiors, Fashion Theory etc.

See the following on design journals:

• ‘Design Research Journal Ranking Study: Preliminary Results’ by Ken Friedman, Deirdre Barron, Silvana Ferlazzo, Tania Ivanka, Gavin Melles and Dr. Jeremy Yuille (2008).
• Ranking of Design Journals Based on Results of the UK Research Excellence Framework: Using REF as Referee, Neil J. Mansfield, The Design Journal 19:6 (2016): 903-919.
• ‘Quality perceptions of design journals: The design scholars’ perspective’, Gerda Gemser, Cees de Bont, Paul Hekkert, Ken Friedman, Design Studies 33: 1 (January 2012): 4-23.

Beyond design, there is a wealth of resources available to colleagues wishing to make an informed choice about which journals, or presses to publish with. Some other rankings for specific disciplines that TVAD researchers may be interested in are:

• ERIM, the Erasmus Research Institute of Management which ranks journals in management through its ‘ERIM Journals List (EJL) 2016-2021’ (updated 29 January 2016).
• AACSB International—The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) publishes a ‘Journal Rankings and Indices of Research Productivity’ which covers mostly business. 

More broadly, a standard resource is the European Reference Index for the Humanities and the Social Sciences (ERIH PLUS). It was produced by the European Science Foundation (ESF) in 2008. It is now maintained by the Norwegian Centre for Research Data. Initially it covered the humanities only, but now it also covers the social sciences.

Scopus is the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature across the sciences, arts and humanities. It offers ‘CiteScore’, ‘essentially the average citations per document that a title receives over a three-year period’.

The most well-known indicator in the JCR is the Journal Impact Factor (JIF). This provides a ratio of citations to a journal in a given year to the citable items in the prior two years. Journal Citation Reports® (JCR) published by Clarivate Analytics (2017) offers a combination of impact and influence metrics from 2016 Web of Science source data covering more than 11,000 journals from 81 countries.
 

Eigenfactor was set up in January 2007 by Carl Bergstrom and Jevin West to use ‘recent advances in network analysis to develop novel methods for evaluating the influence of scholarly periodicals, for mapping the structure of academic research, and for helping researchers navigate the scholarly literature.’ It focuses on sciences and social sciences.

Princeton’s Wendy Laura Belcher has worked with some Princeton students on this digest of ‘Reviews of Peer-Reviewed Journals in Humanities and the Social Sciences’ (Princeton 2017) https://journalreviews.princeton.edu/ranking-peer-reviewed-journals/ This blog reviews more than 70 journals. Belcher recommends her own book Writing Your Journal Article in Twelve Weeks: A Guide to Academic Publishing Success (SAGE 2009) and the introduction and chapter one can be downloaded from the SAGE website.

Judgments about journal quality can directly inform perceptions of a researcher’s worth. See David Adams', Publish or Perish v. 5 (2017). Consider also this promotion document from the London School of Economics: http://www.lse.ac.uk/intranet/staff/humanResources/reviewingAndRewarding/promotionAndReview/pdfs/JournalsLists-16-17.pdf

The information is arranged by subject area, including some interdisciplinary topics such as gender studies. The journals regarded as the best are shown for each field. The document also advises on academic publishers with some surprising results: Palgrave Macmillan may not be so closely associated with the group of university presses by everyone who expresses an opinion. Conversely, Bloomsbury Academic is a relatively new addition to the Bloomsbury publisher which may not yet have made an impression on the compilers of such lists.

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Prof Grace Lees-Maffei with Dr Veronica Manlow.

Dr DJ Huppatz, TVAD Visiting Researcher 2015-6: Programme Announced

Dr Daniel Huppatz will join the TVAD Research Group as TVAD Visiting Researcher for 2015-16, including a three-week study visit in February 2016. I am delighted to announce the programme for his visit here.

 

Dr Huppatz is a Senior Lecturer at Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia. His current research interests include mapping histories of modern Asian design, Australian design, and histories of interior design and architecture. As well as presenting papers at numerous academic conferences, Dr Huppatz has been widely published in journals including Design Issues, Journal of Design History and Design and Culture. His other interventions include editing Design: Critical and Primary Sources (Bloomsbury, 2016), a collection of 75 essential texts on design from the mid-19th century to the present day, covering key thinkers, movements and issues for design, and co-editing Unbounded: On the Interior and Interiority (Cambridge Scholars Press, 2015). Huppatz is a co-founder of the Design History Australia Research Network, DHARN. He is currently working on a book titled Modern Asian Design.

PROGRAMME

·       TUESDAY 2^nd FEBRUARY 2016

2 pm, Gallery Café. Welcome to the School of Creative Arts, and Tour, Dr Grace Lees-Maffei.

4 pm to 5.30 pm, LC108. Art Talk series. Dr Daniel Huppatz, ‘Contemporary Art and Urbanism in Melbourne’, convened by Prof Simeon Nelson.

As a case study of what’s happening in art elsewhere in Australia, Dr Huppatz’s talk will examine the scene in Melbourne as a case study. He will make links with illuminating examples of urbanism such as Fed Square, the range of independent artists spaces, the laneways and graffiti and stencil art. The talk will be richly illustrated throughout.

·       WEDNESDAY 3^rd FEBRUARY 2016

12.45 for 1 pm, 1A157 Lindop. TVAD Talks series. Dr Daniel Huppatz discusses his work editing the monumental Design: Critical and Primary Sources.

3 pm to 5 pm, 1A157 Lindop, Reading Group. Session with TVAD and School research staff and PG students. Texts will be tabled for discussion from Dr Daniel Huppatz, Dr Grace Lees-Maffei, and colleagues. They are available on request from Dr Grace Lees-Maffei g.lees-maffei@herts.ac.uk

 

·       TUESDAY 9^th FEBRUARY 2016

6 pm, University of Hertfordshire Gallery. Opening of the Postgraduate Interdisciplinary Exhibition, led by Ian Willcock. Refreshments served. http://www.herts.ac.uk/apply/schools-of-study/creative-arts/postgraduate-study

  

·       WEDNESDAY 10^th FEBRUARY 2016

11 am to 12.45 pm, Design Studio, Lindop Building. MA Art and Design, Module: Discourse and Reflection, led by Kerry Andrews: Dr Daniel Huppatz, ‘The International State of Design History’.

12.45 pm for 1 pm, AA191 College Lane Campus. TVAD Talks series. ‘You’re toast! What happened when modernist designers met subversive consumers in the 20^th century kitchen’, Dr Susan Parham, Head of Urbanism, Centre for Sustainable Communities

Over the course of the 20^th century kitchens became highly contested territory, caught between designers’ certainties and users’ unruly responses to their architectural and technological design interventions. Drawing on design research documented in my recent book, Food and Urbanism (2015), in this talk I explore how the foodspace of the kitchen became a critical design site for fascinating battles about spatial behaviour and cultural meaning.

Respondent: Dr Daniel Huppatz.

·       THURSDAY 11^th FEBRUARY 2016

4 pm, AB146, Todd Building. Design Talks series. Dr Daniel Huppatz discusses his forthcoming book in progress, Modern Asian Design.

·       MONDAY 15^th FEBRUARY 2016

11 am to 1 pm, BA (Hons) Interior Architecture & Design Studio. Research-informed teaching session with Level 6. Led by Dr Daniel Huppatz with Programme Leader, Dr Silvio Carta.

·       TUESDAY 16^th FEBRUARY 2016

9.45 am to 4 pm, R010 de Havilland Campus. DHeritage, Professional Doctorate in Heritage Workshop: ‘Global/Local Places’, Convened by Dr Susan Parham, Head of Urbanism, Centre for Sustainable Communities.

For more information, contact the TVAD Research Group Leader, Dr Grace Lees-Maffei g.lees-maffei@herts.ac.uk and read our blog at http://tvad-uh.blogspot.co.uk/

Dr Daniel Huppatz is TVAD Visiting Researcher for 2015-16

Dr Daniel Huppatz will join us as TVAD Visiting Researcher for 2015-16. Dr Huppatz is a Senior Lecturer at Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia. His current research interests include mapping histories of modern Asian design, Australian design, and histories of interior design and architecture. As well as presenting papers at numerous academic conferences, Dr Huppatz has been widely published in journals including Design Issues, Journal of Design History and Design and Culture. His other interventions include editing Design: Critical and Primary Sources (Bloomsbury, 2016), a collection of 75 essential texts on design from the mid-19th century to the present day, covering key thinkers, movements and issues for design, and co-editing Unbounded: On the Interior and Interiority (Cambridge Scholars Press, 2015). Huppatz is a co-founder of the Design History Australia Research Network, DHARN. He is currently working on a book titled Modern Asian Design.

Dr Huppatz will be working with researchers both within and beyond TVAD, and other staff and students in the School of Creative Arts and the School of Humanities. His work with us will cover topics including interior design and global design history to modern Asian design. These topics will be examined through sessions including:

• A research training seminar with Level 6 students on the Interior Architecture programme and MA Interior Architecture and Design students
• A contribution to the School of Creative Art’s Art Talk series
• A staff reading group with the TVAD researchers
• Participation in a workshop on Global and Local Heritage for the DHeritage Professional Doctorate in Heritage in the School of Humanities.

For more information, contact Dr Grace Lees-Maffei, TVAD Research Group Leader, g.lees-maffei@herts.ac.uk
 

The masculinization of dressing up

‘Dressing-up’ has often been seen as a gendered activity. In particular, costuming – the design and creation of costumes – has been viewed as a female pursuit. However, Barbara Brownie's latest article, recently published in Clothing Cultures (vol. 2, no. 2), explores contemporary events and artefacts which frame dressing-up in contexts that are more acceptable to male audiences. As a result, a new generation of men are becoming more engaged with costume.

If costume can be justified as a functional object, particularly in that is associated with the very masculine act of combat, it can be distanced from feminine acts of vanity, and childish acts of play. Historical and military reenactment invites participants to consider clothing not as frivolous fashion items but as the tools of war, and a means of recording history. In multiplayer online games (such as World of Warcraft), the dressing and preparation of the avatar is a significant part of the player’s gaming experience. Fron et al. (2004) observe that male gamers devote a lot of time and effort into developing their costume, justified by their use of terminology such as ‘gear’ rather than ‘costume’. Such terminology suggests that the avatar’s wardrobe is primarily a matter of function rather than style. These environments introduce quantifiable measures of a costume's success - including numerical scores for effectiveness in battle scenarios, or point-by-point assessment of authenticity.

The notion of costume as functional object has also made the practice of dressing-up more acceptable to mainstream cinema audiences. Christopher Nolan took great pains to justify Bruce Wayne’s costume in his recent cinema incarnations of Batman (The Dark Knight, 2008, and its sequels), in which the Batman costume is depicted as pseudo-utilitarian. The superhero genre also presents numerous masculine characters actively involved in the design and creation of costume, including Spider Man, who is seen sewing his own suit. In the domestic space of his aunt’s home. In sci-fi and fantasy fandom, fans acquire cultural capital through the design and creation of costume. Through accuracy and authenticity in costume, a cosplayer may position himself as an authority. The organized ‘masquerades’ that take place at cosplay events add a masculine element of competition to this traditionally feminine act.

Barbara's article identifies contemporary influences on the perception of the wearing and construction of costume, particularly with regards to costume as an expression of masculine ideals. It discusses the costume as a marker of hypermasculinity, authority, or preparedness, and identifies how traditionally feminine domestic spaces and activities have been co-opted by a new generation of males. It presents domestic activities such as sewing as rites-of-passage on the path towards masculinity.

TVAD Visiting Researcher 2014-5 Dr Javier Gimeno-Martínez

Javier Gimeno-Martínez is Assistant Professor at the VU University Amsterdam. He holds a MA-degree in Industrial Design from the Universidad Cardenal Herrera, Valencia (Spain) and an MA-degree on Art History from the Universidad de Valencia. He got his PhD in 2006 from the KULeuven with the dissertation “The Role of the Creative Industries in the Construction of Regional/European Identities (1975-2002): Design and Fashion in Belgium and Spain.” He was a visiting scholar in the department of Design History at the Royal College of Art (London, UK) for the year 2009-2010. Dr Gimeno-Martínez’s research interests encompass design and fashion as related with consumption, gender and national identity. He has been conducting research on the shifting cultural status of industrial design and craft from the 1950s up to today with Belgium as case study, funded by the Research Foundation – Flanders from 2007 to 2010. The culmination of the first three years of this research project was the seventh ICDHS conference “Design and Craft: A History of Convergences and Divergences”, organized in collaboration with Dr. Fredie Floré, which provided the opportunity for an international discussion on regional specificities as well as the impact of global processes of industrialisation. If, until now, design history has been largely dominated by the Western narratives of industrialization, then moving the focus towards non- industrial design practice might bring non-Western scholars to the forefront. Moreover, previously marginalized design histories in industrialized countries can finally get a voice. Dr Gimeno-Martínez was an Editor of the Journal of Design History from 2008-2013 and he is currently co-editing a special issue on Dutch design for that journal.

MON 24^TH NOVEMBER 2014 F390 Wright Building

10 am to 12 pm – Session with PG, MA and research students, led by Dr Gimeno-Martínez on national identity in design

12.45 to 3 pm – TVAD Talk ‘A graphic negotiation with the past, present and future. Political devolution and the symbols of the Belgian regions (1970–1998)’ LUNCH PROVIDED

Political devolution results in administrative institutions that are generally created anew. However, these new institutions try to conceal the brevity of their existence by reusing communal symbols from the past, such as flags or coats of arms. Even when these symbols might objectively carry certain polemical connotations, the weight of tradition can become an opportune tool for legitimating institutions, so that the past is somehow forced to conform to the present. Properly analysing this instrumentalization of historical iconography can pose quite a challenge for both historians and designers. Indeed, it is present-mindedness rather than historical perspective that drives these legitimating processes.

This talk analyses the negotiation of signs by the governmental bodies that resulted from Belgian federalization. Along with the conflict between past and present, the Belgian case addressed the future, too. Belgian political devolution evolved in parallel with the Maastricht Treaty (signed in 1992), through which regions attained prominent roles in Europe. Did the need to create competitive regions invalidate the suitability of ancient symbols for legitimizing public institutions? It does not seem to be the case. On the contrary, institutional emblems coupled the necessity for appearing established with the urge to project European regions as competitive entities.

3.30 to 5 pm - Student presentations about their work (follows on from morning session).

TUES 25^TH NOVEMBER 2014 F302 Wright Building

11.30 am to 12.30 pm – Planning for next visit, all staff invited to input.

1.30 pm – 3 pm – Reading Group session with TVAD and School research staff and PG students. Staff and research students are invited to circulate a piece of their writing in progress in advance to Dr Grace Lees-Maffei, g.lees-maffei@herts.ac.uk for discussion at the reading group round table.

For more information, contact Dr Grace Lees-Maffei g.lees-maffei@herts.ac.uk  Blog  http://tvad-uh.blogspot.co.uk/