Dr. Rebecca H. Best
Associate Professor
Department of Political Science
https://rhbest.wixsite.com/rebeccabest
Maybe you’re working toward tenure or the next promotion, maybe you’re interested in finding new research collaborators, or maybe you just want to get more traction for your research and communicate it to a broader audience. If any of this describes you, academic blogging might be a solution. Don’t have time to manage a blog on top of everything else? Me neither! But, we don’t have to manage our own blogs (I don’t) and blogging doesn’t need to take much time. This post tackles the why and the how of academic blogging.
For most (all?) of us, academic blog posts are not part of our formal criteria for tenure and promotion or annual review. But, they will increase the impact of your academic publications and contribute to your recognition as a prominent scholar in your field. For example, political science analysis published in the Washington Post’s Monkey Cage blog has been cited in Supreme Court decisions, and many academic blog posts appear on undergraduate course syllabi[1] as accessible introductions to academic work. These short, fast turn-around publications are also a great way to road test a new coauthoring partnership or stake your claim in a field of study. Academic blog posts are also widely shared on twitter and other social media, contributing to interest in the author’s relevant journal articles. Beside all this, academic blog posts are quick and fun to write – and to read.
While the utility and format of academic blog posts will vary by discipline, these are generally short pieces; 900-1100 words or less is standard in my field, political science. The turn-around time is generally quite fast; in my experience about one to two weeks from initial query to publication is typical. Right now, I have a journal article under review with a co-author I met because of an academic blog post I published, and my most recent journal article has received more attention than it otherwise would have as a result of the blog piece I wrote to accompany its publication. For two to three days work, I call this a win.
If you already read academic blogs in your field, consider those as outlets for your own work. As a reader, you’ll likely have a good sense of what types of work the blogs publish. Many edited blogs have a page covering how to submit posts or propose ideas and what types of content they publish. If you aren’t familiar with the blogs in your field, take a look at CAFE’s new resources for publishing blogs, which includes a list of edited academic blogs that accept submissions.
We get it, you have a lot on your plate and, for most, short public-facing publications won’t count for tenure or promotion. But you should consider writing them anyway.
Even if these short publications won’t directly count in your tenure file,[1] they will increase the impact of your academic publications and contribute to your recognition as a prominent scholar in your field. For example, political science analysis published in the Monkey Cage blog hosted by the Washington Post has been cited in Supreme Court decisions, and many academic blog posts appear on undergraduate course syllabi as accessible introductions to academic work. These short, fast turn-around publications are also a great way to road test a new coauthoring partnership or stake your claim in a field of study. Academic blog posts are also widely shared on twitter and other social media, contributing to interest in the author’s relevant journal articles. Beside all this, academic blog posts are quick and fun to write – and to read.
You’ve done the study, written up the results and published the journal article.[2] Now it’s time to really get your work out there in front of the public, policy makers and practitioners. The first step in this process is to determine what story you want to tell and who you want to reach. Once you know that, browse the list below for a relevant outlet and follow the link to view contributor guidelines. As you write, be sure to reference both the blog’s own criteria and this guide to writing academic blogs from Taylor & Francis.
Note: be sure to review the lists from all fields that are relevant to your work. For example, there is significant overlap between political science and economics and work done in one field may be of interest to a policy magazine in another. Also, check your professional societies and journals in which you publish to see if they maintain blogs that are open to submissions. Some journals will also offer authors the opportunity to contribute a guest post to an associated blog to promote a recent publication. The blogs in this list are all open to external submissions from scholars and all publish content relating to research.
The blogs in this category provide a forum for researchers to share their latest findings, to summarize relevant literature in their field, or to apply research in their field to analyze current issues. Many peer-reviewed journals also maintain blogs for their authors; for space reasons, these are not listed here.
[1] Or maybe it will – this depends on your department. But, even if your department’s tenure standards don’t reward blogging, you should still include it in your portfolio.
[2] Or maybe you’ve just taken a first look at the data and have some hot takes – who are we to judge?
[3] Are we missing a great blog in your field that is open to guest contributors? Let us know by emailing Rebecca Best at bestrh@umsystem.edu.