Literacy Research: Theory, Method, and Practice Call For Editors

Literacy Research: Theory, Method, and Practice

CALL FOR EDITORS

Application Deadline Extended to May 15, 2022

The Literacy Research: Theory, Method, and Practice (LR:TMP), a publication of the Literacy Research Association (LRA), is seeking applications for a new editorial team to begin their official term of service in the fall of 2023 starting with Volume 73.

LR:TMP is a largely peer-reviewed annual journal that publishes contemporary research and aims to promote discussion and constructive critique about key areas of literacy research, policy, and practice. Manuscripts published in the journal highlight research presented at the Annual Meeting of the Literacy Research Association and inform literacy theory, methods, and practices in the field.

  1. Editors serve a four-year term with no more than two terms served consecutively. Current editorial teams (or portions of teams) who are interested in a second four-year term must reapply through the regular process.
  2. Editors submit mid-year and annual reports to the Publications Committee, LRA Board, and Executive Committee in April and November each year.
  3. The new editorial team works with the outgoing LR:TMP editorial team and the LRA Publications Committee to facilitate a smooth transition period.

Application Procedures

Complete applications are due to the LRA Publications Chair, Melody Zoch, mzoch@uncg.edu, no later than May 15, 2022. Editorial teams may be formed in one of two ways: 1) interested individuals may apply and an editorial team will be formed based on grouping together these individuals or 2) editorial teams may be proposed as part of the application. Teams are encouraged to develop an editorial team diverse in a number of respects (e.g., theoretically, methodologically, professorial rank, racial background), while bearing in mind the logistical challenges of including a large number of people and institutions.

All applicants are required to e-mail the following documents (Maximum 10 single-spaced pages for items 2-7) as a single PDF or MS Word file (Label file as Lastname, Firstname, LR:TMP Editor Application).

  1. Letter of Intent: Include a brief letter of intent to serve as LR:TMP editor(s). Include full name, title affiliation, and contact information. For editorial teams, this information should be provided for each member.
  2. Vision and Goals for LR:TMP. Include a description of the individual’s or editorial team’s vision and goals for the journal, including an assessment of the journal’s strengths and areas for improvement. Please consider including strategies for potentially engaging LRA membership in conversations including and beyond the publication of the LR:TMP volume (e.g., a once-a-semester podcast or webinar with LR:TMP authors).
  3. Prior Editorial Experience: Include a description of prior editing experience for each individual.
  4. Collaboration and Teamwork. Include a description of the individual’s or editorial team’s approach to teamwork and collaboration relative to editorial work.
  5. Institutional Support: Include a description of how the individual’s institution might support the work of the editorship if applicable (e.g., course release, financial support, reduction of committee work, graduate assistantship, office space, technology support, and support for travel to the conference).
  6. Review Processes and Procedures. Include a description of the individual’s or editorial team’s proposed manuscript review processes and procedures, including their strategies for developing a substantial and diverse pool of reviewers.
  7. Proposed Budget: LRA is poised to offer financial support for the editorial board, which could include covering conference registration fees for each editorial member, providing funds for a Graduate Assistant, and/or covering one course release per year for one team member each year. Attach a detailed budget with a justification for anticipated costs associated with editing the journal to be covered by LRA.
  8. Curriculum Vitae: Attach for each individual.
  9. Letters of Support: Attach letters of support from each individual’s institution indicating the level of support offered should the individual or team be chosen (a single letter is sufficient if all applicants are from the same institution). Letters are recommended but not required for supporting/assistant editors.

For questions regarding the Call for LR:TMP Editors, contact Melody Zoch, Chair of the Publications Committee mzoch@uncg.edu.

Participate in the Friendly Review Mentor Call

Literacy Research: Theory, Method, and Practice, Vol. 72

Friendly Review Mentor Call

 

Scholars who present their work at the 2022 Conference, plan to submit their research to LR:TMP Volume 72, and have never before published in LR:TMP are invited to participate in the second year of the Friendly Review process. We are seeking mentors to support these authors.

 

What Is It

A Friendly Review is a less formal and unofficial review by a volunteer scholar who is committed to mentoring others. The goal is to help authors move closer to a publishable paper with feedback from a trusted friendly reviewer. With this initiative, the LR:TMP editors hope to encourage and support new authors in LR:TMP, thus widening the LR:TMP tent to include even more of LRA’s diverse array of members, theoretical orientations, and methodologies.

 

When It Happens

October 28, 2022: Application to serve as a Friendly Review Mentor due.

 

November 14, 2022: Learn who your friendly review author will be this week.

 

November 30 – December 3: Manuscripts due to friendly reviewers. Authors present papers at the 72st Annual LRA Conference (required). Meet with your author(s) in person at LRA or virtually to discuss one or two areas for which they would like your feedback.

 

January 13, 2023: Unofficial friendly review mentor feedback due to authors by this date, or by a mutually agreed upon date.

 

February 10, 2023: Submissions due to ScholarOne for official review.

 

How It Works

  • LR:TMP Editors will connect authors with their mentors via email.
  • The friendly review mentor will make arrangements to meet their author(s) virtually or in person during the conference.
  • During this meeting, the author(s) will give the paper to the mentor and suggest one or two areas for which they wish to receive feedback.
  • They will also agree upon a future date (before Jan. 13, 2023) to debrief after that mentor has had time to read the paper.
  • The friendly review mentor will read the paper in preparation for the post-review meeting.
  • The friendly review mentor will give constructive feedback on the agreed-upon focus areas with the intention of moving the paper closer to publication.
  • Author(s) will submit their papers to ScholarOne by February 10, 2023 for an official double-masked peer review.

 

Please note: The Friendly Review and official Peer Review are completely separate processes.

 

If you would like to participate in the Friendly Review as a mentor, please fill out the Friendly Review Mentor Application at this link. Questions? Contact Taylor Rose, Lead Editorial Assistant at lrtmp@ua.edu.

Participate in the Friendly Review Author Call

Literacy Research: Theory, Method, and Practice, Vol. 72

Friendly Review Author Call

Scholars who present their work at the 2022 Conference, plan to submit their research to LR:TMP Volume 72, and have never before published in LR:TMP are invited to participate in the third year of the Friendly Review process.

 

What Is It

A Friendly Review is a less formal and unofficial review by a volunteer scholar who is committed to mentoring others. The goal is to help authors move closer to a publishable paper with feedback from a trusted friendly reviewer. With this initiative, the LR:TMP editors hope to encourage and support new submitters to LR:TMP, thus widening the LR:TMP tent to include even more of LRA’s diverse array of members, theoretical orientations, and methodologies.

 

When It Happens

October 28, 2022: Application for Friendly Review due.

 

November 14, 2022: Learn who your friendly reviewer will be this week.

 

November 30 – December 3: Manuscripts due to friendly reviewers. Authors present papers at the 72st Annual LRA Conference (required). Meet with your author(s) in person at LRA or virtually to discuss the one or two areas for which they would like your feedback.

 

January 13, 2023: Unofficial friendly review mentor feedback due to authors by this date, or by a mutually agreed upon date.

 

February 10, 2023: Submissions due to ScholarOne for official review.

 

How It Works

  • LR:TMP Editors will connect authors with their mentors via email.
  • The friendly review mentor will make arrangements to meet their author(s) virtually or in person during the conference.
  • During this meeting, the author(s) will give the paper to the mentor and suggest one or two areas for which they wish to receive feedback.
  • They will also agree upon a future date (before Jan. 13, 2023) to debrief after that mentor has had time to read the paper.
  • The friendly review mentor will read the paper in preparation for the post-review meeting.
  • The friendly review mentor will give constructive feedback on the agreed-upon focus areas with the intention of moving the paper closer to publication.
  • Author(s) will submit their revised papers to ScholarOne by February 10, 2023 for an official double-masked peer review.

 

Please note: The Friendly Review and Official Review are completely separate processes.

 

If you would like to participate in the Friendly Review as an author, please fill out the Friendly Review Author Application at this link.

 

Questions? Contact Taylor Rose, Lead Editorial Assistant at lrtmp@ua.edu.

Focusing On Publishing Research That Makes a Difference

The Lead Editors of Literacy Research: Theory, Method, and Practice (LR:TMP), Volumes 70-72, will use this blog to advance publishing transparency and ethics. We will also promote content from past issues, link to online first articles for an upcoming issue, and broadcast messages about opportunities for publishing and reviewing for LR:TMP.

 

To promote transparency, we will share with the LRA community parts of the editorship proposal for LR:TMP. Our vision includes a Focus Upon Publishing Ethical Research that Makes an Affirmative Difference in the World. Here is an excerpt from our proposal:

 

The world is now and always has been in a state of perpetual flux, so ethical literacies scholarship must continuously recalibrate and transform to address new opportunities and problems and to inquire more generatively into seemingly intractable issues. A review of conference themes over the past 15 years shows a persistent optimism that literacy research has a part to play in “illuminating the future,” setting in motion “activism, community, and love,” and “mobilizing,” “expanding,” or “widening” pathways toward a better world. We agree. 


But the invisible hand of progress doesn’t inexorably move in this direction; rather, if affirmative change materializes, it is through ethically-engaged, justice-oriented practices that frequently conflict with the status quo. We believe the journal is in a unique position to expeditiously circulate life-affirming practices, theories, methods, and policy positions that warrant our optimism in the power of transformative literacies and move the field forward.

To advance this scholarship, we will:
– Highlight in each issue a paper (or set of papers) that exhibits a profound commitment to research that significantly contributes to making the world more just (e.g. through improving the lives of some segment of the population; advancing the field in theory, method, or policy).
– Focus on troubling conversations about literacies research and the complex web of factors that affect it. For example, we look forward to putting into conversation different scholarly approaches centering on politically volatile topics of grave concern in literacies research, such as immigration policies, rising racism in schools and society, and environmental sustainability.

 

In our first issue (Volume 70), we recognized the work of the Literacy Futurisms Collective-in-the-Making for their paper

We Believe in Collective Magic”: Honoring  the Past to Reclaim the  Futures of Literacy Research. They earned the first “More Just World” Award, fulfilling our proposal promise outlined in #1 above.

 

In 2020, LRA President-Elect Gwendolyn McMillon designed a series of Collaborative Panel Discussions for the annual conference. These focused upon antiracism, Black Lives Matter in Literacy Research,
Black Boys’ Literacies, and the Science of Reading. These invited papers to Volume 70 more than fulfilled our promise in #2 above, plus Volume 70’s accepted papers in part also fulfill this promise. For example, check out Presiado and Frieson’s article,
“Make Sure You See This’: Counternarratives of Multilingual Black
Girls’ Language and Literacy Practices,”
 which focuses on the wealth of language and literacy practices that their Black, multilingual girl participants contributed to schools through their multidimensional counternarratives that challenged dominant White Mainstream narratives.

 

All LR:TMP articles are available to LRA Members. Log in and go to
LR:TMP Member Access to view the current and prior issues.