As I explained last month, I am currently taking part in a new initiative at academia.edu: an (unpaid) "Editor Program" that enables me to recommend papers on the site to other users. Although I don't know how many other people are taking part in the program, the program seems to be working very well so far. When I read and recommend a paper–and I have to both (A) certify that I've read the paper, and (B) attest to its professional quality–the recommendation goes out to every academia.edu user who follows the area(s) the paper is categorized under (in most cases, tens of thousands of users, and in some cases, millions!). I then receive regular reports on how many people read and download the papers I recommend–and so far the reports I've received indicate that recommended papers are downloaded 5-10 more times than during the previous month.
Anyway, as I also explained last month, I'd like to use my recommender's role to help draw attention to work by early-career scholars, as well as work that has perhaps not enjoyed due recognition (i.e. work that has "flown under people's radar" so far). Given how much work is out there, and the fact that some people appear to only read some journals but not others, it can be hard for people–particularly early-career people who are not at "name" programs–to get their work read, noticed, or cited. Indeed, I've had a few readers email me about this very issue in the past month, expressing concern that their work will go (or has already been) unjustly ignored. Because I sympathize with these concerns (it is depressing, to say the least, to put a ton of work into something only to see it ignored!), my aim is to do what I can–even if I can only do some small part–to help draw attention to deserving work.
So, then, long story short: as long as I am taking part in Academia's editor's program, I would like to issue monthly calls for recommendations. You can recommend a paper to me by either posting in the comments section here, or by emailing me at marvan@ut.edu. You may recommend someone else's paper, or you can recognize your own–and you may do so either openly or anonymously. You may also recognize a new paper, and old paper that you think deserves more attention, unpublished papers, or published ones. The only requirement is that the paper actually be available on Academia.edu! For reasons of personal and philosophical integrity, I cannot promise that I will recommend every suggestion I receive. What I can promise is that I will give the paper a fair, sympathetic read. My hope, moving forward, is to put out one of these calls each month around the 15th, and then email authors copies of the reports I receive if I recommend their piece.
So, please do make recommendations: if there's work out there on academia–yours or others–that you think deserves more attention, let me know! 🙂
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