Demystifying academic publication through collegial cohorts

Dr Rachel Chin is a Researcher Development Specialist in Academic Writing and a Lecturer in History

In academia, knowledge of how to publish a journal article is rarely taught explicitly. Academic writing expert Wendy Laura Belcher describes this lack of formal publication training: “When it comes to academic writing today, it’s rather like Freud’s analysis of sex in nineteenth-century Vienna–everybody does it, but nobody talks about it.” Many of us acquire these skills through a kind of osmosis, absorbing titbits of information, advice and best practice over time. The risk is that much of this world remains part of a hidden curriculum. Even after we have gotten to grips with our research, our knowledge of academic publishing practices remains partial at best. 

To address this, I (Rachel Chin) and Gemma Milne, a Lecturer in Innovation & Technology Management in the College of Social Sciences, decided that we wanted to better support researchers at the University of Glasgow to navigate journal article publication. Between October 2025 and February 2026, we ran a 12-week course structured by Belcher’s fantastic text Writing Your Journal Article in Twelve Weeks(2019). Now that the course is over, we’d like to share our top five takeaways.

• Cohorts with a range of career experience foster collegiality. Our cohort included 4 lecturers (representing both Research & Teaching and Learning, Teaching & Scholarship tracks), 2 senior lecturers, 2 research fellows, 5 postdoctoral researchers and 3 doctoral candidates. The range of backgrounds and experiences across the group encouraged rich conversations around the session tasks. But they also presented opportunities, once a level of trust had been established, to speak openly about related issues such as supervisory relationships, academic promotion / career development and work/life balance. Although publication knowledge was the core aim of the sessions, growing open, trusting and collegial relationships was a notable additional outcome.

• Writing as a cohort works. We recruited a cohort of 16 to take part in the course and we met for two hours every Monday afternoon. The time commitment to take part in the course wasn’t small. Participants expected to put in around eight hours of time reading the workbook, completing activities and progressing their articles during the week in addition to the in-person sessions. However, the collegial and supportive atmosphere of the in-person sessions was a highlight of the course. Participants valued having the accountability of a regular meeting each week, which supported them to keep their article front of mind, even if they weren’t able to complete all the weekly tasks. The cohort structure also took away some of the isolation that we often feel as writers, emphasising shared experience rather than individual struggle.

• Mixed-discipline cohorts promote learning and knowledge exchange. Our cohort brought together researchers from three UofG colleges: Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities and Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences. This mix of subjects presented opportunities for participants to exchange information about different disciplinary norms around writing, the presentation of research and the experience of co-authoring. Because a substantial part of the in-person sessions focussed on peer exchange and feedback, participants were also able to share and read work that they may not have otherwise encountered. Feedback gathered at the end of the course made it clear that this mixed-discipline approach was one of the central strengths of the programme. Participants were able to get a new perspective on their work and widen their knowledge of publishing practices beyond their discipline.

• It’s all about relationship building. This course reaffirmed the necessity of holding time and space for relationship building. In Higher Education we hear a lot about the need to undertake multi/interdisciplinary challenge-led research. Doing this research requires strong research teams. Building strong teams requires trust. Trust takes time. Given burgeoning workloads across the sector, where can we find the time to devote to relationship building? In this course, we saw an opportunity to bring together researchers from across disciplines, career stages and job families, not just to progress a publication, but also to connect in meaningful ways. We believe that models like this can support broader national research agendas while also recognising that research needs time, space and trust to develop. This assertion reinforces existing research demonstrating the wide-ranging benefits of community writing spaces such as writing retreats and writing groups. Such spaces support researchers to develop sustainable writing practices and have the potential to foster wellbeing.

• Keep the momentum going. A core question now that the course has finished is, ‘what next?’. Our cohort is keen to keep the group going, as a space for regular writing and work in progress exchange. We’re now supporting our first cohort to transition to a fortnightly writing group with opportunities for sharing and getting feedback on research. In line with the initial course aims, we’ll also be tracking article submission and publication statistics over time. We plan to recruit a second cohort for a June 2026 start and we’re also happy to share our experience with others who are interested in similar offerings. Get in touch at Rachel.chin@glasgow.ac.uk or gemma.milne@glasgow.ac.uk.