Seven steps to dual publication
The dual publication model for research involves creating two versions of a research paper: one for fellow academics, and one for practitioners. Juggle the two with these seven steps
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How relevant and useful are academic publications to practitioners? One of the main obstacles to the application of research in real life is that practitioners often find academic publications to be too technical, complex and inaccessible.
But the dual publication model for management sciences could be the answer. Conceived and pioneered by practitioner oriented open management sciences, researchers produce two versions of their work: a detailed, technical version for the academic audience and a simplified, practical version for the practitioner audience. The practical version focuses mainly on implications and actionable insights identified through the research, and is presented in straightforward language without excessive use of academic and technical terminology. Research widely applied and cited by practitioners can contribute significantly to an academic’s and university’s reputation. However, the reality is that dual publication inevitably results in excessive workload burdens for academics and researchers.
- ‘Academic writing equals chaos’
- What is your academic writing temperament?
- The ‘25 method’ for forming a writing routine when you have limited time
Going about dual publication, especially when trying to balance the academic and practitioner versions, requires a time-efficient and systematic approach. So what can researchers do?
1. Start off by drafting both the academic and the practitioner versions of the research simultaneously because this will help you plan how key findings can be communicated in both versions without needing a complex rewrite later on.
2. Write in a modular structure, where the main findings and implications can be reused in both versions. This way, only certain sections of the papers, such as methodology and data analysis sections, will need extensive rewriting.
3. The language used should be suitable for the particular version of the paper. The academic version should focus on field-specific technical terms, while the practitioner version should emphasise simple, jargon-free language.
4. For each version, researchers should put forward their arguments differently. For instance, the academic version should focus on theory, methodology and scientific precision, whereas the practitioner version should focus on arguments that highlight practical advice its audience can use.
5. In the practitioner version, use charts and similar visual summaries to reduce the amount of text that needs to be rewritten, as well as to help make complex information easier to comprehend, without losing any impact.
6. Use a template when preparing the practitioner version. A template with a standardised format can be reused when preparing other papers aimed at practitioners. This ensures consistency and reduces time spent on each new publication.
7. Consider research collaborations with practitioners. This is especially useful for co-authoring papers where the research problems result from practice rather than a lack of existing literature. It makes the development of dual versions, especially the practitioner version, more efficient and effective.
Dual publication really does require academics to go the extra mile. So individual recognition is important, as well as university performance evaluation criteria. A fellow academic, Lawrence Emeagwali, has been actively working on developing a curatorial database and index to measure the relevance and usefulness of management research for practitioners. His project is called “Management research relevance and impact indexing” (MARRII) and it uses a novel curation process to evaluate, abstract and index management research that is both relevant and useful to management practitioner audiences.
Unlike existing curation models, which base their research quality and impact evaluations on citation counts and limit the usefulness of the work to academic circles, MARRII bases its curation processes on the relevance of research to practitioner audiences. Most importantly, it bases its evaluation of research impact on actual usage counts by management practitioners. A platform like this has the potential to engender meaningful research in the field of management, transcending scientific impact via citation counts, and demonstrate real-world impact on management practitioners and society at large.
By consistently publishing high-quality research, academics and their universities can make significant and lasting contributions to their fields of expertise. However, through the implementation of the dual publication model and the use of platforms such as MARRII, we can increase the accessibility and impact of work on practitioners to create real-world impact.
Şerife Eyüpoğlu is dean of the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, and chair of the department of business and administration, at Near East University.
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