New visions and strategies for the Journal of Praxis in Higher Education
2022-06-23
The Journal of Praxis in Higher Education (JPHE) is an online journal published by the University of Borås that focuses on highlighting and critically discussing complex challenges facing higher education today. The first issue of JPHE came out in November 2019 and it publishes new issues twice a year.
"The editorial team includes several well-respected international researchers. Since we started JPHE, we have not had the opportunity to meet all together in one location. But now we’ve finally been able to do so,” said Kathleen Mahon, Senior Lecturer in Educational Work at the University of Borås, who focuses on higher education pedagogy in her own teaching and research.
“We usually meet online, as we are based in different countries. We have editors currently situated in Finland, Sweden, Iran, Hong Kong, Norway, France, and the United States of America. We didn't have the entire team together now either, but nearly everyone was present.”
The purpose of the editorial meeting was to discuss and reflect on JPHE’s progress and how the journal should continue to develop.
"The meeting was very productive and we all came away feeling excited for the future. It gave us a lot of ideas on how to move forward," Kathleen Mahon said. "We took a step back to see if we're still working towards our goals. What are we doing and how can we do it better? How can we become more inclusive and how can we attract more writers and reviewers from other parts of the world?”
The journal has a national and international perspective and has readers from many parts of the world, but the majority of contributions to date have been by Swedish researchers.
The editorial team also wants to expand its readership.
"Those who read the journal are mainly academics in higher education, such as teachers and researchers, but we want to reach a wider target audience. It's a challenge for us to figure out how to do that. At the meeting we discussed a range of social media and other strategies that we're going to focus on. We have also explored ways of making JPHE’s peer review process more robust as well as how to communicate better with our peer reviewers and readers.”
Participants:
- Melina Aarnikoivu, University of Borås and University of Jyväskylä, Finland
- David M. Hoffman, University of Jyväskylä, Finland
- Kathleen Mahon, University of Borås
- Trine Fossland, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Norway
- Sara Kh. Soltani, Shahid Beheshti University, Iran, (participated online)
- Zack W. Taylor, University of Texas at Austin, USA, (participated online)
- Johanna Mellén, University of Borås
- Tina Yngvesson, University of Borås
- Petra Angervall, University of Borås
About the Journal of Praxis in Higher Education (JPHE)
- This is a journal focused on highlighting and critically discussing practices in higher education.
- The first issue of JPHE came out in November 2019 and new issues are published twice a year.
- There was a need for a forum for highlighting research on challenges for practice in higher education. The journal’s focus is on tensions within academia today. It deals with issues related to the work of research and teaching in university settings as well as conditions experienced by different groups within academia.