[ENG] Feature Partner Journals - anwesenheitsnotiz

What topics do you care about as a journal? 

Most generally, we are a journal for the humanities and cultural sciences. Our range of topics reaches from art and literature analyses to ethnographic observations and philosophical argumentations. However, we favour originality over disciplinary rigour and support approaches that go beyond established academic writing. Thus, if your studies allowed you to produce a piece of writing about quantum physics or the soil conditions in the Black Forest (that is linguistically accessible to a layperson audience), leave us a note! 

Why is student research important to you? 

It is a common belief that student research is the immature version of professional research, that is research that is methodologically not equally waterproof or is not as well and profoundly written and therefore not relevant within the big scientific scope. However, especially not yet standardised lines of thoughts by students that are still zigzagging between methods and groups of themes can freshen up debates and reveal innovative perspectives.  

Giving student research a platform means encouraging students to deal with topics of their interest more enthusiastically – as it will be presented to an audience that counts more than two people (your supervisor and your sympathising flatmate) – and more critically – as it will be subject to a thorough editing process before being published. 

How does peer review work in your field/in your journal? 

All papers that are submitted to us until a given date are read by all editorial team members. After discussing and evaluating each paper we select 5 to 7 of them that we would like to publish in the next edition. Every paper is edited and supervised by one or two team members. The authors have to be willing to work through an intense editing process in which the line of argument, the use of terms and language in general is reviewed and refined. As the papers often stem from theme-specific backgrounds we ourselves are not confident with, we reach out to experts in the field who confirm the quality of the paper and sometimes point out parts to be altered or additional literature that should be taken into consideration. 

This process is far more exhaustive than typical peer review processes of professional journals or collective volumes in which critical comments often are given only once and anonymously. In its intensity, however, it is a good opportunity to practice incorporating critique and polishing a piece of sound thought. 

Why interdisciplinary publishing? 

We would like to support a scientific spirit that includes being willing to and being able to think outside the disciplinary box. Acknowledging different perspectives on the same topic not only does greater justice to the world’s complexity but also reminds us of being aware of and humble in the use of one’s own technical terms and methods. In some contexts, it even might be relevant to develop a shared but still scientifically meaningful language to be able to work on scientifically approachable problems together. 

Your key take-away from 1.5 years Berlin Exchange? 

On the one hand, Berlin Exchange enables us to live the mentioned interdisciplinarity to an even greater extent as, in addition to our own diverse backgrounds, we gain insights into the student realms of the medical and political sciences. On the other hand, connecting with other journals means connecting with peers regarding the technical level of team dynamics and work processes. Exchanging ideas and sharing resources by creating a way that fruitfully interlaces our differences and commonalities has been very inspiring! 

[written by the Editorial Board of anwesenheitsnotiz]

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