A New Beginning
by
Ronald J.
Chenail, Sally St. George and Dan Wulff
In 1990, we launched The Qualitative Report as a paper journal
in order to give writers and researchers an outlet for expressing
themselves in and about qualitative research. The world back then was not
so qualitative research-friendly as it is today. It was difficult to find
journals totally dedicated to qualitative approaches or ones open to
publishing research utilizing such methods. We envisioned the journal as a
safe haven for authors and readers to explore these new and strange
approaches to discovery and exploration.
In 1994, we took The Qualitative Report online and reached out
to a worldwide audience. We have seen our readership and paper submissions
increase dramatically. We have seen a decided improvement in the state of
qualitative research as an accepted family of approaches to research and
reflection. We have also been witness to the wonderful growth of quality
in the field. We have found the emergence of all of these events to be
quite fulfilling and rewarding.
Over these years, as we have worked with our authors, we have begun to
approach them and their papers in a way that we think is different from
what may be the standard procedure at other journals. We became more and
more curious about our own process. We reviewed our reviews and we spoke
with our authors and editorial board members. In this reflection, we began
to see a pattern. The reviewers and editors enjoyed the emerging style and
felt the authors appreciated what we were trying to do. The authors agreed
the reviews they were receiving were different too. They thought The
Qualitative Report reviews were richly developed, extremely helpful,
and respectful of their ideas and of them.
Based upon these reflections, we continue to develop a unique editorial
process at The Qualitative Report. Our goal for this
process is to help all authors to prepare their papers for eventual
publication in the journal. In this system, all authors who submit papers
are accepted as members of The Qualitative Report's community. By
making this acceptance, we dedicate ourselves to creating a context in
which all participants in the editorial development process can grow as
authors and mentors. As a team, they can successfully work together to
improve the manuscripts until the submissions become published papers in
this journal.
The hallmark of The Qualitative Report will not be built upon
rejection rates; rather, we want to distinguish ourselves by assisting
authors to improve themselves and their texts. We strongly believe all
authors and their research have merit. Sometimes, that quality is not
readily apparent in the text. The goal of this approach is to help authors
to develop their ideas and to work collaboratively with their mentors to
help them to bring out the best in their work. The tenor of this editorial
relationship will be one of respect and collaboration.
Our mission is to nurture and mentor authors who submit their papers to
The Qualitative Report and to support them throughout the paper
development process. In doing so, we have envisioned The Qualitative
Report as a learning environment, one through which we will commit our
collective human and informational resources to help each and every author
produce papers of excellence and distinction.
Now in 2004, we are moving into another developmental phase of The
Qualitative Report which will assist authors in the improvement of
their manuscripts submitted even more efficiently and effectively. We want
to keep the manuscript as our centerpiece, that is, the focus of our
attention throughout the process from initial submission to final
publication. In the manuscript development process, we, the editors and
reviewers in partnership with authors, want to focus on embedding the
collective manuscript improvement efforts into the manuscript itself. In
other words, the manuscript is the centerpiece of the entire reviewing,
editing, and revising enterprise. Instead of producing separate review and
response documents that can move us all away from the manuscript, we will
work together to weave all our collective comments and responses in the
manuscript to create an evolving audit trail that will ultimately produce
the published paper. To do this we have asked reviewers to act more in
the role of a consultant by offering both editing and revising suggestions
and recording them for your use via some special features of Microsoft
Word. This will create an audit trail that we think will ease tracking and
addressing changes in revising and improving manuscripts. Please see "A
Guide for TQR Authors" for more information on this innovative
process.
To facilitate this process, each author will be assigned to a
manuscript development team headed by one of the journal's editors, who
along with the reviewers, will work closely with the author as manuscript
consultants in pursuit of developing the paper for publication in The
Qualitative Report. The manuscript development group will also focus
on helping the author develop as a writer and researcher. By making this
acceptance, we dedicate ourselves to creating a context in which all
participants in the editorial development process can grow as authors and
mentors. As a team, they can successfully work together to improve the
manuscripts until the submissions become published papers in this
journal.
This editorial review as learning community will also benefit the
editors and reviewers. Each encounter with the authors will be an
opportunity for the members of the team to reflect on the reviewing
process and to gain great insight into the ways papers can be improved and
authors can grow. Reviewers as manuscript consultants will receive
feedback on their reviews and commentary from the authors and editors. The
goal is for all members of the manuscript development team to learn from
the experience of working together.
Editorial Board Interns will have the opportunity to apprentice with
The Qualitative Report. They will learn from the experiences of the
authors, editors, and reviewers. The interns will support the manuscript
development team in the reviewing process and will learn how to review
papers and how to mentor authors. As the interns establish their skills
and knowledge in reviewing qualitative research texts and supporting
authors through the editorial process, they will be able to join the ranks
of the Editorial Board and take a leading role on the manuscript
development teams.
Lastly, the editors have the rewarding task of helping the whole
process come together so all members of the team learn from the
experience. This learning opportunity will not be isolated to the
particular manuscript development team. The editors will work together to
share knowledge across the array of all teams. What is learned with one
team will be shared with all teams. In this role, managing editors are
charged with not only managing the teams, but also managing the knowledge
generated from the teams and their work.
As we learn from this knowledge management process, we will publish
papers on reviewing, mentoring, and emerging trends in the practice and
understanding of qualitative inquiries. In this way, we will give back to
the world of qualitative research. We help our readers and future
participants in our editorial development teams to benefit from what we
have garnered from these experiences.
If we are successful in our labors, we will create a sustainable
learning system that will foster growth in qualitative researchers and
improvement in qualitative research. We trust you find this new beginning
an intriguing opportunity to learn and consider joining us in this
pursuit.
For more information, please contact
Ronald J. Chenail, Ph.D.
Editor
The Qualitative Report
Nova Southeastern University
3301 College Avenue
Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33314 USA
Phone: 954.262.3019 | Fax: 954.262.3896
Email: ron@nsu.nova.edu
Home Page: http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/index.html
This page is maintained by Ronald J. Chenail, Graduate School of
Humanities and Social Sciences
Copyright 1990-2013. Nova Southeastern
University and Ronald J. Chenail
Revised: February 11, 2013
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