To a large extent, faculty who enter the field of educational leadership preparation do so following many years of experience as school administrators. For most new faculty members, a position in higher education is a natural extension of their professional lives. While some choose to serve as adjunct professors, others aspire to tenure-track positions. In either case, they are typically motivated by the opportunity to share what they have learned during their careers with both aspiring administrators as well as current administrators seeking promotions.

As they enter academia, many tenure-track professors find themselves somewhat unaware of all the responsibilities associated with their new positions. Yes, they know they will teach, serve on committees, and be expected to publish. In fact, for most former administrators, meeting the expectations associated with teaching and service requires minimal adjustment. For a substantial number, however, the scholarship expectations initially appear daunting.

As a result, many novice assistant professors soon discover that the transition to higher education includes a steep scholarship learning curve. During their careers as school administrators, they had probably heard the phrase "publish or perish" but had not fully comprehended its meaning. Many may even have earned their degrees before the introduction of the Institutional Review Board process (IRB).

As school administrators, new professors may have conducted local research but often without significant concerns about research design, methodology, data collection, and analysis. In fact, it is likely that they may not even be familiar with the definition of a peer-reviewed publication. To them, publishing means having what they have written accepted for publication somewhere. Whether it is peer reviewed or not, as well as whether it is published locally, statewide, or nationally, either in print or online, means very little. In fact, most of their past personal writing probably focused on pragmatic administrative responsibilities rather than research studies or theoretical papers.

Once they are immersed in their first tenure-track position, the realities of scholarship become readily apparent. New professors must shift a majority of their reading and writing from practitioner-oriented, non-peer reviewed educational magazines and newsletters to more academic publications. Some learn for the first time that scholarship also includes presentations at state and national conferences, which too have to pass the test of peer review. As a result, when faced with the expectation of publishing in peer-reviewed journals, new professors often are not sure where to begin.

One of the unique professional challenges faculty members face is meeting the scholarship requirements for tenure and promotion. As part of this process, an important first step is developing an understanding of what publications are available both as a source of professional information as well as a possible outlet for publication. This means quickly and efficiently identifying what educational leadership-related publications are available, often a difficult task for relatively inexperienced researchers.

Although university libraries make available directories of publications such as Cabell's Directory of Publishing Opportunities in Business and Education (Cabell, 2007), these types of reference sources can be cumbersome and somewhat difficult to use. It is easy to become bogged down searching for publication options among a large book full of unfamiliar options. What is not readily available is a simple, concise listing of educational administration-related publications including pertinent publication characteristics that professors can use to identify appropriate publication venues for their scholarly work.

To address this need, the authors used a combination of surveys and professional contacts, including review of reference sources, to identify available educational administration-related publications. After targeting specific publications, a survey was sent to the editors of these journals requesting specific information about their publications. Editors were asked to provide the following information about their publications:

A summary of publication information from the 20 editors who responded to the survey is presented in Table 1. To assist in interpreting the table, a description of each section, including keys for abbreviations or coding, is summarized below.

Publishing in educational journals can be one of the most daunting tasks for new professors, particularly professors who came to higher education from the world of public education administration, where publishing educational research and scholarly work was not a priority. A difficult but critically important part of publishing is choosing the right journal for submission. Even the most interesting, well written manuscript may be rejected if it is not a good fit for the journal to which it is received. In choosing a journal, authors must consider the readership of the journal, the submission length, the style guidelines, and the theme. If any of these are not right for a particular manuscript, then the chances of being rejected increase. Thus, developing a familiarity with what types of journals serve the field of educational leadership and administration can be a valuable tool to mastering the “publish or perish” arena. In addition to being familiar with these journals, knowing what each journal expects from potential manuscripts greatly facilitates the process and may help speed up the time from submission to publication. In a world of tenure and promotion, every publication is important, and sharing research among peers is how the discipline of educational leadership continues to grow and improve. By understanding the characteristics of key educational leadership publications, new professors and emerging scholars can improve their productivity and contribute to this important area of research.

Cabell Publishing. (2007). Cabell’s directory of publishing in educational psychology and administration, 8th ed. Beaumont, TX: Cabell’s Publishing.

Henson, T. (2003). Writing for professional publication: Some myths and some truths. Phi Delta Kappan, 85, 788-790.