Notes from the Big Brain Collective as summarized by Research Scholars Emily Monosson and Arika Virapongse.

The intention of the Ronin Institute Big Brain is for participants to share knowledge, experiences, advice and opinions. Topics flow from one meeting to the next. When we discussed Success in our last Big Brain, questions about Publishing emerged.

In this Big Brain, we created an FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) to collect questions and answers about: Where do we publish? Why? How? Books, journals, blogs or other, how do we choose what goes where? What about Peer-review? We are grateful for the nearly twenty Ronin Scholars who shared their wisdom and questions over the course of two different meetings. Participants contributed information from how to publish and polish articles for a blog post, to the pros and cons of peer review, and thoughts on Impact Factors and how best to spread the word about your new publication.

Below are some questions that participants provided. If you want to see the responses, check out the full FAQ.

  • Can self-published books be placed in bookstores?
  • How do I choose which book publishers to approach?
  • Does impact factor [for peer reviewed journals] really matter?
  • What to do about page charges [for peer reviewed journals]?
  • If I publish in a preprint, why isn’t there a problem with “re-print” in a peer reviewed journal? 
  • How many types of OA [Open Access] are there? How should this affect our publishing decisions?
  • What prompts people to publish an idea?
  • How to attract readers?
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I am a toxicologist turned writer. Most of what I write is about how we impact the world; and how we can reduce our human footprint. My most recent book Blight: Fungus and the Coming Pandemic (W.W. Norton Press) will be in print Summer 2023. It is about fungal pandemics across species.

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Arika is a Research Scholar and Community Director of the Ronin Institute. She is a social-ecologist who works with human-environmental issues including, community resilience, natural resource management, and the application of science. In addition, she is the Founder of Middle Path EcoSolutions, a consulting firm that helps organizations with community building.

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  1. Pingback:A Year in Review for the Ronin Institute: 2021 – Ronin Institute

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