Friends,

The thread on the Common Ground journals has me scratching my head and thinking. I don't know whether I wish to wade into this or not, but I do want to add a few simple points on publishing.

There are not as many mysteries about how scholarly and scientific communities develop as one may think. This is a matter of what Wittgenstein might label a "puzzle" rather than a "problem." In each case, the puzzle involves sorting out the embedded social and cultural factors, the networks and friendships, alliances and enmities that shape any community. In, most communities of practice are alike, including scientific and scholarly communities of practice.

In what journals should we publish? It depends what goals we seek and what purposes we serve.

If our purpose is to rack up publishing points for local accounting by deans or university departments that don't understand our research field and don't care about contents, any journal may serve our purpose. If we want to meet metric standards for a national research measurement scheme, then we must choose journals to which the authorities allocate metric credits. If our purpose is moving our university toward a place in the Shang Hai Jiao Tong index (ARWU), or keeping it there, then we've got to seek ISI Web of Science journals that are covered in the SSCI, the AHCI, or the SCI.

If our goal is developing our field by publishing where our colleagues will read our work and build on it, the design research journals with the greatest impact are Design Studies and Design Issues. These are the leading journals in our field. Other journals that come relatively close include the International Journal of Design, the Design Journal, and the Journal of Design Research.

For publishing points or national accounting schemes, nearly any journal will do.

For ARWU, only ISI index journals will do.

For a genuine contribution to the field of design research, one must publish in a serious journal from an established and respected publishing firm or a journal published by a scholarly or scientific society or a national center. While this narrows the field slightly, many journals meet these criteria. This is where we advise our colleagues to publish. All ISI journals meet these criteria.

Today, there are several dozen good journals in design and design research, and hundreds of good journals in cognate fields that publish design research. All seek good articles to fill out each year's volume. There is no reason to publish elsewhere.

Sincerely,

Ken Friedman, PhD, DSc (hc), FDRS
Professor
Dean

Swinburne Design
Swinburne University of Technology
Melbourne, Australia

Telephone +61 3 9214 6755
www.swinburne.edu.au/design