Creativity, imagination, diversity, and openness. These are the major themes found throughout our collection of articles from around the web this week. Amidst a global upheaval of normalcy due to the spread of COVID-19 this week, we may question our definition of “normal” and the effect of change on our writing efforts.

David Brin once said, “If you have other things in your life—family, friends, good productive day work—these can interact with your writing and the sum will be all the richer.” This week, examine the elements in your life that enrich your writing habits, explore innovative ways to strengthen your environment, and imagine the potential ahead. Happy writing!

Stop filling gaps in research, start innovating and imagining

Despite, or probably due to, the increasing importance of (top-tier) publications — think of “publish or perish”, RAE/REF — published articles (including in top-tier journals) increasingly have an incremental contribution at the cost of more imaginative and innovative ideas. In this post, I will discuss this important problem and address the question asked by Mats Alvesson and Jörgen Sandberg in a forthcoming article, ‘has management studies lost its way?’

Research as creative practice

The connection between research and creativity is embodied in some disciplines. C. Wright Mills for instance famously talked about the necessity of the ‘sociological imagination’ – understanding how larger unseen social relations are embedded in and frame everyday events, conversations, processes and relations. But perhaps the equation of research and creativity is more convincing to non-social scientists if we look at common understandings of creativity.

Limiting your smartphone use with apps

Are you struggling with distractions, and in particular with the distraction your phone creates? There’s a number of apps that can help in that case. Know why you are mindlessly scrolling in the first place, and then work at this underlying level to break free from the habit.

Report: Gender diversity in research is improving, but we still have work to do

Women are gaining in terms of overall participation in research globally, even approaching parity in some areas of the world, and that is cause for celebration. But it’s not yet time to close the book on gender equity efforts – there is still a lot to be done, especially when it comes to addressing the gender gap in terms of inclusion with regard to research funding, patents and career longevity.

Demystifying and democratizing tenure and promotion

Unspoken rules and vague expectations contribute to holding down and pushing out scholars who have been historically marginalized in the academy, Kamden K. Strunk argues.

When you choose to re-locate

This post addresses a question I’m often asked: What factors contributed to a mid-to-late career decision to leave your home city, family, community, friends and the familiar and take up a position overseas? It speaks to the question of how mobile should we be expected to be in pursuing our careers in academia.

Subscribe to open: A mutual assurance approach to open access

As interest in Subscribe to Open grows based on the experiences of early innovations, publishers and libraries need to develop an understanding of the various approaches to Subscribe to Open and the benefits and limitations of the model.