As we prepare for the official start of summer this weekend, sights may be set on vacations, rest, and relaxation in the academic “off season”, but as evidenced by Meggin McIntosh’s session yesterday in TAA’s Summer Webinar Series, much can be accomplished during this time, especially for those of us focused on writing.

Our collection of articles from around the web shares advice on finding time to write, planning your calendar, and developing a sense of purpose and routine. It continues with research considerations for what to read, practices in the covid era, digital defenses, and tips for becoming an indie researcher. Finally, we close with some global topics of large-scale open access agreements, combatting counterfeiting, and more inclusive and diverse publishing practices.

As Jim Rohn once said, “Remember when you see a man at the top of a mountain, he didn’t fall there.” Set your intentions this week, plan your writing time, focus on the long-term impact of your work, and happy writing!

A writer’s guide to finding time to write

I’ve put together some advice below for tips and tricks to carve out time—even if it’s for twenty minutes—to write each day. This is by no means an exhaustive list. After all, what works for me may not work for you. However, this should hopefully give you more options when you’ve exhausted your go-to methods.

How do you think about meetings when you are planning your day/week/month?

I’m not suggesting that you stop going to meetings. I’m suggesting that the stories you tell yourself about meetings matter. You want to feel like you are spending your time on activities that have a purpose. Meetings have a purpose. Look for the purpose. Even if you think the purpose could have been accomplished more effectively or efficiently, focus on the work that was accomplished rather than the time and effort you wish you didn’t have to spend to accomplish it.

How writers can benefit from a sense of purpose and routine

Whenever challenged by an unfortunate situation or condition, it helps to search for the most empowering perspectives. For me, that means finding the answers to these questions.

Reading against the literatures – #litreview

Reading against the grain of the field in such a way becomes the basis of a very bespoke literatures review. You take the historically skewed nature of knowledge and its various production processes to heart. You don’t produce a lit review that mindlessly reproduces what’s already there.

Research for non-tenure track faculty in the covid era

If you are a non-tenure track academic like me, this spring has been anything but ideal for research. Whether you are a graduate student/instructor, or a part-time or full-time instructor on contract, the pandemic “pivot” to online classes has taken away any free time you may have planned on to conduct research or write up papers. However, despite these challenges, there are still ways that we can maintain some research activities with a bit of a tweak in expectations and plans. Here are some suggestions to keep moving forward with your research agenda.

PhD defense around the world: A digital defense during a global pandemic

While regular defence would have commenced of providing the reviewer of the thesis a copy of it and presenting in front of a jury, the set up for the defence in distant mode required from the graduates to upload a list of documents online, including their presentation and a pdf of the thesis and providing the jury with a link to the folder in a channel specifically appointed for the discussions of the platoon of graduates presenting in front of this jury.

Ten top tips for becoming an indie researcher

People often ask me how to become an independent researcher. Then they ask me how I became an independent researcher, which is a different question. The answer to the latter is no help to anyone as I became an independent researcher by accident. However, I do have ten top tips for people who want to adopt the indie lifestyle.

Copyright Clearance Center managing open access agreements with more than 300 institutions through RightsLink for scientific communications

Because RightsLink is used by so many of the world’s top publishers, CCC is able to bring a broad and advanced set of capabilities to all publishers, funders, institutions and authors using the RightsLink platform.

Global strategies to combat counterfeiting

Over recent years, publishers have expanded and evolved strategies for combating content piracy in response to increasingly sophisticated counterfeiting techniques. The most promising ways forward involve collaboration across businesses, industries, and continents, pulling together the expertise of legal, content, production, sales and marketing teams globally.

World-leading publishers join us in commitment to make research publishing more inclusive and diverse

Publishers responsible for tens of thousands of peer-reviewed journals and books have signed an agreement with us to take a proactive stance against bias, as we commit to working together to better reflect the diversity of our communities and to remove barriers for under-represented groups.