Palgrave Communications, the new high quality open access (OA) online-only, multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary journal will publish its first articles today.
The papers, which are all free to access, span a wide range of disciplines including international studies, political science, theatre and performance studies, and operational research.
The first edition of the journal includes a commentary by Dr W. James Jacob, Institute for International Studies in Education, University of Pittsburgh, on interdisciplinary research trends in higher education. This is the first of several articles that will discuss interdisciplinary research, which is much needed to help tackle global challenges such as migration and water scarcity but can be difficult within the traditional culture of academia.
Iain Hrynaszkiewicz, Head of Data and HSS Publishing, Open Research at Nature Publishing Group/Palgrave Macmillan said: “Palgrave Communications was launched in response to demand from academics in the humanities and social sciences and business for a high quality journal that operates a fully open access publishing model, and which promotes interdisciplinary research. We believe that this first batch of papers reflects these goals excellently.”
Palgrave Communications was launched after a global survey of academics in the humanities and social sciences, where 82% said that they would publish OA if the best or most appropriate journal were OA. 68% thought that their specific area of interest would benefit from journals that publish peer-reviewed OA.
Dr Michele Acuto, Senior Lecturer in Global Networks & Diplomacy, Science, Technology, Engineering and Public Policy at University College London said: “As well as being a multi-disciplinary journal, Palgrave Communications is seeking to offer a space for more in-depth and professionalized interdisciplinarity to flourish. The journal offers a venue for different scholarly arenas to connect.
“Developing truly collaborative research takes time and dialogue, but is something we hopePalgrave Communications can help with.”
Palgrave Communications offers immediate, free online dissemination of all published articles via a CC BY license1, and is committed to speedy peer review and publication.
The journal is led by a large international, cross-disciplinary Editorial Board of leading researchers. The full list of editorial board members can be found here. The in-house Managing Editor, who oversees the editorial process, is Gino D’Oca.
Palgrave Communications offers authors an enhanced digital publishing experience with industry-leading features such as article-level metrics, including data from Altmetric, and enhanced article layout and navigation. Palgrave Communications is the first Palgrave Macmillan title to launch on a new publishing platform created by Palgrave Macmillan’s sister company Nature Publishing Group. There are no restrictions on word limits: all articles that conform to the required editorial standards of the journal will be published regardless of length.
