Writing peer-reviewed articles with diverse teams: considerations for novice scholars conducting community-engaged research

Abstract

Given the growth of interdisciplinary and community-engaged health promotion research, it has become increasingly common to conduct studies in diverse teams. While there is literature to guide collaborative research proposal development, data collection and analysis, little has been written about writing peer-reviewed publications collaboratively in teams. This gap is particularly important for junior researchers who lead articles involving diverse and community-engaged co-authors. The purpose of this article is to present a series of considerations to guide novice researchers in writing for peer-reviewed publication with diverse teams. The following considerations are addressed: justifying the value of peer-reviewed publication with non-academic partners; establishing co-author roles that respect expertise and interest; clarifying the message and audience; using the article outline as a form of engagement; knowledge translation within and beyond the academy; and multiple strategies for generating and reviewing drafts. Community-engaged research often involves collaboration with communities that have long suffered a history of colonial and extractive research practices. Authentic engagement of these partners can be supported through research practices, including manuscript development, that are transparent and that honour the voices of all team members. Ensuring meaningful participation and diverse perspectives is key to transforming research relationships and sharing new insights into seemingly intractable health problems.

Where are all the Girls and Indigenous People at IGSA@ND?

“…Initial themes and analyses were shared and validated by all members of the writing team. Drawing on Flicker and Nixon (2018), we used a collaborative writing process whereby different members iteratively revised sections with input from the entire team. We offer a merged transcript of our combined conversations, with some light editing to enhance coherence.…”

Visualizing DEPICT: A Multistep Model for Participatory Analysis in Photovoice Research for Social Change

“…Together, this process resulted in feelings of increased ownership by community team members that manifested in enhanced leadership at the dissemination stage. This ultimately created suitable conditions for the cowriting of academic manuscripts that truly reflected the ideas of diverse team members and participants (Flicker & Nixon, 2018).…”

“…Photovoice participants, organizational staff, and community representatives from the sites worked with the academic researchers to present in various settings. Presentation opportunities were then leveraged to generate first drafts of coauthored academic papers as further dissemination tools (Flicker & Nixon, 2018;Switzer et al, 2020;Switzer et al, 2021).…”

Engaging a community for youth mental health and wellness: Reflections and lessons learned

“…We have reflected on the principles of CBPR and CEnR, decisions on representation of voices from the community, and our roles as researchers (Elliott, Fischer & Rennie 1999;Fassinger 2005;Stein & Mankowski 2004). We have attempted to embrace a collaborative approach in all that we do, up to and including the writing process, using a web-based tool for real-time writing and editing, and a dropbox for access to documents and articles (Flicker & Nixon 2018).…”