Dear Members, On the behalf of editors of JRP, I would like to bring to your attention a new journal that focuses on Research Practice in multiple domains. Information about JRP and Call for Papers can be found at http://home.ximb.ac.in/~dpdash/JRP.htm. Editorial focus of JRP is provided below: Editorial Focus The Journal would seek to develop our understanding of research as a type of social practice, evolving in contact with other practices within a complex and changing environment. Therefore, the journal would seek to sustain a healthy engagement with the generic issues of research practice as they arise in multiple domains of research. A broad aim is to learn about research from the experience of researchers in multiple fields, focusing especially on how they have been adapting to respond to new demands and challenges. The journal should develop appreciation of the practice of research as it keeps unfolding in various domains. It would explore why and how different activities, criteria, methods, and languages become part of research in any domain. The aim would be to enrich research practice as a whole by considering the challenges facing researchers in different areas and the interesting innovations developed by them to respond to those challenges. Learning from the successful and unsuccessful innovations may guide us in meeting new challenges and resolving new puzzles in the future. More specifically, the journal's focus and preferences can be stated in the following terms: (a) Research as a Social Practice: In presenting research as an evolving social practice, the journal should call attention to the evolution of the generic principles and conventions guiding research practice. The responsibility of the research community to itself and to the public must also be considered, especially in cases where a research process (or product) leads to negative externalities for any group of stakeholders. (b) Open Inquiry: A sense of open inquiry should characterise the journal. This will involve engagement with multiple areas of research, building awareness of the changing nature of problem contexts, acknowledgement of the researchers' involvement and risk, openness to encountering the unexpected, re-conceptualisation of existing ideas, and commitment to reach beyond existing institutional or traditional blinkers. This should draw upon the interdependence and synergies among individual and collective accomplishments in science, art, design, intervention, etc. (c) Connecting Researchers: The journal should help create reflective conversations across disciplinary boundaries, thus linking research communities. Because the journal spans a number of different research fields, the writings should be accessible to readers from different disciplines. Authors need to be careful with the jargon and the embedded assumptions peculiar to a discipline. The journal should promote work that combines or compares multiple knowledge systems, bridges disciplines, stretches existing paradigms and methodological frameworks, and asks new questions about research. (d) Contexts of Research: The contents of the journal should not be discipline oriented, but focus on the variety of contexts in which researchers find themselves. The journal should focus on the challenges and opportunities these different contexts present before researchers and the kinds of innovation developed in research practice. The problems and prospects of these innovations for future research practice should also be assessed. (e) Evaluation and Support: The journal should be a source of support for researchers and reflective practitioners in different domains. It should generate evaluations of the practical methods followed in different disciplines and practices. It should aim to develop alternative perspectives for researchers and reflective practitioners to explore in their own domains. (f) Contemporary Relevance: The journal should connect with the human and social conditions of our times, help bridge multiple global divides, address institutional malfunctioning, explore the power of connective (and cooperative) technologies, and advance lifelong learning. The journal should seek contemporary relevance by striving to specify, contest, and extend the perspectives involved in the multiple practices that define our world. The focus should be on enhancing our capacity to observe and act more effectively in that world, using results characteristic of research. In short, the Journal of Research Practice aspires to become a common window to the world of research, thus contributing to a culture of open learning and mutual support among researchers, reflective practitioners, and users of their service. Please consider submitting suitable material to this journal. The submission deadline for the first issue is 15 Aug 2004. For additional information regarding manuscript submission please contact editors of JRP (Sage Publications, New Delhi) at following address or visit the journals website at http://home.ximb.ac.in/~dpdash/JRP.htm. D. P. Dash, PhD Xavier Institute of Management Xavier Square Bhubaneswar 751013 India Email1: dpdash@ximb.ac.in Email2: professor_dash@yahoo.co.uk Homepage: http://home.ximb.ac.in/~dpdash/ Héctor R. Ponce, PhD Universidad de Santiago de Chile Facultad de Administración y Economía Av. L. B. OHiggins 3363 Estación Central Santiago, Chile Email1: hponce@pegaso.usach.cl Email2: hponce4@hotmail.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kind Regards Yogesh Dwivedi PhD Candidate DISC, Brunel University West London, UK --------------------------------- WIN FREE WORLDWIDE FLIGHTS - nominate a cafe in the Yahoo! 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