Academic writing for publication: The experience and facilitation of liminality for developing higher levels of scholarliness

Abstract

ABSTRACT Academic writing for publication is a challenging process for which academics are often ill-prepared. Being consistently successfully published in peer-reviewed publications is one measure of academic worth and scholarliness. Becoming a scholar is a rite of passage, an iterative process with liminal spaces, thresholds, transitions and transformations, which cannot be achieved without support, guidance and mentorship. We used collaborative autoethnography to describe the types of liminality we encountered as managers, facilitators, critical readers and editors of academic writing for publication capacity development events. We identified three facilitation features: that facilitators act as agents of disruption, that they provide a generative and safe holding space, and that balance and mutuality are foundational elements. Application of these three features by facilitators, supervisors or managers could contribute to providing transformational writing spaces and support at various university levels during the iterative process and journey of scholarship development.