Dear NCRM Network participants
We are pleased to announce that the journal of Contemporary Social Science have agreed to accept our proposal for a Special Issue. The call for papers is attached to this email. We would like to take this opportunity to outline our plans for advancing this issue, as well as draw your attention to our wider publishing plans.
(1) Contemporary Social Science is prepared to consider publication of 11 original manuscripts, together with an introductory paper that serves to contextualise the issue and position individual contributions within this narrative. We would like to encourage papers that conceptually and / or empirically probe specific aspects of knowledge mobilisation, methods of engagement and research impact. Contributors may choose to advance a paper that interweaves these themes, however, we would encourage submissions that focus on a specific theme and problematic. Papers should be approximately 6000 words in length and we attach the journal’s instructions for authors for you guidance.
(2) Timetable and Procedure: The journal expects to receive final copy of this issue at the end of September 2012. Publication will follow in the spring of 2013, well in advance of the end of the REF period. Whilst this is excellent news, it does mean that we will have to adhere to a strict timetable and procedure.
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Authors wishing to advance a paper for publication must send an abstract and brief bullet-pointed guidance of the paper’s intended structure to
Jonathan.Bannister@glasgow.ac.uk
or irene.hardill@northumbria.ac.uk
no later than the 30 th of April . We are happy to provide guidance in advance of this deadline to anyone considering submission.

At this point we will review the abstracts and, assuming that we will receive in excess of 11 abstracts, we will determine a preferred set of papers based on subject coverage and (conceptual / empirical) approach.
We will notify all authors of our decision by the 15 th of May . We will circulate guidance of the intended structure of the Special Issue, to help guide the development of individual contributions by the 29 th of May .

Full papers must be submitted to Jonathan.Bannister@glasgow.ac.uk
or irene.hardill@northumbria.ac.uk
no later than the 29 th of July . Thereafter, the papers will be peer reviewed. Authors may be asked to contribute to the refereeing process.

Referee reports will be returned to authors no later than the 16 th of August and revised manuscripts must be submitted no later than the 30 th of

September . Again, these papers must be submitted to
Jonathan.Bannister@glasgow.ac.uk
or irene.hardill@northumbria.ac.uk

As you will appreciate, this is a very tight timetable to develop the issue – and one that we must abide by. This has been influenced by the importance that Contemporary Social Sciences has placed on our proposal, effectively advancing it in their publication schedule so that it can make a contribution to academic and policy-making debates in advance of the REF deadline.
(3) Book Proposal . It may not be possible to include all potential papers in the
Special Issue. Likewise, contributors to the Network may not wish to advance an article for the Special Issue. It may be that the timetable for this issue is not compatible with other commitments. It may also be the case that contributors have material (in the form of case study reports, guidance notes, briefing papers etc.) that can not easily be advanced as an academic paper. Recognising these issues and based on our firm belief of the important and timely contribution that the Network is making toward methodological debates and an appreciation of the methods of knowledge mobilisation we have entered negotiations with a major publisher. It is hoped that we will be able to announce that we have secured a book contract by early summer.
If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Regards
Jon Bannister and Irene Hardill