The Journal of Imaginary Research

Summary

The Journal of Imaginary Research is now accepting submissions of new short fictional pieces for our annual volume produced each November to celebrate Academic Writing Month. We publish imaginary research abstracts, and all our volumes are available as free downloads here. What do we mean imaginary research abstracts? We mean short works of fiction, that take a format that is familiar to us as researchers and academics. An abstract is the summary of an academic paper, that gives us a succinct overview of the research that has been done, and the new outcomes or ideas that the research has generated. The 2023 theme Deal (and dealings) is our theme this year. It’s Old English and means to divide, to portion out, so that everyone has their due share. There’s a fairness to dealing: everyone gets their portion (unless, of course, the dealer cheats). To deal can mean inclusion, of bringing someone into an undertaking, giving them a share or a part. It can be a request: deal me in, I deserve it. But not all deals are equal. We heard a lot of that through Brexit, about getting a good deal, one that suited and was advantageous. Many of the nation’s recent strikes have been part of the process of bargaining for a deal. The recently announced themes heralding a ‘New Deal for Postgraduate Research’ have entered a process of sector consultation. This references the fuzzy logic of dealing, the approximations and negotiations that come with ‘striking’ a deal. Sometimes this can take a while to prepare, in other cases the deal is something that happens quickly. It’s made and it is done. Just like violence; a blow is dealt and punishment doled out, whether it is deserved or not. We deal with various things: papers, inboxes, even the dinner, where we might ‘deal with the vegetables’ in preparing a dish. So to deal with something means also to sort it out, to get it done, to administer. Sometimes there is something hard-nosed and efficient about it. Other times it’s a way of coping, of...