Increasing the Value and Accessibility of Academic Research: Perspectives from Industry

Most peer-reviewed journals in the field of Technical and Professional Communication have as a goal to publish research articles on problem, trends, and practices in the field to meet the needs of readers working in industry and academia. The hope is that readers working in industry use published research results to problem solve and improve practices. No studies to date, however, have examined practitioner experiences reading and responding to published academic research. We do not know the extent to which practitioners in the field use academic research or find it valuable, relevant, or accessible. This paper reports the results of interviews with 11 seasoned practitioners in the field who were asked to read 12 peer-reviewed articles and six trade articles and then share their experiences and perspectives. Results suggest that practitioners think much academic research applies to them but is not communicated in a way that makes the application clear. To encourage practitioners to seek out articles and apply research results, study participants urge researchers to highlight practical applications and potential use cases and to write with a practitioner audience in mind. Participants also urge journal editors and boards to consider creating companion blogs or magazines for publishing executive abstracts of articles. They further suggest that journals consider revising authoring guidelines and templates to increase the accessibility of articles for practitioner readers.