[csaa-forum] supporting critical Indigenous studies through the current ERA round

[Fiona Nicoll]

Dear fellow members: 

I'm writing regarding the only international journal specifically dedicated to publishing critical Indigenous scholarship http://www.isrn.qut.edu.au/publications/internationaljournal/ 
IJCIS publishes scholarship with strong links to cultural studies in Australia.  This is evident in the Indigenous researchers who have published with the journal and/or are members of the Indigenous Studies Research Network who also contributed as authors or as referees to the special issue on Critical Indigenous Theory of 'Cultural Studies Review'.  

As you may already be aware, the Australian Research Council (ARC) has commenced consultation for the next round of the Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) initiative. The role of the ERA is to rank outlets (including journals) according to their quality, outputs and standing within the field. In the last round of ERA, the International Journal of Critical Indigenous Studies Journal was not ranked as the first edition was published in the second part of 2009, disqualifying the IJCIS from being ranked. When comparing against the ERA criteria for ranking, the IJCIS journal meets and exceeds the criteria. By ensuring a high level ranking for the journal, this will make it more appealing journal for academics and researchers to publish and certainly adds to the overall status of the journal. 
The ARC is currently calling for individuals to make submissions presenting arguments as to why they believe any outlet should be ranked more highly in the next ERA. As such, you may be interested to make a submission advocating for the International Journal of Critical Indigenous Studies Journal to be ranked, we are aiming for a ranking of A. To make your submission please proceed to the weblink listed below:
 https://roci.arc.gov.au/

There is a simple signup process, following which you can search for the journal by name or the ISSN: 1837-0144
The submission process is relatively brief. There are two places that you can provide (a limited amount) of information to justify your suggestion for re-ranking (in a specific response to a request to provide justification and in a general comments box). 
 You will also in your submission be asked (in steps 1, 2 and 4) whether the FoR codes for the journal and other points about its status should be changed. The best advice is that these should all be left as is (including that the journal is not multidisciplinary) as the current codes and status information are the most accurate.
Making a submission is extremely important because only one Indigenous journal in Australia (The Indigenous Law Journal) has an A rating and only one Indigenous journal from the USA (Native American Research and Culture Journal) has an A rating. We need an Indigenous journal that is multidisciplinary to be rated an A in order to broaden the publication opportunity for Indigenous Scholars: IJCIS does this work. Please consider our request as an imperative. The deadline for submissions is 8am, 4th April 2011.