Carolin Fuchs
As well as Co Editor-in-chief of the Journal of Virtual Exchange, Carolin Fuchs from Northeastern University in Boston, US, has a triple appointment at her institution. She runs the German programme and is also active in the English writing programme in the English department.
On top of this, Carolin acts as coordinator for online teaching and learning across various disciplines within the College of Social Sciences and Humanities.
Müge Satar
Müge Satar, from Newcastle University in the UK also juggles a number of roles in her institution where her speciality is applied linguistics and communication. Her work looks at online communication for language learning and focuses on multimodal and intercultural aspects.
More recently, she’s also taken on an administrative role as her faculty’s interim Dean for Global.
Carolin, tell us a bit of background to the Journal of Virtual Exchange (JVE) to give it some context
“The Journal was founded back in 2018 by Melinda Dooley and Breffni O’Rourke. It’s interdisciplinary, online and open access. We support educators from all sorts of subjects and disciplines.
“The goal is for it to be a forum for practitioners and researchers for discussing innovative approaches, ideas, insights, experience theory, and practice. We want it to be a place for holding a dialogue between theory and practice. During the first years, the JVE was housed in Trinity College Dublin. Subsequently it moved to the University of Groningen in the Netherlands where it remains to this day.
“There are two editors-in-chief, Müge, and myself. And four associate editors: Joe Cunningham at Georgetown University in the US, and Alice Gruber from the Technical University of Applied Sciences in Augsburg, Germany, Hiba Ibrahim from York University in Canada, and Marina Orsini Jones from Coventry University, UK.
“We welcome submissions from all sorts of contents, not just Higher Education, but also K12. There are no article processing charges, no APCs, we’re free!”
Müge, tell us more on the different types of publications we can expect to see in the Journal
“You can find research articles and practice reports where practitioners can talk about their practice and its impact.
“We’ve also published videos and interviews such as the IVEC panel. Relatively few such ‘contributions in other formats’ arrive, but this option is sometimes used by those who don’t have an outlet for their work on virtual exchange. We also publish key-notes and articles.
“As Carolin said, the Journal is a space for bringing those who work in the area of virtual exchange together to share best practice including leadership and management positions.
“Our audience might like to know that we produce special issues too. Our regular special issue is with IVEC every year, with papers from speakers at the conference.”
Müge, tell us what makes a successful submission
“Before submitting anything, please read our very comprehensive recommendations first. We want original ideas and methodology, of course – within a theoretical framework.
“I’d say that practice reports are a little harder. But we’ve provided two articles on our website that are good examples. In practice reports, we seek originality – but not necessarily data collection and rigorous analysis. Usually it’s the opposite. We want VE practitioners to tell us how the project went and include recommendations, tips and advice for others wanting to implement the same pedagogy.
But as I said before, originality is the key here particularly in the design of the VE.
“Maybe it’s a pedagogy that we already know, but tweaked in some way or implemented in a new context. Regarding ‘contributions in other formats’, we’re open to non-written contributions and work closely with colleagues on these if and when we get them.”
Carolin confirms, “We work with authors individually and we have no set guidelines for ‘contributions in other formats’.
“I’d like to highlight a couple more things in terms of content and themes: We have two other special issues entitled ‘Virtual exchange and the development of Transferrable Skills’ and the other is ‘Global Perspectives on virtual exchange for University Internationalisation’. These are two big and important themes.
“Please note that we don’t publish conference proceedings and we use double-blind peer review process. But, if you have ideas for a special issue, please come to us: the email is journal@unicollaboration.org and we would be very happy to talk it through.
“UNICollaboration doesn’t fund special issues, so you’d have to find your own funding.
“The articles with the most readership include: student perspectives in VE comparing virtual to in-person. Then there is material on intercultural effectiveness across different disciplines, role play in VE to learn about environmental sustainability. There is a strong focus on teacher education – balancing guidelines and autonomy for pre-service teachers, for example, design-thinking and social entrepreneurship. And social justice is also a big topic in the COIL projects, as well as different models and the learning outcomes.
“Teacher education in conflict zones is very topical right now and of course, relevant.
Müge, what about future ideas?
“We always welcome innovative, cutting edge and original ideas and are interested in receiving abstracts on any relevant topics discussed in the field. There is no fixed agenda because we want what the community wants to read, as well as making sure the standards are there. The important thing is that we support the authors including those who write differently.
“Everything goes to blind peer review and there are guidelines for reviewers, so authors need to follow those guidelines.
“Careful of the topic of interculturality. It’s a popular one, but risks harking back to stereotypical ideas and biases, which we usually request authors to engage with critically.”
Carolin, what are some of the challenges you are facing?
“Submissions come to us from across the globe, so articles can vary quite a bit in terms of quality. We always need two reviewers with expertise. It’s a challenge finding reviewers anyway as we’re all overstretched these days. But a very thorough vetting process is in place, with copious comments and feedback for the authors. This helps right from the start.
“The other challenge is that the JVE is free. No one gets paid for their work. It’s gold open access and no APCs! We’re very grateful to UNICollaboration for covering the copy-editing costs. But, I have to say that managing the budget is a constant struggle. So far so good for now.”
What about the future, Müge?
“We are in the process of addressing those challenges. We want the journal to be indexed, as this helps academics add value to their work. It’s already indexed in DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals), but we wish to expand this further.
“Expanding our editorial team in terms of diversify, gender, region and disciplines is another thing we are working on. And our copy-editing charges are rising, so we need to find alternatives.
“Oh, and we need reviewers too! If we expand our pool, it will help to reduce the number we send out to individuals. This journal is for the community so please join us: the email is Journal@unicollaboration.org if you want to reach out to us!”