Session Recap: Navigating Academic Publishing: Guidance for Early-Career Scholars

The Mobile Communication Division of the International Communication Association (ICA), in collaboration with the Department of Communication, Daystar University, Kenya, organised an online session titled “Navigating Academic Publishing: Guidance for Early-Career Scholars” on 27 August 2026. The session was conducted by Dr. Rich Ling, Shaw Foundation Professor of Media Technology (Retd.), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, and was attended by 42 participants.

The session was designed to provide early-career scholars with practical guidance on academic writing, publishing, and reviewing. Drawing on his extensive experience as an author, editor, and reviewer, Dr. Ling offered practical tips to academic writing, shed light on the manuscript submission process, and suggested ways of handling rejection of manuscripts. His presentation combined practical advice with reflections from his own academic journey, providing participants with useful insights into the process of writing, submitting, and reviewing academic work.

A particularly useful insight was his suggestion that scholars view reviewer comments as a form of ‘mentoring’. This perspective encouraged participants to see reviews not simply as criticism, but as an opportunity to reconsider arguments, strengthen manuscripts, and learn from the publication process. Dr. Ling also spoke candidly about the challenges involved in academic writing, including the difficulty of developing sections such as the discussion section.

The presentation was followed by an interactive question-and-answer session, during which participants raised questions about writing, responding to reviewer feedback, and navigating publication-related challenges. The session provided an engaging platform for sharing experiences and offered participants practical insights that could be applied to their own academic writing and publishing journeys.