About scholarly publication and early-career LGBTQ+ scholars

This introductory chapter gives a rationale for exploring the publishing practices of novice LGBTQ+ researchers and those publishing research on LGBTQ+-related topics, and it explains the book’s frame of reference. The chapter begins by outlining some of the challenges facing early-career scholars in academic publishing and explains how many of these factors are exacerbated for those who also identify as LGBTQ+. The chapter provides an overview of key issues that LGBTQ+ scholars, particularly those at the early stages of their academic career, face when publishing for scholarly purposes. It explores the challenges early-career LGBTQ+ scholars experience in navigating heteronormative practices and accessing appropriate support for publishing and argues that LGBTQ+ early-career scholars’ experiences of academic publishing are under-researched and dominated by studies from Anglophone contexts and the Global North, making this volume, which takes an international and multidisciplinary perspective, a much-needed one. Finally, the chapter outlines the structural organisation of the book and provides an overview of the content of the constituent chapters.