‘People are reading my work!’ – A Q&A with Emerald Open Research author Judith Nagasha

As one of the first authors to publish on Emerald Open Research we wanted to find out more about how Judith Irene Nagasha of Makerere University, Kampala Uganda found her publishing experience and what more she had to say about our new open access platform.

Judith’s article ‘Effect of climate variability on gender roles among communities surrounding Lake Mburo National Park, Uganda’ recently published in our Sustainable Food Systems gateway. You can read the article here.

Hi Judith, how did you hear about Emerald Open Research?

I first heard about Emerald Open Research through my Mentor -Professor Abdul Karim Bangura who is a renowned researcher with 5 PhDs in different fields.  Abdul contacted our network of African PhD students (College of Mentors- Codesria) and encouraged us to take a look at the platform and consider it for publishing our work.

How did you find your publishing experience on Emerald Open Research?

I found the Emerald Open Research process very smooth and the platform was easy to use. I was very impressed with the clarity of communications I received throughout my experience and the responsiveness to any questions I had along the way. As this was my first time using the platform it was reassuring to receive this guidance throughout the process.

What did you think about the open peer review process?

This was the first time I had experienced open peer review. I found the process very useful and learnt a lot from being able to do this. It was great to see feedback on my work and then have the opportunity to create a revised version to publish. As a research team we found the open peer review process easy to follow and we would be open to doing this again!

What value did you see in publishing your work on Emerald Open Research?

People are reading my work! It’s great to see that my research is being easily downloaded and accessible by not only my fellow researchers but academics across the world. Publishing my work on Emerald Open Research has also opened up new opportunities for me; I have already received over ten requests to review research within the field of Climate Change.

Did you face any challenges when publishing on Emerald Open Research?

I didn’t face any major challenges when publishing my work on Emerald Open Research. I thought that it would be difficult to source reviewers for my work that were not in my network however this worked out fine and I managed to source four great reviewers to review my research.

Would you choose to publish your work on Emerald Open Research again? (If so why)

I would publish my work again on Emerald Open Research and recommend the platform to my fellow researchers. I think it’s a great opportunity to increase the visibility of research and encourage researchers to submit impactful research.  I look forward to working with Emerald again in the future

You can visit Emerald Open Research and our six gateways aligned to the UN Sustainable Development goals here.

Judith Irene Nagash
Makerere University, Kampala Uganda