Achieving greater productivity with a peer writing group

Abstract

As an academic you rise and fall based on your publication record. For science academics moving from their original discipline to publish educational research outcomes there is a risk of decreased publication rates and an associated reduction in perceived self-worth. This paper examines the experiences of the authors who established a cross-institutional peer writing group to enhance writing productivity. Over a two-year period, we communicated regularly by telephone and email, committed to specific writing tasks, discussed publishing plans, challenges and outcomes, and wrote reflective journals to document our journey. This paper discusses the positive and negative influences on productivity highlighted by the journal entries and proposes four recommendations for optimising the effects of peer writing groups.